THE APPLICATION OF LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT THEORIES ( PDF

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THE APPLICATION OF LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT THEORIES

(A CASE STUDY OF SERVEST PTY LTD AND TIM REYNOLDS) BY KAJOGBOLA OLALEKAN Registration Number: R1909D9295873 Course Code: BS4S16-V1-14452

Leadership and Management Theories Coursework MBA Program, University of South Wales

O1 MARCH 2020

Table of Contents Abstract ...................................................................................................................................................... 3 1.0

Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 4

1.1

Background of Study. ................................................................................................................. 6

2.0

Conceptual/Theoretical Background ...................................................................................... 8

2.1

Management Theory and Practice ........................................................................................... 8

2.2

Leadership Theories and Practice .................................................................................................. 16

2.3

Brief Analysis of the Contemporary Theories of Leadership......................................... 21

2.4

Management Vs Leadership .................................................................................................... 24

2.5

Critical Analysis of Transformational Leadership............................................................. 28

3.0

Discussions ...................................................................................................................................... 33

3.1

Application of Management and Culture, Servest ........................................................................ 33

3.2

Critical Evaluation of the Application of Leadership, Tim Reynold. ............................ 35

4.0

Conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 37

References ............................................................................................................................................... 39

Abstract Leadership and management are of central significance within the perspective of organizational setting. It is accepted that proficient management have awesome positive affect on an organization and are fortified through useful leadership. Servest is clearly a speedy growing and fruitful South African multinational company with interest in a combination of sectors and the company has moreover been evaluated as one of the leading, recognized, regarded and driving brand established by the Kenton Fine. This research points to basically assess the application of leadership theories to a leader in an organizational setting management theories to a contemporary organization, consequently, Servest will be utilized as the controlled organization setting and the director of services and parking, Tim Reynolds utilized within the viewpoint of leadership as case study. Evidently within the paper, one can say Servest is a fruitful worldwide organization and there's so much to memorize from her administration, culture and authority style. The special culture and administration structure made by Tim Reynolds transformational leadership style has truly been a contributing factor to the long-term development and victory of the company. It is additionally curiously to note that in spite of the striking distinction between culture and leadership style, the organization has been able to consolidate both in so numerous areas. In conclusion, management and leadership theories success is established within the inner and outside environment that capably controls the organizational culture, structure and execution. In order to be able to sanction any management or leadership style effectively, it is of high importance have the knowledge of a person or organization encompassing culture which changes concurring to time and area.

1.0 Introduction History has marked a high amount of transformation in the aspect of organizational environments that has made it a necessity for simultaneous advancement in the manner in which organizations are administered. Leadership and management has always been the blueprint or vessel for any meaningful transformation in human demeanor at the personal, group or bureaucratic level. There has been a lot of questions asked as to how leadership arises through daily experience, what makes a good leader, who makes a good manager and what are the impacts a good leader or manager to the organization at large? These questions have been pondered on by great thinkers who through various theoretical researches and studies, have come up a lot of theories to provide answer to leadership and management basics. In order to critically examine the application of leadership and management theories to a leader and to Servest as an organization, we will attempt to look deep into some of these theories and finding. This report will give a background history on Servest as a contemporary organization and the technical director (a contemporary leader) who we have chosen as a case study for the report. According to Stodgil (1950), leadership is a process, where the process has been characterized by influence, not limited to the influence that leaders have on followers, but including interactive influence between leaders and followers. Gürsel (2014) also buttressed this when he postulated that Leadership has nothing to do with having jurisdiction or control over followers but leading followers to believe and directing them.

Hellriegel et al (2002) stated that management as a term, refers to the burden and work implicated in overseeing an organization or a department in it: organizing, controlling, planning and controlling. This report will critically evaluate the differences between management and leadership, provide a sequential scenery for the theories and also show a fit between the theories and the organization chosen for this report where necessary. The contemporary leadership theories: Charismatic, transactional and transformational, will be used to critique the organization’s leader. Secondary sources of information derived from scholarly articles and books was used for the purpose of this paper, as well as personal experiences and observations as primary sources to appropriate theories. It must also be mentioned that this study is not ideal as we do acknowledge limitations, the major one being the restricted timeframe given to complete this presentation. With that being said, it is only proper that we would begin our discussion by identifying the differences between leadership and management.

1.1 Background of Study. Servest is a multinational facility management company whose sole aim or purpose is to look after building properties, assets and people. The company was established in 1998 by Kenton Fine, a 29 years old South African who had just sold off his startup washing and hygiene business. The company renders several services that include; facility management, landscaping, cleaning, pest control, parking management, hygiene, marine, security and technical service, water, catering and office plant. All these services excluding facility management, came up as expansion to the original scope of business as the company had their eyes fixated on facility management from inception. In august 1998, the company went public and was listed on the Johannesburg Stock exchange but had to fight off what was more of a hostile takeover situation by Bidvest a company owned by Brian Joffe (also a big player in the industry). To fight off the takeover in 2002, Fine delisted the company from the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and with a series of buyout and management buy-in, he was able to take back ownership of the company. According to Fine, the period between the takeover and reclaiming of the business was a liberation moment and it’s been a long and good ride since then. Kenton fine built the South African based company to a reputable standard and ensured the company stands out as a key player in the facility management industry using some management approaches that will be discussed later in this report. He decided to go global with the business and the first stop was the United Kingdom where he bought a small business in 2007 which generated £14m revenue at the end of the year and by 2016, the same company generated £300m as revenue.

Fine expanded the business to other countries in Africa and now boast of presence in Nigeria, Ghana, Namibia, Botswana and Mozambique to mention but a few. This shows Fine’s understanding of national culture. Discussions on Servest as a great and wonderful company will not be complete without talking about one its finest leaders in person of Tim Reynold who is the sales director of the technical and parking arm of the organization. He is a man of exceptional qualities and he stands to be one of the most loveable and admired persons in the organization and he’s seen as a leader by all. His personality will be discussed in detail as this report proceeds. The great management and quality leadership exhibited in this organization has taken the company to a greater height and this will be a discussed in detail all through this report.

2.0

Conceptual/Theoretical Background

2.1 Management Theory and Practice Giving a precise description or definition to management has always been a difficult task, scholars have defined and interpreted management from different point of views as it favours their discipline. Some of the scholars that have tried to define management are experts in the economics, bureaucracy, sociology and psychology to mention but a few. According to F.W. Taylor, ‘management is the art of knowing what you want to do and then seeing that they do it in the best and cheapest way’. Peter Drucker on the other hand defined management as a multifunctional unit that oversees a commercial venture and oversees managers and oversee workers and work. A very popular definition of management is that of Mary Parker Follet. She defined management in few simple words as the ‘art of getting things done through people’. Regardless, all the definitions of management have helped in reshaping the idea per time and also the development of management into what it is today. Lawal (2012) said management as a masterpiece depends on two vital elements which is; theories and practice. This implies that a manager who is hoping and willing to stay relevant in practice must have a vast knowledge of the theories and their application. Inyang (2008) postulated that management practice comprises of interpretation of existing management information and hypothesis into the activities that will result into the accomplishment of the two-fold objectives of any organization which is productivity and adequacy. This buttresses the fact that to practice management, one must be versatile in the knowledge of theories from inception till date and also have an understanding of their impacts on modern day management theories.

2.1.1 Classification of Management Theories and Their Evolution It has become very mandatory to classify management into theories. This is because theories are viewpoints with which individuals make sense of the world encounters. Theories are assumptions that are coherently gathered and put forward to classify the relationship between two or more perceptible realities. In view of this, this report will analyse how management theories emerged. It should be noted that more prominent portions of these theories have their inadequacies some of which will be discussed, they have all continued to exist together in an outline or the other universally. 2.1.1.1

Early writings on management

For centuries, organizations have been shaped and reshape by people. Some of the early writings that affected the improvement of managerial thoughts and theories are contributions from political, military, legend and devout organizations. Below are some of these early writings; -

The art of War: This was written by a Chinese general name Sun Tzu and it is a book that suggests that victory can be documented by being mindful of using the organization’s quality to abuse the shortcomings of the equals or foes. The book underlines the significance of discipline in getting things done through a facilitated group exertion. Despite being a book on military strategy, it has been used as a managerial outline by many.

-

Chanakya’s Arthashastra: Created around the third century BC, this treatise bargains with the administration of the kingdom by a king or a leader whereas making the arrangement of administration and individual management. It

highlights the significance of creating organizational sections, advancement of the nitty gritty work profiles and capabilities of the authorities who had to oversee these divisions as executive. Arthashastra impressively influenced the authoritative reasoning of diverse rulers especially those in India. -

Machiavelli’s “The prince”: Machiavelli in this classic postulated that ‘the end justifies the mean’ and leaders should use fear and not hatred to maintain control. The book was written in the year 1531 and it still maintains its relevancy.

2.1.1.2

The Scientific Management

In the beginning of the twentieth century, skilled labour was on the low and poorly in United States of America and this necessitated the birth of scientific management theories as there was a need for increase in productivity and workers efficiency. Frederick W. Taylor (1856-1915) is referred is to as the father of scientific management. He spent quality time to achieve efficiency and productivity of labour. In his book “the principle of scientific management”, he postulated some fundamental principles as approach to scientific management. He coined out the word “soldering” which is a tendency for workers to be minimal with effort they put into daily work. He was of the opinion that that division of labour was a necessity if output must be increased which led to him suggesting higher pay for more productive workers than less productive workers. The theory was criticised for the inability of the other scholars or researches to replicate results derived from his methods while using same methods. Also the cost of implementation was also high.

Henry I Grant (1816-1919) approach was similar to that of Taylor, he postulated that workers should earn extra cents for workers who are able to finish daily workload. Also supervisors earn extra bonuses on every worker who finishes their daily task and even more if all workers meet their daily target. This approach followed same model as Taylor’s model which focuses solely on outcome regardless what its cost implication are. The Gilbreths contribution to scientific management approach was made by a husband and wife teaming up to find ways of promoting welfare of individual workers. Frank B. and Lilian M. Gilbreths (1868-1924 and 1876-1972) worked together using cameras to identify the most cost-effective proposition which will results in high output and less lethargy. The scientific approach sees employees as more or a machine which should be productive at all cost and yield amazing performance regardless the situation. The shift away from this approach birthed the idea of classical management 2.1.1.3

Classical Management theories

In a bid to tackle the flaws of scientific management which was concerned with the expansion of efficiency of the shop and workers, classical management theories were developed to provide guidelines for overseeing the complex institutes like factories. One of the most notable theories of classical management are those postulated by Henry Fayol(1841-1925) who is often referred to as the founder of classical theories of management due to the immense work or research and findings carried out by him. He

was interested in the organization in totality while paying much attention to the management. His approach was unlike Taylor’s approach in which management as a component of a business was completely neglected. Fayol categorised the activities of organizations into 6, coined out the 5 major roles of managers (forecasting, planning, organising, leading and controlling) and also postulated the fourteen principles of management. Max Weber (1864-1920) was a German sociologist who developed the Bureaucratic model of management which was more concerned with the authority structures and categorically paying attention to why subordinates are obedient to those above them in authority. His idea of a perfect organization is a bureaucratic setting where actions and goals expressively spelt out. He postulated that bureaucracy works without respect for persons and identified 3 distinctive types of legitimate authority which are; rational, traditional and charismatic authority. Some of the features of Weber’s bureaucratic model are; specialization of jobs other than the person, determination of who administers and those managed by the hierarchy. The model despite its existence in today’s business world has been criticised for reasons like; stereotypical nature, strategical drift as a result of flexibility and adaptability. Mary Parker Follet (1863-1933) laid the foundation for the behavioural approach of management due to her introduction of a new component into the organizational structure. According to her, an individual cannot function alone unless he/she is a member of a group. She implied that a person develops through their interactions with others in a structural environment. She also argued that the differences created

between the managers and subordinates as a result of hierarchy was a barrier to natural cooperation. 2.1.1.4

Behavioural and Human Relations Approach.

The behavioural management model evolved partly due to classical management’s the inability to obtain production effectiveness in working places. People were not compliant to the anticipated or proposed standards of behaviour and was detrimental to the organization as it lead managers to a near frustration situation. Interests in finding means to help managers handle the human side of their organizations grew over the years. These approach gained huge recognition in the 1930’s. The human relations approach evolved in the 1920’s solely to handle the human phase of the organization. In a generalized context, it refers to how managers associated with their employees. The approach detailed how more and better work is stimulated by good employee management. One of the most notable pioneers of this approach is that of Elton Mayo and his associates who through their body of works in the Hawthorne experiment were able to come to a conclusion that physical working condition features a colossal impact on the efficiency and productivity of workers than financial components (olum, 2004). The outcome of their experiment paved the way for modern management theories like the X and Y approach, the contingency and also the system approach.

2.1.1.5

The Theory of X and Y Approach

According to Jones and George (2009), Douglas McGregor’s postulated that the employees behaviour and attitude at work, changes and influences the reasoning and behaviour of managers in organizations. This idea is the core origin of the X and Y theory. The theory of X and Y is an approach based on 2 distinctive assumptions as regards the managers’ perception of employees. These assumptions are; -

Theory X: The manager here assumes that workers are lazy thereby necessitating a huge need for supervision in order to ensure productivity.<...