Decisional:
The entrepreneur role is where the manager initiates controlled change in the organisation to adapt to the changing environment; this also includes creating new ideas etc. The disturbance handler role is where the manager deals with the unexpected changes, trying to keep the peace within the company by conflict resolving and being in a neutral person in the conflict. The resource allocate role where the manager makes decisions on the use of organisational resources, assigning tasks to the appropriate person(s). The negotiator role where the manager deals with other organisations and individuals, negotiating on behalf of people who are having problems, this can mean a big difference in the atmosphere in the work place.
Henri Fayol Theory
Fayol born in 1841 was one of the most influential contributors to modern concepts of management, having proposed that there are five primary functions of management: (1) planning, (2) organising, (3) commanding, (4) coordinating, and (5) controlling. Fayol suggested that it is important to have unity of command: a concept that suggests there should be only one supervisor for each person in an organisation.
“To manager is to forecast and plan to organise, to command to co-ordinate and to control” - Henri Fayol (1916)
Based largely on his own management experience, he developed his concept of administration, these 14 principles of management were discussed in detail in his book published in 1917 and is widely considered an introductory work in classical management theory. Appendix 1 shows you his 14 principles.
Tom Peter’s theory
Thomas Peter born in 1942 is an and expert on business management practices, Peter’s moves away from describing what management is about and stresses, what managers are required to do to make sure everything goes right in the business. Peter’s believes that the four main areas of management are:
- An obsession with responsiveness to the customers- this means that managers should be customer focus and respond to any comments he/she gets
- Constant innovation in all areas of the firm – new ideas should be coming from the managers and employees all the time to create a more dynamic place to work and improve on what they have already got.
- Partnership, the wholesale participation of and goal sharing with all people connected with the organisation – everyone should be working together, setting goals appraisals etc.
- Leadership that loves change (instead of a fight) and instils and share an inspiring vision - These days people (and mangers) are prone to stay in their comfort zones, however in the travel and tourism industry they must make sure they change with the times, this means that they have to be able to change with the customer demands, they need to come out of their comfort zones and change the way they work to suit the customers and the managers must inspire the employees to change whether this be for a long or short period.
The more skilled the job is the more the manager will have to keep a look out to make sure the work is going right. Depending on what type of business and what type of manager is leading the business will depend on what type of theory that manager will put in place.
Leadership styles
"Leadership is not a place, it’s not a position, and it’s not a secret code that can’t be deciphered by ordinary people. Leadership is an observable set of skills and abilities…..” - Kouzes (2002)
The act of leadership is to find the best balance between the key variables in the light of the total situation. In everyday terms the words “management” and “leadership” could be deemed to mean the same thing, people could see the act of management as that of leading; however as with many aspects of the total management task it’s impossible to find generally accepted theoretical expressions of the requirements of good leadership. There are 3 main types of leadership theories; Contingency, Style Approach & the Trait Approach, each business will differ on what type of approach it has!
Trait Approach
The 'great man' theory, as trait theory is sometimes labelled, assumes that leaders are born and not made and insists that leadership is comprised of certain inherited characteristics or personality traits. It is these, for trait theorist, that distinguish 'natural' leaders from 'natural' followers. Trait theory is based on the idea that there is a set of personal characteristics or traits which an individual must have in order to be a leader. Examples such as integrity, charisma, ambition, courage etc, are factors commonly mention. However, despite considerable research no one universal set of traits has yet been identified. A further weakness is that the theory attempts to examine leadership in isolation. This is clearly unrealistic. To some degree the fade-out of trait theory in favour of style or situational theory may be a function of a democratic culture. The concept of the 'born leader' clearly does not sit well in democratic societies in which the idea of 'meritocracy' finds favour and the following trait assumptions find little favour:
- Leadership is a natural and innate characteristic
- It cannot be learned
- Leaders are born not made
By implication, therefore, leaders have to be selected at recruitment stage, since individuals cannot be trained for leadership, and for trait theorists, leadership is the utmost importance and there is no substitute for it. But leadership cannot be created or promoted; it cannot be taught or learned.
“Where the leader is of strong character using his/hers traits such as intelligence, energy and resources, personality, self awareness, empathy, social skills….” Dawson, (2002)
Style approach
The style approach focuses mainly on the behaviour of successful leaders. This behaviour could be defined in terms of the style of leadership, that is how a leader should been lead, this style approach was invented by McGregor 1980.
The autocratic leader dominates team-members, using unilateralism to achieve a singular objective. This approach to leadership generally results in passive resistance from team-members and requires continual pressure and direction from the leader in order to get things done. Generally, an authoritarian approach is not a good way to get the best performance from a team.
There are, however, some instances where an autocratic style of leadership may not be inappropriate. Some situations may call for urgent action, and in these cases an autocratic style of leadership may be best. In addition, most people are familiar with autocratic leadership and therefore have less trouble adopting that style. Furthermore, in some situations, secondary may actually prefer an autocratic style.
Democratic
Democratic style of leadership as friendly, helpful, encouraging participation. It is closely related to the participative style of management in which leaders have a role in decision making and performance strategizing, but do not command the workers in these areas. The autocratic manager is directive, controlling, discouraging or suppressing in nature. This is the traditional manager that gives commands or orders the workers to complete an act.
Laissez-faire
The Laissez-Faire manager exercises little control over his group, leaving them to sort out their roles and tackle their work, without participating in this process himself. In general, this approach leaves the team floundering with little direction or motivation. Again, there are situations where the Laissez-Faire approach can be effective. The Laissez-Faire technique is usually only appropriate when leading a team of highly motivated and skilled people, who have produced excellent work in the past. Once a leader has established that his team is confident, capable and motivated, it is often best to step back and let them get on with the task, since interfering can generate resentment and detract from their effectiveness. By handing over ownership, a leader can empower his group to achieve their goals.
Contingency
The contingency theory was introduced by Fred Fiedler. This is said to be dependant fully on the person taking charge. Fielder believes a group’s performance is contingent upon the leader selecting the correct style for the situation in hand. This theory working will depend on the leader’s personality and the effectiveness of the leaders work will depend entirely on the situation, they may be effective in one circumstance and have little or no effect on another situation.
It will dependant on the following:
- Leader-member relations
- The degree of structure of the task
- Power and authority of the position.
With a good leader in place who has a stable relationship with its members and a task highly structured then the situation is favourable and in most cases will be a success. The way in which a leader works will depend on the task and it is often best to try and change a situation to fit the leader. Leaders always work best in a way that is more comfortable to them to make things easier for them in the long run.
The concept of quality control
Quality control is the more traditional way that businesses have used to manage quality. Quality control is concerned with checking and reviewing work that has been done, but is this the best way for a business to manage quality. The importance of quality assurance and control as a formally recognised management responsibility is one, which has received increasing attention since the mid 1980’s. The issue of quality could be seen to be fundamental and an inevitable feature of any production enterprise. If an organisation produces a good or service it will make a decision about the quality of the product or service it provides. Appendix 2 will show you the reasons for quality control and its role within an organisation.
Quality control techniques
There are two distinct processes involved in introducing quality or customer satisfaction in to an organisations values and culture. Firstly they need to be decisions of what needs to be done and secondly those things that need to be done are done. An example of this is shown on appendix 3.
BSI & TQM
The British Institute (BSI) is the biggest organisation that is rising standards across 100 countries. Founded in 1901 it has over 2000 members in 86 countries and currently has over 27,000 active standards in place. They have four aims standards and publication, assessment certification, product testing and training conferences. BSI British Standards is a division of which also includes , a management systems registrar and , a testing organisation. British Standards has a to act as the for the . It is formally designated as the National Standards Body (NSB) for the UK. British Standards currently has over 27,000 active standards. Products are commonly specified as meeting a particular British Standard, and in general this can be done without any certification or independent testing. The standard simply provides a shorthand way of claiming that certain specifications are met, while encouraging manufacturers to adhere to a common method for such a specification. Total quality management (TQM) is a part of the drive to improve the products and services one commonly accepted method is known as TQM. For a full expansion see appendix 4.
Quality circles
Quality circle are typically said to have originated in Japan in the 1960s but others argue that the practice started with the United States Army soon after 1945 with the Japanese then adopted and adapting the concept and its application. Quality circles are not a panacea for quality improvement but given the right top management commitment, organisation and re-sourcing they can support continuous quality improvement at shop-floor level.
A quality circle is a group of staff who meet regularly to discuss quality related
circle is empowered to promote and bring the quality improvements through to final result. More information is shown in appendix 5.
Conclusion
In conclusion to this essay I have established that every industry in the world has different organisations, every organisation has at least one manager, and the travel and tourism industry isn’t any different. Managers are there to ensure that the running of the business is smooth; operations management focuses on carefully managing the processes to produce and distribute products and services. Due to the fact that the travel & tourism industry is always changing managers and staff will have to change with the times, this means that people will have to inspire people to change and feel comfortable in their workplace. Many managers have different leadership styles, strategies and outlooks on what they think a managers role is considered to be, this essay will look at the different management theories leadership styles, quality control and quality control techniques. Throughout this essay I have fount out that there are many manger styles and leadership styles and I have fount out that management styles can reflect on the way that people work in a company. An individual who has leadership skills are the kind of person business like to have as they often help a firm succeed. The largest part of information I found out was about quality circles, there are two distinct processes involved in introducing quality or customer satisfaction in to an organisations values and culture. In the future I think that the travel and tourism industry will continue to grow, and also more people will establish more leadership skills and styles and apply them to their work situation.
Referencing
Dawson.T. Principle & Practice of modern management. 2000. Page 7. Published in the United Kingdom, Liverpool Academic Press. 9th April 2007
George, C. S. (1968). The history of management thought. Englewood Cliffs, N.J. Prentice-Hall. pages 105 - 110.
Fayol, H. (1949). General and industrial management. London. Pitman Publishing company
Mintzberg management theory. (Online) Modified 16th August 2006. Available from: . 09th April 2007
Kouzes Leadership definition. 2002. Modified 9 April 2007 (Online) Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leadership. 10th April 2007
Quality control, 2005, (Online) available from: http://www.qualitycontrol.com 29th April 2007
Brecker Associates Quality circles, Modified 6/14/03 (online) available from:
http://www.brecker.com/quality.htm 5th May 200
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