What are the three most difficult challenges that face leader-managers, and how do effective leader-managers meet those three challenges?

Essay by ver7University, Master'sB, September 2007

download word file, 13 pages 3.0

Downloaded 181 times

Essay - What are the three most difficult challenges that face leader-managers, and how do effective leader-managers meet those three challenges?

In the beginning there was the word: leader-managers. I will begin this essay by briefly differentiate between a leader and a manager. A manager has subordinates, meaning he has power over the people under him, while a leader has followers, people who are willing to follow and not obliged to. Huband (1992) wrote that a manager uses his authority as a boss to gain power while a leader uses his charisma to be a role model. In this essay, we will assume that a manager and a leader is the same person, as in the real world, many people are both. In the modern business world, there are many problems that a manger might face as the world gets more and more complex. To gain a competitive edge, managers are under pressure to perform and being a good manager might not be hard but being a great one is what makes the difference.

The three challenges that I decided to write about are the challenges of retention, effective communication and resolving conflict. First I will talk about the challenge of retention, and what managers do to retain employees.

Retention means to keep employees from leaving the organization. Retention is a challenge managers are facing as talented employees are hard to find, and even harder to keep. In a competitive market, talented employees are sought after by many competitive organizations. Managers must understand that it is cheaper to develop a good employee than to spend money hiring one and that, and that good employees are as valuable and hard to replace as a loyal customer (Nohria, Joyce & Roberson 2003). Retention also makes sure that managers do not always have...