Leadership and Change Management

Learning outcome 1: Critically evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of a range of leadership theories

Learning outcome 2: Evaluate alternative models of change and identify barriers to change and its implementation.

Learning outcome 3: Identify cultural and gender issues associated with the leadership and change process.

Learning outcome 4: Identify and evaluate a range of strategies and methods to ensure that change is successfully implemented and is sustainable.

Learning outcome 5: Identify appropriate tools and techniques to aid the planning, implementing and evaluation of change.

Task brief:

The excerpt that you must analyse is extracted from the e-book written by Bocar et.al, (2022). Few words are changed (italicised) to suit the needed analysis; however, it is assured that the main thoughts of the authors are not altered. The extracted materials are used for academic purposes only. Your paper must provide critical analysis of the given excerpt. Respond clearly and correctly to the listed tasks below the excerpt. Apply the Harvard referencing style and provide at least 15 references from varied sources with the publication year from 2014 onwards.

Excerpt for Analysis
"Many challenges await a leader. One of them centers on clarifying and articulating the values and principles that will guide one as an authorised person of the organisation. The organisation's challenge is for the managers to determine work priorities. Managers as an authorised person are challenged to promote change and at the same time pursue and celebrate the successes of the employees. While employees need to strengthen their capabilities and skills, the most important challenge is to develop their competence as representatives of the organisation. In responding to this challenge, managers are at the forefront in organisation's developments. Whether the organisation is small or big, the process of change is a key to understanding the implementation of policies and innovation.
The quality of the effectiveness of leaders to be largely able to respond to workforce diversity and pressures as they continuously work to improve the company, is enormously important. The call is for leaders with political savvy, a moral compass, who understand the social, economic and human demands, the governmental and community agenda, as well as the professional expectations and responsibilities of the work. A manager is the one responsible to promote the success of the operations of the organisation by ensuring that the management of the organisation's means and resources are utilised safely, efficiently and effectively to achieve the goals of the organisation.
The managers are also leaders, and they must effectively fulfill the leadership duties of management, which include inspiring, guiding, motivating, and pushing staff members to reach new heights of productivity. Every organisation works to accomplish both short-term and long-term goals. Leaders must determine whether the roles, responsibilities, and deadlines are well defined. The management philosophy of French industrialist Henri Fayol is applicable in this situation. The idea identifies planning, organising, staffing, directing, and controlling as the five management functions. Each of these tasks is essential to helping firms operate successfully and efficiently. For now, Luther Gulick, the successor of Fayol, further defined the management functions into seven. These are planning, organising, staffing, directing, coordinating, reporting, and budgeting or POSDCORB. However, experts have questioned Gulick's 7 tasks of management as an oversimplification of the managing process. Therefore, management still tends to embrace Fayol's managerial tasks more frequently nowadays.

Giving and receiving feedback to solve any issue areas and enhance performance is a fantastic approach to do this. At this point, manager needs to step up as a leader, handle disagreement, and inspire staff's initiative. Because managers must consider various work styles, personalities, and skill sets, managing a team is not easy. The management functions emphasise the critical abilities that every manager requires to monitor, plan, and interact with their staff. As a successful manager, one must have the correct perspective to know who he is dealing with and how to best utilise their skills for the benefit of the firm.
In directing the employees, the manager must work hard to increase each employee's degree of dedication and self-assurance as well as that of the whole organisation. To direct the employees effectively managers are on the lookout for talent. Technical, functional, problem-solving, decision-making, interpersonal, and collaborative abilities are among the traits they have to seek in their employees. To get there, the manager must motivate their colleagues to take the risks necessary for advancement and progress. Additionally, by changing their roles and tasks, employees are being challenged (Robbins, 2009).

Communication occupies a central place in organisations because the structure, extensiveness and scope of an organisation are almost entirely determined by communication techniques. As Katz and Kahn (2003) put it, communication is "the essence of organisations." The managers of today's commercial companies have a multifaceted job, which includes setting objectives, organising tasks, motivating employees, reviewing results, and making decisions. They also plan, organise, staff, direct, coordinate and review. Tasks cannot be accomplished, objectives cannot be met and decisions cannot be implemented without adequate communication.

The centrality of communication to the overall job of the managers is evident when we consider how much time managers spend communicating in the organisations. Communication is interlinked with most of the processes that take place in whatever type of organisation, such as planning, organising, staffing, directing, coordinating and reporting. The purpose of organisational communication is to provide the means for transmitting information essential to goal achievement. Much of this communication flow is carried in four distinct directions: downward, upward, horizontal, and grapevine. The role of a manager is essential and one of the most important aspects of all is the directing functions of management. Katz (2003) divided management roles into three major areas namely technical role, conceptual role, and interpersonal relations".

Tasks to be responded:

1. Introduction. As the prologue of your paper quote five definitions of the term "leadership" from reliable authors (sources) and provide critical evaluation on the definitions provided by your cited authors. Support your evaluation with relevant theories to justify your claim. Discuss the objectives of your paper and the method on how you gathered the information for the successful writing of your paper. (20 marks; 600 words)

Analysis. In this section, your discussion must be based on the given excerpt. Focus your analyses on the given excerpt and carefully respond to the listed tasks below. (Be aware that you must write your response in a paragraph format).

Among the 5 manager's tasks, evaluate which one of them that is predominantly mentioned in the excerpt. Provide your in-depth assessment of why this task of the managers is the most critical one. (20 marks; 1000 words)

Indicate your critical analyses on the four communication directions mentioned in the excerpt. Discuss the importance of proper communication directions in managing organisation's tasks. (30 marks; 1000 words)

Identify the three roles of a manager as mentioned in the excerpt and assess its importance in managing change in an organisation. (20 marks; 1000 words)

3. Conclusion. Write an organised and clear conclusion from your analysis. Provide your personal insights. (10 marks; 400 words)