Question
1. What contribution can leadership as opposed to management development make to successful performance in the Garvey Group?
2. How can theory related to leadership inform leadership development in the Group?
3. How can and should HR professionals work with others within the Group to ensure effective leadership development?
Solution
Executive Summary
In the contemporary business environment, organisations invest in leadership and management for leveraging competitive advantage. This is particularly concerning technology changes, globalisation issues, structural changes, and career development. Also, leadership and management development are a characteristic of high performance working organisations. To identify the scope of leadership and management development, this report evaluates the process in the context of Garvey Group. This is a family-owned retail and hotel company operating in Ireland with a total of 13 stores and hotels. The organisations follow the use of balanced scorecard factors in integrating capacity development programs with a competency-based framework being used to identify their staff training needs. Leadership development has a better impact as opposed to management development in terms of Garvey Group’s performance improvement. Further, models such as traditional, modern, competency, and cognitive have all been evaluated with their link with Garvey group leadership and management development identified. Finally, Garvey Group HR professional’s best strategies to achieve high-level leadership development has established. Also, recommendations have been generated for the Garvey group to improve their leadership and management development efforts through varying interventions.
Table of Contents
Leadership and Management Case Study. 1
2.0 Contribution of Leadership Development to the Company’s Successful Performance. 4
3.0 Theoretical Framework Informing Leadership Development 6
3.1 Transformational Theory. 6
3.3 Participative and Democratic Theory. 7
3.6 Servant Leadership Theory. 8
4.0 Collaboration Between HR Professionals with Others to Ensure Leadership Development 9
1.0 Introduction
The organisational competitiveness is underpinned by effective leadership and management. Although the two terms are applied together, there are differences, which should be considered in human resources management (HRM). According to Bohoris and Vorria (2008), leadership and management overlap in terms of concepts but are distinct as reflected in the skills and competences of the individuals. The two terms have different definitions. Primarily, leadership entails someone with followers and with the integrity to influence being followed. Management is the process applied to accomplish the company’s goals. Further, it is the process used by organisations to achieve their mission, goals, and objectives. Azad et al. (2017) compare the two aspects, and their differences can be summarised in table 1 below.
| Leadership | Management |
| · People-focused.
· Articulates the vision. · Involves trusting and development. · Creates change. · Authority is drawn from personal relationships. · Involves strategic thinking. · Delegates responsibility. · Involves innovation and risk-taking. |
· Focuses on things
· Involves executing plans. · Characterised by directing and coordination. · Change management · Uses authority. · Authority emanates from the organisational position. · Determines long-term strategies and plans. · Involves decisive acting. · Involves the decision to use personal and other resources. |
Table 1: Differences Between Leadership and Management (Azad et al., 2017).
Leadership and management development are fundamental to organisational competitiveness and performance. According to Mabey (2014), the leadership and management development process involve enhancing the individuals’ capabilities to promote their performance in leadership and managerial roles. The development process is aligned with the training programs for these professionals to ensure they are equipped with the right knowledge and practical skills for effective leadership.
This paper entails a critical analysis of leadership and management development and how it influences organisational performance. The case study for the discussion is Garvey Group, Ireland’s family-owned retail and hotel organisation. The discussion structure entails the contributions that leadership development can make to the company’s success, the role of leadership theory in informing the Group’s leadership development, and how the HR professionals collaborate with others for effective leadership development.
2.0 Contribution of Leadership Development to the Company’s Successful Performance
Leadership development is multifaceted and comprises various meanings and definitions. Kjellstrom et al. (2020) outline several definitions. From the functionalistic perspective, leadership development involves the process and strategies used to promote the effectiveness and efficiency of the leadership. It is described by focusing on the individual leaders and how their skills and competencies can be developed to promote the company and personal performance. Instead of focusing on general aspects and the hype in leadership, profound leadership development is concerned with addressing the individual’s needs, matching the organisational structures and managerial roles.
The impacts for Garvey Group focusing on leadership development instead of management development to promote the company’s performance are based on the definition between the two terms. Dragoni et al. (2009) described management development based on managerial training, focusing on the proven solutions to known issues. It further involves providing training and knowledge in the individual’s abilities and skills to enhance the managerial role task performance. In management development, the process entails the individual learning the interrelated sets of abilities and skills important for effectiveness. Garvey Group’s competence-based framework has focused on the managers, particularly core competencies on their leadership skills, strategic thinking, interpersonal competence, effectiveness in decision making. Notably, focusing on these aspects is aimed at increasing sales and achieving business strategy effectiveness. The main limitation of management development is that it focuses on things rather than people and aims to enhance the execution of plans, coordinate and direct, and use authority.
Garvey Group focusing on leadership development will be central in the company’s performance since this process will be concerned with developing the individual’s capabilities. According to Day and Dragoni (2015), leadership development entails expanding the individual’s capabilities for the individual to become effective in the leadership process and role. Van Velsor et al. (2010) adds that leadership development aims to increase the individual’s capabilities, abilities, and skills through human capital. This allows the individual to act in a manner that achieves the company’s objectives. By focusing on leadership development, the company will be working towards individual-centred knowledge, abilities, and skills, primarily related to effectiveness in formal leadership. In leadership development, these capabilities help bridge the gap between the organisational administration and the employees. From the definition of management, it focuses on authority, while leadership involves influence. This distinction is the foundation of the decision to focus on leadership. This will enhance the relationship between the leaders and the workforce, fundamental to the company’s performance.
Leadership development focuses on the individual and considers the authority, unlike management, where formality is critical. Also, developing the leadership roles enables the individual to work with groups and understand their strategies out of the issues and organisational challenges that could not have been predicted before (Day, 2000). Although Garvey Group has a business strategy and the behavioural competencies across all the jobs from customer care to finance are influenced by this strategy, the firm must prepare for the uncertainties and potential changes, informed by the internal and external environmental scanning. Leadership development promotes the leaders’ capabilities to prepare for the uncertainties and develop potential change strategies.