Differences between Leadership and Management - Research Paper Example

Differences between Leadership and Management Introduction Leadership and management are two terms which are difficult to define and distinguish. Both leadership and management can be defined differently based on the situations. For example, it is not necessary that the leadership and management styles of a political leader are similar to that of the CEO of a company. But in general leadership is a process of getting things done through others whereas management is a process in which managers formulate, direct and operate certain organizational strategies with the help of the subordinates. Leadership and management styles can be different in different organizations. Even in the same organization, different departments may adopt different leadership and management styles. It is not necessary that the leadership and management styles in the production department might be same as that of the sales department. This paper evaluates various approaches that would be applicable to a retail sales manager’s role, the major differences between leadership and management etc. Leadership and management approaches applicable to retail sales management Like many other management fields, people are the major players in the retail sales management field. So, the retail sales manager should concentrate more on devising effective management and leadership styles suitable to lead and manage the manpower resources. “Sales performance is a function of sales skills + people skills + product knowledge + knowledge of the store environment” (Retail Sales Management). Sales skills are necessary for the sales people and in order to boost sales skills, they need better knowledge about the products they are selling. Apart from that, they should be able to assess the capabilities and buying habits of the consumers around their store in order to deal the customers with the right strategy. The retail sales manager should be able to guide the sales personnel in the right track in order to boost the retail sales. Role playing is an excellent retail sales management strategy. “Role playing consists of acting out the customer-salesperson relationship by the salespeople. One person plays the part of the customers, and the other plays the part of the salesperson. Next time around, they reverse the roles” (Sales Management Retail Advise). Retail sales manager should formulate such innovative retails sales strategies in order to improve the sales and also to make the sales people well equipped in dealing with different types of consumers. Key differences between Leadership and Management  Leaders have followers whereas the managers have subordinates. If the leaders are concentrating only on the leading aspects, they may have only the followers whereas if they concentrate on management aspects also, they may have subordinates also. For example, Bill Gates is the leader and the manager of Microsoft at the same time. So he might have the luxury of both followers and subordinates. On the other hand, Mahatma Gandhi was a great leader who had only followers rather than subordinates. Managers may often adopt approaches like autocratic, democratic or the mixture of the two, in their management styles whereas leaders bank on charismatic and transformational styles of leadership. For example, Mahatma Gandhi spoke to his followers through his life and actions rather than instructing the people to do this or do that. On the other hand, it is difficult for the managers to function in that way. Managers give the guidelines to the subordinates for performing a task and they will ensure that their guidelines were observed and implemented strictly by the subordinates rather than showing the subordinates the way of performing a task (See appendix for more differences between leadership and management) Situational leadership Situational leadership model was developed by Paul Hersey, a professor by profession and author of the book Situational Leader, and Ken Blanchard, a leadership guru and author of the book The One Minute Manager. This theory was introduced in the 1970’s and currently, in majority of the organizations in the world, situational leadership model is used. Situational leadership is a leadership style which reacts differently based on the situations. Situational leadership is not focused on the predefined principles of leadership or management. It concentrates mostly on the situation and takes most appropriate decision to deal with the situations. Situational leadership has four major styles; delegation, participation, selling and telling. Delegating Style allows the group to take responsibility for task decisions; this is a low-task, low-relationship style. Participating Style emphasizes shared ideas and participative decisions on task directions; this is a low-task, high-relationship style. Selling Style explains task directions in a supportive and persuasive way; this is a high-task, high-relationship style. Telling Style gives specific task directions and closely supervising work; this is a high-task, low-relationship style (Leadership, p.2). While using Telling style, the leader instructs the individuals about the what, how, why, when and where of the task. In other words it is a one way communication style whereas Selling style is characterized by two way communication. In Participatory style, the leader gives more impotence to build relationships with the followers rather than giving more importance to the tasks whereas in Delegating, leader passes the responsibility of taking decisions to the individual or group without completely staying away from the decision making process. Situational leadership theory does not have belief in single best style of leadership. It believes that effective leadership is task relevant and the leaders should be able to respond to the situation or task rather than ideologies or principles. Participative Theory of Leadership “Participative Leader, rather than taking autocratic decisions, seeks to involve other people in the process, possibly including subordinates, peers, superiors and other stakeholders” (Participative Leadership). Participatory leadership is democratic in its functioning. It gives more emphasize to the participation of all the followers or subordinates in the decision making process. This theory believes that ultimately the job is done through the subordinates or followers and hence their opinions and advices should be considered seriously while formulating strategies. My preferred model of leadership style In my opinion, situational leadership is the best leadership strategy compared to all the other leadership styles including the participatory style. It is difficult for a leader or manager to be democratic in nature always. Same way it is not advisable for a leader or manager to be autocratic always in his approach. In my opinion, the leader or manager should respond based on the situations and the tasks needed to be performed. For example, some subordinates may not function properly if the manger is too liberal or participatory in his approach. They may try to take undue advantages out of the democratic way of functioning of the manager. For such subordinates, the manager should adopt a more autocratic approach in order to motivate them. On the other hand, there are many hard working followers who work well beyond their capacities. In order to manage such people, the manager should never use autocratic methods of management; instead they should adopt a participatory or democratic way of functioning. Barak Obama is currently the American president who captured power by offering the public the slogan of Change. American were disturbed by the recent global problems like the recession and increased terrorism and the approach put forward by Obama was entirely different from that of his predecessor Bush and he won the president election quiet easily. Obama utilized the situation very well to gain power as the Americans were fed up with the recession and the increased tension due to terrorism and war on terror. But so far Obama has not succeeded either in solving any of the critical issues America is facing; the war on terror is still going on, the threats from the terrorists have not been reduced and the economy has not revived much. In short, even though Obama offered lot of promises to the public, he realized that his offers were difficult to fulfill once he got the power. In other words, Obama has realized it was difficult for him to stop the war on terror in near future even though the public like it. Same way he has also realized that the depth of the economic crisis is more than he anticipated and it is difficult for him to solve the issue quickly as he promised and as the public like. In short, Obama realized the situations well only after gaining power. He has realized that many of the policies implemented by Bush administration cannot be reversed immediately even if the public demand it. Conclusions Even though leadership and management are closely related topics, there are lots of differences also. Both leaders and managers may have same target, but their way of functioning might be different. Leaders try to show the way to the target through their actions while the managers try to guide the people towards the target. Situational leadership and participatory leadership are two of the prominent leadership styles in the current world. Situational leadership seems to be the most effective, as most of the organizations in the world are currently rely on situational leadership. Works Cited 1. “Leadership vs. Management”. 2010. 17 August 2010. 2. “Leadership”. 17 August 2010. 3. “Participative Leadership”. 2010. 17 August 2010. 4. “Retail Sales Management”. 17 August 2010. 5. “Sales Management Retail Advise”. 17 August 2010. Appendix Subject Leader Manager Essence Change Stability Focus Leading people Managing work Have Followers Subordinates Horizon Long-term Short-term Seeks Vision Objectives Approach Sets direction  Plans detail Decision Facilitates Makes Power Personal charisma Formal authority Appeal to Heart Head Energy Passion Control Culture Shapes Enacts Dynamic Proactive Reactive Persuasion Sell Tell Style Transformational Transactional Exchange Excitement for work Money for work Likes Striving Action Wants Achievement Results Risk Takes Minimizes Rules Breaks Makes Conflict Uses Avoids Direction New roads Existing roads Truth Seeks Establishes Concern What is right Being right Credit Gives Takes Blame Takes Blames (Leadership vs. Management) Read More