Leadership and management

Economic and management sciences

Grade 7

Successful management sciences

Module 4

Leadership and management

• A leader is someone with a talent for leading others. He walks ahead; he must point the way and move in the right direction.

• A manager is the leader of a business. Apart from guiding his colleagues, he makes important decisions to steer the company’s future.

Basically a leader and a manager fulfil the same functions as the captain of a rugby or netball team. Those in leading positions want to lead a winning team, and they realise that they are largely responsible for their team’s success.

Activity 1:

To identify leaders of “teams”

[lo 3.1]

What do we call the following persons?

• The manager of a school
• The manager of a church
• The manager of a hospital
• The manager of a police station
• The manager of a ship

The need for a manager

One of most important functions of a manager of any concern is to manage peopl e. Every year thousands of people from rural areas flock to the cities to find jobs. Most of them are unschooled workers. In other words, they have no training. The utilisation of the workforce should be free from discrimination. All workers must be treated as human beings, enjoying the necessary training and encouragement.

Managers in South Africa face enormous responsibilities. They have to make the right decisions and act responsibly to ensure economic growth and create work opportunities. One of a manager’s main tasks is to manage his staff, and especially to motivate them to be more productive. The manager must also motivate workers to achieve certain goals in the workplace.

A. Management styles

Every manager has a particular management style or approach to his work. There are basically three management theories:

1. The traditional theory

A worker has tried to solve a certain problem on his own, but he was not successful.

When the manager took him to task for this, the worker defended himself, saying: “But I thought…”, upon which the manager barked at him: “You mustn’t think – you must do as I say.”

This approach is typical of a manager who believes in the traditional theory.

1. The human relations theory

This theory is based on the idea the workers are motivated if they are treated well.

Amenities such as tennis courts, a swimming-pool, a squash court, pool tables, etc. are made available, for the manager believes that those who play together, will also work together efficiently.

1. The theory of utilizing human potential

In this case the utilization of the workforce is a more important factor than the way they are treated. The manager encourages workers to think for themselves and solve their own work-related problems.

Question

Which theory will be the most effective to increase the workers’ productivity?

The most common theory applied by most South African companies is the traditional theory on lower management level, and the utilization of human potential on the top management level.

If workers are lazy, only interested in money, and unable to think for themselves, the traditional theory would undoubtedly be the most effective approach.

However, if workers enjoy their jobs, are keen to prove themselves and are intelligent, the theory of utilizing human potential will reap the best results.

Activity 2:

To determine which management style should be applied

[lo 3.2]

Each management style is determined by the manager’s view of his workers. Write down only the corresponding numbers in the column below the appropriate heading.

1. Workers are lazy by nature, therefore they will avoid working if they can.
2. Workers want to be treated as human beings.
3. Workers enjoy hard work if they see that they have achieved something worthwhile.
4. Workers will do nothing without extra pay.
5. Workers’ social needs are just as important as their financial needs.
6. Workers prefer to be left to themselves so that they can show the boss how good they are.
7. Workers will rather leave it to the manager to solve problems, so that somebody else can be blamed if something goes wrong.
8. Workers are people who want to be noticed.
9. The manager may not think that the members of his staff are important, but he will at least try to make them feel important.
10. Workers will plan the work themselves and check to see if it has been done properly.
11. The manager will encourage workers to show initiative and trust them to carry on with their work.
12. Workers cannot think for themselves, due to insufficient education/training/experience.

Assessment

Memorandum

The purpose of these pages is to provide the learner with sufficient knowledge to understand the key principles of successful businesses. You will have noticed that there is no assignment with which to assess this knowledge. As a result it is suggested that the teacher conduct a learning discussion with the learners during which specific questions are set to them.