Management and Leadership
Management versus leadership
Managerial work is usually grouped into planning, organizing, staffing/directing, and controlling. Leadership is the influencing side of the role: setting direction, building commitment, and developing people. A candidate can hold a title and still manage poorly. Items asking for a leadership behavior usually want vision-setting, coaching, or change sponsorship, not budgeting or writing a schedule.
Styles and fit
Situational leadership holds that the right style depends on follower readiness: directing (low readiness), coaching, supporting, and delegating (high readiness). Transformational leaders articulate a vision and stimulate growth; transactional leaders rely on rewards, monitoring, and corrective action. Servant leadership puts follower needs first - a common distractor claims servant leaders prioritize their own authority, which is wrong. Laissez-faire (hands-off) is rarely correct for new or untrained staff.
Change and conflict
Lewin's model - unfreeze, move, refreeze - is the simplest change framework; Kotter's eight steps add urgency, a guiding coalition, short-term wins, and anchoring. For conflict, the Thomas–Kilmann modes are competing, collaborating, compromising, avoiding, and accommodating. Collaborating (win–win) fits important issues where both parties' commitment is needed; compromising fits moderate importance plus time pressure; avoiding fits trivial or overheated issues.
Worked rule of thumb
Before picking a style label, ask three questions: how important is the outcome, how important is the relationship, and how much time is available? That triad resolves most style-selection items. Also remember delegation transfers authority, not accountability - the manager remains answerable.