Difference between Leadership and Management - Essay Example

?[Your full full April 20, Difference between Leadership and Management For this paper, I have selected the topic of differences between leadership and management. Earlier, I used to put both philosophies in the same category but now I have realized that there are some conceptual differences between the two philosophies. Leadership refers to the act of providing people with the right direction towards achievement of organizational, social, or political goals and objectives. In organizations, leaders are people who encourage followers to utilize their potential to improve their job performances, as well as to get new opportunities to learn (Cherry 1). They view the need for change as the opportunity for employees to succeed in their professional lives and increase the level of productivity. According to Lussier and Achua, an effective leadership is one that influences constituencies to make a shift from self-interests to collective interests of the group (348). In short, the role of leaders is to identify the need of the followers, make them aware of the need to fulfill those needs, provide followers a well-designed and practical strategy to follow, and to motivate people to continue their efforts for the achievement of goals and objectives. On the other hand, managers are people who supervise and control the activities of their subordinates in order to keep organizational system running. Here, an important point to mention is that managers are not born, they are appointed as managers by the top officials and stakeholders of their respective companies. Conversely, leaders are not appointed, rather they are born as leaders. Managers have all abilities of an effective leader due to which they get the opportunity to manage other employees. Top management officials include the stakeholders and owners of companies who appoint managers based on their effective management and leadership skills. Managers are the most talented employees of a company who are able to show their managerial skills and decision-making ability in carrying out their job tasks as the result of which the top officials appoint them as managers of their respective departments. They get those promotions based on their ability to manage and control their own tasks and other employees’ activities in an effective manner. Leadership plays a key role in motivating people to achieve the desired set of goals. Without having an effective leadership with a clear approach and strategy, it is impossible for the followers to make a successful struggle towards the achievement of goals (Coutts 1). Employees need to keep up their confidence and motivation to continue working for the cause in an efficient manner even in recession. Sometimes, such phases occur in a project when the level of enthusiasm and motivation of employees go down. In such cases, managers are the people who play the role of effective leaders and drive employees towards completion of the project without any delay. Analyzing these aspects of leadership and management, it is evident that both concepts are interconnected and do not have any considerable difference between them. Effective leadership is imperative for a group of people to achieve a desired set of goals. Without having an effective leadership which should have a clear approach towards accomplishment of goals, it is impossible for the followers to make a successful struggle towards the achievement of goals (Coutts, 2000). Employees sometimes need to build their confidence and motivation to continue their work. Sometimes, such phases occur in a project when the level of employee enthusiasm and motivation goes down. In such cases, managers need to play the role of effective leaders who can appreciate their efforts to drive them towards completion of the project without any delay. Analyzing these aspects of leadership and management, one can say that both concepts are interrelated and do not have any considerable difference between them. Another minor difference between managers and leaders is related to the way new people accommodate to new conditions. In a movement, when some new people join the group, leaders do not need to recognize their unique perspectives in order to work with them rather newcomers have to follow the directions of the leader in order to make some contribution for the cause. On the other hand, when a new employee joins a company, managers need to be able to recognize the unique perspective of new employees in order to build a successful working relationship with them. Apart from this decision between the approaches of leaders and managers, the main aim of both managers and leaders is to lead employees and followers towards accomplishment of goals. The only difference lies in the way managers and leaders handle new and existing people. Another difference between management and leadership is that managers do everything for the benefit of their respective companies or organizations, whereas the aim of leaders is to do something for their followers. Managers manage employees to achieve organizational goals, such as, increasing employee performance, bringing improvement in employee productivity, developing a new product, gaining competitive advantage, and ensuring consistency in organizational processes. In contrast, leaders work in somewhat bigger context as work for the goals that benefit their followers, as well as the whole system. These were some of the main differences between the concepts of leadership and management. I believe that knowing these differences would help me a lot in becoming a successful leader and a competitive manager when I will step in my professional field. I would like to adopt transformational leadership style because it deals with the correcting the system by identifying the flaws and working strategically to improve those flaws. A transformational leader has his/her fingers on the nerves of the followers due to which he/she is aware of the needs and demands of the followers. In organizations, managers also sometimes play the role of transformational leaders to bring required changes in organizational policies. Summing it up, I would say that as a manager with transformational leadership style, some of my main considerations would be to ensure equal distribution of workload, to appreciate individual efforts in order to improve organizational performance, to reward employees to build their confidence, and to take care of employees’ concerns at individual level. Works Cited Cherry, Kendra. “Transformational Leadership.” About.com, n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2013. Coutts, Peter. “Leadership Vs. Management.” Telus.net, 01 Oct. 2000. Web. 20 Apr. 2013. Lussier, Robert, and Christopher Achua. Leadership: Theory, Application, & Skill Development. 4th ed. Mason: Cengage Learning, 2010. Read More