Situational Approach to Leadership

Question 1: The Four Functions of Management 

The four primary functions of management are planning, leading, organizing and controlling. These functions are not mutually exclusive as they are integrated both in nature and practice within the entire scope of management. This creates the concept of functional interdependence since one function cannot exist or flourish without the other. Further, there ought to be a form of balance between all the functions to enable practical integration in the day to day running of an organization (Nelson, 2011) . The function of planning relates to a future element of the organization be it immediate or distant. For an organization to run properly, it ought to have future goals that have been broken down to comprehensive objectives. These objectives should both have a scope and a timeframe. Based on the timeframes, the objectives will turn into duties and activities. The planning process on management entails the entire process from setting up the goals to planning for the minute duties and functionality prior to their undertaking. 

Leading mainly involves the human resource aspect of the company and relates to the provision of guidance and direction. People are an integral aspect of any organization and when the objectives are reduced into duties and activities, these have to be carried out to some extent by human beings, mainly employees. Humans need to be shown what to do, how to do it and also to be motivated to want to do it. This is leadership. Organization entails bringing the different aspects of carrying out the duties and activities to fulfill the goals into harmony. These may include the different departments or even the external and internal factors. Finally, control entails the important function of monitoring and evaluation. This means ensuring that all the aspects of the organization are geared towards the accomplishment of the goals through proper and timely adherence of the objective. Monitoring and evaluation also mean continually amending the operation procedures whenever necessary to achieve the said goals (Nelson, 2011) . 

Question 2: Differences between a Manager and Management, as well as management levels 

Management is a process through which an organization is administered. It includes systems, concepts, and theories that have been developed over time and used to ensure the best administration practices for different organizations. It is also under management that the positive and negative attributes of the administrative functions lie. Management entails the capacity and capability of taking the entirety of the resources available to an organization the focusing them on achieving the goals of the organizations . A manager is an individual who is tasked with the obligation of management as defined above or a specific section thereof. Normally, a manager will be tasked with a specific level of management or with the superintendence of the managers upon which the aforesaid tasks have been bequeathed (Mirela, 2016) . 

The concept of a manager who is in charge of other managers introduces the concept of management levels and the managers who operate under these levels. The first type of a manager is the First/Front Line-Level Managers. This is essentially involved in the leadership aspect of management which entails direct contact with the members of staff carrying out the duties and activities of the company. Their main obligation is to ensure that the human element of the company is motivated and controlled to adhere to the plans made to achieve the goals of the organization. Middle-Level Managers are the second tier managers and can be considered as those who manage the first line managers. These managers’ main obligation is coordination to ensure that the different departments and/or production segments act in harmony. Top-Level Managers are on the highest levels and can be called managers of the middle-level managers (Mirela, 2016) . Their main obligations are limited to planning and overall superintendence of the organization to ensure that the plans are achieved as initially made. The three levels include different managers but all fall under management which is essentially one element. 

Question 3: Leadership versus Management 

Mathematicians say that a square is a rhombus but a rhombus is not necessarily a square. This statement is an excellent euphemism for the relationship between leadership and management. Management is all inclusive and also includes an element of leadership. However, management is limited to skills, knowledge, and systems. A good manager knows what needs to be done, how it should be done and how to superintend the process and ensure that the plan is accomplished accurately. All these processes require skills and understanding. Leadership, on the other hand, is limited to the superintendence of individuals mostly reduced into groups. Leadership is the capacity and ability to cause a group of individuals undertake an obligation in the right way and also be motivated to undertake it. Several management skills are necessary for proper leadership such as the ability to coordinate and also supervise (Răducan & Răducan, 2014) . 

However, there are aspects of leadership that rise above skill and understanding such a charisma. A good example of charisma lies in communication abilities. Communication from the perspective of management entails passing on of information to employees in a way that they understand properly thus will adhere to it. Under leadership, however, understanding and adherence are basic attributes of communication. Good leaders will seek to use charisma to communicate in a way that inspires and motivates the audience. This creates a manifest practical difference between leadership and communication. Other attributes of leadership that are absent in management include an understanding of human dynamics, honesty, and empathy (Răducan & Răducan, 2014) . Finally, management is a one-way affair and entails the acts of the manager towards the aspects being managed. Effective leadership is, however, two-way and entails both leadership and followership. Therefore, good leadership can only be measured through results. 

Question 4: Situational Approach to Leadership 

The situational approach to leadership is based on the concept that leadership is dynamic thus its styles and approaches ought to change in line with the situation that requires the said leadership. It was developed by Hersey and Blanchard in 1969 and based on the 3-D management style theory. The aforesaid situation has two main dynamic dimensions. The first is the task at hand. Some tasks are easy, others structured and others well-articulated which makes their performance relatively simple. Yet other tasks are complex, not properly articulated or having a high propensity for unexpected outcomes which makes them sensitive and hard to accomplish. The second dynamic dimension is the team which falls under the leadership of the leader. The competence of the team will vary depending both on the team and the task at hand. The said competence includes capability, motivation, and cohesion (MacCleskey, 2014) . The combination of the nature of the task and the relative competence of the team determines which among the four leadership styles under situational leadership the leader will use. 

The first style is telling/directing, which happens when the task is at hand and the team has low competence at the same time. The leader will, therefore, be forced to actively participate in the carrying out of the task and giving directions to the team during the active undertaking of the task. The second style is the selling or coaching approach that takes place when the task is onerous but the team is also competent and c lose to the leader. The leader will focus more on the team than the task and guide the team in accomplishing the task at hand. The third approach is the participating or supporting approach. This happens when the team is competent and the task is not very onerous. The manager allows the team to play a leadership role by sharing in the decision-making process. The final approach is the delegating and takes place when the team is competent and motivated enough to handle the task on its own. The leader will share the task with the team and encourage members to be innovative in carrying it out (MacCleskey, 2014) . 

References 

McCleskey, J. A. (2014). Situational, transformational, and transactional leadership and leadership development.  Journal of Business Studies Quarterly ,  5 (4), 117 

Mirela, B. (2016). Comparative analysis between the managerial style of upper and lower level managers. Annals Of The University Of Oradea, Economic Science Series , 25 (2), 497-503 

Nelson, W. D. (2011). Advances in Business and Management . New York: Nova Science Publishers 

Răducan, R., & Răducan, R. (2014). Leadership and Management.  Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences ,  149 , 808-812