The Connection between Management and Leadership - Essay Example

Management and Leadership Leadership and management are usually viewed as basically overlapping aspects. Almost all organisations are concerned about the difference between leadership and management; they know that the two concepts exist almost together. There are many theories on management and leadership. Studies show that there are almost as many theories on these concepts as there are people who have tried to define them (Nahavandi, 2012:41). When all definitions are considered, it is possible to define a leader as anyone who has followers. Based on this definition, it is easy to assume that being a leader is easy. Gaining followers is the easiest part of being a leader, but it is still tough for most people. Leading one’s followers is a different prospect though; it demands the maximum one can offer (Nahavandi, 2012:43). A well-structured organisation should have a pool of leaders and managers in order to be successful. In fact, what they actually need is a few first-class leaders and many brilliant managers. This shows the connection between management and leadership. It is far more difficult to be a leader than a manager. One can go to school and become an excellent manager, but there is no guarantee that reading motivational books and attending workshops can make one a leader (Stacey, 2012:31). Managers are the persons tasked with the job of management (planning, budgeting, staffing, organising, controlling and problem-solving). On the other hand, leaders create a path, guide people, inspire, and motivate. In this regard, it is easy to see that leaders interact with people much more than managers do (Stacey, 2012:35). A leader usually has to go out there and put his skills to the test because the followers always want to see them. On the other hand, a manager can perform his duties in absentia and still achieve a decent degree of success (Stacey, 2012:37). A manager can sit in his office the whole day and employees will still recognise that he is around. This is possible but difficult in leadership. A leader has the heart, drive and creativity while a manager has the determination, the logic and the mind. A leader is inspiring, innovative, courageous, flexible and independent, while a manager is analytical, authoritative, direct, consulting and stabilising. Management and leadership play an important role in service delivery in organisations (Stringham, 2012:21). Although they are similar in many aspects, they may involve different types of behaviours, skills, and perspectives. The best managers are those who combine their attributes with leadership skills, and vice-versa. Leaders create a vision of what can or should be achieved and then relay this to others and develop strategies for achieving the vision. They motivate and inspire people and are capable of mobilising resources and other support to facilitate realisation of set vision. On the other hand, managers make sure that all available resources are organised and used in the best way possible to produce the ideal results (Stringham, 2012:24). In the resource-scarce and challenging environments of many developing countries, managers must double up as leaders so that they can achieve the best outcomes. Organisations are always changing, and managers have to keep developing new skills and abilities to stay afloat (Stringham, 2012:49). A huge portion of management involves abilities and skills such as communicating, motivating employees, negotiating with stakeholders, and ensuring that attitudes and behaviours that enhance employee performance and discipline are maintained. Managers must also comprehend the basic technical attributes of their duties, and whether they entail product or service delivery for most of these skills, workshops and training courses, although effective, are not enough to provide all the required competencies (Stringham, 2012:51). Unlike management, leadership is not necessarily about skills and competencies. It is associated with guiding a company into the future and finding available opportunities, then developing ways of successfully exploiting such opportunities. Leadership is a vision about people investing in the organisation, inspiring meaningful change, and empowering those lagging behind so that they can join the forward movement (Gold, 2010:46). Leadership is not about traits, it is about conduct. Unlike a manager, a leader can successfully mask his weaknesses by behaving in a way that shows only his strengths. A leader is able to conceptualise himself in situations and know how to behave so that things immediately look better than they seem. A manager, on the other hand, cannot make up for poor budgeting skills by being excellent at organising resources. The inability to budget will be noticeable because the work setting is results-based (Wu, 2013:18). Leadership is not results-oriented like management. If that was the case then some of the greatest leaders the world knows and has known would have been relegated to mediocrity long ago. In world that is always changing at a rapid pace, managers and leaders both need each other to succeed (Armstrong and Armstrong, 2009:38). Studies show that management and leadership are probably the most complimentary concepts in organisational settings. These concepts, when combined in the right way, guarantee success at so many different levels. Leadership is increasingly demanded from more and more people, regardless of their positions. The idea that a few brilliant people at the apex can offer all the leadership required by modern organisations is ludicrous and a recipe for failure ((Armstrong and Armstrong, 2009:39). In some quarters, people still argue that management should be replaced with leadership; this is clearly a flawed approach. Management and leadership serve different yet vital functions. What is needed is first-class management and more brilliant leadership. Conclusion We should be able to make our complicated organisations stable, efficient, and reliable. We need them to leap into the future – the perfect future – at a fast pace, regardless of the enormity of changes required to achieve that. Today, there are very few organisations that have able leadership. Until we confront this issue, comprehending precisely what the problem is, we will never be able to solve it. Unless we accept that we are not referring to management when talking about leadership, all we will be doing is trying to manage more when we should be leading more. At a certain stage, we will end up with over-led and over-managed organisations that are increasingly weak in a fast-changing world. Differentiating between management and leadership, then understanding the relationship between them will make organisations stronger and ready to face whatever lies ahead. References Armstrong, M. & Armstrong, M. (2009) Armstrong's handbook of human resource management practice, London, Kogan Page. Gold, J. (2010) Gower handbook of leadership and management development, Burlington, VT, Gower. Nahavandi, A. (2012) The art and science of leadership, Upper Saddle River, N.J., Pearson Prentice Hall. Stacey, R. (2012) Tools and techniques of leadership and management, London, Routledge. Stringham, S. (2012) Strategic leadership and strategic management: leading and managing change on the edge of chaos, London, Penguin. Wu, B. (2013) New theory on leadership management science, Oxford, Chartridge Books Oxford. Read More