Leadership and Management in Organizational Efficiency

Executive Summary

Operations and management in business are referred to the business administration practices for creating the highest level of efficiency that is possible within the organisation. Southbank Centre is leading complex artistic venues present in London, England which is located on the bank of River Thames. The place consists of three main performance venues which are the Saison Poetry Library, the Purcell Room and Queen Elizabeth Hall along with the Hayward Gallery that is the largest art centre in Europe. The Southbank Centre follows hierarchical organisation structure which means that there are different authoritarian levels in the organisation with singular or a group of people positioned with power at the top and the subsequent levels involved individuals who have power beneath them. This report is framed on the basis of Southbank Centre where the role of leader and function of the managers from the organisation is to be differentiated and compared to be discussed. The examples regarding the role of leader and function of the manager are to be discussed along with theories and models of leadership and management are to be differentiated and explained. For more detailed insights, you can explore our offerings in business dissertation help.

Introduction

In business, operations and management are referred to the administration practices for creating the best level of efficiency that is possible in the organisation. The operations and management in business are concerned with managing and converting labour and raw materials to goods and services in an efficient way to improve the organisation’s profit. The managers and leaders within the organisation have the function and role in the management and operation of services and goods. In this report, the overview and organisation structure of the Southbank Centre is to be explained along with the role and function of leader and manager is to be differentiated and compared to be discussed. The examples regarding the role of leader as well as the function of the manager are to be discussed along with theories and models of leadership and management are to be differentiated and explained.

Overview of the Southbank Centre

Southbank Centre is the leading complex artistic venues present in London, England which is located on the bank of River Thames. The place consists of three main performance venues which are the Saison Poetry Library, the Purcell Room and Queen Elizabeth Hall along with the Hayward Gallery that is the largest art centre in Europe. The Southbank Centre was opened in 1st may 1951 and it allows more than 2000 paid performances of music, literature and dances each year. The centre allows great cultural and art experiences to the people by allowing many individuals to come together to perform and interact with the public at large (southbankcentre.co.uk, 2020).

Organisational Structure of Southbank Centre

The Southbank Centre follows hierarchical organisation structure which means that there are different authoritarian levels in the organisation with singular or a group of people positioned with power at the top and the subsequent levels involved individuals who have power beneath them (southbankcentre.co.uk, 2020a). The advantage of using hierarchical organisation structure by Southbank Centre is that it allows them to deliver clear chain of commands, ensure flexibility at work, allow effective communication establishment and maintain diversity within the organisation.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Southbank Centre is Elaine Bedell. The Board of Governors includes Susan Gilchrist as the Chairman and David Kershaw as the Deputy Chairman. The other members present in the Board include Michael Hussey, Luke Mayhew, Cornelius Medvei, Sir William Sargent, Dr Maggie Semple OBE and Michael Zaoui (southbankcentre.co.uk, 2020a).

LO1

P1 Definition and comparison of different roles and characteristics of manager and leader

The leader is referred to the person who has the role to motivate group of people for making them work in a unidirectional manner to achieve the common goal set for them to ensure meeting the needs of the organisation for their successful business (Lechner et al. 2018). However, Manager is referred to the person who has the expertise to control and administer a group of staffs by working along them to ensure the employees remain devoted to their work in an optimal manner to fulfil and reach the determined goal mentioned by the organisation (Ellis et al. 2017).

Analysis and differentiating between the role of manager and leader by using theories (M1, D1)

The Great Man Theory of Leadership informs that the role of the leader is to ensure the goal set by them is accomplished by their followers among all odds in the organisation (Spector, 2016). This informs that the theory indicates leaders have the role to create vision and communicate it to all individuals within the organisation to make them understand and get informed regarding the way to work to accomplish goals. In addition, it also indicates leaders have the role to motivate its subordinates and followers to work towards achieving the goal of making them inspired to accomplish it through all odds (Mouton, 2019). The Trait theory of leadership mentions that role of the leaders is to have adequate knowledge regarding the business, initiative to take actions, make proper decision, showcase emotional intelligence along with confidence, show honesty and integrity, be flexible and charismatic. This is because leaders being able to take proper decision would be able to effectively direct and motivate employees as they have information regarding the way work has to be progressed. In addition, leaders required to be knowledgeable regarding the business so that they can determine where changes and innovation are to be made so that better productivity of the organisation can be assured (Wyatt and Silvester, 2018). Thus, the two theories mention that the role of the leaders is to make proper decisions, showcase emotional intelligence, develop vision to ensure the goal is achieved even through all odds and others.

The Taylor’s Scientific Management theory informs that a manager has the function to use scientific method for determining the most effective way of executing a task within the workplace rather than relying on making judgements on the discretion of the workers (Su, 2017). This is because the discretion of the workers may be influenced by their actions and perspectives that may not be related with the work in the organisation and using scientific methods would result the manager to make the proper decision-based in evidence. Taylor's theory mentions the manager has the function to breakdown workplace tasks into small sequential steps and they are to assign each worker based on their ability the job to be executed. The managers also have the function to train employees and supervise at work to ensure they are able to execute the work with efficiency (Holmes, 2016). This is because effective breakdown of tasks into smaller steps would lower the burden of work on single worker and proper training as well as supervision by the managers would lead the workers to have updated skills and expertise in performing the allocated task to meet the determined objectives of the organisation. Thus, the scientific theory of Taylor mentions that the manager has the function to use scientific methods in directing employees and is to breakdown tasks to share the job among employees for it to be accomplished.

The Fayol’s Theory informs that managers have six key functions to be executed that are forecasting, planning, organising, commanding, coordinating and controlling (Hatchuel and Segrestin, 2019). The forecasting is required by the managers to determine the way current actions are going to lead to future events to determine the most effective way of executing work so that minimum risk is experienced. The planning is to be done by managers to determine the steps to be followed along with resources to be required to accomplish tasks by the employees. The organisation is another key function of the manager to ensure the smooth flow of work is ensured. The managers are to effectively command, coordinate and control to make their subordinates achieve goals of the organisation (Godwin et al. 2017). Thus, it informs that manager has the role to forecast, plan, organise, command, coordinate and control the subordinates so that the objectives and goals mentioned by the leaders are effectively achieved.

LO2

P2 Examining examples regarding the function of manager and role of leader (M2, D1)

The role of the leaders is to determine what nature of changes required in the organisation to ensure the image and productivity of the organisation is promoted (O'Riordan et al. 2018). In the current condition, it is seen that most of the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) people along with disabled people in the UK are under-represented in all nature of workforce which has lead them to remain discriminated in the society. The leaders have understood the situation and therefore ensured that changes within the organisations are to be made so that all nature of people from BAME communities along with the disabled people who meet the minimum criteria to work in the organisation are recruited and provided employment (southbankcentre.co.uk, 2020e). This was an effective role played by the leaders in Southbank Centre as it led them to promote diversified work environment within the organisation as well as play an active part in promoting the backward people of the society in the UK. It is going to positively impact their business reputation in the UK as well as overseas as providing opportunity for employment to under-represented and discriminated people is regarded as the social responsibility of the organisations. Therefore, it can ensure that the leaders at Southbank Centre played an effective leadership role to built better image of the organisation.

The managers have the function to minimise risk within the organisation so that business goals can be achieved (Ellis et al. 2017). In Southbank Centre, it is seen that managers ensure risk within the organisation is effectively controlled and managed so that any unavoidable incidents can be prevented. In this respect, the managers at Southbank Centre have developed safeguarding policy to be followed so that any abuse of harm to the trustees, employees, contractors, artists, freelancers and others related with the organisation can be avoided. In addition, the managers have also ensured safety devices to be installed along with bag checking devices during events to avoid any incidences. Moreover, the managers ensure the review regarding their safety management is accessed from employees and visitors so that effective changes can be made accordingly to lower risk or accidents (southbankcentre.co.uk, 2020d). This indicates that the effective role of security assurance is made by the managers at Southbank Centre to perform their function to minimise risk within the organisation.

P3 Applying different theories and models of leadership and managerial approaches (M2, D1)

The System Leadership is referred to the approach in which the leaders in the organisation have to create conditions where employees and individuals at all level of the organisation are able to work to the extent of their potential in a productive manner (Macdonald et al. 2018). This means that being a system leader at Southbank Centre they have to provide opportunity and workplace facility along with manage resources for the employees in such a way so that the individuals feel free and motivated to act to the best of their ability to work within the organisation. The strength of system leadership is that it helps the leaders to predict the behaviour of the employees, in turn, making them determine the tools to be made available to ensure proper work productivity is established (Boylan, 2018). The strength of system leadership is that it helps the leaders to identify the way to coach the employees so that they have better ability to fulfil the purpose of the organisation (Boylan, 2018). The weakness of system leadership is that the approach may not be practical in making effective decisions by the leaders thus creating delay in work (Gurr and Drysdale, 2018).

The Situational Leadership informs that the manager or leaders within the organisation are to adjust their style of management or leadership according to the developmental level of the followers the person is trying to influence (Perna, 2016). Thus, it informs that system leaders are those who have the ability to change their leadership style according to the situation to suit the needs of the organisation. The strength of situational leadership is that it helps the leaders to remain flexible at all times which allows them to avoid insisting on binding to specific rules for directing the followers (Trevisol et al. 2019). The other strength of situational leadership includes it allows the leaders to develop a comfortable work environment for the follower as the leadership style are suited according to their needs and boosts the training routine along with ensures better working as a team (Nawaz and Khan, 2016). Thus, situational leaders in Southbank Centre would remain aware of the continuous changes in leadership they have to make to ensure team members and followers to be able to work productively. The weakness of situational leadership is that it allows immediate needs to be resolved and long-term needs are ignored and establish a task-oriented work environment (Bosse et al. 2017). Thus, following this theory would make leaders at Southbank Centre to be able to manage the current situation but would make them unable to meet the long-term needs of the organisation.

The Contingency Leadership theory informs that there is no single best style of leadership which the leaders can use and based on the situation the leadership style that matches has to be chosen by the leaders to act in directing their followers. This is because leaders are found to act efficiently when their style of leadership is able to fit the situation they are trying to control (Vidal et al. 2017). Thus, using contingency leadership would allow the leaders at Southbank Centre to be free to act in any situation as they would not face any constrain out of trying to use a single leadership style in all situations. The strength of contingency leadership is that it allows leaders to change in workplace policies according to situations (Vidal et al. 2017). The weakness of the theory is that it is a complex approach to be implemented by leaders and it is reaction in nature which means that the actions of the theory cannot be determined by the leaders before its implication making them unaware of the risk to be faced (Jacobs, 2019).

Conclusion

The above discussion informs that role of the leaders is to create vision, innovation, coach followers, take risks and others whereas the function of the manager is to minimise risk, train and supervise employees, control situations and others. The Great Man Theory and Trait Theory inform that leaders are to take proper decisions, showcase emotional intelligence, develop vision to ensure goal is achieved even through all odds and others. However, the Fayol’s and Taylor’s theory mentions that managers have the function to forecast, plan, command, coordinate and control employees along with require breakdown tasks to be shared among the employees according to their abilities. The use of situational leadership and contingency theory allows leaders to be reactive in nature. The system leadership makes leaders act in such a way so that all workers are provided opportunity to show their best skills in completing the tasks.

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