The Leadership Role in Management - Case Study Example

The Leadership Role in Management In every company there are people who rise to the top. These people understand how to work with people, how to lead teams, and how to express the company's values to their staff. In most companies this is a leader and not a manager although some mangers are expected to be leaders of their departments. The dilemma for many companies is that they want leaders to work in their departments but they find only managers. Management vs. Leadership In order to understand leadership it is important to understand the functions of a manager vs. a leader. Michael Maccoby details the differences between managers and leaders. Managers are those individuals who are in charge of the company. Their responsibility is to be the individual that monitors the progress of people who work under them and who take care of payroll and budgeting matters. Leaders are those individuals who are hired into the company to make change (57). Leaders are the change agents who are hired to see an organization's big picture. "Management is a function that must be exercised in any business, leadership is a relationship between leader and led that can energize an organization" (57). Another way of comparing leaders and managers is portrayed in this chart: Management Leadership A Function A Relationship Planning Selecting talent Budgeting Motivating Evaluating Coaching Facilitating Building Trust (Maccoby 58). Maccoby also states that leaders do different things and can be either strategic or operational leaders. A great leader has certain qualities that are apparent and that managers may not have available to them. Marcus Buckingham and Coffman suggest that focus is what makes a difference between the manager and the leader. The manager's focus is on the inside of the company and how each part of the company works together. A good manager will notice the differences in style, goals and needs of their individual employers. Leaders look at outward and they are most concerned with the competition, the big picture for the company, broader patterns and see where and when they can get the advantage over their competition (63). The challenge for most companies is that they cannot understand the differences in these roles so they expect managers to be leaders and leaders to be managers. Instead, they need both types of people to move their companies forward. Marcus Buckingham states that "leadership requires certain natural talents" (33). He said that because of this a manager cannot be a leader unless they have these natural talents. When a manager is a leader the company must understand their intense focus. Qualities Top Leaders There are hundreds of websites that will tell the qualities that make great leaders. The challenge is that everyone has a different idea as to what qualities an individual should have to lead their team. Today it is imperative to know some of the qualities that have made companies great. As said before, leadership is something that all companies need and with it they are able to move their companies forward. Part of the reason that leaders are effective is that they like what they are doing and they help their employees understand how to buy into the company's need for success. Marcus Buckingham states that a strong leader knows how to help the talent he has move into performance. They also understand that if there is going to be a strong commitment from employees, the employees need to know they are important and valued by the company. The role of leadership in management depends on the company in which the manager works. When the company wants to grow and it wants someone to keep the pulse on the future and the company moving, they will look for top level talent to do it. Developing Leaders In many companies there is an emphasis on developing leaders. In order to develop leaders a company must look at the various managers within the company and find ways to enhance the skills that are already present. As Buckingham stated, leaders have specific talents that make them leaders. Potential leaders are not always in the top ranks of the executives but they could be in lower management and go unnoticed. These may be the managers who often are stuck in their jobs and who leave when a better opportunity for advancement comes along. George Amble says that this type of talent must be developed. He suggests six best practices to develop leadership. Here are a few: 1. Strong executive engagement -- the first step is to make sure that the top management is already engaged in the process of developing leaders. This insures that whatever program that is developed will be consistent with the vision and goals of the company. This also ensures that it will be able to be carried out. 2. Tailored leadership competencies -- the competencies must be tailored to the needs of the company and the qualities that the managers need to improve upon. 3. Target all levels of leadership -- managers are encouraged to take part in leadership programs no matter what level of manager they are currently in. This makes sure that managers are learning what they need to do for the top levels as they progress (1). Rosemary Brooks suggests that leadership is what insure the quality of a product and makes the best companies rise to the top. This happens for those companies because the leaders help the employees adapt a commitment to quality to move the company into the future. Jim Collins states that good companies can become great if they understand three areas that he describes in the "Three Circles of the Hedgehog Concept:" (118) The basis of this concept is that the company finds the one thing that it can be the best at and they use this understanding to move their business forward. He also says that this idea or product may or may not be what the company is currently selling. This means that the leaders are also in charge of finding the talent that will lead the company in this ways. Companies use this concept move towards a "simple, crystalline concept that flows from deep understanding about the intersection of the circles" (Jim Collins.com). The idea about the hedgehog comes from a concept that was adopted from a Greek parable in which it was said that the hedgehog knows one big thing. Those companies that consider themselves forward moving are able to gain a clear vision of who they are and what they are attempting to do. They are able to take all of their management with them in the process and move ahead of their competition because of this clear vision. When looking at this concept in leadership it means that leaders are the ones who are usually in charge of moving the company forward and finding the top talent that will lead the way. Great managers define top talent as "a recurring pattern of thought, feeling, or behavior that can be productively applied" (Buckingham and Coffman 71). It is clear to see that the best talent will understand this Hedgehog Concept and be able to send people forward. It is clear that both managers and leaders are important in any organization and that there is some hope that managers can be moved into leadership positions. The challenge is that once they become leaders, they have to delegate the "management" duties to someone else who wants to be in that position. Since leaders and managers have separate duties, it is important that company CEO's study this difference so they are not making costly mistakes by attempting to present leaders when they only have managers. In every example, the companies that are on top, the ones that are still working in the age of our current economic crisis have the understanding that mangers and leaders are different. Although leaders can sometimes be cultivated they must have the desire and the motivation to lead. Works Cited Ambler, George. "Six Best Practices of Leadership Development Initiatives." The Practice of Leadership Blog 2008. 12 April 2009. . Brooks, Rosemary Grace. "The Role of Leadership in Commitment To Quality" 2008. Leadership. 16 April 2009. . Buckingham, Marcus. The One Thing You Need To Know About Great Managing, Great Leading And Sustained Individual Success. 2005. NY: Free Press. Buckingham, Marcus and Coffman, Curt. First, Break All The Rules" What The World's Greatest Managers Do Differently. 1999. NY: Simon and Schuster. Collins, Jim. Good To Great: Why Some Companies Make The Lead and Others Don't. 2001. NY: Harper Collins. Collins, Jim. "The Hedgehog Concept". (Laboratory). Jim Collins.com, 2007. 18 April 2009. < http://www.jimcollins.com/lab/hedgehog/p2.html>. Maccoby, Michael. "Understanding the Difference between Management and Leadership". Research Technology Management 2000, 43:1 pp. 57-60. 16 April 2009. Read More