Directing and Leadership
Core
Directing is instructing, guiding, supervising and motivating employees. Its elements are supervision, motivation, leadership and communication. Maslow's hierarchy runs physiological, safety, social, esteem and self-actualisation; a satisfied need no longer motivates. Herzberg separates hygiene factors (salary, working conditions, policy), which prevent dissatisfaction, from motivators (achievement, recognition, responsibility), which create satisfaction. Leadership styles are autocratic (quick, centralised), democratic (participation) and laissez-faire (hands-off). Communication is a two-way process: sender, message, encoding, channel, receiver, decoding, feedback and noise.
Worked example
A production team is missing targets. The supervisor first calls a meeting, asks operators where the bottleneck is and involves them in setting a revised schedule. This is democratic leadership and uses upward communication. If a fire breaks out, the same supervisor should give clear, immediate instructions without consultation; autocratic leadership is appropriate in an emergency. Reasoning: leadership style should fit the situation, task urgency and team maturity; no single style is always best.
Traps
Leadership and management overlap but are not identical: management uses formal authority; leadership may be informal. Motivation is not the same as morale. A laissez-faire style is not good delegation when the team lacks skill. Communication is not complete until feedback is received. Do not confuse Herzberg's hygiene factors with Maslow's physiological needs.