ACCA Applied Knowledge · Business and Technology · Leadership, management and supervision
Rahul, a finance director, has recently shifted from a style where he consults his team and encourages them to suggest improvements, to one where he sets the goals, rewards compliance and penalises failure to meet targets. Using Kotter's view of leadership versus management, which statement is most accurate?
Rahul has moved from leading towards managing. Kotter links management with controlling, planning and ensuring compliance to cope with complexity, while leadership means setting direction, aligning and inspiring people to cope with change. Rahul's emphasis on targets, rewards and penalties rather than involvement and inspiration reflects a management approach.
- ARahul has moved from managing towards leading, because he now sets clear goals
- BRahul has moved from leading towards managing, because he now focuses on control and compliance with set targets rather than inspiring and involving peopleCorrect
- CRahul's change is neither, because Kotter's model applies only to chief executives
- DRahul has moved from supervision to strategy, because he now sets goals
Explanation
Kotter sees leadership as coping with change through setting direction, aligning and motivating people, while management copes with complexity through planning, controlling and problem solving. Rahul's new approach stresses control, targets and rewards or penalties, which is management. Option A wrongly equates goal setting with leadership. Kotter's ideas are not limited to chief executives.
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