A511.1.3.RB_BorutyAlan - Leadership vs Management

Leadership vs Management

During a time before the word leadership was used in the work place, the manager was responsible for everything from pencils to product to people.  They represented the company internally and externally.  They were problem solvers.  They were entertainers.  And, they ran the work force.  They have been researched, labeled, and cataloged.  Mintzberg compiled ten managerial roles that were observed during a study of executives in 1973. The ten roles fit into three categories and they are listed in table 2-1 on page 29 of the textbook.  One of these roles is Leader.

The manager has always had numerous duties and responsibilities, still does.  The scope of his work is vast, diverse, and very important.  The manager is expected to know everything about the organization he runs, everything.  Generally speaking, they do.  Over the years, they managed to keep up with the pace and workload.  Technology has changed the way many things are done. The people in his charge have changed as well.  Employee rights, attitudes, and labor laws have changed significantly over the years. Along with these changes leading the people of an organization has evolved from being one of the managers ten roles to being a full time job with a unique skill set requiring training and qualification.  It is not a matter of the manager being capable of leading the workforce, they simply do not have the time to keep up and do good work on everything they are tasked to do.  I believe people are the greatest resource and the person who runs the organization should lead the people that make the organization successful. It would not be difficult to delegate time consuming management tasks and have the manager take on oversight of programs and functions and become the primary leader of the people in the organization.


I entered the Air Force in 1982.  I was 20 years old and new nothing about anything.  We still used the term manager synonymous with leader.  We were informed that change was coming and it did.  The Air Force manages resources and programs, and lead the Airmen.  This is the first I remember management losing clout and leadership taking charge of the organization.  Managers are given control of and the resources needed to mange their specific functions.  Depending on the programs they ran they either reported to a leader at the squadron or group level.  Today, at the highest level down to the lowest, the Air Force is run by leaders, not managers.  In my civilian experience, the manager is still used and is responsible for the same types of functions including providing leadership to the employees assigned under them.  Why is that?  The answer I come up with is that it has always been that way, and it  still works in civilian business.  Why should they change, it is not broken.  Another reason is that the military and civilian sectors are different.  What works for one could be disastrous in the other.  Management functions are very important and it is critical the published data be accurate.  However, it is more important that the people of the organization be properly led.

The leadership vs. management debate has gone on as long as I remember and will most likely continue for some time.  Are we fighting semantics?  I believe leadership and management are are separate important functions in an organization.  They can be performed by the same person, but that is a challenge under the best of circumstances.  I do not see leadership as a role under management and do not think it can get adequate attention as such. The people of an organization are what make the organization work and should be treated accordingly.

People do not want to be managed, they want to be led and inspired.  In the video we were assigned to watch, Simon Sinek made two statements that ring true to me. First he said that people want to be part of why their employer does what they do.  Several years back changes rolled through organizations that created mission statements at every organizational level, identified customers that benefited from that mission statement, and ensured even the lowest level employee understood why their organization exists.  This was and still is aimed at answering they why question Simon Sinek spoke about. Secondly, Sinek said there are leaders and there are those who lead.  Those who lead inspire.  People that lead part time or as an additional duty do so in title only and fall into the there are leaderscategory.  Those who lead do so with conviction and passion.  Any team they work with will see the honesty and truth and will respond accordingly.

Leadership in an organization is necessary to effective operations.  Whether the person that performs the leadership function is called a manger or a leader does not matter as long as they are trained, qualified, and dedicated to the role.  I personally think their title should be leader, but if the job is getting done properly the title is not important.  Either way, it is time to end the debate and do the right thing for the people and for the organization.

References:

Yukl, G. (2013). Leadership in organizations (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall

TEDxPuget Sound 2010 - You Tube, Simon Sinek: How Great Leaders Inspire Action, Filmed 2010 at TEDxPuget Sound, Retrieved from:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4ZoJKF_VuA&feature=share&list=PL42F8562DCD3CCEA8 (Links to an external site.)

 

A500.9.4.RB_BorutyAlan - Course Reflections

Course Reflections

I now know, without a doubt, why people say, "get your education, but do not stop until you finish".  Being a student requires  a number of skill sets to include computer literacy, current technology savvy, time management, good study habits, the knack for meticulous research, and the ability to critically think, read, and write from the minute the course starts.  After an 18-year break from student status, I made a few personal observations about these requirements.  First, they must have been stored in temporary memory in my brain and were deleted about 17.5 years ago.  They simply did not exist.  No amount of praying, crying, or begging could restore them.  Second, the requirements are real and intense and then really intense.  Third, not one of the requirements was like riding a bike!  In fact, they were more like I had never been a student before.  At this point, I wondered why I ever thought going back to school was a good idea.  My final observation was that once I got behind (on day 1), quitting would have been the right choice.  Taking a remedial how-to-be-a-student-preparatory class taught by local high school students would have been smart.  Rarely have I been called right or smart.

So, for the last 9 weeks I have spent nearly every moment awake (and some not) in front of my computer drinking from a fire hydrant, hanging on to sanity by a thread, and still barely getting by. But, I would not change a thing.  The first class on my journey to a Master's Degree in Leadership is in the books and I lived to tell you about it!  How can that be all bad?

This class is called MSLD500, Leadership Foundations in Research and is a prerequisite to every course I will take in pursuit of my degree.  Now that I think about it, there is a definite resemblance to that remedial course I described earlier.  The curriculum is designed to introduce or reintroduce the fundamental skills that are needed to succeed through the rest of the program.  The course covers the following topics: Critical Thinking which examines the individual components, the process of critically thinking (reasoning) through issues, impediments to critical thinking such as personal bias and stereotypes,  and applying critical thinking to academic disciplines in order to achieve a deeper level of understanding in any field of study; Research included an introduction to the university library, physically doing the research, citing references, the different research methodologies, and introduced Action Research which culminated in the students doing an Action Research project, report, and multimedia presentation; APA Style and Format was presented as the standard and expectation for all written work in the program; Reflection Blog includes establishing an account, creating the blog, and regularly submitting reflective entries on various subjects for the remainder of the MSLD program; ePortfolio creation, the benefits of having one, and how to use it effectively is incorporated throughout the program and will be used for the capstone project required for graduation.

I think the material covered in the course is appropriate and sufficient.  The pace of the class seemed a bit too fast for the amount of information covered.  This may just be me because the first and second paragraphs in this entry are true.  Regardless, the pace drove me to spend much more time on the course than I expected.  The assignments were appropriate to the material covered, however there seemed to be more repetition than needed specifically in the SEE-I assignment and  the annotated bibliography assignments.  The volume of work was a consistent challenge for me to complete each week.  Again I was under pressure from the beginning which most likely made things seem more extreme than they actually were.

This class provided a large amount of instruction over the term for which I am grateful.  I feel I needed every lesson in one way or another and I am confident that I am much better prepared to start the next course on the 19th. 

Dr. Watkins, I thank you for your time and effort and I appreciate your patience and flexibility.  You kept the course doable for me and I am grateful that you did.

To my classmates, some of us will have the opportunity to work together again and I look forward to it.  Unfortunately, some of us will not. To everyone, I wish you continued successes and good fortune in all of your future endeavors.  Thanks for your help! ~Pete

A500.8.3.RB_BorutyAlan - Good Presentation Design

Good Presentation Design

I have spent uncountable hours throughout my career  trying to answer this very question, without much success.  It always seemed that good design depended on who asked for the presentation, who asked me to build the presentation, who the final audience is, and what mood any of the previously mentioned may be in.   In fact it depended on sso many things, I do not think I designed a good presentation the entire time I was in the Air Force.  It was a frustrating experience each and every time; getting a presentation through the review process was an accomplishment in and of itself.

When I retired from the military. I went to work for a contractor who sought contracts with the U.S. Air Force.   And, it was just as bad or worse because now two separate chains of important people , civilian and military, existed that I could possibly offend in some way or the other.  It really was that bad.  I promised myself I was done building presentation charts, period.  Wrong.

I decided to go back to school.  In my mind I knew at some point I would have to design a presentation.  The very first class abruptly ended the betting.   I had to come to grip with all of this much sooner than I anticipated.  When I did, I still was not sure how I should handle the things I was reading.   Am I being set up?   Who is in on this?  I did not know, but it all seemed very suspicious indeed.   Less is more, keep charts to the absolute minimum, white space is okay, are all messages I was sure I would never hear, much less, read.   I decided to play along and stick around to hear the punchline when the truth was eventually revealed despite my gut-level suspicion that something really bad was about to go down.

I wish I could say that I have exaggerated here, but I cannot.  So, now I am stuck with all this white space and the market for the extraneous filler material that eliminated white space by design has just crashed, leaving me out in the cold and much happier!

Concepts like charts are only there to support the presenter; one main idea per chart; when charts are simple and  kept to necessary minimums, learning increases; the audience is the only reason for the presentation; and, if a chart is is not understandable within three seconds, it needs to be redesigned, have all been taught in speech classes and professional military education classrooms for as long as I have been exposed.  Taught in theory and excused in practice.  To be able to follow the guidelines for good presentation design was exciting, but when I began my design I found it difficult to apply.  Bad habits kept sneaking their way back into my work. Bad habits are said to die slowly.  I look forward to their complete dissappeance  without  any sadness or conscience.

Additionally, there are tools too numerous to name available to help in presentation design.  I took four evaluation copies, but I have not used any of them enough to be comfortable using them yet.  On the surface they appear to be very capable, I just cannot prove it at the moment.