Contemporary Management Practices_Effective Leadership and Management Essay

Contemporary Management Practices_Effective Leadership and Management - Essay Example Tom Peters, one of the renowned researchers in the twenty first century argues that management deals with the arrangement of people and resources; while leadership takes care of organizations (Marbey, & Finch-lees, p. 20). Steve Jobs, the former Chief Executive Officer of Apple Inc, is one of the modern managers who led and managed the company effectively. The leadership of Steve Jobs led to the rising of the share price of the company making it is the most expensive stock to purchase in the world. The relationship between leadership and management may be determined through the study of theories and practical techniques applied by Steve Jobs. Leadership Leadership is the act of determining the direction that others follow. Tom peters argues that leadership is the act of influencing people to achieve what they never imagined that they could accomplish (Saiti, 2012, p. 78). The researcher argues that influence is the most essential ingredient in leadership without which the act fails t o achieve its desired outcome. Efficient leadership takes place when the leader possesses essential characteristics such as integrity, courage, creativity, objectivity, competence, inspiration, and broad minded (Carter, 2004, p. 1). Courage enhances leaders to face their followers when addressing them; while integrity enhances them to treat others equally. Courage also enables leaders to pursue the goals that they create to help others achieve great dreams. This means that without courage, leadership may fail to achieve more than desirable outcomes. Objectivity enables efficient leaders to determine the right direction for their followers. Creativity and broad mindedness, on the other hand, enables leaders to formulate new techniques and methods of achieving certain goals. Steve Meyers argues that leaders can acquire all characteristics except intelligence through training and experience (Goulet, Jefferson, & Szwed, 2012, p. 84). This argument postulates that leadership may be inbor n and acquired at the same time. Cherrie Scott also argues that leaders are made in the world (Carter, 2004, p. 4). This means that a person who is interested in being a leader may attend training sessions and acquire the required skills to lead others. Leadership Theories There various theories of leadership that are classified into trait, behavioral, participative, and situational. Trait theories argue that leaders are born with characteristics, which include self confidence, dependence, assertion, dominance, and ambitious among others (Tompkins, 2005, p. 98). Leaders also possess skills such as fluent communication, persuasion, and creativity. According to this theory, a person who does not possess these characteristics is not an efficient leader (Sharma, & Grant, 2011, p. 10). Behavioral theories, on the other hand, argue that leaders may acquire desirable leadership skills and traits from the environment. An example of behavioral hypothesis is Theory X, which argues that employ ees are lazy and desire minimum work, and for this reason, a leader should coerce them to perform tasks using available techniques such as punishments (Arnold, 2012, p. 69). Participative leadership theories argue that leaders should be autocratic meaning that they should involve other in making decisions; while participative hypothesis postulates that directors are effective listeners of feedback and they act in response. This form of leadership is said to be democratic.