Introduction to Management

What Is Management (and Leadership) and how

can we understand this better?

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Management and Leadership
1. Leadership is considered part of the broader discipline
of management.
2. Sometimes I refer to management or ‘OB’ in the notes
when talking about some overall aspects of this
discipline and topic, because the behavioral, cognitive,
and emotional aspects of our work-life and decision-life
are very important to leadership and leaders need to
understand this research and topical area.
3. Much research today on management and its sister topic
of leadership – currently about 200,000 on Amazon in
English on leadership and about 15,000 TED and TEDx
on or about leadership.
4. A lot of the research is confusing -- making opposite
1-2
recommendations or providing not-very-helpful
metaphors (e.g. ‘leadership secrets of Santa Claus’
or the ‘leadership of Attila the Hun.’).
 After studying this,
you should be able to:
1. Define Management (and leadership)
2. Show the value of systematic study.
3. Identify the major behavioral science disciplines that
contribute to management
4. Demonstrate why few absolutes apply to management.
5. Identify the three levels of analysis in management.
6. Understand how behavioral science can help with the
managing and leading process (as well as personal growth
and understanding)
7. Understand about some problematic (and poorly 1-3
supported) management ‘theories’ that are commonly
believed (and ‘sold’ by consultants).
 More specifically – Management and leadership
Leadership is the process of influencing, motivating, and enabling
(supplying tools and approaches, etc.) the followers to implement
(often strategic) goals. Management includes leadership and is
POLC (planning, organizing, leading, and controlling).
Management covers a lot of the ‘non-people’ part, while
leadership covers the ‘people’ part of managing.
To do so, managers (and leaders) should understand helpful
managerial subtopics:
—Foundations of behavior – i.e. Traits, abilities, and values /
attitudes (Communication, IQ, EI, and culture)
—Leadership styles [looking and acting like a leader – even if
you don’t feel like it today]
—Strategic leadership and crisis / extreme leadership
—Motivation and influence
—Decision-making and leading groups 1-4
—Coaching, feedback and expert performance (day-to-day mgt)
—Culture
 Management is a science
Management is becoming a science that can be learned. And
as with any science, it can be:

1. Modeled methodically [what are its main elements, and how to ‘do’
them / understand them]
2. Assessed / measured systematically (especially the process and
actions taken)
3. Replicated reliably (i.e. repeated and trained)
4. Demonstrated universally (works anywhere, with some moderation /
situational control)
5. You know this with the ‘management science’ / operations
management topic. But also on the ‘people’ and planning side:
6. For example, part of management -- Leadership -- inputs are also
becoming measurable (like IQ, EI / EQ, CI / CQ – Cultural Intelligence,
Charisma, Influence, decision processes, strategic leadership). And
these lead to good outcomes – at the individual level, at the group
level, and at the firm / performance level. So we have some good idea
what is good leadership, what is so-so leadership, and what are the
outcomes.
In terms of measuring inputs and (later) outcomes
-- Three main practices (and subpractices) that are
generally considered to be the
essential elements of well-lead and well-organized
companies
1) [Influence and Motivation] Good Incentives (and
training): Does the organization reward high performance with
promotions and bonuses while encouraging and retraining (or
moving) underperformers?
2) [Enabling] Targets (and tools): Does the organization
provide and support long-term strategies and goals with tough but
achievable short-term performance benchmarks (and tools
provided)?
3) [Also part of motivation and organizational mindset]
Monitoring: Does the organization rigorously
collect and analyze performance data to identify opportunities for 1-6
improvement? (and encourage a trial+error growth mindset)
Therefore, leaders need to keep these in mind in building strong teams and organizations
Yes, you can learn to be a better manager or leader (and
a better “number 2” person supporting the boss)
As you move up in your career, you will not only need to
continue improving your skills, but also, you will need to
get more work done with the help of others (work in
teams, lead teams, work-groups, etc.).

This course is about helping you learn to do that, that is,

to influence, motivate and enable subordinates (and
colleagues) to help you get the work done you need and
that your organization needs to be successful (and to
avoid the mistakes that are so commonly made in these
areas)
Thus, we will look carefully at the evidence based
practice that can help you, but also your team,
company, and even the economy. First-the econmy--
Economic growth largely started around 1800 and has
accelerated (and widened around the world) in recent
years. Management plays an important role in that.
 Global GDP 2006- 2036 (projected)
The world economy is poised to
reach a remarkable milestone in
2022:

Total annual GDP will soar past $100

trillion for the first time (in 2022), two
years earlier than previously forecast,
according to the latest projections by
London-based economic consulting
firm CEBR.

Perhaps even more notable is that total

GDP is predicted to double to $200
trillion by 2035. In part, the current
surge reflects how effectively the world’s
biggest economies have adjusted to the
pandemic. But also, how well
developing economies have performed
– in Asia, and more recently, in Africa.
Looking ahead, China is expected to
pass the U.S. in total GDP in the 2030s.

Source: O’Keefe, B. & Rapp, N. 2022. Global

growth gathers speed. Fortune, February/March
2022, p.57
Does better management
really matter? Yes --
other good outcomes like
more firms longevity
(firm survival), and more
innovation (patents, etc.)
– Basically, good
leadership (and more
broadly, good
management) matters a
lot, it is not “soft” but
produces hard dollars.
(Bloom + Van Reenen,
HBR 2017)
 Some additional variables
(evidence) that leaders should care
about
 Motivation [yes it is your job]
 Jobs and work design (related
to motivation)
 Productivity
 Employee commitment
 Absenteeism
 Employment turnover
 Creativity and risk-taking
 Company performance 1-11
 Many different types of
leaders
Many different types of leaders – how do we
know if they are very good (or pretty good,
or not good)?

But as Stanford’s Jeffrey Pfeffer has found,

about 10-20% of all new MBA graduates at
Stanford (often hired into leadership
positions) get fired within the first 2 years.
So evidence is crucial to understand what is
good leadership and what do leaders need 1-12
to do / behave, etc.
Copyright© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall Leadership in Organizations
Good leader? Successful – yes. But is
‘success’ all that necessary to be a
good leader?
Steve Jobs – Apple & Pixar

 Steve developed the legendary Macintosh

computer and inspired almost fanatical
devotion from many of his staff. He knew
where he was going – and where the digital
revolution was going – and most people were
carried along by his vision. It was the textbook
“You lead, they’ll follow” scenario.
 The darker side of Steve’s character - he
didn’t understand the technical limitations of
his product, micro-managed people, allowed
damaging frictions to develop within the
company, took no notice of what consumers
wanted, and ignored plummeting sales….
~ Reviews of 'iCon Steve Jobs - The Greatest Second
Act in the History of Business'
Sheryl Sandberg – COO Facebook

 “Lean in”
 Option B (with Adam
Grant of Wharton --
building resilience
through a growth
mindset)
Jack Ma - Alibaba

 Excellent
enabler of the
followers in the
organizations
 Complementing Intuition
with Systematic Study on this topic
 Intuition: your “gut feeling” explanation of
behavior
 Systematic study improves ability to
accurately predict behavior
 Assumes behavior is not random
 Fundamental consistencies underlie behavior
 These can be identified and modified to reflect
individual differences

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 Systematic Study
Examines relationships
Attempts to attribute causes and
effects
Bases conclusions on scientific
evidence:
Data is gathered under controlled
conditions
Data is measured and interpreted in a
reasonably rigorous manner
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Coming back to the Science of Management --
EBM and Mangement
 Evidence-based management: Bases decisions on
the best available scientific evidence or your own
gathered data
 Complements systematic study
 Forces leaders to become more scientific in their
thinking (and ask for evidence)
 Try not to ‘reinvent the wheel.’ There are some things
that we know pretty well. Try to use that knowledge.
 For example, we know a lot about influencing others to
work with us and say ‘yes’ to good and ethical requests.
 We know a lot about motivating others, such as
improving task identity and job significant.
 And we know a lot about what not to do (e.g. in
influence, motivation, emotional intelligence/empathy,
culture etc.)
 For example, it is possible to ‘test’ empirically
• People will assign one person
as a leader and wait for their
Sheryl Sandberg’s six major principles of better
reaction leadership and performance for women. It turns
• People don’t want to be the
out that she is right about some things, but not correct 1-19
first one to react
about others (e.g. ‘authentic leadership’ – research
shows you should change and stretch your leadership
style as you learn more and adjust more to situations.
Evidence-Based Management
But also remember with Evidence-based
Management : Its not just ‘big data’
 You need theory to help you ‘model’ what the data
are saying (i.e. what causes what and why, and
under what conditions).
 Models are what allow us to compare what
happened with what would have happened under a
different set of conditions, including, of course,
different policies.
 Without the framework (model) to enable that
comparison, the data are descriptive, perhaps, but
not nearly as useful.
 The choice of model is a vital input into the
analysis and can have a big impact on the policy
implications.
• Understand what
problems your
costumers have  For example, we know a lot about customer 1-20
met service. But sometimes the ‘big data’ do not tell a
clear story without some model and theory to guide
our analysis – the story of 7-11.
 1-21

Evidence – using (collecting) your own

data

1) Story of 7-11 and journalistic stories of customer

service; a major hotel in Shenzhen
2) Field research
 1) Story of 7-11 and understanding
theory and application to data
better
 The 7-11 ‘great service’ campaign of the late 1980s – service with a
smile (and 1 million dollar reward to the winning manager).
 Sounds ok: smiling service  higher sales & repeat business.
Business consultants and journalists were pushing this theory (e.g.
Tom Peters of In Search of Excellence).
 7-11 spent about US$10 million on training staff for smiling service
and for awards.

 Later, when other researchers examined the data, they found that
the stores with the least polite staff got the highest sales.
Question: Why did less polite seem to lead to higher sales?
And also, what should 7-11 have done instead of the big
campaign?
• Find out how the costumers
use your products to solve
their problems
2) Using Evidence – (your) Field
research (for innovation)
A fast food restaurant chain had a problem. They noticed people were
buying (or asking to buy) milk shakes in the morning. The company
wanted to know why, so they invited customers to focus groups to ask
them what they wanted in terms of the milk shakes (flavors, sizes,
ingredients, price). E.g. they asked ‘how can we improve milk shakes
so you would buy more of them (regularly)?’
They got confusing results. The data survey said customers wanted
tall cups (sometimes). They also wanted short cups. They wanted
fruit, but only sometimes. The survey results were averaging out to
nothing very helpful, and sales were not improving, even after the
chain made some changes.
Question: How to solve this problem, especially using good EBM
practice? The company wanted to improve its breakfast service,
with milkshakes. What type of data should be collected?
#6 -- see Business Week video – Christensen ‘jobs to be done’
 Contributing disciplines to
the management field
Micro: Psychology
The
Individual
Social Psychology

Sociology

Macro: Anthropology
Groups &
Organizations Political Science + Economics
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 Productivity +
Job Satisfaction

Absenteeism +
Turnover
Key
Strategy; Good decision
Processes Dependent
Variables
Influence and motivation

Innovation
Key Independent Variables (to cause the good
outcomes - dependent variables on previous slide)

Individual Group Organization

• Biographical Traits • Communication • Culture

• Personality • Other Groups • Structure

• Values & Attitudes • Conflict • Design

• Ability • Power & Politics • Technology

• Perception • Group Structure • Work Processes

• Motivation • Work Teams • Selection Processes

• Influence principles • Leadership • Training Programs

• Decision Making • Group Decision • Appraisal Practices

Inputs
 Few Absolutes (i.e. Conditions are
important)
 Difficult to make
simple and
accurate Contingency
generalizations Variable (Z) (ie a
condition or
Independent Dependent
Variable (X) Variable (Y)
 Human beings moderator –
culture)
are complex
and diverse In American Boss Gives
Understood as
“Thumbs Up”
Culture Complimenting
 OB concepts Sign

must reflect
situational In some South Boss Gives Understood as
conditions: American “Thumbs Up” Insulting – or a
Cultures Sign bit sarcastic
contingency 1-27
variables
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 Challenges and
Opportunities for managers and
leadership
 Responding to economic pressures
 Responding to globalization
 Managing workplace diversity
 Improving customer service
 Improving people skills; emotional intelligence
 Stimulating innovation and change
 Coping with temporariness and teams
 Working in networked organizations
 Helping employees with work-life conflicts 1-28
 Improving ethical behavior
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Responding to Globalization
Increased foreign
assignments
Differing needs and aspirations
in workforce
Working with people from
different cultures
Domestic motivational
techniques and managerial styles
may not work
Overseeing movement of jobs
to countries with low-cost 1-29
labor
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 Also, management is about improving
your own skills – eg Improving People
Skills
 The majority of
employees in
developed economies
work in service jobs
 They must know
how to please their
customers+clients
 People skills are
essential to success in
today’s organizations
 Importance of EI,
relationship-building 1-30
and especially
‘empathy’
 Stimulating Innovation
and Change

Understanding
disruptive innov.
Quality
Improvement
Staying
Competitive
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 Level or analysis (or unit of analysis) is important
in understand leadership (remember Christensen’s
customer unit of analysis). Usually high level for
leadership, but also even down to groups and
individuals (depending on the leader)

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Some Common “Theories” and Evidence for management
and understanding behavior in organizations – [Answer
‘correct’ or ‘not’ and explain]
1) The best leaders are those that are ‘authentic.’
2) Innovation always means making an existing product (or process) better.
3) Happy workers are productive workers. (Satisfied employee + costumers)
4) The most effective groups in terms of decision-making have more harmony.
5) Introvert personality people cannot lead well.
6) Jim Collins (Good to Great) says ‘humble leadership is the best leadership’
and narcissism is bad.
7) “Our strategy is one of Fast growth” – is this a ‘strategy?’
8) Forced rankings( 拉 curve) (in appraisal) improves everyone’s performance 
9) IQ or cognitive ability is just a number from a test, and basically has no
practical implications or meaning (for selection of employees).
10) Most people are much more concerned with the size of their own salaries than
with the amount of other people’s salaries.
11) Decision making is usually rational and easy to understand.
12) Interviews are effective selection devices for separating job applicants who
would be high-performing employees from the low performers.
13) Everyone is motivated by money.
14) Culture (national and organizational) matters a lot for individual behavior
15) What is the first thing you say to a customer who has a tough complaint?
Key walk away points –
Management and ‘behavioral
understanding’ helps with:
1) A key goal of management is to understand and encourage human behavior –
leading people
2) Certain fundamental consistencies and central tendencies underlie behavior
3) It is more important than ever to learn leadership and allied behavioral concepts
4) For example, management and leadership are not ‘magic.’ Leadership is
not a ‘rare’ skill. It is a science that can be learned (at least we can learn
to be better at leading others, even if small groups or temporary
(emergent) leadership such as in an ad-hoc situation or mini-crisis (ie
taking the lead on something -- like a fire in a public building). We can
learn charisma also, at least to some extent.
5) It is about understanding people – influencing (and sometimes inspiring / leading
from the front), enabling, motivating. These understandings and behaviors can be
learned.
6) Leaders need to be true not to themselves, but true to the situation (which changes)
and the followers’ needs. As Churchill said, “people say to me ‘be yourself’ but I want
to know, which self do they mean?”
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7) Finally, good Evidenced-based Management can help you improve your
own skills, your team’s, the company and contribute to the economy
(and solving its problems)
Summary of introduction to
management (& leadership)
1. Defined management (and Leadership).
2. Showed the science of management and the value of systematic study /
evidence based management.
3. Identified the major behavioral science disciplines that contribute to
management.
4. Demonstrated how few absolutes apply in management, but conditions are
important.
5. Identified the major challenges and opportunities managers have in applying
leadership concepts.
6. Identified the three levels of analysis in management.
7. Behavioral science can help with management and leadership (i.e. leaders
understanding individuals, groups, goals, strategy, etc.) and also
understanding themselves (e.g. ability, personality, Emotional Intelligence,
etc.)
8. Important to also understand ‘what management and leadership are not’ (and
what leadership theories are incorrect, as well as which ones have some good 1-35
support in the empirical literature of management, psychology, and political
science).
Remember to read the HBR on EBM (Pfeffer) and the S+B article by Glen Hubbard.