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BUSM 5110: Managing Dynamic Teams (PO3)

Instructor: Lana Van Velthuizen, M.Ed., CCDP
Name: Thai Hoang Nguyen (Lisa)
Student ID: 100465210
Reflection #1, September 2, 2024

Question 4: Based on John Kotter’s article “What Leaders Really Do”, what is the
difference between leadership and management? How can a leader set a direction versus
planning and budgeting? How can a leader align people versus organizing and staffing? How
can a leader motivate people versus controlling and problem solving? Provide an example
from your experience of a success or a failure of a leader to achieve these goals. Describe
what the leader could have done differently if anything.

Based on "What Leaders Really Do" (1990), the new ideas had been introduced by
professor John Kotter. He proposed that management and leadership are different, but at the same
time they are also supplementary. While management is about coping with complexity, leadership,
otherwise, is about coping with change. Good management could bring a level of order and
consistency to the quality and profitability. However, as businesses nowadays become more
competitive and unpredictable, including technological advances, competition, and customer
demands, etc., the need for these major changes is more essential to survive and perform effectively
in the present circumstances. Therefore, the organizations inevitably demand more leadership
(Horner, 1997).
The networking and relationships are necessary to achieve overall objectives, ensuring that
people are aligned with the same concepts and do their work properly. There are three primary
tasks needed. Firstly, manager levels handle complexity by planning and budgeting to produce
orderly outcomes and concentrating on long-term planning. By contrast, leaders begin by setting
a direction, including gathering needed information to help explain things to develop vision and
strategies. For example, Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs, a leader known for his vision and
pioneer in technology, is both inspiring and innovative to revolutionize the digital world. His
mindset is to "think outside the box" from technologies previously thought impossible and turn
them into reality (Isaacson, 2014).
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Secondly, managers design human systems that can maximize carry-out plans accurately
in a conservative way. On the other hand, aligning people is generally distinctive. Typically, it is
preferred to communication challenges. The target population can involve not only subordinates
and the board of directors but also other stakeholders, including suppliers, authorities, and even
customers. By aligning practice, it significantly helps to empower people. Indeed, employees who
have a well-coordinated sense of direction can initiate actions confidently without fear of remand
from high levels. Furthermore, there is also less conflict among employees when there is more
consensus. Mary Barra, for example, is the CEO of General Motors. She has implemented a culture
of transparency and openness, and fostered communication between staff members and other
corporate stakeholders (Baldonado, 2020).
Finally, according to management theory, since control is essential to organizations,
motivated or inspired behavior is mostly meaningless. Systems and structures are playing primarily
roles to help employees do their work while reducing risk and failure. Nevertheless, good leaders
will motivate people in many different ways. These methods include emphasizing the people's
values, involving them in deciding how to achieve the organization's vision, providing training and
feedback, and rewarding success. An example of Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO, is well-known
for his empathetic leadership approach (Zada, 2022). His emphasis on creating a positive corporate
culture and empathizing with employees contributed to Microsoft's success. In his opinion,
building leadership skills also includes the human side for both personal and professional career
growth.
Proving this matter, in my previous position, I witnessed the leadership success of a project
that required various coordination between departments, including sales, marketing, accounting,
customer service, and others, to set up a service center for repairing luxury products at Thakral
Timepiece Vietnam Ltd., one of the leading distributors of luxury watches and jewelry. Basically,
the success came from the leader's ability to effectively communicate and have a clear directional
pathway to align the project objective, which was to successfully run a service center in Ho Chi
Minh City, Vietnam. He held regular short meetings and set clear milestones or strategies to ensure
everyone had the same concept. Additionally, the leader also emphasized people alignment, not
only internal parties but also the sponsor, Richemont Luxury (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., who is lending
essential equipment by fostering open communication channels, agreement respect, and delivering
necessary messages. When it became clear that all stakeholders were on track, he was still keeping
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to maintain and ensure people would have the sufficient energy to overcome difficulties by
providing feedback, recognizing, and rewarding their effort after the project.
In conclusion, the leader's success was largely due to his clear vision and effective
communication, but there's always room for fostering staff motivation for long-term sustainability.

References
Baldonado, A. (2020). Women in Leadership: Profiles in Courage, Empathy, and Service.
International Journal of Managerial Studies and Research, 8(1).
https://doi.org/10.20431/2349-0349.0801006
Horner, M. (1997). Leadership theory: past, present and future. Team Performance Management:
An International Journal, 3(4), 270-287.
Isaacson, W. (2014). The real leadership lessons of Steve Jobs. Harvard Business Review.
https://hbr.org/2012/04/the-real-leadership-lessons-of-steve-jobs.
Zada, I. (2022). The Modern Leadership Ingredients for the Post-COVID. International Business
Research, 15(9), 43-49.