Management and Leadership Essay

Management and leadership are two important factors, which make a great contribution to the success of any organization. Good management can create a successful and profitable organizations but it will not survive without good leaders and vice versa. “Times may change, but managerial practices will always separate effective from ineffective organizations” (Bateman, 2004, p. 178). The managers of Target Corporation apply different policies in order to meet the requirements of the shareholders and to serve to the needs of the company. There is a number of techniques, used by the Board, which guarantee a long-term success of the company. The number of Committees, such as Audit, Finance, Nominating, Corporate, Compensation, Responsibility, Corporate Governance and Executive ones are responsible for different spheres. Executive board has a right to create new committees if there is such a necessity. The number of committees have independent directors. The directors of the company make sure that board directors are informed timely about all great changes in the company and all new proposals are given to them in advance. All members of the board have the right to attend the Corporate meetings. This gives them and opportunity to be aware of all changes that occur inside the company. In general, the policy of the company can be characterized as open and loyal to its workers. Company authorities take care about timely informing of their employees on each level. Experience exchange is another successful strategy used by the company. The board of the company turns to the help of senior management and outside advisors.

Successful planning is another successful strategy of the company. The Board is responsible for creating successful plans, which are consistent with the long-time goals of the Corporation.

Henry Fayol, a successful businessman of the last century developed a new model of management, which includes four functions. These functions are: planning, organizing, leading and controlling. These functions should be used by managers and their staff in order to achieve a better understanding of the roles of people inside the organization.

Planning, the first function of management is very important for the organization. This function is performed during the first stage of the management process. All further stages of the work of the manager depend on the successful performance on the first stage. Short term and long term planning should be taken into account by the managers.

Organizing is the next function of the management. On the second stage managers should perform actions in order to start realizing their plans. During this stage the managers should pass the task and resources to workers, who should work on it. During this stage manager is also responsible for the monitoring of the way his task is accomplished.

Leading, which is the next function of the management, assumes the ability of the manager to organize people and help them to achieve goals appointed by the manager. “The ideal manager shall be able to hook up all future teams to work towards to the same goal, also be able to monitor and guide all functional team in execution on the work” (Burns, 1978, p. 46).

Controlling is the last important function of the management. It is a function of the manager to control how his or her tasks are realized.  It is evident that all four functions are successfully performed by the managers of Target Corporation.

Successful management assumes working together with other people and using resource in order to achieve organizational goals. Four functions of management perfectly serve to this purpose. As we can see leadership is one of the four functions of management and that is why it is hard to overestimate the role of good leadership for the successful performance of the organization. At the same time it is necessary to keep in mind that good leadership qualities are not enough to become a successful manager. Good manager should possess special knowledge on his field. Only performing successfully all four function mentioned above good managers can guarantee a successful functioning of an organization. “In every management system, with different roles and functions, makes every managerial role uniquely different. The continuously changing world that we exist in today requires managers to concentrate on the business running at its peak level. Running on the four functions of management will enable a business to run efficiently” (Bateman, 2004, p. 115).

Newest approaches to leadership underline the importance of personal involvement of both ”“ leaders and those, who follow them in the things they do together. Leaders and managers can perform successfully only if they can become an example of moral behaviour and deep spiritual work for all people who follow them. True leaders not only influence the minds of people and control their behaviour, but also bring sense to the lives of people and help them to discover deeper understanding of themselves. Sharma believes that leaders should take responsibilities for the people they lead. Mistakes of the leaders may have very serious consequences as they influence not only an organization as a whole, but also each separate individual. Respect to senior directors of the company and use of their experience illustrates that the Board of Target Corporation uses strong and experience leaders in order to reach success.