Leadership

ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE AND MANAGEMENT

Part One:
Leadership is a social process, whereby an individual influences the behaviour of others without the use
of threat or violence, and as suggested by Rollinson (2010, p.189) a leader can be defined as �someone
who occupies a role which involves conforming to a set of behavioural norms and expectations emanating
from followers, in return for which they confer upon the leader a degree of power that (within prescribed
limits) allows the leader to influence their actions�. Management, on the other hand, involves the
exercise of formal authority over the work of other people and Rollinson (2010, p.188) defines a manager
as �a person formally appointed to a role in the organisational hierarchy, associated with which is the
formal authority (within prescribed limits) to direct the actions of a subordinate�.

Discuss the importance of these approaches to leading and managing people in organisations.
50%

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Leadership is described as a position of influence where a person can get the aid of other
people in accomplishment of a common task. There is no use of force, threats or violence by the
person in the leadership role. A leader is a person said to have a social influence. His main work
is using motivation and giving the working unit a vision for them to target together. He directs
them with direction, a purpose and their goodwill also at the core of his heart. He sets up goals
for the organization and helps the staff to the best of his ability in accomplishing it. Leaders do
the right thing. It is the art of getting other people to do what you want to accomplish by
motivation and the person does it out of the willingness of his heart because he wants to do it
also. Leaders also create something new. In addition, they inspire visions and give genuine
directions and offer support. Leaders are not feared, they are revered. As much as leaders also
use their God given ability to lead an organization, they must also use the management skills that
ought to be used in managing a company to maintain a step in the correct path in an efficient and
smooth way.(SMITH, L & RILEY, 2010)
Management of an organization is the ability that combines and coordinates the efforts of
the staff to realize goals and the objectives by using the available resources to the best of their
ability to maximize their output. A manager has the task of organizing, leading, staffing,
controlling and manipulation of the human resource that is at the disposal of the company to
realize maximum output from them. They usually command the lower people working for them.

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They are tasked with transforming resources into utility. Peter Drucker also saw that
management had two fields in it that made a person to be successful at managing, marketing and
innovation. To him the two were linked and he positioned them below efficient and effective
management.
There are theories of both leadership and management. These theories were achieved by
the studies of leadership that were mostly realized from the traits of the leaders, managers and
people being led or managed. (GOLD, THORPE, & MUMFORD, 2010).To start with,
Leadership theories.
 Transactional and transformational theories.
This theory is based on the argument that transactional leadership is where the leader exchange
labor from his followers with reward or punishment. On the other hand, transformational
leadership is based on the idea that the leader has the concern of his employees at his heart.it
involves intellectual stimulation, and providing a common vision for the group.
 Leader-member exchange theory.
This theory is based on the idea where here is an exchange of something in order for the
relationship of the leader and the employee to be successful. For example, it states that for a
partnership of this sought to be efficient, there must be respect, commitment, good performance
and cooperation from the employee to the leader and the leader should guide, support, advice and
give rewards to the workers if possible
 Neo-emergent theory.
This theory views leadership as a quality that is born not necessarily from the person’s ability
and talents but from the environment he is raised in, how he is obliged to thinks and act, or how
he chooses to view things to suit him.

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In management, there also exist various theories like;
 The scientific management theory.
This theory was used in industrial companies. It encouraged careful specification and
measurement of activities and results of the employees. It also encouraged rewards and
punishment of the workers.
 Contingency theory.
It basically means that when a manager is making a decision, he must consider all aspects of
the current situation and assess the ones that are key and make a decision based on those
facts.
 Chaos theory of management
This theory is based on the fact that todays world is in chaos. It is hard to plan for tomorrow because things change and new things and problems pop up. With this, the management theory being practiced at an organization will soon expand and be starched beyong its flexibility and soon collapse. It states that it is very hard to maintain onthe management style in a company in todays world.
Leadership and management of an organization are clearly different from the above
information. These are some of the main differences;
 Leadership in an organization is the ability of someone to influence and motivate others,
and to enable and support them in any way so as to help them contribute effectively and
see the success of the organization realized. In another hand, management is directing,
commanding and controlling a person or a group of people so as to see the goals you
have set for the company are realized.

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 In the personality of leaders, most of them are viewed as loners and private people. They
are brilliant and full of charisma. They tend to have crazy levels of imaginations and they
dream very bid. They also tend not to fear the risk taking and sometimes they go too far
without thinking twice. However, in managers, they are seen as problem solvers who are
rationally under control. Most of them focus on goals, personnel, the organizational
structure and the availability of resources at their disposal. They have intelligence, strong
wills, persistence and good analysis.
 The work of a leader is mostly viewed as that of leading people. But a manager’s work is
that of overseeing the work done.
 A leader is a person who has the best interest of his employees at his heart but a manager
is very task-oriented. He`s task is to see the organization grow to its full potential and can
put the interest of the company above those of the employees anytime.
 A leader is also seen as a person who facilitates things to happen. he goes to all extends
to see what he desires is achieved, he himself can work as another employee to. A
manager involves himself in a more holy than though approach. He is not too concerned
of hoe the goals are going to be achieved by the employees but at the end of the day, he
expects them to be.
 A leader is also someone who is totally participative, consultative and transformational in
his role. He always involves himself as much as he can wih the workers below him. He
creates a friendly environment with them and makes himself approachable. But a
manager is a commanding person also seen as dictatorial, transactional, consultative and
democratic. He follows the rule of law of the workplace very strictly and to the later.

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 A leader is influential and charismatic while a manager of an organization is a person
with formal authority and a formal position.
 Leaders have people who follow them, even in an organization, while a manager has
subordinates, workers, employees and staffs.
 A leader uses his heart to organize and lead the employees but a manager uses his head
purely. No emotions attached.
Management and leadership in an organization influence the workers in different ways. Some
of the ways can be as follows;
In leadership of an organization,
 Most leaders set the pace in the organization. This is done by setting values or
developing a mission by which to company should operate by. This motivates the
employees and creates a minimum requirement from them by the leader. They also
set out policies and guidelines that rewards and punishes hardworking or
underperforming employees in the organization.
 There are different types of leadership styles in an organization and all of them have a
different impact. There is authoritarian leadership where there are clear rules for the
employees. (PALUDI, 2013).)There is also an expectation and it is commanding.
Democracy leadership encourages the information flow from the leader to the
employee and vice versa without any consequences. It encourages the flow of ideas.
Laissez-faire leadership is the style of leadership where employees and the leaders of
the organization work without forced schedule or targets. They are all freestyle. This
is due to poor motivation and work ethics.

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 A leader also helps the employees to keep track of that specific common goal in an
organization. Because a large company can have too many senior officials who can
sometimes give new tasks to the works but the task is out of the main idea, the leader
helps in reminding and focusing the employees in the common goal.
 Leadersbehavior also influences the output of some employees. This is because unlike a manager, a leader is a person whom an employee sees as a mentor rather than a boss. So the little things or even the dominant things in a leaders character can
influence big-time the way the employee to behaves and therefore the output to the
organization.

In management of an organization,
 Managers influence the behaviors and characters of an employee. A company only grows
when they model the morals of the employee to be upright and goes hand in hand with
the beliefs and goals of the organization. Once the employee takes hold of these values,
they feel ready to work for the best of the company. Managers who create this
environment create an atmosphere full of loyalty and trust.
 The manager is also tasked with having constructive feedback to his employees. This is
where he talks to them in a positive and calm way to know the reasons why they are
having difficulty in achieving the set goals and catching up with the rest of the
employees. This should be done so as to help gradually thee improvement of thr output of
the employee because it is understood that not all employees can progress at the same
rate.
 As managers reward the employees who have done an outstanding work they make them
feel respected and appreciated. With this, the worker becomes even more hard working

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and gives more output. However, this technique should never replace the fair play
policies that organizations have.
 A gives his employees informal meeting to remove the strictness that comes up in the
formal meetings. This is done outside the working environment. It encourages trust and
loyalty. It also helps the information to pass in a friendlier manner and if there was room
for improvement in the part of the employee, it is addressed less formally.
With this above methods, an organization can have man common benefits from the good
leadership and proper managing.(REEVES & ALLISON, 2013) They include:
 Good leadership and management facilitateresult to a good system of authority and
effective communication to flow.
 It helps in the achievements of the goals of the organization in good time.
 It encourages growth of the organization and diversification.
 Proper management and leadership in an organization encourage the stimulation and
creativity of the employees and also make them grow individually.
 It also promotes good human relations in the working environment and outside of it.
Everyone can rely on each other even in personal non work related issues. This creates a
community that is peaceful and full of love.
 It also ensures the continuity of management and leadership in the future because the current
employees are being molded into future managers and leaders, maybe even better that the
current ones.
Limit of soft systems approaches to change (OD approach) to managing and sustaining
organizational change.

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There are two models of system of change that are usually observed when implementing
SharePoint within organizations. These two models are the hard system model of change and the
soft model system of change.
The hard system model of change is a method used in handling complex and hard situations in an
organization. These are situations where the main problems are understood and agreed upon by
most people. It allows for a systematic and rigorous way of determining objectives. This system
has usually three stages, namely;
 Descriptive phase. This is the breaking down and diagnosis of the problem, getting to
understand what revolves around it, setting the goals and the performance measures for
the change that is required.
 Options phase. This is the stage where the solutions are searched for but in the sense of
looking for options during the transformation of changing. It’s thinking about what might
be done and other available options during change.
 Implementation phase. This is after the selection of the appropriate plan for the change.
The plan is put into action and the results are then monitored very keenly.
In the implementation of the hard system model of changemethod in an organization,
there are certain steps to be followed, in a chronological order, they are as
follows.Namely;
Situation summary, Identifying change objectives, performance measurers, options
generation, options editing & detailing, options evaluating, implementation change, and
consolidating change & carry through.(JIN, 2011).
There are two complementary processes in the hard system, system analysis and system
synthesis. This system views the world as a systematic one and it is studied systematically. Hard

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systems approaches tough techniques and the available procedures provide solutions that have
many meanings to well-arranged and understandable data and processing of problems. Hard
system assumes that;
 The issues that are associated with this problems are well defined
 All the solutions are just one optimum
 Every problem should be approached with a scientific solution and these are the solutions
that work best.
 All the technical factors in the situation will normally tend to pre-dominate the matter.
Soft systems models of change is an approach used to tackle real-world problems
situations. It is commonly used to deal with problems which deal with “soft problems”, for
example, psychological, social, and cultural issues. In this approach, there are seven stages that
applied in the approach. (In a chronological order)
Entering the problem situation, expressing the problem situation, forming the main definition of
relevant system, construction of models of human activity system, comparing the models with
the real thing, noting the changes that are likable and are desired, and taking action to improve
the real world problem (JIN, 2011).
The soft system performance can be measured in three following steps;
 Efficacy – this enables one to see if the transformation has he desired effects.
 Efficiency – this indicates and informs how mush inputs of resources are being
used in the change transition.
 Effectiveness –it helps to know it this transformation will help the organization to
realize a more long term goal.

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During the soft systems models of change, there are several applications one must identify with;.
These changes include:
 There is the restructuring of roles; there are new designs of the organization established
and creation of new organization culture.
 There must be a general sense of problem solving
 There must be a lot of knowledge acquisition, and a lot of impact from computerization.
 There must be quality assurances, good performance and strict checking of the
organization.
 There must be a high level of education in the organization to facilitate the change.
Characteristics of OD approach system of change include;
 It deals with change that is of medium to long-term, change that will be sustainable in
a long period of time.
 It generally involves the whole of the organization and all its parts.
 It is usually supported by top management of the organization and it is also involved
directly.
 It has an agent who takes a position as the change agent.
 It emphasizes on goals and processes but mostly emphasizes on processes the most.
 It is a part of the behavioral sciences, as a part of drawing on the theory and practices.
 It is also participative.
It was also noted that there are 3 fundamental concepts with respect to the management
and the employees to an organization that; an organization is about the people. The
management`s assumptions about the employees always leads to ineffectiveness and a shady way

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of organization which hinders performances. Commitment goes a long way in determining the
effectiveness of an organizationand its development.
There are two main considerations before one decides to opt for the soft systems of
approaches to change.

 The significance of organizations as systems
 The significance of organizations as learning/educative organizations.
Also, it was established that there are three phases of the OD model change:
 Unfreezing- this is the change of people`s usual way of thinking and their behaviors to
influence their need to change,
 Moving- this it he actual change of the organization from its previous to its new state.
 Refreezing- this is the process of making the new changes permanent in the organization.

The differences between the hard and soft systems models of change.
A hard system is used and involves simulations. They look at the meaning of the problem.
They look at how to best choose, analyze, and test the selected option of development and
analysis. Hard system looks into the “how” of the system. They are used in issues that can be
quantified. However, it sometimes also take things as quantifiable and that may not be, for
example, this system may treat people as being passive, but should view them as having complex
motivations.It also has strict rules and not easily changeable. Operation research is usually hard,
and a well-defined system. Some of the areas where hard systems methodologies are applied are;
project management, simulation, decision theory, mathematical programing, and forecasting.
Also, hard systems are characterized by being stochastic (being based on probability statistically)
and deterministic (the inputs are fixed and outputs are known).

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Soft systems methodologies are used to handle and tackle systems that cannot be easily
quantified. This includes for instance when people are interacting with other people. It is usually
useful in understanding motives, interactions and views of people, but unfortunately, they do not
give quantified answers. It looks at the “what” of the system. It looks at the options to
improvethe system before implementation. Soft systems methodologiesconsiders some elements
before taking effect, they include (in a chronological order):(GISSIS & JABLONKA, 2011)
A system that can be visualized, Human activities in the organization, well definition of the
problem, improvement of the understanding, examining, learning more about the study,
understanding the matter, and selecting the solution and focusing.
In summary, hard system approaches the parts of a problem that have a tangible form, the
following techniques help in addressing the arising problems;
 Noting the costs
 Improvement of methods
 Developing of user requirements.
In the other hand, soft system tries to
 To understand the complexity of the matter
 Promote learning and addition of knowledge
 Realizing and knowing all the relevant weaknesses of the issue
 Understanding all the existing relationships in the matter, for example, employer and
employee, employee and employee, head of department and another head of department
and hence forth.
Identifying factors that can be termed desirable include
 The fact that there is the need for information

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 Good and ideal existing relationships in the organization
 All the necessary activities needed to be undertaken
 Availability of good and proper communication links, channels and networks in the
organization.
In conclusion, the main difference between hard and soft approaches is that the hard
system looks deep at how the solution of the problem is going to be found. It assumes
that the problems can be quantified. But in soft system approach, the solution is by what
caused the problem in the first place. It reflects on the issue by knowing and
understanding the root cause of the problem. It is important to realize that both critiques
and proponents of these systems of change are looking for solutions to try and perfect the
situations. For example, in soft system of change, there is the approach called
organization development, although it is still ambiguous in its meaning, it emphasizes the
importance of behavioral sciences and all the planned desired changes. Hard and soft
systems are both theoretical applicable frameworks for scrutinizing CD approaches.

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References

CHATTERJEE, D. (2012). Timeless Leadership 18 Leadership Sutras from the Bhagavad
Gita.Hoboken, John Wiley & Sons.