Finding a Solution to Leadership

The Development of an Effective and Sustainable Leader-ship Concept Based on the Considerations of the Pioneers of Management and Leadership

Niels Brabandt

• Publisher: Books on Demand
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN:
  9783743143814
• Edition: 2
• eBook ISBN:
  9783743147393
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

Business and employee management are key subjects in business administration. For decades, actually for centuries, there has been a discussion about how effective leadership of people or employees can be realized. It has always been a major concern within market-based economic systems to learn how its products and services should be designed in order to generate consumer demand. That the discussion about business and employee management is more relevant than ever is linked to the fact that leadership situations are influenced by a variety of external factors. They include, in particular, political, cultural, social, demographic, economic, and technological developments. It is therefore required for business and employee management to be adapted to those external framework conditions on a permanent basis.In former times, the assumption in mainstream leadership research was that leadership success relied on specific personal characteristics. Later on, the prevailing view was that the decisive factors in employee management lied in specific leadership behavior or leadership styles. Today's research on leadership is dominated by situation-oriented approaches, providing for specific leadership concepts for specific organizational and employee-related structures.The present thesis is an attempt to bundle a variety of approaches to leadership with the aim of providing an overarching framework for concepts of a similar nature. Therefore, the leadership concept to be developed in what follows is to be characterized by the principles of holism and sustainability.The first step is to present the fundamentals of leadership and management in order to introduce key terms and concepts and provide an overview of the research on leadership.Chapter 3 deals with separately displaying the business and employee management approaches of various management pioneers, distinguishing between early and con-temporary pioneers. Each approach is presented in consideration of its key elements, its strengths and opportunities, as well as its weaknesses and limitations.The fourth chapter, finally, is devoted to developing a holistic and sustainable leader-ship concept.

1. Introduction

Business and employee management are key subjects in business administration. For decades, actually for centuries, there has been a discussion about how effective leadership of people or employees can be realized. It has always been a major concern within market-based economic systems to learn how its products and services should be designed in order to generate consumer demand. That the discussion about business and employee management is more relevant than ever is linked to the fact that leadership situations are influenced by a variety of external factors. They include, in particular, political, cultural, social, demographic, economic, and technological developments. It is therefore required for business and employee management to be adapted to those external framework conditions on a permanent basis.

In former times, the assumption in mainstream leadership research was that leadership success relied on specific personal characteristics. Later on, the prevailing view was that the decisive factors in employee management lied in specific leadership behavior or leadership styles. Today’s research on leadership is dominated by situation-oriented approaches, providing for specific leadership concepts for specific organizational and employee-related structures.

The present thesis is an attempt to bundle a variety of approaches to leadership with the aim of providing an overarching framework for concepts of a similar nature. Therefore, the leadership concept to be developed in what follows is to be characterized by the principles of holism and sustainability.

The first step is to present the fundamentals of leadership and management in order to introduce key terms and concepts and provide an overview of the research on leadership.

Chapter 3 deals with separately displaying the business and employee management approaches of various management pioneers, distinguishing between early and contemporary pioneers. Each approach is presented in consideration of its key elements, its strengths and opportunities, as well as its weaknesses and limitations.

The fourth chapter, finally, is devoted to developing a holistic and sustainable leadership concept.

2. Fundamentals of Leadership

2.1 Definition of Management / Leadership

According to Bea (2010, p. 23), management is the ‘goal-oriented design of business organizations (= corporate management) or the goal-oriented influencing of persons (= personnel management), respectively‘ ¹.

For Lindinger and Zeisel (2013, p. 4), leadership means ‘to achieve results with people in an inspiring and meaningful environment while further developing oneself, other people, processes, the market, and the business‘². In the view of Sharma and Jain (2013, p. 310), leadership is ‘a process by which a person influences others to accomplish an objective and directs the organization in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent’.

According to Tulowitzki (2014, pp. 49 & 50), the term ‘leadership‘ is often used synonymously with the German word ‘Führung‘. A characteristic feature, Tulowitzki holds, is that in conventional definitions both terms are used to express social and targeted exertion of influence. Exertion of influence can happen indirectly or directly. Indirect exertion of influence occurs through the conscious design of leadership-relevant framework conditions, which include, in particular, corporate culture, corporate strategy, and corporate structure. Direct exertion of influence, meanwhile, is carried out by way of direct, situational, and in many cases individualized communication.

Özbek-Potthoff (2014, p. 4) points out that leadership hinges not only on the person assuming the leading role, but also on those who follow and observe the leader in question. Thus, leadership is a cognitive process in which those being led make a comparison between their ideal image of the leader and their perception of the actual leader. Leadership is frequently equated with management, especially in Germany, where the term ‘Führung‘ is historically burdened. However, such an equation does not do justice to the phenomenon of leadership (Grasselt & Korte 2007, p. 26). For leadership goes beyond conventional business management. While management is focused on solving everyday problems within the predominant system, leadership pertains to designing the system (Matzler et al. 2013, p. 173). As depicted in Table 1 below, management and leadership can be distinguished in the following manner.

Table 1: Distinguishing between Management and Leadership

Management	Leadership
Implementation of agreed outcomes with an optimal use of resources. The future development of the business is considered to be fairly predictable.	Encouragement of employees to deliver and develop their full potential and energy in an effort to achieve certain goals.
The term ‘manager‘ is derived from the Latin word ‘manus‘ (English: hand) and is related to the Italien word ‘maneggiare‘ (English: to manage). Hence, ‘management‘ designates the organizaton, planning, execution, control, and evaluation of working activities and processes.	Leadership is to be understood as a dynamic process which includes such aspects as the following: development and living of values conveying a sense of purpose through communication encouragement and support development of one’s own pesonality
Management is directly focused on work. It is responsible for the work results. Managers produce results.	Leadership is oriented towards employees. Leaders motivate employees and encourage loyalty, trust, and recognition.
The management concept is associated with the myth of feasability. Since everything is considered to be predictable, success is regarded as a logical consequence of correct behavior.	The leadership concept is associated with empowerment of employees. In view of the manifold challenges and changes that are being faced, it is imperative to provide orientation.
‘Managers do things right‘	‘Leaders do the right things’

Source: author’s own illustration based on Köster (2010), p. 101

On the one hand, the management of a company can be carried out by the company owner, as is the case with partnerships in particular. On the other hand, management can occur separately from the owner, such that the roles of executives are assumed by external managers, i.e., by persons who are not part of the community of owners. Such a practice is particularly common in limited companies (Hutzschenreuter 2009, pp. 57 & 58).

2.2 Management Duties

In the relevant literature on business management, a distinction is often made between task-related management (sach- und aufgabenbezogene Führung) and person-related management (personenbezogene Führung). This is done against the backdrop that executives both design working conditions (task orientation) and control qualitative work relations (employee orientation) (Holzträger 2012, p. 137). The distinction between task-related and person-related management is in line with the distinction between management and leadership, which means that task-related management typically corresponds with activities relating to management, whereas person-related management usually corresponds with activities relating to leadership. Equating person-related management with leadership would be inappropriate insofar as person-related management pertains to designing social systems with regard to person-related issues, while leadership is solely focused on the interaction between leaders and those who are led (Göke & Wirkes 2010, pp. 34 & 35).

2.2.1 Task-Related Management

Conventional task-related management includes the planning, organization, and control of activities and processes. Added to this is the assumption of responsibility for outcomes, and the design of the company’s future (Kolb 2010a, p. 410). In doing so, the development of strategies, too, falls within the scope of task-related management. (Kaehler 2014, p. 57). Moreover, another task of executives is to initiate and pursue changes (Kolb 2010a, p. 410). Executive positions in companies are typically characterized by the fact that executives carry out a wide range of tasks, for example within the framework of superordinate projects or with regard to customer loyalty. An executive’s specific tasks are heavily dependent on the executive’s functional activity (e.g., manufacturing, purchasing etc.). What can also be regarded as part of task-related management is the activity of representing the company to external reference groups. (Kaehler 2014, p. 57) It should be noted that almost all decisions that are made by an executive have an impact on employees. Thus, strictly speaking, there are no genuine task-related management functions. (Meifert et al. 2013, p. 30).

2.2.2 Person-Related Management

Person-related management, i.e., employee leadership, always involves at least two individuals – namely, a leader and someone who is led – whose relationship is based on social interaction (relationship of reciprocity) (Schalk 2015, p. 9). Employee leadership frequently happens in terms of direct, personal contact between the superior and the staff. However, employee leadership can also be carried out through instruments and arrangements such as job descriptions, control instruments, or remuneration systems (Meifert et al. 2013, pp. 30 & 31).

Person-related management constitutes a form of exerting social influence on employees’ or employee groups’ needs, attitudes, and behavior. Such influence should not be confused with manipulation or supervision. Rather, its aim is to ensure that employee tasks can be optimally implemented. Employee leadership is based on communication, information exchange, and human interaction (Hungenberg & Wulf 2007, p. 30).

Among the tasks of person-related management are the selection and introduction of employees, communication with the staff, the delegation of tasks, the agreement of targets, as well as the motivation, promotion, and evaluation of employees (Kolb 2010a, p. 410).

In this context, employee motivation is one of the most important tasks of a leader. It allows to actively focus work activities on a target state which is assessed positively. Thus, a characteristic feature or motivation is that a staff member performs actions with the deliberate aim of reaching a state that is of major importance both to him/her and to the company. Here, the leader’s task is to create incentives that have a stimulating effect on employees. However, it should be taken into consideration that the effects of incentives may vary depending on the individual staff member (Lohaus & Habermann 2012, pp. 65 & 66).

Another task area of person-related management is the control and steering of corporate change processes. In order to be able to adapt to the changing socioeconomic framework conditions, companies are faced with the task of applying change management. In this context, leaders often have to make considerable restructuring efforts and changes in direction, and to communicate them to employees. In many cases, employees tend to respond to change processes with resistance. Hence, leaders have the function to deal with those resistances in a constructive and respectful fashion by supporting employees during the change process. What is important is to convince employees of the necessity of changes and, where need be, to actively integrate them in the change process (Frank 2010, p. 71).

It should be added that a great deal of the theoretical fundamentals of employee leadership originate in social science, especially in sociology and psychology (Bea 2010, p. 23).

2.2.3 Self-Leadership

Self-leadership is also partly considered to be falling within the scope of leadership. Hence, the job of leaders is not only to lead employees, but also themselves, although this ultimately involves similar tasks. It is one of the particularities of self-leadership that the leader knows his/her tasks, asks for feedback, and acts in a motivated manner. Self-organization and correspondence too can be regarded as being part of self-leadership, especially in cases where the leader is lacking someone to fulfill secretarial duties (Kaehler 2014, pp. 57 & 58).

According to Zirbik (2013, p. 176), ...

Table of contents

• Table of Contents
• List of Tables
• List of Figures
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Fundamentals of Leadership
• 3. Pioneers of Management
• 4. Developing a Holistic and Sustainable Leadership Concept
• 5. Conclusion
• 6. Bibliography
• Copyright