Management and Leadership - Essay Example

Running Header: Leaders & Managers Distinction Between Leaders & Managers and Leaders’ Role & Responsibility in Creating and Sustaining Effective Organisational Culture Name: College Name: Distinction Between Leaders & Managers and Leaders’ Role & Responsibility in Creating and Sustaining Effective Organisational Culture While some people mistakenly identify managers with leaders, there is marked difference between leaders and managers in their approach to work, people and problems. While managers are required to exercise leadership qualities, not all managers are capable of becoming leaders.

On the other hand, effective leaders should also display management skills so that there are effective in organisational settings. However, whether a person is more of a leader or a manager will depend on the predominant characteristics of leadership or managership. An organisational success will depend largely upon the leaders who will give direction and set strategic objectives, which will then be managed by managers. In order to select, recruit and train or groom organisational leaders vs.

managers, it is necessary to identify what differentiates a leader from a manager. Leadership has been an aspect of human civilization from time immemorial and has been exercised in ruling tribes to nations and in winning wars and facing adversities of natural disasters. Expectations placed upon Leaders yesterday and today will be more or less the same though the context may differ. Leadership defined by Mescrn, Albert and Khedourn as “the ability to influence individuals and groups to work toward attaining organizational objectives” is more aligned with the aspects of leadership in the context of today’s Organizational and Business Leaders.

Managership relates to attainment of organisational goals in an effective and efficient manner through planning, organising , leading and controlling organisational resources. The main differences between leaders and managers have been identified under four dimensions of agenda creation, network development for agenda achievement, execution and outcomes. Leaders establish strategic direction while managers plan and budget. Leaders are capable of aligning people with the strategic goals where managers are only able to organise staff.

Where leaders are able to motivate and inspire, managers control and supervise. The outcomes of leaders are dramatic and large scale while managers produce predictable and ordered results (Armstrong & Kotler 2001). While leaders, usually have an answer for every problem, the managers identify problems in every solution. Managers tend to become preoccupied with systems and details, and stability while leaders advocate change and fluidity in status, which promotes growth and innovation. Organisational leader derive their power through personal charisma while the managers resort to the authority, which their position grants them.

People management of leaders and managers differ in the aspects of how ideas are communicated. Leaders sell their ideas and make them become people’s ideas, thus gaining commitment and inspiration in pursuing the ideas and goals associated. On the other hand the managers tell people what to be done, sometimes refraining from giving full details of the situation and fail in inspiring and motivating the people. Another marked distinction between leaders and managers in their subordinate handling is that managers take the blame for errors while managers blame others.

This often allows for higher workforce moral when leaders are present in organisational setting. Leaders foster innovation and encourage risk taking. Managers on the other spectrum avoid risks and aim at attaining set targets. In forging ahead and setting directions, the leaders have expansive thinking patterns and look at unmarked territories while managers prefer to explore already covered business potentials and markets. Finally the leaders are distinctly set apart by their transformational style of leading people, where people are committed and transformed in to high performing and inspired group of people directed towards achievement of a common goal.

Managers use transactional style in dealing with people, using remunerations, penalties and disciples as means of trying to gain commitment towards set objectives. With leaders, organisational goals become shared visions and a cause which appeals to the heart and pursued with passion, while with managers they remain number games and mere annual targets (ChangingMinds Org. 2005) Every organization has its own unique culture, which would have been probably created unconsciously, based on the values of the top management or the founders or core people.

Culture of an organization influences the decision-making processes, it affects styles of management and what everyone determines as success. As the founders and CEOs of organizations has much influence on the initial learning process of the group in their facing of problems from external and internal environment, the leader of the organization has much influence in molding the culture of an organization. Hewlett-Packard is a company that has, for a long time, been conscious of its culture (The HP Way) and has worked hard to maintain it over the years.

Hewlett-Packards corporate culture is based on 1) respect for others, 2) a sense of community, and 3) plain hard work. These values have been espoused by their co- founders Hewlett & Packard and have formed the foundation for its growth and success over the years. (Fortune Magazine, May 15, 1995). Therefore, it is a leaders responsibility to model the way by being a role model; inspiring a shared vision though crafting strategies, communicating them to the employees and gaining commitment; challenge the process by fostering innovation and learning environment; and enable others to act through autonomy and empowerment.

In creating an effective and successful culture a leader has many options and Tom Peters in his book, in search of excellence, identifies eight key characteristics, which makes an organisational culture effective. These include, Bias for action; Stay close to the customer; Autonomy & entrepreneurship; Productivity through people; Hands on management; Stick to the knitting; Simple form & Lean staff and simultaneously loosely and tightly organized (Peters & Waterman 1982). Therefore a leader should first create a work environment where people can contribute to the organisational objectives.

This can be done through empowering people, promoting innovation and learning and having simple non-hierarchical organisational structures. Leaders should therefore, emphasize achievement and excellence, p 3.2.1.1 romoting a 3.2.1.2 results-oriented culture. 3.2.1.3 3.2.1.4 Treating employees with dignity and respect and encourage employees to use initiative and act with autonomy. Secondly leaders should create a learning environment where changes for better are encouraged and learning from within as well as from outside experience is promoted through practices such as benchmarking and application of best practices.

In conclusion, it can be noted that leaders have a big responsibility in driving organisational success and leading the people towards the achievement of a common goal. Managers should strive to improve their leadership qualities so that the follower are inspired and committed instead of being supervised and forces in to producing the targeted outputs. The concept of super leadership which identifies that leaders while becoming self leaders should also facilitates the followers to become self leaders is applicable for today’s agile and autonomous self directed work team structures.

Success of an organisation will not be possible through few senior level organisational leaders but leaders at every level. References: Peters, T. J. & Waterman, R.H. Jr. (1982). In Search of Excellence. New York: Harper & Row Publishers Inc. Leadership vs. Management, Changing Minds .Org. (2005) Retrieved on January, 27, 2006. from http://changingminds.org/disciplines/leadership/articles/manager_leader.htm Armstrong, G. & Kotler, P. (2000). Marketing: An Introduction. 5th ed. Singapore: Person Education Inc.

Leadership & Management : Changing Paradigms of Management. Retrieved on January, 27, 2006. from www.ku.edu/~kunrotc/academics/401/Lesson 2 Class.Rev01.ppt