Looking for a new solution for this exact same question? Our assignment help professionals can help you with that. With a clientele based in top Australian universities, Grade Saviours’s assignment writing service is aiding thousands of students to achieve good scores in their academics. Our Business Report assignment experts are proficient with following the marking rubric and adhering to the referencing style guidelines.
Task 1
1.0 Report on the roles and functions of leaders and managers in Debenhams
Management within a structured organisation with set out roles, Management is to set out and achieve the companies goals.
According toHarold Koontz,( )"Management is the art of getting things done through and with people in formally organised groups."
Harold Koontz gave this definition of management in his book "
The Management Theory Jungle".
According toHenri Fayol,
"To manage is to forecast and to plan, to organise, to command, to co-ordinate and to control."
Henri Fayol gave this definition of management in his book "
Industrial and General Administration".
Leadership in an organisation is an action which lead the people in an organisation to achieve their goals. This can be done by influencing the employees’ attitude in a few ways.
The leader’s job is to set a clear vision for the organisation, to guide their employees on each step of the work, their duty is also to motivate the employees and also build moral.
Sir richard branson, Alan sugar or elon musk are a great example of leaders.
Roles of managers and leaders
The role of a manager is to carry out the 5 key functions of a manager are Planning, Organising, Staffing, Leading, Controlling.
A manager has many roles bundled in to one ranging from planning, Decision making. Quick decisions, Emplementing new changes, Training, Disciplinary.
The Nature of Managerial Work,Was a book writen by Henry Mintzbergand he outlines 3 categories.
Interpersonal:This role involves human interaction.
Informational:This role involves the sharing and analyzing of information.
Decisional:This role involves decision making.
1.1 Characteristics/qualities of a manager
A manager within debenhams must have certain characteristics to be the kind of manager who will help debenhams acheive there goals and lead there teams to success.
A manager would be the one responsible for overseeing the operations on a day to day basis, the manager should be adapt at delegating to acheive the goals set out by the company and put the right people and the right place to best suit the buisness needs, A manager should also have a high quality of budgeting skills as will need to tightly control the budget in the most effective manner for the company, Managers also need a high level of planning skills as they will be required to make sure all planning is done for eg, new product launches, staff rotas, implementing new changes.
Planning
setting goals/targets.
Planning how you are going to achieve the set goals/targets.
Plan what you need to achieve the set goals/targets.
Implement changes whilst monitoring directing the changes in a pre defined sequence.
Organising
Develop a framework
Put plan in place
Organise team
Set out roles
Deploy resources which best best fits the plan in place
Staffing
Recruitment
Training
Employee development
Leading
Communicate, Motivate, Inspire your employees to improve productivity to reach company goals.
Controlling
Once goals are set managers should then be monitoring results against the set goals and make and amendments as they see fit to acheive the companies goals.
1.2Characteristics/qualities and roles of a leader
A leader in Debenhams should have the following characteristics, A leader should be confident in their abilities it will allow other members of the organisation to respect you, They should also be be trustworthy and have intigrity as it will allow others to be honest with you, They must inspire others this will help the organisation accomplish their goals, Part of being a leader is to be there when something goes wrong to direct the team to deal with the given situation.
Leaders must be committed this will inspire others to commit to the company vision, One of the key characteristics is to be a good communicator as you must be able to clearly define the company goals/plan for everyone to work from. Good leaders must hold employees accountable it will allow for a more serious approach from the team when things are going to plan employees should be praised and if mistakes happen should work with the employees to make them learn and improve, Another characteristic would be delegation and be able to delegate tasks whilst making sure all the needed resources are in place, A leader should be creative and be able to innovate ways to give the organisation a competitive edge, The last characteristic would be empathy you should listen and take on board the needs and requirements within the organisation and work on solving them for the benefit of the employees, The benifits is that the employees within the organisation will respect you and feel supported.
1.3Comparison between the characteristics of managers and leaders
The main difference between a manager and a leader is, A manager is there to give structure to the business goals by working from the company plan set out to him, The leader is the one who sets out the goals and the plan for success within an organisation, He is there to inspire the rest of the organization and set out a plan for the organisation to succeed.
This table shows the key differences in the roles of a manager and a leader.
| Process |
Management |
Leadership |
| Vision Establishment |
Plans and budgets
Develops process steps and sets timelines
Displays impersonal attitude about the vision and goals |
Sets direction and develop the vision
Develops strategic plans and achieve the vision
Displays very passionate attitude about the vision and goals |
| Human Development and Networking |
Organizes and Maintains staff structure
Delegate responsibility
Delegates authority
Implements the vision
Establishes policy and
procedures to implement vision
Displays low emotion
Limits employee choices |
Align organization
Communicates the vision mission and direction
Influences creation of coalitions, teams and partnerships that understand and accept the vision Displays driven, high
emotion Increases choices |
| Vision Execution |
Controls processes
Identifies problems
Solves problem
Monitor results
Takes low risk approach to problem solving |
Motivates and inspires
Energizes employees overcome barriers to change
Satisfies basic human needs
Takes high risk approach to problem solving |
| Vision Outcome |
Managers vision order and predictability
Provides expected results consistently to leadership and other stakeholders |
Promotes useful and dramatic changes, such as new products or approaches to improving labour relations |
|
|
|
Table I: Comparison of Management and Leadership Process Differences in the workplace (Kotterman,2006).
Assessement of the strengths and weaknesses of different theories of management and leaadership
Management theories
Below is the 4 most commonly used management theories.
Frederick Taylor's Scientific Management
Frederick Taylor was the leading contributor of scientific management sometimes known as Taylorism which was created in the 1880s originally with the purpose of improving efficiency within manufacturing industries.
The main purpose of Frederick Taylor's scientific management theory was to improve efficiency this is achieved by evaluating each task and scientifically finding the best way to do the task, This would include allocating time for each individual task, Which process to do the task, constantly try new ways of doing task to make it easier and quicker to do.
There a 4 main principles of Scientific Management:
Taylor's four principles are as follows:
- Replace working by "rule of thumb," or simple habit and common sense, and instead use the scientific method to study work and determine the most efficient way to perform specific tasks.
- Rather than simply assign workers to just any job, match workers to their jobs based on capability and motivation, and train them to work at maximum efficiency.
- Monitor worker performance, and provide instructions and supervision to ensure that they're using the most efficient ways of working.
- Allocate the work between managers and workers so that the managers spend their time planning and training, allowing the workers to perform their tasks efficiently. (Mindtools.com, 2019)
Frederick Taylow also believed in fair pay and therefore if tasks were completed to the agreed time scale employees could earn more due to their effort.
A famous quote by Frederick Taylor In the past the man has been first; in the future the system must be first. This in no sense, however, implies that great men are not needed. On the contrary, the first object of any good system must be that of developing first-class men; and under systematic management the best man rises to the top more certainly and more rapidly than ever before.(It, 2019)
Henri Fayol's Principles of Administrative Management
Henri Foyles administrative management theory concentrates on the managerial aspect of the business and believed by doing this it would lead to higher efficiency and less misunderstandings from happeneing, It is also more aimed at getting the employees on side by showing respect and promoting equality.(En.wikipedia.org, 2019)
Planning:Planning is forecasting the future and making a structural plan of action and determining the goals and objectives of the action. Fayol considers planning as most essential function.
Organizing:Organizing is the creation of an organizational structure which brings human resources and non-human resources together to work together.
Commanding:The process of giving direction and orders by the superior to the subordinate is known as commanding.
Coordinating:There are various divisions in an organization. So, coordinating is the process of bringing the action of all the divisions and departments and integrating their efforts for the fulfillment of organizational goals .
Controlling:Controlling means comparing the actual performance of the organization with the desired performance level and checking if there is the need for improvement and when a deviation is found implementing the necessary changes to improve the performance.(En.wikipedia.org, 2019)
Elton Mayo's Human Relations theory
Elton Mayo's Human realation theory focused on the social aspect and believed this was a better approach unlike other management theories, Elton promoted social groups within the workplace and believed in treating employees with respect and allowing the employees freedom without constant supervision from management.
Elton was a firm believer in communication and his theory allows for communication from management to staff and vice versa, He expected management to engage with employees and when doing so should talk with no ego or a superiority complex.(Akrani, 2019)
1.5 Theories of leadership
Action -centered theory of Leadership – by John Adair
Adair, 2019)
John Adair's theory on leadership focuses on 3 key points which are as follows.
TASK
TEAM
This Business Report assignment sample was powered by the assignment writing experts of Grade Saviours. You can free download this Business Report assessment answer for reference. This solved Business Report assignment sample is only for reference purpose and not to be submitted to your university. For a fresh solution to this question, fill the form here and get our professional assignment help.