Zaleznik argues that a distinction exists between managers and leaders in terms of their personality and behaviour as well as the way they interact with people in the organisation. Conventional organisations develop a succession plan through the development of managers as opposed to looking at individual leaders and putting mechanism in place to develop them. Leaders, in their behaviour and approach seem to operate outside of acceptable norms of a bureaucratic structure, favouring high risk initiatives as opposed to managers who typically prefer to work within boundaries of structure77.
Kotter argues that a distinction between managing and leading exists, however his argument is different to the one made by Zalzenik. He contends that managers and leadership each have a place in the organisation as they perform different roles and functions. Good managers are said to bring order in what would be a chaotic environment because they are good at reducing complexity. Managers are good in environments that are created by large organisations. Leaders on the other hand are able to deal with change especially in external environments that are volatile. Due to the fact that external environments shift continuously and in some cases to the extreme, more and more the organisation has to deal with change. Complexity and change thus requires approaches from managers and leaders and therefore characterises each role differently. 78
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Kim, DH. 1993. The Link between Individual and Organizational Learning 44-45
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Zaleznik, A, 1986. Excerpts from Managers and leaders: Are they Different, 54
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Transformational leaders are charismatic leaders that are inspiring, intellectually stimulate them and may be emotionally supportive79. Transformational leaders have a high expectation of performance from the teams that are led by them. They are able to articulate the direction and organisation goals very clearly, setting optimistic realistic targets for the team to achieve. It is important in this style of leadership that subordinates develop. The rationale is that if the individual develops, the organisation too develops80. However, there are leaders that enter
into agreements between themselves and the sub-ordinate on performance requirements and expectations. Work is performed based on the commitment of the leader to improve the status of the individual and is used as a motivating factor. Bass calls this the transactional leader81, which can be equated to a manager. A transactional leader motivates the team via performance measures which in turn is used to determine the reward. The leader determines the level of reward as well as design the structure within which the individuals will operate. This type of leadership occurs within a stable external environment and therefore little initiative is taken to change82. There is no need for change, new knowledge creation or innovation leading to new product development.
A study by Ohio State University revealed that two dimensions were a dominant feature in leadership behaviour, initiating structure and consideration. Initiating structure makes reference to the manner and extent that the leader will structure his/her role and the team in pursuit of the defined gaols. A leader that demonstrates ‘consideration behaviour’ is one that has respect for the ideas generated by the subordinates, where a level of mutual trust exists and has an appreciation for the feelings of the subordinates83.
Weick uses an example of soldiers finding their way in mountainous terrain using a map from another terrain as a guide and plotting the existing terrain on the map, i.e. correcting the map. This demonstrates the ability of the leader to make decisions based on the outcome of action
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Bass, BM. 1990. From transactional to transformational leadership: learning to share the vision, 22 - Superior leadership performance – transformational leadership – occurs when leaders broaden and elevate the interest of the employees, when they generate awareness and acceptance of the purposes and mission of the group, and when they stir their employees to look beyond their own self-interest for the good of the group.
Tickle, EL, Brownlee, J, Nailon, D. 2005. Personal and epistemological beliefs and transformational leadership behaviours 708
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Bass, BM. 1990. From transactional to transformational leadership: learning to share the vision, 21 – Leadership that is based on a transaction between employee and leadership is called “transactional leadership”.
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Tickle, EL, Brownlee, J, Nailon, D. 2005. Personal and epistemological beliefs and transformational leadership behaviours 708 - 709
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and adjust the next steps based on the outcome. There was a set goal to achieve and the leader of the group kept the vision of the goal in mind when interpreting and making decisions84. Schein suggests that for learning to occur, there has to be psychological safety for the individuals and group to learn, thus the environment and structure that are created foster learning. In doing so, it is necessary for the charismatic leader not only to develop a long- term direction but also to design and articulate the immediate and next achievable steps. The establishment of this type of learning environment forces people to step outside of their learnt behaviour and journey on the path of learning and exploring new ideas. Leaders couple this with a reward system pointing out innovations that they have come up with and not recognised and then associating this with a reward. Leaders play a very crucial role in the learning process. The ability of the leaders to continuously learn is necessary if the organisation is to follow. This implies that the leader has to extend beyond the limits of the organisational boundary through the interaction and engagement with the external environment. It also shows a willingness of the organisation to change85. A discussion of leadership would be incomplete without taking account of power and the influence that individuals and groups with power have in the organisation.