Modern management in organizations

The management of an organization constantly sets tasks for implementation to ensure the achievement of the set goals.

These tasks are performed by the employees of the organization, and each of them has its own needs and interests.

For the designed works to be performed effectively and efficiently by the people selected for them, all managers in the organization are required to fully express themselves as leaders.

Management focuses on how people do things right, and leadership focuses on how to do things right. Reference: “Different types of managers”, https://bvop.org/journal/types-of-managers/

Leadership is an integral part of effective governance. Every manager must be a leader, but not every leader is a manager.

Management affects people by performing certain functions, controlling the interaction between them. Effective governance is impossible without leadership.

Leadership is a certain type of managerial interpersonal interaction between the leader and his followers in the organization, based on the most effective for the specific situation combination of different sources of power to achieve common goals. Reference: “Management approaches in the organizations for managers”, https://medfd.org/management-approaches-in-the-organizations-for-managers/

Characteristics of management

Leadership is characterized mainly by the following four components:

Power. The leader must influence his subordinates, and for this, it is necessary to have a certain power.

Motivation. The leader must provoke in his subordinates a greater personal and collective devotion, and this means a good knowledge of the process of motivation to make them true followers.

Personal radiance. Every leader has a certain personality and attractiveness.

A leader can be perceived as such because of his justice or care for his subordinates. Another may activate his followers’ respectful or frightening behavior. Reference: “Manager vs leader: similarities and differences“, https://pm.mba/posts/manager-vs-leader/

Integrated external environment. The leader is responsible for designing and maintaining the external environment, corresponding to the power he exercises and the applied motivation.

Leadership in the early 20th century

Leadership became the subject of research in the early 20th century when the conditions of scientific management were set.

The first research on leadership was aimed at revealing those qualities that distinguish the small number of “great people” in history from the masses. Reference: “Knowledge and skills of the manager”, https://projectmanagement.news.blog/2021/07/09/knowledge-and-skills-of-the-manager/

Researchers have believed that leaders have a set of sustainable qualities that distinguish them from ordinary people. According to this approach of scientists, leaders are born as such, not created.

Numerous studies in this field allowed us to identify five groups of leadership qualities by the mid-1940s:

physical qualities (appearance, height, figure, etc.);
psychological (emotional) qualities (aggression, self-confidence);
intellectual (mental) qualities;
personal business qualities (initiative, purposefulness);
social qualities (ability to control);

Researchers suggest that the possession of these groups of qualities is associated with the ability to manage organizations well. Organizational and management structures”, https://pgov.org/organizational-and-management-structures/

And so the recipe seems simple: look for people who have all of these qualities and they will be able to exercise good leadership.

The Art of Leadership

The most prominent representative of the theory of leadership qualities is the American scientist Ordway Tid, who in 1935 published his book “The Art of Leadership”.

In it, he writes that few people appear as leaders and it is these individuals who are of particular interest. According to him, successful leaders have certain clearly defined traits, the most important of which are:

1. Physical and emotional endurance. Leadership is hard work because the leader must have endurance significantly above average.

2. Understanding the purpose of the organization and the direction of its activities. The leader must have goals and inspire others to achieve them. Reference: Goal-based management”, https://mpmu.org/goal-based-management/

3. Enthusiasm. Usually, it is transformed into domination and influence.

4. Friendliness and affection. Ordway Tid thinks it’s worse for the leader to be afraid of him. Leaders must enjoy the sympathy of those they lead.

5. Decency. In line with its principles, Ordway Tid believes that leaders should be trusted.

Leaders must respond vigorously to unjust decisions

Employees want their leaders to be resolute people and be able to earn their trust. At the same time, as subordinates, they must be confident that the work of the organization is in safe hands.

Leaders must respond vigorously to unjust decisions and overcome the temptation to shift the blame for their mistakes onto others. Good leaders need to be able to communicate well with people, have a sense of humor, and, most importantly, be good educators. Reference:“The profession of the manager: How to become one”, https://scrumtime.org/profession-of-the-manager/

An interesting point in the views of Ordway Tid is that as early as 1935. he dares to address the important issue of women leaders. He found that women were sometimes overly critical of women leaders, who placed higher demands on their subordinates than their male counterparts.

It is curious, however, why in the prevailing cases of practice, leaders are the ones who manage more effectively than managers to consolidate the people in the organization. Reference:“The Manager and the Leader as sources of motivation”, https://projectmanagement.freesite.host/the-manager-and-the-leader-as-sources-of-motivation/

The reasons are reduced to two types: internally personal and externally group. Not everyone knows how to lead, this requires certain personal qualities and social skills.

On the other hand, to show leadership qualities and skills, a group of people is needed, whose joint activity feels the need for an internal organizer.

Among the many traits that organizational psychologists have long debated, at least a dozen stand out, which practice has established as indisputable leadership.

The leader is all the more pronounced the more of these traits are the complex possession of a person. The leader exercises his delegated power voluntarily to lead and support the achievement of group goals without imposing personal interests. Reference: “The groups in the organization and their effectiveness”, https://www.vbprojects.org/the-groups-in-the-organization-and-their-effectiveness/

And insofar as he copes with this role, insofar as his success is due to his ability to influence all three levels of his colleagues’ personality:

on an intellectual level – able to persuade;
on an emotional level – can positive and encourage;
on a behavioral level – manages to motivate.

University management programs

Since the 1960s, a variety of leadership training programs have been introduced in most of America’s major universities, both for management students and practicing managers.

Therefore, the characteristics with which I describe the typical differences in the style of formal leadership and informal leadership are more pronounced in our management practice and are largely erased in Western management.

In any case, a large part of leadership skills is available for learning by any formal leader, as long as he wants it and is aware of how these different and finer “mechanics” of management tools would help him in developing an enriched and more efficient management style.

Leaders make things different because they are different in themselves.

The leader’s task is to influence and inspire people who expect guidance and support from him. What separates true leaders from other people is awareness and concern for the needs of others.

The result leaders

Resulting leaders inspire others to aim higher, work harder, achieve more in less time, and enjoy what they do.

As a leader, it is very important to be aware of where he is going and even more important why he is going there. Leadership is not a position to be held, it is rather an activity. A leader is simply someone who dares to set an example.

The leader lives constantly under a microscope, nothing he does or says goes unnoticed by his followers.

Their behavior will then be simply a mirror image of the example the leader has given them. When a person proves to be a leader, his beliefs, words, and actions make others follow him. Reference: “Management and leadership: theories and approaches”, https://www.polyscm.com/management-and-leadership-theories-and-approaches/

Positions do not make man, man makes the position. He is perceived as the person who hides deep inside him.

The leader must be a person of true character

The leader must be a person of true character who embodies honesty, openness, and true commitment.

These things are important because they are the foundation on which everything else in life is built.

He must be ready to serve. The desire and ability to serve others as well as the nature and quality of his services will be the key to the success of his organization.

If he devotes time, energy, emotions, and a little more than his efforts, he will completely merge with other people, with their challenges, and with their work.

Every good leader must “cultivate” his team, to constantly monitor the appearance of fear, doubt, denial, or another kind of negativity that could “stifle his production.”

That is why he must take full responsibility for everything. When a man was asked what a good leader needed, he replied, “Good followers!”

Although the answer seems sarcastic, there is a dose of truth in it. Ineffective subordinates can be a bigger problem in an organization than ineffective leaders, if only because all organizations have far more subordinates than leaders.

Effective subordinates are distinguished by their ability to work independently, without direct supervision, engage in goals that are not directly related to their interests, maintain their competence and good results.

They are honest and trustworthy. American businessman Lee Yakoka is an exceptional name in the management of the twentieth century. The selection of such associates is perhaps part of the secret of his success, a classic example of successful leadership.

Invited to become CEO of Chrysler at a time when the company was in a severe crisis, he left his position at Ford Motor to take on a challenge that would frighten many.

He manages to bring the company to a leading position, implementing his philosophy: “After all, all business operations can be reduced to three words: people, product, profit.

People come first. If you don’t have a good team, you can’t do much with the other two. ” Throughout his management practice, Lee

Yakoka has paid special attention to the people in the organization. He believes that to manage effectively, it is necessary to learn to evaluate people too quickly when he first meets them.

Forms of leadership

Leadership is expressed in many different forms. It can be not only about listening, managing, and compromising, but also giving instructions to others or inspiration for example.

Leadership skills include:

Goal setting;
Gathering a group to focus on a task;
Understanding of human psychology, ie. other people’s motives;
Consultation with the right people and listening to different points of view;

Dealing with conflicts

Dealing with conflicts when they arise, instead of letting someone else deal with them. Reference: “Conflict management in the organization”, https://eduwiki.me/conflict-management-in-the-organization/

Other representatives of the science of leadership qualities are Miller and Rice.

Leadership as a group function according to their definition is: “… Whether the group is small or large, leadership, which is equivalent to the ego function of the individual, is required to connect what is inside the group with its environment.” Reference: “Fundamentals of management and classification of management functions”, https://www.libraryofmu.org/fundamentals-of-management/

Ie group leadership, like individual leadership, is a function of border management; this function controls the exchange between the inner and outer world.

Leadership is not a function that is exercised necessarily or primarily by an individual; it may be performed by different members of the group at different times and under different circumstances.

Therefore, in the language we use, what defines an individual as a leader is his actions, not his designation as a “leader.”

Management during a crisis

In times of crisis, when the group is facing demands for change that call into question its primary task (ie the main reason for its existence), the test of leadership is particularly great.

This is because its practice as simple bureaucratic management designed to preserve the status quo in the organization must be stopped without it being clear what exactly to replace it with.

For the organization to survive, the “bureaucrat” must give way to the transformational leader, whose special strength is in the ability to use the conjuncture of crisis for a successful structural change of the organization so that it can remain in the business of life. Reference: Functional management structure in organizations”, https://wikipedia-lab.org/functional-management-structure-in-organizations/

A good leader leads purposefully and leads to the chosen goal successfully without using a guide.

No one knows exactly how these leaders do it, but Miller and Rice’s definition suggests that the contribution of group dynamics to success is at least as great as the individual qualities of the one who takes on the role of leader at such a time.

Leadership is the relationship between people in a group

Leadership is a phenomenon from the world of relationships between people in a group.

First, when a common task arises, the group responds by nominating a leader.

Second, leadership is a group function and cannot be independently different from the culture (in terms of roles and norms) that the group establishes based on the participants’ conscious and unconscious contributions and the exchange between them through their mental life.

Third, leadership always has one main purpose: it is related to changes in the group – transformation and development – and its main contribution are to give them meaning that serves both the participants and the group task.

Fourth, leadership, unlike management, does not maintain stability through balancing but keeps the anxiety of the inevitable stage of instability (crisis) accompanying transformation and development.

In a “group” whose members, through their behavior, deny the very possibility of groupness, work leadership is impossible. Reference: “Typical management structures”, https://agileprojectmanagers.blogspot.com/2021/07/typical-management-structures.html

The task that such a group assigns to the leadership is to protect the participants from the authentic connection between them, with their experience, and with the work task.

Strategies to achieve this goal can be different: final formalization of participation, imposition of decisions from above or introduction from outside, imitation, and falsification of the decision.

Each of these strategies maintains the alienation of the participants and blocks the opportunity to generate shared social meaning and work leadership.

Management and the False Self

One of the main issues that management deals with is leadership and false self.

Winnicott introduces this construct by contrasting it with the Authentic Self to describe the process in which the individual, to survive, must adapt to a social environment in which his reactions are prescribed entirely by an external authority and not are tailored to his needs.

The narcissistic manager

Survival in such an environment presupposes the withdrawal of the Authentic Self and its replacement with the False, which reproduces only a socially prescribed repertoire of behaviors.

The individual develops the belief that along with the withdrawal of the Authentic Self, he loses the opportunity to connect with the social environment (others) through the power of his feelings and reasoning and through values that are valued for the individual.

Life practice in such an environment cultivates the belief that the feelings of the Authentic Self do not connect the individual with others.

They remain hidden, hidden, socially unacceptable, and the systematic negative sanctioning of authenticity by the environment brings to life the False Self. “A systematic approach in management”, https://securityinformationeventmanagement.com/systematic-approach-in-management/

It is a mental organization that ensures survival in conditions of severe dependence on an ill-intentioned instance.

The main assumption is that the controlling object has interests that conflict with those of the Authentic Self (unresolved / poorly resolved Oedipal conflict).

This turns living into a constant struggle for survival, ie. in a competition that cannot be won, that cannot be abandoned, and that makes every choice a matter of life and death. False Self is a tool without which such a life project cannot be realized.

The question that life with the False Self raises is whether the quality of life does not deteriorate so much that living itself ceases to be worth the effort.

For example, grouping based on primary trust for the performance of work tasks becomes impossible: communication based on trust remains a mode of mind only in the domain of the Authentic Self, ie. in private life. Reference: “Communication process in management”, https://www.mmrls.org/communication-process-in-management/

There is an insurmountable divide between the public and private spheres.

In other words, the understanding of leadership boils down to imposing force in a situation of confrontation: the one who leads is always alone, no one follows him out of unanimity, but under pressure; “leading” and “next” cannot be in authentic exchange and unanimity. In sharing after participating in this and other sessions, the members of the research team called “anger”, “indifference”, “despair”.

This is the spectrum of experiences in the group culture of the False Self.

This profile is strikingly similar to the world of the feelings of modern man, a circumstance that suggests very interesting and promising hypotheses about the characteristics of the socio-technical systems in which social participation is embedded in our country today.

The study of the social part of the socio-technical systems in the various sectors of life in our country promises insights into the mechanism of formation and reproduction of the paranoid principle (excessive use of projections) in the “national” character. Such research is an obvious priority of the social sciences.

Narcissism in the psychology of the self is a mental organization recognizable at the level of functioning known as personality (the sustained reproducible style of participation/interaction that legitimizes individuality).

According to Kohut, the individual does not create the organization of his personality alone, but achieves it in childhood growing up in interactions with the primary object (mother) of two main types: by “looking” at it (mirroring) and by idealizing it, ie. by seeking approval (admiration) for the achievements in his development and by placing it in infallibility.

When, generally speaking, the individual does not receive the “due” approval through the first mechanism and/or the object does not fully partner as a model, the person finds himself with a mental organization dominated by a hunger for recognition.

This hunger makes him participate in things not because of their achievement, but because of the opportunity to take positions and roles that will allow him to demand and receive admiration.

Among the incarnations of the hunger for recognition in the registers of narcissistic behavior is the passion for leadership. In particular, when the work task introduces high anxiety into the culture of the group, the temptation for the participants to leave reality and switch to a protective mode is greater. Reference: “Organizational culture”, https://www.dobrojutro.net/organizational-culture/

This situation is a good chance for the individual with a narcissistic organization: in the ensuing hesitation to take on leadership, his need to be the object of admiration pushes him to take the challenge and offer himself.

In other words, the narcissistic mental organization is “naturally” associated with a view of leadership as a property (gift, skill, vocation) of the individual, not as a function of the group.

The narcissistic mental organization is a prerequisite for a community facing a difficult task to acquire a “leader” (Freud), not a manager or a transformational leader.

The narcissistic leader gives meaning to the work task, which draws from fantasies of omnipotence and omniscience. These fantasies are a creation of the child’s psyche, left untouched in the ability to connect with the reality of the work task.

The new leader in the group

Since when selecting a leader under the pressure of high anxiety the group ignores the criterion of competence concerning the work task, after the appointment of a narcissistic leader invariably follows the hardening of the role structure in the group/organization, ie. the rules are moving towards an authoritarian regime that does not allow manifestations of incompetence to be discussed.

In such organizations, intuition and common sense are disguised in the ritual garb of evidence and facts, so that a place of choice based on valid evidence of the state of affairs cannot be practiced. In practice, the truth is decreed by the usurper of power.

Such groups/cultures develop a fantasy of “omnipotence and omniscience” (G. Lawrence) and closing in on the fantasy world.

Group members draw inspiration not from the challenge of making contributions in a group, but from the power of the leader who promises to provide the goods.

The newcomers in these groups have difficult experiences because the narcissistic leader maintains a false version of the intragroup and extra group reality that members (collusively) require him to maintain: thus protecting individuals from anxiety from connecting with reality.

Participatoryness is a construct of organizational theory to denote tendencies in the group process that are opposite to those generated by narcissistic leadership.

Participation is inherent in groups when they are in working mode. Participation as a choice in the conditions of freedom of action (discretion) characterizes the organizational culture in this group and ensures that it remains in working mode and the opportunity to take quick steps on its work task.

To deepen the dynamic explanation for this group process in terms of lessons for work leadership, a good starting point is the view of mental development in M. Klein’s theory of object relations, according to which the world in young child’s experiences is divided, good and bad beginnings. are housed in two physically separate objects and this allows him to operate with them by “carrying” them across the boundary of the Self (outwards or inwards).

These processes (the terms are projection and introspection) allow the child to have the experience of controlling the circumstances, of reducing dependence on the object.

This hunger makes him participate in things not because of their achievement, but because of the opportunity to take positions and roles that will allow him to demand and receive admiration.

In other words, the narcissistic mental organization is “naturally” associated with a view of leadership as a property (gift, skill, vocation) of the individual, not as a function of the group.

The difficult task to get a leader instead of a manager

The narcissistic mental organization is a prerequisite for a community facing a difficult task to acquire a “leader” (Freud), not a manager or a transformational leader.

Specialists explore leadership styles as different management approaches

A series of experiments reveal the three most common styles: authoritarian, liberal, and democratic.

They can rarely be found in their pure form. Each of them has its advantages and limitations.

Leaders can use variations of all three styles at different times, but most tend to practice one style as a common way of working.

The authoritarian leader

The authoritarian leader expects to strictly follow his instructions. His behavior is characterized by distrust of the people he leads, a tendency to control and manipulate their behavior.

He is constantly forced to create new incentives for his subordinates due to the inefficiency of those already used.

However, these external awards do not lead to satisfaction because employees lose their sense of uniqueness and individuality.

The style can be appropriate in critical moments when it is necessary to make quick decisions and control the situation. Reference: “Managerial decision making: methods and models”, https://www.kosovatimes.net/managerial-decision-making/

Liberal leader

The leader with a liberal style most often does not seek to influence his team members. They are encouraged to use the methods they consider most appropriate.

The approach could be effective in groups with high motivation and responsibility. In this case, the main leadership task is to provide the necessary information. Reference: “Motivating the behavior of the manager”, https://agileprojectmanagement.home.blog/2021/07/10/motivating-the-behavior-of-the-manager/

However, situations suitable for this are extremely rare. The widespread application of the liberal style most often leads to confusion, even chaos in organizations.

Democratic leadership style

Democratic leadership style allows employees to participate in the decision-making process, to express opinions about the ideas and behavior of the leader. He, in turn, treats them with respect and esteem for their views. Reference:“Basic theories of leadership and management”, https://projectmanagement.jdevcloud.com/basic-theories-of-leadership-and-management/

The democratic style creates a creative atmosphere in which there is no need for external control, and the team performs its tasks, feeling motivated for it, appreciated.

The leader is “just another member of the group.” He manages to be equal to others in the very execution of tasks, in taking responsibility.

In addition, it assists its subordinates in developing their potential, thus building an effective, highly motivated team. Reference: “Motivation of employees in management”, https://www.kievpress.info/motivation-of-employees-in-management/

A possible disadvantage of this approach to employees could be the loss of time and energy of the leader to involve everyone in decision making. Such a difficulty is overcome by creating procedures and applying techniques to facilitate the process.

The group chooses its leader

The group chooses its leader and obeys him voluntarily. Therefore, he does not need administrative means to force others to follow his will in organizing group activities.

The theory of leadership qualities has some significant shortcomings:

The theory of leadership qualities fails to specify to what extent a person must have a certain quality to be successful as a leader;

The list of potentially important leadership qualities turns out to be endless. Therefore, it is impossible to create an ideal image of the leader, and from there to lay certain foundations of the theory;

The possession of certain personalities of business and social qualities may be the result of successful work rather than the work itself as a consequence of them.

The approach related to leadership qualities

The approach related to leadership qualities is interesting, but it turned out to be ineffective, as it does not benefit from the practice.

Therefore, after some time, researchers are looking for signs that would predict how individual managers reach the top achievements of leaders, ie. until the laying of the behavioral foundations of leadership.

Leadership is about the ability to take risks

Leadership is about the ability to take risks, to inspire and persuade, and most of all, to take responsibility for them. It is aimed directly at people.

The leader stands out as such in the direct relations with his colleagues in the department, who usually form a relatively homogeneous group.

The leader is a unifier of internal group interests and relies on him to defend these interests before higher authorities. and groups to solve certain work tasks.