Organizational Development: A Manual for Managers and ... - FPDL

well is a kind of mental disease. The problem of ‘motivating’ healthy people is an artificial one. If
they were not de-motivated by something – they would tend to work well. Most real problems are
related to de-motivation that comes from a hopeless arrangement of the work, wrong assignments,
bad technologies or organization, poor job content, irrelevant feedback or stupid leadership – all of
which are in the hands of the manager. No one can be more harmful to an organization than its
boss.
Management and leadership
A manager has a lot to do in an organization. He is designer and constructor, supervisor and
supplier, politician and finance analyst, physician and trainer, father and mother, and so on. One of
his common functions is to be a leader. The terms ‘management’ and ‘leadership’ are not
synonyms. A manager is not necessary a good leader. He or she may very successfully lead an
organization to disaster.
As Encyclopaedia Britannica explains: "’Leadership’ can come from an individual, a collective
group of leaders, or even from the disincarnate - if not mystical – characteristics of a celebrity
figure head (compare hero). Yet other usages have a ‘leadership’ which does little active leading,
but to which followers show great (often traditional) respect (compare the courtesy title reverend).
Followers often endow the leader with status or prestige. … Note that the ability to influence others
does form an integral part of the ‘leadership’ of some but not all front-runners. A front-runner in a
sprint may ‘lead’ the race, but does not have a position of ‘leadership’ if he does not have the
potential to influence others in some way. Thus one can make an important distinction between
‘being in the lead’ and the process of leadership. Leadership implies a relationship of power - the
power to guide others.”
Thus, being ‘leader’ may mean being in a position to lead – due to formal power or because of
special psychological features, prestige, a nice face, or whatever else. It may also mean doing the
job of leading. Guiding others is not only issuing orders or directives (for which holding a formal
position would be enough), but is assuring that others are willing to follow (where formal power
may not help). To do this job of leading well, a manager needs the special qualifications and skills
of leadership - which is a common agenda for many books and training courses. But our manual is
about developing organizations, so we will focus on this specific aspect of a manager’s job.
Changing role of manager
Neil Glass made a good observation about the principal changes in the whole approach to
management and control – the evolution from traditional to more contemporary models of
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