The situational theory of leadership is becoming increasingly popular in the context of modern organizational leadership. Situational leadership revolves around job-related maturity. Job maturity refers to an individual’s ability in performing a job and this is a key factor determining a leader’s behavior. The situational leadership model puts it that effective leadership is dependent on both the acts of management and leadership and that these enhance an organization’s match to current global trends. The model emerged from the realization and understanding that not all individuals within a group or community being led compare in terms of maturity level and that the need for a leadership style differ with situations. Situational leadership entails first understanding one’s predominant leadership approach and the level of the follower’s development process. Situational leadership theory, in simple terms talks about different leadership styles and how a leader can choose an appropriate style with respect to team Continue reading
Management Theories
Theories of Motivation: Abraham Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Model
In 1943, Abraham Maslow’s article, “A Theory of Human Motivation ” appeared in the Psychological Review, which were further expanded upon in his book: Toward a psychology of well being, Abraham H. Maslow attempted to formulate a needs-based framework of human motivation and based upon his clinical experiences with people, rather than as did the prior psychology theories of his day from authors such as Freud and B.F. Skinner, which were largely theoretical or based upon animal behavior. The basis of Maslow’s motivation theory is that human beings are motivated by unsatisfied needs, and that certain lower factors need to be satisfied before higher needs can be satisfied. According to Maslow, there are general types of needs (physiological, survival, safety, love, and esteem) that must be satisfied before a person can act unselfishly. He called these needs “deficiency needs.” As long as we are motivated to satisfy these cravings, Continue reading
Building Effective Teams
An effective team is one which contributes to the achievement of organizational objectives by performing the task assigned to it and providing satisfaction to its members. Team effectiveness depends on the complementary of team members, other factors remaining the same. From this statement, it appears that there are many factors in effective teams. These factors are skills and role clarity, supportive environment, super-ordinate goals and team rewards. Let us see how these factors make effective teams. Skills and Role Clarity: For an effective team, two things are required from its members; skills which are complementary to the team requirement and understanding of one’s own role as well as roles of other members. While skills are relevant for job performance, understanding of roles helps members to meet the requirement of one another thereby solving the problems which the team faces. Thus, team members may tend to contribute positively to the teamwork. Continue reading
Four Types of Entrepreneurs According to Clarence Danhof
An interesting distinction about types of entrepreneurs is the one proposed by the author Clarence Danhof, which classified entrepreneurs into four groups based on economic development. He based his classification on his study of American agriculture, and he observed that entrepreneurs could be classified depending upon the level of willingness to create innovative ideas; so there can be the following types of entrepreneurs: Innovative: an aggressive assemblage and synthesis of information and the analysis of results deriving from new combination of factors of production characterize this type of entrepreneurship. These entrepreneurs have the ability to think newer, better and more economical ideas of business organization and management. They are characterized by the smell of innovativeness, and they are aggressive in experimentation and in putting attractive possibilities into practice. An innovative entrepreneur sees the opportunity for introducing a new technology, a new product or a new market. Schumpeter’s entrepreneur was of Continue reading
8 Important Leadership Styles in Management
Leadership Styles in Management A leader is a person who influences a group of people towards the achievement of a goal while leadership is the art of motivating a group of people to act towards achieving a common goal. Different leadership styles will result in different impact to organization. The leader has to choose the most effective approach of leadership style depending on situation because leadership style is crucial for a team success. By understanding these leadership styles and their impact, everyone can become a more flexible and better leader. 1. Transactional Leadership Transactional leadership is a term used to classify a group of leadership theories that inquire the interactions between leaders and followers. This style of leadership starts with the premise that team members agree to obey their leader totally when they take a job on. The “transaction” is usually that the organization pays the team members, in return Continue reading
Mechanistic Organizational Structure – Definition and Features
The structure of any organization has a clear impact on both employee behavior and its performance. On the other hand, an organizational structure provides an overview about the hierarchy of levels, roles and responsibilities, authorities, communication channels, etc. It is of utmost importance to understand the definition of the organizational structure since it affects both employee behavior and organizational performance. Organizational structure is understood as a method consisting of responsibilities and power allocated amongst members and how work procedures are carried out among them. It also includes the layers of hierarchy, centralization of authority, and horizontal integration. However, an organizational structure is a multi-dimensional construct which illustrates the division of work (roles or responsibilities including specification), departmentalization, centralization, complexity, communication or coordination mechanisms including standardization, formalization and flexibility. An important type of organizational structure can be identified as mechanistic organizational structure. Mechanistic organizational structure is hierarchical and bureaucratic by nature. Continue reading