Managerial leadership

RESEARCH STARTERS ACADEMIC TOPIC OVERVIEWS

Managerial Leadership Management > Managerial Leadership Table of Contents Abstract Overview Managerial Skills Managerial Functions

Applications Indicators of Successful Management Importance of Core Values & Ethics Creating a Successful Environment Making Employees Matter Evaluating & Responding to Results

Viewpoints Measuring Quantitative & Qualitative Results Jack Welch of GE on Successful Leadership

Conclusion Terms & Concepts Bibliography Suggested Reading

Abstract This paper will provide an overview of the necessary qualities of effective management and discuss how adhering to core values and maintaining standards of ethical conduct are necessary to achieve managerial leadership. There are certain necessary qualities for effective management. Managers need to have strong organization skills, the ability to communicate, and the capacity to make decisions. These skills are essential for effective man-

agement whether one is managing a small business, a division within a company, or has oversight responsibility for a group in any other work environment. However, truly successful managing requires a business owner or a manager to go beyond these basic skill sets in order to set a higher standard of quality. In order to accomplish this, managers need to lead. Moreover, managerial leadership requires that a manager adhere to certain core values and standards of ethical conduct.

Overview Managerial Skills Regardless of the type of business or work situation, a successful enterprise requires effective management. There are certain basic skill sets that managers must have in order to be effective.

• First, a manager must be highly organized. This means

that they need to manage their time efficiently, prioritize their responsibilities and assume responsibility for the workflow of the group by delegating expediently.

• In order to delegate, a manager must also be able to com-

municate effectively. Successful communication requires a manager to speak and write clearly as well as to listen intently. In fact, listening is probably one of the more important abilities a manager must have to communicate effectively. This is because managers need to have a clear understanding of the group and what people can and cannot do. The best managers are those that recognize people's capabilities so that they delegate responsibilities effectively. In short, employees should be put into positions where they are most likely to fulfill their duties successfully. By having strong communication skills, a manager will be able to delegate, and to act decisively (Ramona, Emanoil & Lucia, 2012).

• Being able to make decisions, whether popular or unpopular, also lends itself to a successful leadership situation.

Essentially, having a successful business, agency or other enterprise requires having effective managers. Effective managers need to have strong organizational, communication and decision-making skills. More than this, successful managers must be capable of leading.

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​​​Managerial Leadership​

Managerial Functions In order to lead, a manager must first master the basic functions of management. In his article, Justice Walton (2005) states that there are four functions of management:

• Short and Long Term Planning.

• Organizing a line or staff.

• Directing (taking charge of a department or organization and controlling).

• Implementing various techniques for managerial control.

Managers are supposed to delegate duties, not perform those duties. Moreover, a manager usually has the responsibility of choosing the people that will be doing the work. This means that the manager is in charge of hiring, firing, training and disciplining employees. Because of this, managers are also responsible for the work that the group performs. To ensure that the group is meeting consistent standards of quality, a manager must be able to motivate people and provide them with a sense of accomplishment. This means that managers need to communicate the big picture to employees by linking their role to the enterprise's main function.

One factor that determines how a manager will perform these functions is his or her personality. A person's temperament, character and personality are directly related to how he or she will not only manage, but also lead. Another important factor is a manager’s emotional intelligence (Boyatzis, Good & Massa, 2012; Davis, 2011). There are certain traits that allow one to be an effective leader. Leaders must be able to work with others and show employees that their role does make a difference. To do this, managers must be positive thinkers and perform their role with energy. In so doing, they will instill energy in the team.

Some of the traits that will enable a manager to lead include integrity, pride, sincerity, curiosity, passion and courage (Walton 2005). These traits will be further discussed elsewhere in this article.

Applications Indicators of Successful Management There are ways to determine if a company or enterprise is being successfully managed. Success usually manifests itself in results and this normally is reflected by financial outcomes, such as profit in a sales organization. This can also be reflected by number outcomes in an educational setting - such as the test scores of a particular grade level or the percentage of students graduating in a school district. Such results are also referred to as quantitative results and while these are important, there are also other results that need to be reviewed: qualitative results. These results can be reflected in a business enterprise by employee satisfaction, customer satisfaction, quality control, customer retention, and employee retention. Charles Kerns contends that there are six dimensions of quality results: (i) results need to be

values driven, (ii) results should be grounded in ethical behavior, (iii) results must be related to the overall purpose of the entity, (iv) results need to be geared toward learning, (v) results must be able to be measured, and (vi) results need to provide a balanced perspective - both quantitative and qualitative, in determining the success of the enterprise (Kerns 2005).

Importance of Core Values & Ethics It is becoming more evident that the success of businesses, educational institutions, hospitals, healthcare providers, not for profit organizations, government agencies, and any other group dynamic where people are working toward a common goal is directly related to the entity's values. This is reflected in both quantitative and qualitative results. A sales enterprise that is lacking a core set of values may be able to sustain itself in the short run, but at the end of the day, its long-term success will be the result of actions that are rooted in a set of core values. Adhering to a set of values lends itself to actions that are constructive and ethical.

Since values are directly related to the long-term success of an enterprise, these values must first be identified and then become part of the entity's basic function. There should also be a means to ensure that these values are adhered to over time. In order for a manager to achieve this, he or she must follow those values.

In so doing, managers set an example for the group and thereby gain credibility.

Once a set of core values has been established, the attitudes and behaviors that arise should be grounded in ethical behavior. Ethics has become a buzzword in the wake of the financial accounting scandals that arose not so long ago (for companies like ENRON), but ethical behavior in the long run will enable an organization to sustain qualitative and quantitative results. It is ultimately the responsibility of managerial leaders to adhere to standards of ethical conduct. A manager can lead the way by being truthful, having integrity, extending kindness, treating staffers with fairness, taking responsibility for his or her actions, and for the performance of the group, and finally treating others with respect. In the end, a leader must have integrity and his or her effectiveness and leadership will be affected by whether the staff believes in a manager's integrity.

Creating a Successful Environment In addition to adhering to a set of values and acting ethically, a leader must be able to link the results of the enterprise and its people to the organization's purpose. According to Kerns (2005), "without a positive connection between work and organizational purpose - what we do each day becomes less meaningful."

Making Employees Matter This simply means that people need to believe that what they are doing has meaning and that their role makes a difference.

In a sales organization, sales people can clearly see this link.

But what of the operations personnel - the accountants, customer service reps, and clerical staff? At times, people serving these

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basic but vital functions tend to lose sight of the big picture; after all, the sales people who are successful and receive the most commissions usually are compensated at a higher level than the operations personnel. In order to ensure that they continue to achieve quality results, an operations manager must be able to remind his or her staff how their functions are connected to the overall success of the business, and this can only happen if the manager has mastered one of the basic skills mentioned earlier: the ability to communicate.

A manager can only be successful at connecting a team's work to the larger purpose of the organization if he or she can communicate and thereby create an environment that people believe is a good place to work. Not only must a leader ensure that the people he or she is responsible for managing believe their role is important, a leader can also ensure the quality of a team's performance by putting team members in situations where they can learn. There are a number of ways to accomplish this. First a leader must ensure that he has hired the right people to do the job.

Once the right people are in place, the manager is responsible for ensuring that people learn the functions required to perform that role. But what happens when an employee has mastered that role? If employees stop learning they become stagnant. One way to prevent this is for the manager to cross-train his or her team members so that they perform a variety of roles.

Evaluating & Responding to Results While it is clear that quantitative results can be measured in numbers such as profits for a sales organization or numbers of students in a graduating class, qualitative results must also be measured. This can be achieved by incorporating the aforementioned values and ethical behaviors into the basic functions of the enterprise and into roles and responsibilities of the employees. If a manager has mastered the organizational skills that allow him or her to establish priorities, has communicated these priorities to staff members, and then ensures that these priorities are being fulfilled by providing people with consistent feedback, he or she can then make necessary decisions such as rewarding, firing or disciplining people. At the end of the day, it is the manager's job to determine annual pay raises, bonuses and promotions, and these can be difficult decisions to make. Even harder than rewards, though, comes the responsibility of doling out punishment.

At times, employees in a particular group or a division of a large corporation may not be meeting the objectives and goals to achieve the organization's purpose. In such times, the manager must make the tough decision to discipline certain individuals or even to close entire divisions. In the case of the former, the values of fairness and respect come directly into play. If an employee is treated fairly in a situation that requires disciplinary action, and if they are also treated with respect, the decision and actions required will be handled more effectively. In a situation where an entire division of a company is closed, a leader must ensure that the decision was based on a valid reason and that the action will ensure the long term profitability of the entity. Not

everyone can make these tough calls and they go beyond the basic skill sets required for effective managing; such decisions require managerial leadership.

Viewpoints Measuring Quantitative & Qualitative Results Quantitative and qualitative results must be balanced, and they must be monitored in a number of areas. These include financial (profits and other similar results), customer satisfaction (easily measured through a strong orientation to customer service) and internal business purposes (linking the role of each group and the people in each group to the entity's overall purpose and potential for learning and growth) (Kerns 2005).

These measurements are ultimately the responsibility of the manager, and in order to effectively assume that responsibility, the manager must master the basic organizational, communication and decision-making skills required of the position. Beyond this, a manager must have the ability to lead. Leadership requires that a manager have certain core values and to act in a way that is ethical. This will encourage others to act ethically as well.

By encouraging others to act ethically and in adherence to the organization's core values, a manager will have greater success linking a group's or individual's performance to the business entity's purpose. This can only happen if a manger has integrity.

There are other leadership traits such as courage, pride, sincerity, vision, passion, curiosity and daring. These are not theoretical notions and many successful businesses, education and other leaders have spoken and written extensively about such leadership traits.

Jack Welch of GE on Successful Leadership One such leader is Jack Welch, the former CEO of General Electric Corporation. In his book, "Winning," Welch elucidates on the very matters discussed in this paper. His long and successful tenure at GE offers a clear and distinct path toward managerial leadership.

Welch contends that before becoming a leader, an individual's success in an organization is about self-development. Becoming a leader changes the focus from growing oneself to growing others. When one becomes a manager, one becomes responsible for other people, and because of this responsibility, a manager must go beyond basic functions of managing and become a leader. This requires a manager to "resolve problems, assume responsibility, offer valid criticism, and set an example by pursuing high quality and acting with integrity" (Welch 2005).

There are a number of ways for a leader to pursue high quality, and for Welch, a leader must emanate positive energy. In addition to this, a leader must also be optimistic. "An upbeat manager that goes through the day with a positive outlook ends up running a team or organization filled with upbeat people" (Welch 2005).

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In order to have successful managerial leadership, people in positions of authority must also have the trait of courage. This trait rises from being able to make decisions. These decisions are all centered on ensuring that the organization is fulfilling its purpose. At times, this requires an organization to take risks, and ultimately someone is responsible for making those decisions.

As Welch states, "Winning companies embrace risk taking and learning this requires freely admitting mistakes..." (Welch 2005).

In order to make those decisions and to get people to act in a way that will bring about that vision a leader must also have sincerity. People need to be able to trust managers (i.e., leaders) and in order to trust them; people need to believe that leaders have integrity. The way for a leader to establish his or her integrity is to be trustworthy. In turn, the way for a leader to establish trust is by being open and honest. Being candid means that a leader communicates in a way that people know where they stand in terms of their performance. People also need to know how the business is doing. If things are going well, people need to know that their efforts contributed to the organization's success. Accordingly, another way to establish trust is for a leader to credit people for their efforts.

By giving credit when appropriate, people are filled with a sense of pride, and this is another trait necessary for managerial leadership. Not only must a manager take pride is his role, and the goal of the entity, he or she must also take pride in the success of others. One way to ensure this is by having vision. It is the responsibility of the leader to determine the team's vision and bring it to fruition. "The mission must be specific to the company's vision, and the mission in business is to win" (Welch 2005).

To get people to share the vision, a manager must also have passion. Passion is not only a necessary ingredient for attaining managerial leadership. Passion is essential to being successful in any endeavor. This is seen in people who are excited about their work. One way to get people to be passionate about their work is by linking their efforts to the overall purpose of the organization, and it is the leader's responsibility to bring forth this passion by manifesting positive energy. In the end, though, passion comes from within.

Not only does managerial leadership require passion, a leader must have a great deal of curiosity. A leader's job is not to have all the answers, but rather, it is a leader's responsibility to have all the questions. Not only must a leader have all the questions, the questions must engender open and honest debate. Finally a leader needs to ensure that the questions he or she raises will result in effective action. Questions must lead to results and sometimes those results may not be what were originally intended. Because of this, another trait essential to leadership is daring. A leader must be willing to face confrontations that may arise from his or her passion, curiosity and tough decisions. A leader must also be able to resolve those conflicts. In these instances, a leader will be more inclined to be successful if they adhere to a core set of values and establish trust by conducting themselves ethically.

Conclusion There are certain fundamental skills required for effective management. Included in these skills are organizational, communication and decision-making skills. These skills are necessary in order to fulfill the four basic functions of management and these are short and long-term planning, organizing a line or staff, directing (taking charge of a department or organization and controlling), and implementing various techniques for managerial control. Whether an organization is being managed successfully will be reflected in results. There are two types of results, quantitative and qualitative. Quantitative results are normally evidenced by financial outcomes. Qualitative results, on the other hand, can be measured in a number of other ways. Included in those measurements are that results need to be values driven, and that results should be grounded in ethical behavior. Ultimately, the person responsible for these results is the manager. And so not only must a manager have basic skill sets to ensure that the basic functions of management are being fulfilled, a manager must go further and become a leader.

Managerial leadership requires managers to have certain traits, especially integrity. A leader that has integrity will ensure that the business entity's results are values driven, will conduct himself or herself ethically, and in so doing engender the trust of the people under the manager's direction. In the end, that trust will manifest itself in the purpose or goals of the enterprise.

Terms & Concepts Core Values: The fundamental beliefs and purpose of an organi-

zation and its management.

Ethical Conduct: The actions and behavior of managers rooted

in their values and the values of the organization.

Leadership Traits: The traits or characteristics of a manager's

personality that will enable him or her to become a leader. The traits include integrity, pride, sincerity, curiosity, passion and courage.

Management: There are four functions of management: (i)

Short and Long Term Planning, (ii) Organizing a line or staff, (iii) Directing (taking charge of a department or organization and controlling), and (iv) Implementing various techniques for managerial control.

Managerial Leadership: The ability of managers to master the

main functions of management and to lead an organization or group by adhering to core values and ensuring that their actions and behaviors are ethical.

Organizational Purpose: The reason that a business or any orga-

nization exists, whether to provide goods or services, and the way in which that purpose is achieved.

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Quantitative Results: Results that can be measured or reflected

by numbers such as sales figures, profits and percentages.

Qualitative Results: Results that are measured by values, ethical

behavior, organizational purpose, and learning.

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Retrieved on November 20, 2013, from EBSCO Online Database Business Source Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=62425079 &site=ehost-live Kerns, C. D. (2005). Are all results created equal? Auditing organizational outcomes for quality. Total Quality Management, 16 (7), 827-840,. Retrieved December 11, 2006, from Business Source Premier (18363733). http:// search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&A N=18363733&site=ehost-live Ramona, T., Emanoil, M., & Lucia, F. (2012). Reflections on managerial communication. Studies in Business &

Economics, 7(1), 153-159. Retrieved on November 20, 2013, from EBSCO Online Database Business Source Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=t rue&db=bth&AN=82591342&site=ehost-live Sprier, S. W., Fontaine, M. H. & Malloy, R. L. (2006).

Leadership run amok. Harvard Business Review,84(6), 72-82. Retrieved December 11, 2006, from Business Source Premier (20773198). http://search.ebscohost.com/ login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=20773198&site=eh ost-live Walton, J. (2005). Searching for managerial lesdership skills along the yellow brick road. Healthcare Purchasing News, 29 (8), 60. Retrieved December 11, 2006, from Business Source Premier (17831943). http://search.ebscohost.com/ login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=17831943&site=eh ost-live Welch, J., Welch S. (2005). Winning. New York: Harper Business/An Imprint of HarperCollins.

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Covey, S. (1989). The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.

New York: Simon & Schuster.

Guliani, R.W. (2002). Leadership. New York: Miramax Books/ Hyperion.

Mckee, A., Johnston, F. & Massimilian R. (2006).

Mindfulness, hope and compassion: a leader's road map to renewal. Ivey Business Journal, 70 (5), 1-5. Retrieved December 11, 2006, from Business Source Premier (21102970). http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct= true&db=bth&AN=19511337&site=ehost-live

Edited by Richa S. Tiwary, Ph.D., MLS Dr. Richa S. Tiwary holds a Doctorate in Marketing Management with a specialization in Consumer Behavior from Banaras Hindu University, India. She earned her second Masters in Library Sciences with dual concentration in Information Science & Technology, and, Library Information Services, from the Department of Information Studies, University at Albany-SUNY.

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