ECG Compliance Officer - Essay Example

The question of about the difference between leadership and management has been quite controversial. Bass (2010) argues that although there are many definitions of leadership, the key factor in leadership is to have followers and rally people for a cause they believe in. On the other hand, management is a process of achieving the goals of an organization. According to Bennis and Nanus (2007), leadership and management often overlap in an organization. Further, they note that “leaders do things right, managers do the right thing.” They are acutely aware that people are the main asset in any organization and without them, the organization cannot move forward. Leaders also tend to think outwards on how their policies and ideas impact the society in the sense perspective. Managers on the other hand focus on things. For example, the major concern of a retail manager is whether the merchandise is moving and not about the people doing the work. They also have a myopic view of attaining the targets set and do not have the bigger picture. In terms of goal setting, leadership entails the articulation of the organization’s vision. The purpose of leaders is to give their followers a reason to do something and show the followers the way to the future. Essentially, leader sees the bigger picture and rallies the followers in an effort to attain it. The role of a manager is to execute plans and strive to improve the present situation in the organization. Simply put, a manager is focused on the present situation and sees the tree rather than the forest. The type of governance that is implemented also shows remarkable differences between leaders and managers. A manager uses authority to govern the people that he/she manages. They use their position to get things done. Also, managers avoid conflicts in their organization since they feel conflicts threaten their power. In handling issues, a manager is bound to act in a responsible manner. On the contrary, leaders use influence to govern people. In fact, leaders do not need a title in order to execute their plans. Leaders use conflicts to create tighter bonds with their followers and move forward in unison. When matters of concern arise, a leader acts decisively to solve the issue immediately with the information available. Employee relations are a pointer to whether a person is a leader or a manager. Managers aim to control the staff that they are in charge of and consider them their subordinates. As previously indicated, managers are title oriented and thus endeavor exercise authority at all times. Managers tend to specialize in directing and coordinating the people they are in charge of. The hallmark of leadership is empowering people to do their work. Leaders recognize their followers as colleagues and they commit to developing relationships of mutual respect and trust with them. The other unique role of leadership is to create change. Leaders are tasked with ushering people they lead into new realms of uncharted territories. To achieve this, leaders learn to do the right things as the world of change is full of uncertainties. Also, leaders serve the people they lead by putting the interests of the followers ahead of theirs. Managers run their operations by perfecting the skill of managing change. Their role is to do the right the right things after they have been given a brief. The managers endeavor to serve the wishes of their superiors at all times to ensure that their bosses are happy and satisfied at whatever costs (Zlazenik, 1997). For an organization to be successful there is need for both leaders and managers. Both of the roles make a valuable contribution towards the attainment of the organization’s goals and objectives. At ECG, the purpose of leaders would be to steer the organization as it moves into new frontiers. The organization is about to go public through an Initial Public Offering (IPO) and acquire a new company which will lead to the creation of a new department. These are tremendous changes that will have enormous impact on the way forward for the organization. Hence a leader will play the critical role of articulating the vision of the company and helping the employees to navigate the stormy path of change. Managers on the other hand are important to ensure that the organization operates in a coherent manner. Already the company has four independent business units and the upcoming acquisition will bring in a new business unit. This implies that the number of employees will increase and the forecasted growth in operations will increase the number of staff exponentially. The organization is increasing in size and without managers, chaos may reign supreme. The different business units also need to be aligned. This calls for a combination of leadership and managerial skills. Leadership will play the role of rallying all employees towards attaining the overall vision. On the other hand, management will be tasked with implementing the individual business plans for each unit and ensure they remain focused on meeting their set goals (Bennis & Nanus, 2007). This shows that in most cases, the roles of leadership and management merge since they are complimentary to each other. The role of compliance officer in ECG is of critical importance to the smooth running of the organization. The compliance officer is tasked with coordinating the proper running of internal operations as well as coordinating with the outside world. Therefore, I believe that the role is both a management and leadership process. The work of standardizing the ethical policies at ECG and implementing them throughout the company requires managerial skills. This is essential to ensure that the rules of engagement are strictly adhered to and things are done in the right manner. Some level of control is required to ascertain that rules are understood and those who contravene them get the stipulated punishment. The newly recruited employees from the acquired companies have to be trained on the company regulations and only effective management can be used to attain this goal. The influence of leadership is essential in communicating the compliance message to all the employees. There is need to give all employees a convincing reason why they should comply with all the regulations-internal and external. This is more critical given that the company will be going public and be more accountable to regulatory bodies. The compliance officer is tasked to ensure that every employee is aware of the regulatory expectations and willing to fulfill them in a voluntary manner. One of the issues that will require leadership is the matter of ethics. In recent times, the issue of ethics in business has generated a lot of concern from both the public and the regulatory agencies. Recent cases of Enron and Lehman Brothers have brought the issue of business ethics to the limelight. Is it possible to run a profitable enterprise in an ethical manner (Bass, 2010)? This is a critical question that every business has to answer in this century. The role of the compliance officer will entail providing ethical leadership to the employees. Every employee has to be sensitized on the ethical practices that are expected of them. In fact, with the enactment of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, ethical financial reporting is no longer an option. There is need for the compliance officer to provide the direction on the issue of ethics to every employee so that ethical practices are entrenched into the culture of the organization. Apart from the mere fulfillment of compliance issues, ethical behaviors will position the company as a responsible corporate citizen thus giving it a good standing in the community. In conclusion, both leadership and management are important in the smooth running of an organization. Many a time, the roles of leadership and management overlap. However it is important to note that in as much as they are both complimentary, each of them serves a unique function (Zaleznik, 1997). Leadership articulates the overall vision of the organization and steers the organization to the future. On the other hand, management is critical for the smooth day to day running of an organization and ensuring that plans are executed properly. References Bass, B. (2010). The Bass handbook of leadership: Theory, research, and managerial applications. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster. Bennis, W. G., & Nanus, B. (2007). Leaders: The strategies for taking charge. New York, NY: HarperCollins. Zaleznik, A. (1997). Managers and leaders: Are they different? Harvard Business Review, 55, 67-78. Read More