Leading and Managing People
You receive an E-mail from a senior manager in your organisation (has no formal qualifications) who has been told he has to send three members of his junior management team on an MBA course. He has received information about the course from the local university but needs clarification on the content of one of the units being offered in year one. He knows you have completed this course.
The e-mail says:
“I have been reading about this unit, Leading and Managing People. The course information says it is not a subject like Financial Management or Quantitative Methods in Business, but I am not convinced of its purpose. What value will such topics such as: flexibility and the psychological contract, team-working, ethics and social responsibility, organisational change and managing a diverse workforce really add to my staff’s development and how will they ever use any of the concepts learned? The brochure says there are really no right or wrong answers so far as the leadership and management of people are concerned. Are you able to explain to me why this is the case and what this all means please?”
Your Task:
Formulate a critical and constructive response to this manager in the form of a carefully considered e-mail on one of the following topics:
– Flexibility and the psychological contract;
– Team-working;
– Ethics and social responsibility;
– Managing organisational change;
– Managing a diverse workforce.
The email must have the following:
– Introduction (200 words)
Short introduction that clarify why Leading and Managing People is a relevant unit to study.
identifying the topic you intend to discuss.
– Discussion of topic (1000 words)
Provide a detailed and critical discussion of the topic chosen.
Ensure you define the area clearly and include relevant academic literature, theories and current thinking about the topic.
Evaluate the merits and disadvantages of this topic area to a business and specifically to the manager.
How well does it work and what causes it to go wrong?
Citations from or references to research and/or other sources of evidence is expected.
It will also be useful to include examples of this topic in action in current organisations to show how knowledge about leadership and management has been systematically applied to improve individual and corporate outcomes.
You may also wish to challenge the manager’s view that there are no ‘right’ answers in the people leadership/management arena: even if the answers aren’t absolutely ‘right’, are there some answers which are better than others?
– Conclusion and Recommendation (200 words)
Summarize the main findings from your discussion and make your final suggestions to this manager.
Solution Preview
- Introduction
Leadership is one of the most defined and misused personal attributes in the world, over time, it has been rendered impotent to deliver due to poor leadership in all aspects of life from the basics of a family to organizations, countries and largely, international positions. I may say the ratio of bad to g24od leaders is higher due to moral corruption or the ability to maintain an ethical perception in leaders hence poor leadership in every sector of life that one can think of, in my perception,
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