Leadership Theories

• Leadership is guiding and motivating teamwork toward a shared objective; it's a skill cultivated over time.

Theories of Leadership

• "Great Man" theories state leadership is inherent; great leaders are born, portrayed as heroic or mythic, and predestined for leadership, typically deemed a male quality, historically in military contexts.
• Trait theories posit leadership is inherited via traits, identifying personality/behavioral traits shared by leaders like extroversion, self-confidence, and courage.
• Contingency theories state leadership hinges on environmental variables, implying no style suits all situations.
• Situational theories propose leaders select actions based on variables, suggesting leadership styles align with decision types.
• Behavioral theories claim great leaders are made, not born, contrasting Great Man Approach.
• Participative theories advocate for input-inclusive leadership, encouraging contributions for team relevance and commitment.
• Management theories, or transactional theories, emphasize supervision, organization, and group performance, grounding leadership in rewards and punishments.
• Relationship theories, or transformational theories, emphasize leader-follower connections, requiring high ethics and morals.
• Management includes planning, organizing, leading, and controlling resources to achieve organizational goals efficiently.

Types of Managers

• Top-level managers are executive-level leaders with "chief" in their titles, leading as chief executive officers.
• Middle managers report to top-level managers, having autonomy for departmental decisions, often with "director" titles, acting as liaisons for manager levels, ensuring communication.
• First-line managers hold entry-level roles, communicating concerns to middle management, addressing employee needs as liaisons.

Management Styles

• Autocratic management involves independent decision-making with less input, focusing on control and efficiency, enabling clear direction in crises, but risks stifling creativity.
• Democratic management promotes participation, collaboration, increased engagement, higher morale, and improved problem-solving, but time-consuming decisions.
• Laissez-Faire management is a hands-off, autonomy-allowing approach that promotes creativity and self-motivation, but risks less direction or accountability.
• Transformational management inspires shared vision, driving innovation and strong purpose, yet requires significant leader effort.
• Visionary management focuses on long-term goals, giving purpose and direction, but demanding strong communication and leadership skills.
• Coaching management develops employee skills as mentors, improving performance and culture, but needs time and implementation.
• Authoritative management sets clear expectations with discipline, effective in crises situations, but risks stifling creativity.
• Persuasive management involves teams in decisions, explaining the rationale, which boosts buy-in, but may be time-consuming.
• Transactional management monitors performance, rewarding/punishing results, can maintaining order, but risks being less creative
• Consultative management seeks team input retaining the final say, boosting engagement and morale, but can reduce motivation.

Characteristics of Leaders and Managers

• Vision and Strategic Thinking are required to envision the future and create a clear path.
• Leaders must communicate clearly to ensure everyone understands the vision and goals.
• Empathy and Emotional Intelligence are requirements to understand perspectives to build trust and rapport.
• Integrity and Honesty means acting ethically to earn team respect and trust.
• Motivation and Inspiration is needed to inspire teams to achieve their potential.
• Delegation and Empowerment involves delegating tasks empowering team members' ownership.
• Adaptability and Flexibility allows adapting to embrace new ideas when addressing circumstances.
• Decision-Making includes effective decisions based on insight.
• Self-Awareness is necessary to leverage strengths while understanding and addressing weaknesses.
• Active Listening is required to understand team member concerns.
• Accountability means taking responsibility.
• Resilience includes learning from setbacks.
• Passion and Enthusiasm help to create contagious enthusiasm.
• Confidence is important to build trust.
• Courage means taking risks to make decisions.

Fundamental Functions of Management

• Planning sets objectives, strategies, and action plans, serving as the basis for all actions.
• Organizing structures work, assigns tasks, and establishes communication channels for efficient operation.
• Leading involves motivating and guiding employees, building teams, and inspiring performance.
• Controlling ensures goal tracking, deviation identification, corrective actions, and standards setting.

Roles of Managers within Organizations

• As Figureheads, managers represent their organization during symbolic events.
• Managers act as Leaders by motivating staff, promoting positive environments, and setting expectations.
• As Liaisons, they build internal/external relationships.
• By Monitoring, managers scan for relevant information.
• As Disseminators, they share important information with employees.
• As Spokespersons, they communicate their organization's perspective.
• As Entrepreneurs, they identify opportunities.
• As Disturbance Handlers, they address unexpected problems effectively.
• As Resource Allocators, they allocate time, budget, and personnel.
• As Negotiators, they represent organizations in negotiations.

Basics of Decision Making

• Effective decision-making includes identifying the problem, gathering data, evaluating options, selecting the best action, and assessing outcomes.
• Problem-solving is identifying and resolving issues.
• Decision-making selects a course of action.

Characteristics of Problem Solving and Decision Making

• Problem-solving is a process leading to a decision on a solution's implementation.
• Decision-making is a vital skill for informed choices.

Decision-Making Techniques

• Individual Decision Making involves independently assessing and deciding by judgement.
  • Speed, autonomy, limited perspective, and potential bias are aspects of individual decision making.
• Group Decision Making involves collaboration and negotiation.
  • Diverse perspectives, increased knowledge, improved quality, time consumption, conflict potential and groupthink are aspects of group decision making.

Decision Making for Public Managers

• Strategic decisions define long-term intent aligned with policies.
• Tactical decisions materialize vision into strategy.
• Operational decisions materialize daily strategy.

Information or Research Decision Making

• Data-driven decision-making uses facts and analysis to guide decisions over intuition.

Guides for Quick and Fast Decision Making

• Clarify the decision, define the problem, set goals, and determine stakes.
• Focus on relevant data, use tools like SWOT, and manage emotions when gathering information efficiently.
• List alternatives, and create a matrix to prioritize choices during options evaluation.
• Develop intuition, take action quickly, and embrace a growth mindset by trusting instincts.
• Commit to the chosen option without reevaluating, delegate when applicable, and continuously learn.