Management

Management is a relationship between a leader and followers that focuses on a specific set of tasks within an organization, business, church or voluntary society. Both management and leadership have become hot topics, with volumes written to define them and to differentiate between them. Within the organizational context, they are closely linked. Both focus on getting something done, but there is a difference. Peter Drucker says that management focuses on doing things right, while leadership focuses on doing the right thing.

The Interdependence of Management and Leadership

Both management and leadership are concerned with results, with getting something done by involving others. Both assume three essential components: leaders/managers, followers and mission or objective. Both refer to the relationship between the leader and the follower in which the leader seeks to influence the behavior, values or vision of the follower for the purpose of accomplishing a mission shared by both leader and follower. The mission gives purpose to the relationship. So does the follower. Without followers there is no leadership, no management.

Go back to Drucker’s distinction. Management tends to focus internally within the organization on the task at hand, working for stability and efficiency; leadership tends to focus beyond the immediate task, seeking change and renewal. In every organization both are necessary and complementary. Here again, the follower has something to say. Leadership and management are always determined by the followers and the expectations they have of managers and leaders. They expect from their managers coordination, feedback, plans, order or organization, the provision of resources and information, and access to the decision-making processes of the organization. They expect from the leaders of the organization vision, renewal and motivation for change. No one can lead or manage until a follower chooses to accept that influence and follow.

Management is a relationship between a leader and followers that focuses on a specific set of tasks within the organizational mission. Leadership is a relationship that involves the followers in a process that leads to the results intended by the mission.

Management Styles

There is a wide variation in leadership styles that determines what the involvement of the follower in the management process means. The relationship between leader and follower can be dominated by the leader or by the follower. Volumes have been written arguing for a variety of leadership styles, ranging from autocratic to democratic. At one end of the scale, an autocratic manager makes all decisions and announces his or her decisions to the followers, giving specific direction to their behaviors. At the other extreme, a fully democratic manager gives the decisions to the group and participates as one of the group. In between those extremes are a variety of consultative stages, in which the manager might seek feedback from the followers but still retain the decision, or might allow the followers to decide subject to his or her approval.

The general consensus today recognizes that the appropriate mode of follower involvement varies from day to day, from person to person and from task to task. There is no one right style of participation. Sometimes it is more effective for a leader to give direction, sometimes to consult and sometimes to take direction. This is called contingency theory or situational leadership. It operates on two basic assumptions. First, the style of leadership becomes more participative as the follower becomes more competent and confident in carrying out the assignment. Second, the goal of the leadership relationship is to develop the competence and confidence of the follower to such a level that the follower can lead on his or her own.

This approach to leadership is very follower-oriented. It seeks to develop the follower and adapts the management relationship accordingly. This flexibility, however, carries some risk. Leaders who prefer a particular style of leadership may choose to stay within their comfort zone rather than adapt for the growth of the follower. This is particularly a problem for leaders who like a more controlling autocratic approach. The contingency model allows them to declare that the follower is not competent enough, and thus they must be more directive in their leadership. As an alternative James O’Toole calls for a values-based approach to leadership that begins with a respect for persons and places follower growth ahead of leader preference. Follower participation is critical to the management process as leader and follower participate in a process that leads to the achievement of the mission objectives.

Management Process

Over the years writers have identified four to seven components of the management process. In the 1960s Alex MacKenzie published “The Management Wheel” in the Harvard Business Review, identifying five sequential and two continuous components that make up the management process: planning, organizing, staffing, leading, controlling, deciding and communicating. In the last decade this was revised and updated by HBR, but the same key elements were retained. Other writers have developed variations on these components, most often combining them into planning, organizing, leading and controlling or evaluating.

Planning refers to the management process of identifying the mission and the values of the organization and developing strategies for their implementation. It involves discovering and defining the purpose that brings the organization into being as well as the culture or character that defines how things are done (see Organizational Culture; Organizational Values). It asks: Do we still believe the mission and follow it? Are we controlled by the mission and values? Planning involves an audit of organizational activities. It asks: What are we doing now? Does it move us toward our mission? What else could we be doing? What can we stop doing? Planning involves the development of organizational strategies—the goals, objectives and actions of the organization. It determines the specific, attainable, measurable results that the organization wants to accomplish within a determined time frame. Planning involves the allocation of organizational resources. It determines the human, physical and financial support necessary to attain the objectives and how they must be distributed. Planning involves the delegation of organizational responsibility. It determines the actions, the individual tasks that must be performed by a given date, by a specific person, to implement the plan. The management process is responsible to see that an effective plan for implementation is in place, detailing who will do what, and when, and how it will be reported and evaluated.

Organizing refers to the management process of providing the structure and resources to implement the organization’s plan. This is an important part of the coordinating and stabilizing function of management. Organizing involves identifying and grouping the tasks to be completed and the assignment of each task to a specific person or group of persons. This is the point of delegation, where responsibility to lead is given from the leader to the follower, at least for this specific task. Organizing also involves the acquisition, distribution and control of the human, physical and financial resources needed to assure the effective attainment of mission objectives. The management function of organizing brings the organization into existence and equips it for effective operation. It provides the structure for accountability that forms the linkage between the planning and the staffing functions.

Staffing refers to the management process of providing the human resources—the gifts and skills needed to implement the plan. Traditionally staffing involves six functions: human resource planning, the identification of the organization’s needs for people to carry out its activities; personnel policy development, the setting up of procedures for the care and nurture of the organization’s people; employment, the recruitment, selection and orientation of the people who will form the organization; performance review, the evaluation of the people within the organization to enable them to grow in their work performance and in their lives; career development, the support and training of persons to enhance their personal and vocational development; and compensation administration, the provision of wages and benefits to the people in the organization in return for their work and commitment.

Leading refers to the management process of providing direction and involvement in every area of the organization’s development. The staffing function identifies and selects the people who will form the organization. The leading function provides them with a support system to ensure their success. Leaders are always there for the staff, not the staff for the leaders. Leading involves vision—the understanding and articulation of the mission and culture of the organization in a way that empowers the people. Leading involves delegation—the assignment of responsibility and authority to persons so that they might lead within the organization. Leading involves motivation and coaching—the inspiration and encouragement of people to accomplish their assignment. Leading involves coordination. It maintains a network of relationships among the people of the organization. Leading involves service. Leaders make a commitment to the well-being of the organization, the achievement of its mission, the development of its people and the impact it has on the community in which it serves. It is important to note that power and authority are given by the organization (by its people) to be given to the people to enable them to carry out their assignment. The leader is there to serve the follower. It is not unusual to hear the question “Who reports to you?” A much better question is “For whose success are you responsible?” Leading is the management function of taking responsibility for the success of the people within the organization to ensure that the mission will be achieved.

Controlling refers to assessing and monitoring the progress and completion of organizational objectives. How are we doing? Are we making progress toward our mission? Controlling involves the development of standards for performance. What will a good job look like? What is quality work in this situation? What do we expect from our organization? Controlling involves measurement of performance and results. It asks how we know how well we are doing. Controlling also involves the appraisal of performance against standards: how well we are doing. Controlling involves the correction of performance deviation: if I am not doing my job well, how do I improve? Controlling involves the reinforcement of performance that is up to standard: if I am doing well, tell me!

The most common control system in most organizations is the budget. The operating budget attempts to quantify the organization’s plan in measurable format that allows periodic feedback and opportunity for adjustment. The information from the controlling function of the management process provides the information that fuels the planning function, and the sequential management process continues through another cycle: planning, organizing, staffing, leading, controlling.

Along with these five sequential components of the management process, MacKenzie identified two continuous functions: deciding and communicating.

Deciding is a continuous management function that occurs in each of the sequential components of the process. It includes defining the problems that make a decision necessary—opportunity, lack, choice. It identifies the decision objectives—what we are seeking to accomplish. It develops alternatives—what the options are. It takes the risk of choosing an alternative—selecting the best option. It includes the implementation of the decision—putting the decision to work. Decision-making is one of the most critical functions of leadership within the management process. Some would argue that it is the most critical function because it involves the risk of the unknown. It does not require leadership to decide between two unequal alternatives when one is clearly the better choice. Leadership is required when both options are equal and it is not clear which is the better choice. Leadership risks when making a decision when the alternatives are equal, a decision that frees the people up to get on with their work.

Communicating is another continuous function of the management process. It is the function that links all of the areas of the organization’s development. Communicating is the vital link that relates people and processes to the purpose and task of the organization. Information is friendly. A major part of the management process is ensuring that the people within the organization have the information they need to make the best decisions and carry out their assignments effectively for the achievement of the mission.

In addition to all these dimensions of management, which are shared equally by Christians and those without faith, there is another vital and powerful continuous component of the management process for the Christian manager.

Prayer is an acknowledgment of dependence on God. It is a way to seek wisdom, to see things from God’s perspective, to look at one’s work through the eyes of Jesus. We pray not so much with the expectation that God will make the decision for us as to express weakness and dependence. Praying brings us into the mind of God so that we may understand what is important, what is at stake and what are the values that must be preserved. Praying often draws on different thinking or brain patterns and allows insights that do not always emerge from rational thinking and discussion. One of the deepest prayers of Christian managers is that we will do no harm. We pray, however, in the final confidence that we cannot frustrate the sovereign will of God.

Management is a relationship between leader and follower that involves both in planning, organizing, staffing, leading, controlling, deciding, communicating and praying for the accomplishment of the shared mission objectives that brings them into relationship with the organization.

» See also: Leadership

References and Resources

P. Block, The Empowered Manager (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1993); M. De Pree, Leadership Is an Art (New York: Doubleday, 1989); M. De Pree, Leadership Jazz (New York: Doubleday, 1992); P. Drucker, Effective Executive (New York: HarperCollins, 1993); J. M. Kouzes and B. Z. Posner, Credibility (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1993); J. O’Toole, Leading Change: Overcoming the Ideology of Comfort and Tyranny of Custom (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1995); G. Tucker, The Faith-Work Connection (Toronto: Anglican Books Centre, 1987).

—Walter Wright