Learning Activity 1 - Theme 1

What is the manager's perspective of leadership? How does it differ from the leader's perspective? Managers focus on process, procedure, and implementation of the organization's purpose. A manager's perspective is about getting the job done and keeping stability. The leader is about change and moving workers toward the organization's vision. The area of overlap comes in terms of the need to use "soft or people skills" to get their job done. It can be said that the manager motivates while the leader empowers.

In the following five quotes each leader is commenting on the perspective of a manager in an organization as opposed to a leader.

• Define the difference between a manager's and leader's mindset.

• Using the readings for the week explain the import of each quote. Do not just tell me what it means explain how it reflects a managers or leader's mindset.

"Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things."

Peter Drucker

"Leadership is working with goals and vision; management is working with objectives."

Russell Honore

"When a management with a reputation for brilliance tackles a business with a reputation for bad economics, it is the reputation of the business that remains intact."

Warren Buffett

"Good management is the art of making problems so interesting and their solutions so constructive that everyone wants to get to work and deal with them."

Paul Hawken

"Management is nothing more than motivating other people."

Lee Iacocca

Learning Activity 2 - Theme 2

The manager must be able to solve problems, communicate, and lead teams toward the completion of a task. You are the manager of the northern branch of the Laurel City bowling alleys. The owner, Jill Espy, has 4 other bowling alleys around town. The average employee assigned to the concession stand of all the Laurel City bowling alleys lasts 3 years. However, in your branch, the average employee lasts only 8 months. Jill is concerned about this huge discrepancy and wants to know your ideas about the difference and what you can do to correct the problem. Training new employees is costly to the company and this high turnover is costing her money that could be better spent elsewhere.

You have talked with your current concession staff and have learned that pay and scheduling may have some effect on the turnover rate. However, one worker indicated that many of the workers do not know how to handle difficult customers. It makes them not want to come to work. Discuss how you would solve this problem. Consider motivation techniques, mentoring or other ideas from the readings to effectuate a positive change. Use the readings to support your reasoning

Leading Function

Without the ability to influence employees toward goal achievement, a manager cannot be effective. No matter how well-crafted the objectives or how well-organized the resources, nothing can be achieved if employees are unwilling or unable to work toward the objectives. Managers who lack the ability to influence employees are often ineffective and find it difficult to motivate workers to increase productivity.

Read:

Leading - (Scroll down to read about leading as part of the functions of management)

Theme One: What is Leading?

Read/View:

• Leader or Manager? These 10 Important Distinctions Can Help You Out
• Leading and Motivating as a Manager
• The Root Causes of Low Employee Morale

Theme Two: The manager must be able to make decisions, solve problems, communicate, motivate employees, and lead teams toward the completion of a task. This is often done as part of the leading function.

Read/View:

• What Leaders Really Do! Insert the following into Google: What leaders really do.pdf - Classes
• Making Decisions (Video 3:49 minutes)
• A New Role for Management in Today's Post-Industrial Organization
• Communication Skills for Managers
• Engage Staff and Reduce Turnover
• Theories of Motivation
• The Puzzlement of Motivation - Dan Pink (Ted Talk video - 18:32 minutes) This video is a must see and explains why some of the motivational tactics that worked in the 20th century do not work in the 21st century. Daniel Pink has a great sense of humor and explains why what many managers do to motivate does not work.

• The Core Skills to Leading Your Team

Show data table for This chart displays the number of completed topics versus the total number of topics within module.

• Learning Activities

Discussion Forum

To complete the learning activities, please create a new thread for each theme and identify in the subject line the theme for which you are responding. Students are expected to post to each theme and to at least two other students (across all themes) by Sunday. In responding to both the learning activities and to other students, please be sure to use the course material using in-text citations and a reference list to cite the source(s) used. Remember, an in-text citation cannot exist without having a corresponding reference list and a reference list cannot exist without having a corresponding in-text citation. Use of the course material using in-text citations and a reference list is always expected in the learning activities and good practice for the assignments in the course.