Management as Doing Things Right and Leadership as Doing the Right Things - Essay Example

?Management as Doing Things Right and Leadership as Doing the Right Things Management, the set of processes that keep the organisation functioning effectively such as planning, budgeting, staffing, task specification, performance assessment, as well as problem-solving, has always been confused with leadership (Nienaber 2010, p.661), the practice of aligning people to the organisational vision through buy-in, communication, motivation, and inspiration. However, the two terms denote practically different but interrelated concepts in practice, thus, management goes hand in hand with leadership; the environment within which organisations exist and operate determines the extent to which they strike the perfect balance between leadership and management. For instance, in a static environment, where everything is in a status quo, management is essential, but in a changing environment, where adaptability is highly desirable, leadership weighs in heavily, since it involves mobilizing people to respond to change in the environment. According to Peter Drucker, regarded as the father of modern management, “Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.” This paper will evaluate the truth of this assertion drawing on theories of management and leadership, and practical examples. The fast changing global environment in the face of globalization and technological innovation has resulted in new challenges within and without the organisation, thereby aggravating the burden of management even further (Akbar 2012, p.500). For instance, multi-cultural conflicts at workplaces constrain management and threatens not only the revenues, but also the survival of enterprises (Canen & Canen 2008, p.5), thereby underscoring the serious need for management to supply the right kind of leadership to provide direction for enterprises within the turbulent business environment today. Management entails the set of premeditated processes, planning, budgeting, structuring jobs, staffing, measuring performance, as well as solving problems to help the organisation in doing that which it does best. In other words, it helps the organisation to achieve its goals of adding consistent value by delivering quality products and services as promised (Albacete-Saez, Maria, & Bojica 2011, p.1173), to satisfy the immediate demand in the market; granted it can be challenging in organisations of any size and complexity, it is a crucial task, but it is still not leadership. Leadership entails taking the organisation into the uncertain future by successfully leveraging opportunities in the environment within which it operates; in that sense, leadership is more about vision, the buying-in of people, empowerment, and above all, it is about aligning people to the future through a deliberate change process. Leadership becomes is a very fundamental aspect of the organisation, particularly in view of the fast-changing and complex environment within which organisations operate, that calls for flexibility and adaptability for survival. In as much as leadership and management are different, both of them are necessary for the proper functioning of the organisation since they serve different but essential functions of the organisation, and none of them can be replaced with the other. Management as “doing things right” implies working as efficiently and accurately as possible while focusing on key tasks and processes to avoid the wasted effort of making mistakes (White 1993, p.30); leadership on the other hand entails being proactive in steering the enterprise into the future. Organisations need superb management, as much as they require superb leadership, to be both reliable and efficient, to move into the future that is right for them, at an accelerated speed, irrespective of the complexity of the changes it will take. An overview of the global business environment today reveals that there are very few organisations that possess sufficient leadership since most organisations are over-managed while all they really need is leadership. In light of all these, the assertion that “Management is doing things right while leadership is doing the right things” stems from the fact that the two functions overlap in practice in the sense that while leadership identifies what needs to be done, management ensures that what is decided on is carried out properly. Drucker’s proclamation inevitably means that management entails doing things right by enhancing both operational and financial performance of the organisation, to maximize revenues, and to reduce expenses; doing things right also implies constantly adding value through innovative production values and customer satisfaction. Leadership, on the other hand, implies doing the right things such as setting the precedencies of the company and assigning human and fiscal properties to accomplish the organisation’s vision. Since leadership is about vision, it entails assessing the present situation within and without the organisation and determining a desirable future state for the organisation and mobilizing people and resources towards achieving that end. Visionary leaders provide the right direction for their organisations by motivating change in the present situation of the organisation; they identify specific goals to be achieved in the present as well as the mechanisms for doing so, to achieve a desirable future state for the organisation. In that case, leadership and management are both essential functions that interrelate to bring about effectiveness in the organisation, especially in a fast-changing environment, where organisational responsiveness is a key ingredient for success of the organisation. Organisations today strive to strike balance between leadership and management in their pursuit of establishing the critical best practices that promote accomplishment of organisational goals in the most efficient ways possible. For organisations to be successful in today’s turbulent environment, they need to identify their priorities as well as allocate the appropriate resources to achieve them, while focusing on improving both organisational and financial performance. Implicit leadership theories, which define the traits and behaviours of effective leaders have long been applied to choose leaders (Schyns 2006, p.189); the beliefs that leadership traits determine effective leadership encouraged the perspective that only a few selected individuals can be leaders (Kest 2006, p.54), but leadership is about the processes rather than traits. What further mystifies the idea of leadership is the fact only a few remarkable leaders such as Steve Jobs or Winston Churchill stand out throughout the history of the world. However, leadership goes beyond one person as it entails mobilizing people towards the common vision of the organisation; in this respect, the bottom line is that whereas leadership is clear and strategic, it must also be collaborative within the organisation since people needs to buy into the vision for it to be successful. According to management and leadership theories, top organisational management’s ability to create vision for the organisation and to promote the appropriate change that is required for the vision to be achieved is the single most fundamental aspect of Total Quality Management. This underscores the significance of establishing efficient systems within the organisation that are structured and managed in a way that creates efficiency rather than hoping for great men and women who can provide exceptional leadership. The principles of scientific management suggest that the remedy for great organisational inefficiencies that trouble enterprises today rests in systematic management, and that the best management practices lie in science (Gagnon 2012, p.50). Drucker perceives management within the organisation in terms of its function of economic performance, whose tasks entail managing the enterprise, the managers, the workers, as well as the work, thereby implying that managers become effective through the systemic study of principles, acquisition of organized knowledge and the systematic analysis of own performance cross all levels of performance. However, the same managers, besides their primary role of guiding people to do what they always do best, must also learn appropriate management techniques to incent people towards high performance. Management and leadership relations encompasses values, and the value-based approaches differ considerably depending on the manner in which organisations pursue their objectives; management and leadership theories acknowledge the transactional as well as the transformational nature of leadership (Gagnon 2012, p.52). In that respect, the leader is a servant, who recognizes the needs of his /her followers, and advantages on that to raise the bar for both the organisation and the leadership itself, as well as the followers to higher levels of performance. The values-approach makes a concise distinction between management and leadership by suggesting that each of them has significance in specific but related spheres within the organisational context. In as much as management principles are crucial for the organisation, leadership is the most fundamental factor driving them to meet challenges of the global economy, rapid technological changes, and the increasing needs of a talented and skilled workforce. Values-based leadership is simple since it merely entails leaders’ action to create organisational cultures that are supportive of values leading to mutual growth and enhancement of self-determination. High performance within the organisation needs more than just the intricate directions, timelines, plans, and organisational charts; effective organisations need information, resources, trust, and commitment of people. The task of management is to make work more productive and the workers more effective by ensuring that tasks are suitable for people, especially because they are organisms with varying capabilities and competencies. Organisations exist within the social contexts, where they interact with their environments on various levels of engagement; because of these interactions, there are bound to be specific exchanges and impacts, which enterprises must alleviate accordingly. In light of this, management must always strive to do the right things by reducing organisational impacts and increasing benefits to the operational environments through social responsibilities (Drucker, Peter 2001, p.16). The perfect enterprises are those that are good for society rather than for merely for business; in that respect, businesses exist to ensure a constant supply of quality products and services to customers (Pies, Beckmann, & Hielscher 2010, p.265). However, to discharge these social responsibilities, enterprises must have impact on people such as employees, on the community, and on society in general; power and authority over people originates from management structures within the organisation. In this regard, organisations do not exist on their own and are not ends in themselves; the task of managing social impacts and social responsibilities of the enterprise is, therefore, a fundamental function of the management. Above all things, economic performance is of ultimate importance to the organisation as it justifies its continued existence (Drucker Peter 2001, p.15); organisational management must ensure that it makes is puts economic performance at the core of operational decision to promote performance of the enterprise. By doing the right things, management justifies the continued existence of the enterprise on economic performance, but when an enterprise fails to achieve economic performance, it implies that management has failed its tasks. For instance, if management does not create quality products at affordable price then it has failed in its bottom line activities, and equally, if it cannot continue operating sustainably at the prevailing environmental conditions, then it has failed. This makes economic performance the single most effective indicator or measure of organisational performance and effectiveness of management effectively; successful managers are able to combine the best mix of practices that result to economic performance and organisational performance as well. The increasing technological innovations and fast-paced business environment necessitates that businesses must be in position to provide the best kind of leadership that can steer them to the future in the most efficient manner possible (Svensson, & Wood 2005, p.1002). In that case, organisational leadership must be willing and ready to undertake the appropriate adjustments that promote organisational transformation into the advantageous position, where they can operate both profitably and sustainably with minimal risk of failure. The change process within the environment is often accompanied by anxieties that might undermine the successful implementation of change, and leadership must bridge the gap through linkages that provide information to facilitate a smooth transition (Magee 1999, p.164). For the transition towards the desired future to be successful, leadership must provide direction by selling that vision to the people side of the organisation, and motivating them to commit to achieving that desired future state of the organisation. Change does not come so easily since the uncertainties it causes trigger fear and people would prefer to maintain the status quo rather than try to alter the state of things; however, for leadership, change is the right thing to do, to achieve that desired future state, no matter how hard it may be. Ultimately, Drucker’s assertion that management is doing what is right and leadership is doing the right thing draws a fundamental distinction between these different yet essential functions in organisations. Drucker’s proclamation simply means that management should strive to enhance both operational and financial performance of the organisation, maximize revenues, as well as reduce operational costs, which are the most crucial indicators of performance within the organisation. In other words, enhancing operations and economic performance, maximizing profits while reducing costs and continuously adding value to customers through innovative production are the “right things” that management should focus on to justify their continued existence. However, that is not all that enterprises need to do since they operate in constantly changing environments that constrain their operations, thereby threatening their revenues and continued existence accordingly; in that respect, management alone, which is more of heading people to do what they already know to do best is not sufficient in the face of change. Leadership, on the other hand, implies doing the right things, which are crucial in addressing present deficiencies, to motivate performance such as setting the priorities of the organisation and allocating human and fiscal resources to fulfil the organisation’s vision. In that respect, leadership identifies what needs to be done, the manner in which it should be done, and allocates the appropriate resources to execute the plan; overall, leadership and management are highly complementary, but enterprises would benefit more from leadership. References Akbar, A. 2012. Significance of paradigm shift from "management to leadership" - A review of literature. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 2(10), 499-507. Albacete-Saez, C. A., Maria, M. F. and Bojica, A.M. 2011. Quality management, strategic priorities and performance: the role of quality leadership. Industrial Management + Data Systems, 111(8), pp. 1173-1193. Canen, A. and Canen, A. 2008. Multicultural leadership: The costs of its absence in organisational conflict management. International Journal of Conflict Management, 19(1), pp. 4-19. Drucker, P. F. 2001. The Essential Drucker: The best of sixty years of Peter Drucker’s Essential writings on management. 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