Management and leadership development

Management and leadership development

Management and leadership development
Think about how theoretical and/or mainstream ideas about the nature of leadership and management
affect an organisation�s approach to development. You are encouraged to understand that normative
approaches to management may be reflected in closely prescribed development interventions, often
designed and delivered within the context of a competency framework.
In this essay, you analyse the evaluation approaches to leadership and management development based
on competency frameworks.

In every given business organization, there ought to be focus on developing to greater
heights. This view follows the realization that globalization has presented businesses with
unprecedented competition. In order to arrive at viable development strategies, leadership of
organization must play its role in the right way. Dries & Pepermans (2012) note that; theoretical
ideas concerning leadership affect management in great lengths. Therefore, it is crucial that
management adopts viable mainstream ideas and apply the same in consideration of the nature of

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the specific business organizations. This is because; different business organizations may require
integration of different leadership ideas to achieve success.
S_anchez-Runde, Nardon and Steers (2011) assert; mainstream ideas concerning
leadership affect development in organizations in a manner that can be said to be almost direct.
This is because; the mainstream ideas shape the kind of leadership that is exercised in
organizations. It is widely known that leadership in any given organization shapes the
development that is to be undertaken. Jordi (2014) notes that; it is crucial that mainstream ideas
concerning leadership are first synthesized before generally applying them to a given business
organization. This view is not meant to imply negativity of mainstream leadership ideas.
Essentially, there are myriads of mainstream business ideas whose adoption go a long way in
ensuring strategic development in of organizations. For instance, adoption of the mainstream
idea that leadership should basically entail service could go a long way in ensuring strategic
development by having leaders of organizations set good examples by showing service. This
mainstream idea does not only concern the top organization leaders. Even leaders of smaller
groups within an organization are affected by adoption or failure to adopt this leadership idea.

According to Jordi (2014) leadership and management competency frameworks play a
great role when it comes to evaluation of leadership and development in organizations. However,
it is crucial to note; there have been arguments against this approach in evaluating leadership.
The proponents of this argument base their ideas on consideration that; leadership is not basically
depended on its development. As such, it is primary for leaders to receive constant training,
rather the environment of work is in itself sufficient to provide competency. Although such ideas

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hold some grounds, it is important to consider competency frameworks in leadership
development.

As Sampath (2013) found out; competency frameworks allow usage of the right strategies
when it comes to evaluation of leadership. It is important to note that; such frameworks provide
for general strategies that are meant for application with consideration of specific needs of a
given organization. It is therefore crucial to consider the nature as well as special needs of an
organization before application of competency frameworks in leadership development. When
one considers the nature of an organization, there comes out the aspects that ought to be
considered in evaluating the leadership in such an organization.
Bratton & Gold (2012) observes that; competency frameworks ought to be integrated
with observational tendencies when it comes to evaluation of leadership. For instance, whilst it is
a great idea to have leaders to attend seminars and workshops to sharpen their leadership
knowledge, skills and attitude, it is essential that; such developments are not just evaluated by
success or completion of seminars or workshops. It is essential that a closer observation is made
on their delivery of tasks after such enlightenment.
For instance, intercultural relation is a great factor that is associated with business
leadership. In the wake of globalization, it would be detrimental for any organization that is
worth its salt, to fail to have leadership that is capable of handling intercultural relations. First,
this is a factor to be viewed with lots of positivity without which an organization stands to reap
no benefit from the factor. Leadership must be able to handle such a factor both in the top
management as well as in the lower cadres of an organization. For instance; if there are

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employees with divergent cultural origins, there must be room for them to work in a comfortable
way. Leadership must show no favoritism and must not tolerate such attitudes.

Application of competency frameworks in leadership and management development is
essential for all levels of organization leaders. However, it is crucial to note that; leaders of
global organizations require more of this than leaders that deal with local organizations. This
view is based on the realization that; leaders of global organizations deal with much more
complicated issues than leaders and managers of local organizations. Javidan, Mansour,
Bullough et at (2014) assert that; in global organizations, leaders ought to learn to accommodate
different cultural tastes as well as be able to satisfy divergent needs emanating from diversity of
members of organizations.

It is crucial that such factors are considered when it comes to application of competency
frameworks in leadership and management development. Again at such level, competency at
delivery is very much essential. Theoretical ideas of leadership should not only be applied in
theoretical nature, rather, there must be efforts to ensure articulation of the same when it comes
to delivery of service by leaders. When this happens, it becomes easy for subordinates to follow
the examples of leaders.

References

Bratton, J. & Gold, J. (2012) Human resource management: theory and practice. 5th ed. New
York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Dries, N, & Pepermans, R 2012, ‘How to identify leadership potential: Development and testing
of a consensus model’, Human Resource Management, 51, 3, pp. 361-385, Business
Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 1 October 2015.

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JAVIDAN, MANSOUR, BULLOUGH, AMANDA, DIBBLE, REBEKAH,(2014) MIND THE
GAP: GENDERDIFFERENCES IN GLOBAL LEADERSHIP COMPETENCIES AND
WHY IT MATTERS.Academy of Management Annual Meeting Proceedings, 21516561
Jordi Canals , (2014),”Global leadership development, strategic alignment and CEOs
commitment”, Journalof Management Development, Vol. 33 Iss 5 pp. 487 – 502.