Leaders and Leadership

Three representative distinctions between leadership and man-agement follow:

• Management is more formal and scientific than leadership. It relies on

universal skills such as planning, budgeting, and controlling. Management is a set of explicit tools and techniques based on reasoning and testing that can be used in a variety of situations.

• Leadership involves having a vision of what the organization can

become. Leadership requires eliciting cooperation and teamwork from a

large network of people and keeping the key people in that network

motivated, using every manner of persuasion.

• Managing focuses on continuous improvement of the status quo,

whereas leadership is a force for change that compels a group to innovate

and depart from routine. Leadership requires having a vision

What are the attributes of a good leader? Leaders often (but not necessarily always):

■ have a sense of mission;

■ are charismatic;

■ are able to influence people to work together for a common cause;

■ are decisive;

■ use creative problem solving to promote better care and a positive working

environment.

Leadership is creating a vision

Influence Tactic

1.Leading by example means that the leader influences group members by

serving as a positive model of desirable behavior. A manager who leads

by example shows consistency between actions and words.

2.Leading by values means the leader influences people by articulating and

demonstrating values that guide the behaviors of others.

3.Assertivenessrefers to being forthright in your demands.

leadership style- The typical pattern ofbehavior that a leaderuses to influence his or her employees toachieve organizational goals.

participative leader- A leader who shares decision making with group leaders.

autocratic leader- A task- oriented leaderwho retains most ofthe authority for himself or herself and is not generally concerned with group members’ attitudes toward decisions

Leadership Grid- A visual representation of different combinations of a leader’s degree of concern for task-related issues.

Transformational leader- A leader who helps organizations and people make positive changes in the way they do things.

Charisma- The ability to lead or influence others based on personal charm, magnetism, inspiration, and emotion.

Situational leadership- adapting leading style to the situation

Mentor- A more experienced person who develops a protégé’s abilities through tutoring

Shadowing- mimicking someone more experienced

9 Communication and Information Technology Management

Communication- The process of exchanging information by the use of words, letters, symbols, or nonverbal behavior.

Encoding- transforming ideas into a clear communicate

Decoding- opposite to encoding

Feedback- response to the message

Noise- lack of clearness of the message

Nonverbal communication- The transmission of messages by means other than words.

Formal communication channels- The official pathways for sending information inside and outside an organization.

Grapevine- The informal means by which information is transmitted in organizations

Communication network- A pattern or flow of messages that traces the communication from start to finish.

Learning organization- An organization that is skilled at creating, acquiring, and transferring knowledge.

Knowledge management- The ways and means by which a company leverages its knowledge resources to generate business value.

Information overload occurs when an individual receives so much information that he or she becomes overwhelmed.

Informative confrontation- asking about what’s unclear

Active listening- Listening for full meaning without making premature judgments or interpretations.

Metacommunicate- communicating about communication e.g. talking about how to talk.

Organizational politics- refer to informal approaches to gaining power or other advantage through means other than merit or luck

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Companies use Information Technology for:

-Increased Competitive Advantage (or Avoiding Competitive Disadvantage)

-Enhanced Business Model (plans of earning, operating)

-Improved Customer Service and Supplier Relationships

-Enhanced Communication and Coordination, Including the Virtual Office

-Quick Access to Vast Information

-Enhanced Analysis of Data and Decision Making

-Time saving

-Work monitoring

Extranet- a secure section of a Web site that only visitors with a password can enter.

Microblogging- sending brief updates online about work activities to employees.

e-leadership- providing leadership to people when their work is mediated by information technology.

Intranet- a Website for company use only.

Wiki is a password-protected Web page that allows for the collaboration of multiple users.

Problems with IT:

-wasting time on computers

-deterioration of customer service

-wired workers

Company presence in:

-social media

-website

-advertising

Creating an online image

work streamlining- the elimination of as much low-value work as possible replaced by concentration on activities that add value for customers or clients.

data mining - extraction of useful analyses from the raw mass of business transactions and other information.

Cloud computing

(a) moving data and software from computer hard drives to the virtual storage space on the Internet and

(b) the vast array of interconnected machines managing the data and software that were formerly run on desktop computers.

1 Summarize the demands information technology places on the manager’s job.

Management must build an organization that constantly transforms itself as information technology increases competition. To remain competitive requires innovation. Information and communications technology are at the center of the technological revolution and make globalization more practical because of ready access to employees everywhere. In general, information technology places managers in a continuous learning mode. Wireless communication devices facilitate work from different locations.

2 Describe the positive and negative consequences of information technology for the manager.

Information technology helps the manager work smarter in such ways as improved productivity and teamwork, competitive advantage (or avoiding competitive disadvantage), enhanced business models, improved customer service and supplier relation-ships, enhanced communication including the virtual office, quick access to vast information, enhanced analysis of data and decision making, greater empowerment and flatter organizations, time saved through employee self-service, and monitoring work

and employee surveillance.

3Discuss the impact of the Internet on customer and other external relationships.

The biggest impact of the Internet on business comes from selling many goods and services to other businesses over the Internet. Seventy-five percent of business conducted on the Net today occurs between firms. The manager must be familiar with e-commerce to help develop strategy, and the man-ager may work with a reduced staff because of online selling. A substantial change in managing customer relationships in recent years has been contacting them through the social media, with customer interaction being highly important.

E-commerce sometimes enables companies to purchase more efficiently than they could through other channels.

4Explain the effects of the Internet on internal company operations.

The Internet affects companies in a number of ways, beginning with more effective work processes as encouraged by the flattening of the business playing field through global competition. Information technology facilitates changing the method of distributing goods, and work streamlining. The Internet also squeezes profits and exerts pressure toward cost control and facilitates data mining.

Date: 2015-02-16; view: 778