Management and leadership roles at JP Kenny Engineering

JPK Management Leadership

Understanding Roles of Management and Leadership

Management

Managerial roles are primarily reactive and based on getting results or fixing a problem. The situation often dictates the role a manager takes on. However the employees, the organizational culture including skillsets and character makeup of the workforce, as well as the needs of the client or customer all play a part in the manager's influence and success. The need to restructure an organization to meet market demands often causes changes in the cultural makeup which in turn require an adjustment in the managerial style or role. During the industrial revolution and up to the 1990s, for example, the authoritarian management role, based on control was the primary mode of the majority of organizations. Today, management is often based on empowerment and teams working together. The role of managers is often given to those with technical expertise who then coordinate and lead the tasks or processes of team members who often lead teams working within the same business or technical function. Managerial roles are now directed by technical or business professionals within those teams who function as mentors, experts, facilitators and team leaders. At JPKenny, this is the case as most of the managerial function is under the direction of project managers.

Success in management comes from the ability to build a highly functional team, network leaders in the industry, and develop as well as motivate others (12Manage 2010). Current management theory emphasizes people skills and the participative management style is important in order to have a healthy and productive organizational culture. Other theories that promote successful management are Total Quality Management, McGregor's Theory X, Y, Theory Z, Management by Objectives.

Leadership

Leaders of organizations are primarily based on a power role or style. Psychologists that studied the various forms of power in the 1960s are John French and Betram Raven who researched and developed the theories into five forms (French & Raven, 1960). These five power roles are the basis for the leadership roles in organizations around the world today and some are characteristic of JPKenny leaders today. The power roles include coercive, legitimate, expert, reward, charismatic, and referent types. Following is research on both the roles of management and leadership and a discussion on how these apply to JPKenny.

Participative Management

Relates to open communication and sharing of data within and between teams to assist decision making at the managerial and leadership levels. Team members are professionally educated and trained to perform at a high performance level with little managerial involvement. The day-to-day issues and policies are handled by the team who has a team leader that facilitates meetings and is often a subject matter expert of the department or functional business area. Participative management allows employees to contribute their skills and expertise in the area where they have the greatest talent or ability. This boosts morale and increases productivity by giving ownership of the tasks to individuals who take responsibility for the work being done. At JPKenny this is termed a high performance project team and the company is made up of many such professionals. This form of management is part of the JPKenny culture. Since the work is highly technical and requires extensive training of specialized tasks, it works well for the global company. For example, if a new product is being introduced, the use of technology allows data sharing among project teams around the globe in minutes which raises productivity in multiple locations where the company operates simultaneously. The employees that participate in the data gathering, design, technical specifications, testing, and implementation of the new product can do so with a single pass, saving hundreds of thousands of dollars in resources. The employees in participatory management are expected to have the right technical skills, good communication, and business intelligence to make quality decisions without managerial oversight. However, the culture must be open to taking this type of self or team managerial role and willingness to step up and support the project and resolve issues that are relevant to their work (Robbins, 2002).

McGregor Theories

One of the leading organizational theorists Douglas McGregor presents Theory X and Y. Theory X makes very negative assumptions about employees such as laziness and that they lack desire to work. The role of management is to coerce employees to perform duties. Theory X is based on three premises. The first that people do not want to work and will choose to perform as little as possible. The second is that work performed has to be forced by threatening punishment. Thirdly McGregor's theory X states that people have little ambition to perform unless job security is threatened and they require micromanagement to complete assigned tasks. Therefore all motivation must be provided by management control. If an employee is unable to perform, this is considered the fault of the worker. All reward systems of motivation are related to cash, getting promoted or benefits associated with tenure (12Manage 2010).

McGregor's Theory Y on the other hand supports the case that employees will have more professional behavior if they are treated as such by management. People with highly specialized skills and education are considered candidates for Theory Y management. The top six premises are first that people enjoy work and it is as attractive and natural as play (12Manage 2010). Secondly, workers do not need micromanagement and are able to self-manage themselves to meet project or company objectives. Thirdly that the primary rewards sought after are those of satisfaction achieved by doing an excellent job and putting forth their best effort. Fourth people are willing to accept responsibility and often will look for opportunities in the workplace to perform if given a chance. Fifth that people are very innovative and able to create new products and services, they are very capable of solving issues without management intervention or oversight. Sixth people have the potential, they just need the right tools and opportunity to show their intelligence and resourcefulness. Unlike Theory X, under Theory Y if the employee fails or is unproductive, it is because the support of management was inadequate. In many business units Theory Y is the managerial style that works for JPKenny.

Theory Z

Organizational Development thinker William Ouchi researched management traditions in both Japan and the U.S. The result of his studies produced a new theory, Theory Z It is a culmination of McGregor's X and Y. The assumption of Theory Z is that people should work alongside management in every level of the organization (12Manage 2010). The first quality refers to career development and considerations for employees that ensure longer term employment. Secondly careers are less structured and can include positions at every level of the organization. Thirdly, management is decentralized for less control over employee duties. Managers empower employees by giving more responsibility over daily tasks. The empowerment to make decisions at every level ensure input from any level employee. Fourthly, benefits are designed to support the employee over maximizing production through unfavorable work conditions.

Lower level needs refer to satisfying the most basic human needs, such as food, clothing, and shelter. Higher level needs are based on self-actualization or intrinsic needs to make a difference such as job satisfaction, making a contribution, leaving a mark, rewards for excellent performance, promotion, and peer appreciation. When a company such as JPKenny are concerned with the well-being of employees, they are satisfying lower level needs (French & Raven 1960). As groups are given responsibility in making decisions teams these higher level needs are met. As more companies recognize that meeting these needs result in high performance, which translates into increased production, they are more willing to consider this management style. Some of the benefits to employees that companies like JPKenny support include child care, work schedules that allow for flexible hours, telecommuting, and more opportunities to transfer across departments.

Total Quality Management (TQM)

This is a managerial style that includes all functional areas of business in the production of a quality product or service (12Manage 2010). The main focus is on exceeding customer expectations and recognizing quality is everyone's responsibility. It considers teamwork to be the road to total quality throughout the processes developed by the organization. TQM requires commitment by every employee on every level recognizing their value and contribution as important.

With TQM employees are given the opportunity to get the training and experience necessary to develop their skills to the maximum level in order to make a contribution to satisfying the customer. Participative management is integral to TQM success. One of its primary components is continuous improvement of processes to become as efficient and financially responsible as possible while delivering a quality product.

The pioneer in TQM was Edward Deming and also Joseph Juran (12Manage 2010). They worked with Japanese companies after WWII were responsible for the high standards of quality that came out of Japan starting around 1970. The improved quality of Japanese products became an industrial standard for companies around the world. Deming and Juran were well received upon returning to the U.S. To train major corporations, manufacturers, and leading businesses on the same TQM principles in the 1980s (12Manage 2010).

Management by Objectives

Management by Objectives is the process of measuring all objectives set by the management and leadership. Peter Drucker was the theorist that first set forth this theory in 1954. The approach is systematic and requires work teams plan their work based on meeting the goals of the entire organization at the highest level. Companies that have adopted this type of approach are Xerox, and Intel. The corporate objectives are modified to tasks for each functional area of the organization. The tasks are interconnected to meet an objective at the top levels of management as well as the top objectives aligning with the work of the lower levels of the organization. The steps include developing company wide goals, decision making using participative management, plans to implement goals and continuous feedback based on performance (12Manage 2010). As each employee completed their tasks, each functional area of business would meet their objectives and ultimately the entire corporation would reach its goals.

Problems with this broad reaching type of undertaking, is the complexity of setting such goals and then having employees complete their tasks in a timely manner. Rewards setting is also difficult to ascertain as it depends on the entire corporation meeting its objectives.

Leadership

Leadership is often based on characteristics and the amount of power or control over employees or team members. A discussion of leadership roles based on power attributes.

Expert Leadership

The first leadership role is based on expert power this is identified by intelligence, proficiency, skill and knowledge of a person. Someone with the aptitude to share a command of subject matter as a result of advanced experience and ability. This person is able to achieve results or teach others to reach superior standards due to their capabilities and have gained the respect and recognition of others according to French (French & Raven 1960).

For example when JPKenny assigns a mentor to work with a person newly hired in a position. Though the newly hired person is qualified, they have not yet reached their full potential in accordance with JPKenny processes and therefore need the support and direction of a mentor. In this case the mentor has trained several of his team members who have gone on to support other departments. The mentor is called on by managers to train their new people due to his experience and ability to share knowledge in a