Leadership perspectives and theoretical frameworks

Business Management

Contemporary Management

When first introduced to the market in 1998, Contemporary Management, by Jones and George made a large impact on the areas of modern management. Their unique combination of talents combined an easy to understand voice, thorough content, and pedagological approach to teaching, together with a uniquely designed package. Authors Gareth Jones, his wife Jennifer George and Professor Hill are dedicated to the challenge of making supplied managerial science concrete and applicable for students. As a team, they are uniquely qualified to write about both the strategic imperative for managers and organizational challenges that real managers face.

Gareth Jones specializes in both strategic management and organizational theory and is well-known for his research that applies transaction cost analysis to explain many forms of strategic behavior. He is currently focusing his study on strategy process and issues concerning the development of trust, and the role of which trust plays in the strategic decision making process. Jennifer George specializes in organizational behavior and is well-known for her research on affect and mood, their determinants, and their effects on various individual and group level work outcomes. Professor Hill teaches in the undergraduate M.B.A. And executive M.B.A. programs and has received awards for teaching excellence in these programs. Together these three authors approach the subject of contemporary management with authority, clarity and completeness.

Contemporary Management is a comprehensive text that surveys the theoretical underpinnings of modern management thought and research and through a variety of real world examples from small, medium, and large companies shows the reader how those ideas are used by practicing managers. The organization of this text follows the mainstream functional approach for defining the managerial process into 4 categories: planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. The themes of diversity, ethics, and information technology have been greatly expanded in the most recent edition, through in-text examples, photographs, and the end-of-chapter material. Overall, all areas of importance that truly serve to bring to life workplace realities are included in this text.

From a leadership perspective, the book both informs and motivates the learner to adapt their own personal leadership style to the practices which have demonstrated themselves to be the most effective in the marketplace. Ultimately management is the process of achieving organizational goals through other people, and in the science of human behavior, research over the last 20 years has identified trends which effectively motivate others, and habits which do not. For example, in today's diverse workplace, organizations are discovering that an attempt to create a strict organizational culture which does not allow staff members to utilize their own strengths and weaknesses ultimately hinders the organization.

The diversity of the workforce is no longer considered a disruptive departure from the organizational goals and policies, but allowing diverse staff to exercise their unique talents is a strength for the organization. This is a function of the postmodern perspective. Modernity dissected life into it individual parts, through a scientific method, in order to identify the common denominators. Post modern thought recognizes that while commonalties exist, the differences between individuals can combine to create a synergistic strength for the organization.

The book breaks down the idea of the organizational culture in discussions of managing the different paradigms of significantly different organizations. For example, managing an organization which is a "task-based environment" faces different struggles than a "industry-based environment." The type of worked attracted to each of these organizations is significantly different from one another, and therefore create a different culture within the organization. Successfully managing these groups is a function of recognizing the differences, and knowing how to work within the strengths and weaknesses of each. The authors identify 4 organizational environments: task based, industry based, general, and organizationally based.

Managing the culture of the organization is a matter of first identifying the culture, and how the cultural undercurrents of an organization affect the every day decisions, and individual employee priorities. Just as a person would not expect a dog to meow, or a cat to bark, identifying realistic expectations for the organization, and then setting realistic goals is a function of correctly identifying the organizations culture before setting a course for change.

When moving toward change, personal leadership styles can accelerate, or hinder the organization's growth curve. The authors correctly identify that transformational leadership is the most effective means to lead most organizations, because transformational leadership engages the individual workers level of commitment to the organization, motivating them from within rather than applying leadership directives form an external approach which demands adherence to a set of rules.

Transformational leadership is the process of influencing major changes in attitudes and assumptions of organizational members and building commitment for the organizations' mission and objectives. This leadership style focuses on the leader-follower relationship, and sets goals to benefit both the individuals involved and the organization as a whole.

Transformational leaders seek to motivate followers to do more than originally was expected. The other approaches to leadership, as currently defined are transactional leaders, who based their influence on an exchange process between leaders and followers. Transactional leaders focus on clarification of task requirements and the specification of contingent rewards. Laissez-faire leaders try to maintain a 'country-club' atmosphere, and often avoid personal responsibility and decision making. In limited cases, each of these styles is the most effective. But for the majority of organizations, the workers organizational commitment, the strength of an individual's identification with and involvement in a particular organization, will be most highly affected by the charismatic, transformational leader.