Communicating with and leading people

Leadership can be described 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. Leaders carry out this process by applying their leadership attributes, such as beliefs, values, ethics, character, knowledge, and skills. " Today, there are three well known leadership styles; Autocratic, Democratic and Laissez Faire.

Autocratic leadership, in simple terms, means that the leader is the boss. Democratic leadership is when a manager consults his staff in the decision making process whereas Laissez-faire approach means 'let it be'. In our case study, we are informed that Peter considers himself to a "people's person" which suggests that he considers himself to be a democratic leader. Democratic leadership is subdivided into two styles; Consultative and Persuasive. It is unclear from the case study which of the two Peter has adopted.

I assume that, with the other staff, who do not give Peter cause for concern, Peter adopts a consultative approach. A democratic approach increases motivation amongst the staff which may in turn make workers feel empowered as they shall feel 'ownership' in the company. However, the downside with Peter adopting this approach is that it could delay the decision making process in the short term but prove beneficial in the long term for the company as the workers shall work hard as they would be receiving attention from their manager .

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However, in the latter part of the case study, we are informed that Peter adopts a Laissez-Faire style of management with some of his staff members which has been giving him a cause for concern. This is not a wise decision as it could result in the staff proving to be more difficult as Peter is not resolving the situation but just trying to shove off his responsibilities as being a manager; it is Peter's duty to control his staff.

Laissez -Faire is more suited to a dynamic environment such as the emergency services, but not in this company where staff are not fulfilling their duties. Furthermore, this approach relies on good team work; I assume that most of the staff of Sure Steel PLC have good team work skills, but a minority of the staff are proving difficult, therefore it is better to use an Autocratic leadership with those staff members. In this instance, Peter should adopt an Autocratic approach which would be more effective as this type of manager has a controlling and strict attitude towards his staff.

In this company, it is apparent that a staff member has been giving grief to the HR director; therefore the staff should be punished for his unwillingness to work (poor attendance record & strict adherence to his normal contracted hours) and the staff should give an explanation to his senior for his absences. However, contrary to the above argument, we could say that it is Peter's duty to lead/coach his team; however, the case study informs us that Peter "... freely admits that he has never particularly warmed to this individual".

This suggests to me that it is Peter's fault for not mentoring his staff as he is leaving their staff on their own; Peter should counsel/support his staff and find out their problems and try to resolve it. This shall not only increase staff motivation and morale, but also prove beneficial for their company in the longer terms through increased revenue/profits through enhanced performance of the staff. The foundations of leading rely on positiveness, vision from the leader and providing encouragement.

However, from the case study it is apparent that Alan is detached from the rest of the team which means that not only is he not being encouraged but Alan lacks positiveness and has not clear vision for the future/direction of the business. 1 B) There could be many reasons for Alan's poor attendance record; however it is important to mention that we are not given any direct 'evidence' as to why his attendance record is poor and therefore we have to make assumptions as to why his attendance is poor.

Initially, we can safely assume that Alan is not motivated which has a knock on effect upon his morale. Alan has been detached from the rest of the team members; according to Abraham Maslow (1943), a theorist, who came up with the theory of hierarchy of needs, says that there are five levels that need to be satisfied in order for a staff to be at its peak performance. The third tier of Maslow, which is love and belonging level, is not being fulfilled and therefore the staff member cannot progress any further in the hierarchy.

Secondly, it could be that the task allocated to Alan may not be challenging; if an employee feels that then work is easy and they are not learning anything new or the work seems to be repetitive, the employee could, linking to the point made above, lack motivation to perform the task required. However, this problem can be resolved arbitrarily, by Alan, through talking to Peter via informal or formal chat. Furthermore, the wage level could be an issue too; Alan may be dissatisfied with his salary and he may be rebelling against the same.

We are informed in the case study that Alan adheres rigidly towards his contracted hours; it could be that Alan is not being paid adequately for overtime. Moreover, I believe that Alan is not clear about the future/direction of the business and does not have targets to work towards; Alan could be lost and does not know what is expected of him and maybe Alan takes absences. We are also informed in the case study, that Alan is not particularly 'fit and healthy'; it could be that Alan is actually ill; he may be suffering from a serious health condition and maybe requires a health check-up to resolve his illness.

Under the Health and Safety Act 1974, the company have legal obligations towards its staff members such as 'duty of care' towards its employees; it could be that Alan could be alcoholic or it could be he may be suffering from a serious health problem; it is vital that the company try to resolve his health problems, if he has any. However I feel that Peter is not fulfilling his duty as a manager; initially Peter is not leading his staff and leaving them on their own ("... Peter adopts a laissez-faire approach with difficult staff"). Instead, Peter should talk to the individual concerned in confidence and try to sort out the issues facing him.

Secondly, there seems to a lack on control from Peter's side; I believe that some staff does not know the targets of the company. Further, I believe that Peter does not possess the skills required for a manager; discipline and communication gap seem to be a problem for Sure Steel PLC. There seems to be little or no communication between Peter and Alan which I would blame upon Peter as it is primarily his duty to reflect upon the progress of his staff. It is said that managers should do things right whereas the management should do the right things.

There are four main responsibilities of a manager; Planning, Organising, Leading & Control. In the case study, we are informed that Peter hasn't particularly warmed towards this individual (Alan); therefore it suggests that Peter doesn't measure the actual performance or compare Alan's performance towards a benchmark standard. However, I feel there is a lack of vision/benchmark in this company. The latter two don't seem to correlate to Peter's leadership style; there seems to be a lack of leadership and control from Peter's side which shows that Peter is not fulfilling his role as a manager.

The initial two, we are not informed in the case study, whether Peter fulfils or not so we cannot make an accurate decision as to whether he does plan and organise the structure of the organisation. Lastly, Peter freely admits that Alan is "... the only person in the HR department with extensive and detailed knowledge of health and safety employment law". This suggests to me that, Peter is frightened as he cannot dismiss Alan as he is the one with extensive knowledge. However, what Peter should do, is immediately send other members of his HR department on a training programme/course to resolve this problem.

References

1. www. med. umich. edu/csp/Course%20materials/Fall%202005/Thorson_What%20is%20Leadership. ppt

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