Leadership versus Management

Leadership versus Management

By Jack Eaton

August 3, 2015

            Most people assume that leadership and management are essentially the same.  That is just simply not the case.  Leadership can be defined as an influence relationship between a leader and followers who intend real changes and outcomes that reflect their shared purposes.  Management can be defined as the attainment of organizational goals in an effective and efficient manner through planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling organizational resources (Daft, 2011).  Even though the concepts and goals of leadership and management are very similar, leaders and managers play very different roles within an organization.  To identify the main differences between leaders and managers, the concepts of leadership and management need to be analyzed.  It is also important to identify the personality traits of leaders and managers by examining what makes each one so effective within an organization.

          A manager helps an organization with implementing a structure to accomplish a plan; staffing the structure with employees; developing policies, procedures, and systems to direct employees and monitor the implementation of the plan (Daft, 2011).  In other words, a manager basically handles the day-to-day operations within an organization, and it is usually an appointed position.  Managers can be good leaders, but that is not always the case.  The decisions made by managers impact the way they lead and control employees. Those managers who seek to control employee work practices using authoritarian management practices achieve some level of employee compliance, limited productivity, and poor levels of innovation within the organization (Brunetto, 2014).

            A good leader is very involved.  He or she does not always worry about paperwork or other day-to-day tasks like a manager does.  Leaders are more concerned with the relationships they have with their followers.  A leader cares more about respect for employees than anything else.  An effective leader should be able to walk through the room, small talk with everyone in the office, and be able to get more work done in that one walk-through than a manager gets done all day.  For a leader, networking is the real work and very important.  He or she must have quality relationships with employees, customers, vendors, and all others within their organization (Brown, 2010).

            A good leader motivates and inspires others to pursue and accomplish organizational goals.  The key traits that make up the top 10% of executives that yield better results are competencies in emotional intelligence, such as self-confidence, initiative, bouncing back from setbacks, staying cool under stress, empathy, powerful communication, collaboration, and teamwork (Schawbel, 2014).  Self-confidence is important in a leader because it is more likely that it earns trust and respect from the followers.  If others see you as someone who is comfortable yourself, they are more likely to follow you which will lead to greater organizational success.  Leadership capabilities like self-confidence, resiliency, initiative, empathy, communication, collaboration, and teamwork are all components of emotional intelligence.  Emotional intelligence is important to the success of a leader because having those skills allow people to motivate themselves and others, to be aware of the feelings of others, to control their emotions, and to build trust by showing sensitivity and concern.

            According to Josh Brown, “Not every leader can be a great manager and not every manager can lead.  It’s very important to have both managers and leaders and make sure that they work together (Brown, 2010).” They are two completely different skill sets.  A leader can lead by example.  A leader can inspire change in others.  A manager is responsible for overseeing and accomplishing day-to-day tasks in an organization.  In order for an organization to run effectively and efficiently, there needs to be managers/leaders who are both.  There can be multiple people filling those multiple roles, or, in the case of smaller organizations, one person should be capable of being both a manager and leader.

References

Brown, J. (2010) Leadership vs. Management. Supply House Times. Jan2010, Vol. 52 Issue 11, p118-121. 3p.

Brunetto, W. (2014) Leadership: Transformational Management Practices & Business Insights.  Northern Star (10366768). 06/24/2014, 14.

Daft, R.L. (2011). The Leadership Experience (5th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.

Schawbel, D. (2014, March 18). Daniel Coleman: The truth about what makes a great leader. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/danschawbel/2014/03/18/daniel-goleman-the-truth-about-what-makes-a-great-leader/

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