Leadership Is More Concerned with People than Is Management - Coursework Example

Leadership Is More Concerned With People Than Is Management.' Discuss With Reference To Theories And Models Covered In The Unit Name Institution Course Date 'Leadership Is More Concerned With People Than Is Management.' Discuss With Reference To Theories And Models Covered In The Unit Introduction Leadership and management are both important for organizational competitiveness and success. In today’s dynamic and fast-changing business environment, an organization must not just be properly managed, but also led. According to Bertocci (2009, p. 14), firms that perform well in their respective industries are those that have good leaders and managers. However, people often confuse management and leadership and in most cases, the two concepts are used interchangeable to mean the same thing for many people. Nonetheless, as much as management and leadership are intertwined, the two concepts differ in many ways. Leadership is about exerting positive influence on the subordinates to work towards the achievement of organizational goals (Kotter 2013). Management, on the other hand, is concerned about planning, structuring jobs, budgeting, staffing, and performance measuring and problem-solving to help an organization achieve its objectives. Although these definitions indicate that management and leadership are related, it becomes apparent that leadership is more concerned with people compared to management as noted by Daft (2007). With references to theories and models, this begins by highlighting the differences between leadership and management and proceeds to discuss why leadership is more concerned with people than management. Leadership vs. Management Leadership and management are some of the observed but most challenging and least understood concepts. Because of the relatedness of these two phenomena, leadership and management are often consumed by many to mean the same thing. However, leadership and management differ significantly in practice they work hand in hand with each other. Leadership has to do with the authority that a person has to exert influence over followers to work towards the achievement of a common goal (Bertocci 2009, p. 14). In other words, leadership is about the relationship that a person in authority has with the followers and which is meant to bring about change that mirrors shared purpose. Management on the other had is concerned with the processes initiated with the aim of ensuring the attainment of organizational targets in an effective and efficient way through planning, staffing, directing, organizing and controlling organizational resources. Management and leadership also differ in the sense that whereas management is about doing the things right, leadership is concerned with doing the right thing. According to Beniss (2000, p. 33), managers are responsible for doing things the right way. This implies that managers are concerned about perfection and the ability of employees to do the things as expected without deviation. It is for these reasons that managers are concerned about hiring the best talents in the market to ensure that the things are done right is done. Contrastingly, leaders are people who ensure that things are done the right way. Why Leadership Is More Concerned With People than Management Employees are considered valuable resources that any company can have in the modern day complex business environment. For this reason, company that hopes to succeed in the 21st century must invest in their people not just in terms of skills, but also ensure that they are inspired to do work hard to ensure the achievement of organizational objectives (Kotter 1990, p. 144). However, as indicated above, there has been a debate regarding who between a manager and a leader is more concerned about people. This debate surfaces most often because the majority of people do not understand the difference between management and leadership. Nonetheless, evidences across industries suggest that leadership is more concerned about people than management. The first thing that demonstrates that leadership is more about people than management is demonstrated by the relationship that managers and leaders have with the subordinates. In this respect, management is more focused on objects, which is the production and sale of goods and services (Kotter 2013). In this respect, a manager tends to act as a boss and is more concerned about commanding and directing people to as the manager so wishes without necessary working with them. On the other hand, leadership is more people-oriented than management in the sense that people are the main focus of leadership. Leadership is concerned more about inspiring and motivating subordinates to work towards the achievement of organizational goals. There are a number of leadership theories that support the idea that leadership is more about people and focuses more on inspiring and motivating people. One such is transformational leadership theory, which holds that leadership is about the creation of a vision and inspiring followers to work hard to ensure the achievement of organizational goals (Bass & Riggio 2006, p. 124). According to this theory, a leaders unlike managers who act as bosses by directing, works closely with the subordinates through coaching in inspiring and motivating the followers to ensure the attainment of organizational goals (Kotter 2013). In this respect, it emerges that leadership is more about exerting positive influence by encouraging followers to increase their efforts so as to ensure that the objectives that a company has set is realized. There are many leaders past and present whose style of leadership has clearly demonstrated that leadership is more concerned about people than management. One such leader is Sir Richard Branson, the current President and CEO of Virgin Group. Branson describes himself more as a leader and not as a manager (Branson 2016, p. 12). This is because he believes in the creation of vision and working with his staff to ensure that Virgin mission is achieved. To realize this, Branson do not direct or command people as managers would do, instead, he inspires and motivate employees by working closely with them, listening to their issues and ensures that any issue that affect them are addressed in the fastest time possible (Branson 2016, p. 14). Additionally, as a transformational leader, Branson act as a coach and facilitator to ensure that the employees are inspired to increase their efforts. Accordingly, transformational leadership theory that is people-oriented as demonstrated by Branson illustrates that leadership is more people-focused than management. The notion that leadership is also more concerned with people than management is also exemplified by the fact that leaders seeks to servants of the people as opposed to managers who act as bosses. Managers tend not to care about building positive relationship with subordinates as long as the things get done. For this reason, managers normally direct how things are to be done by providing guidelines that must be followed regardless of what employees think (Kotter 1990, p. 154). Contrastingly, leadership is concerned about serving the people. The concept of Servant Leadership was developed by Robert K. Greenlea, which helps explain the relationship between a leader and followers. According to Greenlea, a servant leader is that leader who is principally focuses on growth and well-being of the people and the society where they belong (Kotter 1990, p. 136). This is in contrast to management that is concerned more about the exercise of power. Servant leadership clearly proves that leadership is concerned more with the people because, according to servant leadership, growth and well-being of the people is the main focus. Servant leaders endeavor to ensure that the well being of the people is ensured. Servant leaders do this by sharing power with the followers and puts the needs and interest of others first and helping people to develop their still and talents to ensure high achievement (Lunenburg 2011, p. 2). Contrastingly, managers are more concerned about ensuring that there are enough employees through hiring and recruitment but do not share power with subordinates as do servant leaders. Accordingly, this explains why leadership is indeed more concerned with people compared to management. The difference between leadership and management that indicates that leadership is more concerned about people compared to management is demonstrated through alignment. On one hand, management is aligned towards organizing and staffing, directing and controlling and creation of boundaries (Algahtani 2014, p. 75). This implies that managers are concerned more about organizing activities, ensuring that there are enough skills in an organization, but does not involve employees in decision making. Instead, managers direct, control and create boundaries between themselves and the employees. Accordingly, this demonstrates that managers are not so concerned about people as do leadership. On the hand, leadership is more aligned towards the creation of shared values and culture, assisting others grow and reducing boundaries. The fact that leaders seek to create shared values and cultures demonstrates that leadership leans more towards people as it seeks to ensure that the vision and values of a company is shared in an organizational wide setting (Bennis 000, p. 39). At the same time leadership is more concerned about people because leaders seek to help others grow and minimizes boundaries between them and the employees as opposed to management that direct, control and create boundaries. This is supported by a number of leadership theories, especially participative, democratic theories of leadership. Democratic leadership theory is one of the behavioral theories developed by Kurt Lewin. Democratic is a participative leadership style where a leader involves subordinates in organizational decision making (Winkler 2010, p. 77). A democratic leader believes that the input of the subordinates is important in decision making (Winkler 2010, p. 77). For this reason, democratic leaders are more people-focused and ensure that the views and opinions of the subordinates are sought and taken into account when making the final decision although the final decision still lies with the leader. Accordingly, the fact that democratic leadership is more aligned towards involving subordinates in decision making process clearly supports the fact that leadership is more people focused than management which is more concerned about controlling, and directing (Lunenburg 2011, p. 3). Besides, whereas managers keep distance from the subordinates by working lonely in offices, leaders draw closer to the people and seek to reduce boundaries between them and the subordinates, and this exemplifies that indeed leadership is more concerned about people than do management (Zaleznik 2004). Leadership is also more concerned about people compared to management as this is exemplified through the differences between the two as regards direction. On one hand, management is concerned with planning and budgeting and also focuses on the bottom line (Algahtani 2014, p. 76). In this respect, management is concerned more with creating a plan on how work is to be done and ensuring that adequate resources are available for effective implementation of the plans. When management is looked at in this lens, it becomes clear that management is less concerned about people. Instead, the focus of management is to ensure that there is appropriate infrastructure in place and that there are enough resources to implement the plan (Bertocci 2009, p. 14). On the other hand, leadership is concerned with the strategy and vision creation with a keen eye on the horizon. This implies that leadership focuses on the future and how the future goals are to be achieved. However, to achieve the visions and to implement strategies, people must be involved. Bennis (2000, p. 41) argues that no strategy can be achieved without the involvement of people to work hard to ensure the achievements of the visions. For instance, transformational leadership theory maintains that leadership is about creating a vision and rallying followers to work as a team to ensure the attainment of the visions (Bass & Riggio 2006, p. 129). However, one a leader has created a vision; he/she must work with people to ensure that the vision is achieved. Apple is one of the most valuable technology firms today. The success of this American company is attributed to the effective leadership provided by Steve Jobs. Jobs took over as CEO of Apple in the late 2000s at a time when the technology giant was at the verge of collapse. To turn around the company, Jobs did not only create a vision and strategy for achieving the vision he had for the company, but had to rally his staff by inspiring and motivating then to ensure the attainment that Jobs had for Apple (Zaleznik 2004). In particular, Jobs promoted innovation and teamwork, which eventually transformed the company into an iconic brand. According, the style of leadership that involved working with teams exemplifies the fact that leadership is concerned more with people than do management. .Moreover, whereas managers are task oriented, leaders are people-oriented and this is enough evidence that leaders are more concerned with people compared to managers. Managers are task-oriented in the sense that managers ensures that the processes, guidelines and methods put in place are followed so as to get the job done in the fastest time possible and in the most efficient way (Winkler 2010, p. 94). On the other hand, leaders are more people-oriented. Instead of telling people what to do, they listen to the people and ensures that their opinions are taken into consideration when making decisions. Unlike managers that make decisions as they so wishes, leaders tend to consult before consult with the subordinates to ensure that their issues that face them are addressed to promote their welfare. Zaleznik (2004) argues that great leaders are those who consult and involve those affected by their decisions before coming up with a strategy or a decision. This proves that leadership is more focused on people than management. Conclusion Leadership and management are important to the success of an organization. As demonstrated in the paper, for a company to achieve its objectives, it must be managed and led. However, it has emerged that most people tend to think that managers are leaders as management and leadership terms that most people use to refer interchangeably to mean the other. However, management and leadership differ in many ways. Whereas leadership is concerned with influencing people to work towards the achievement of organizational goals, while managers are concerned with performing four main functions that include planning, organizing, directing, coordinating and staffing. It has also been demonstrated that leadership is more concerned about people compared to management. For example, whereas managers are concerned about objects and act as bosses, leaders focus on people and seek to inspire and motivate followers. Unlike managers, leaders act as coaches, servants and facilitators and seek to reduce the boundary between them and the employees in addition to helping grow and develop employees, aspects that management is less concerned about in the workplaces. References Algahtani, A 2014, “Are leadership and management different? A review,” Journal of Management Policies and Practices, Vol. 2, No. 3, pp. 71-82 Bass, B. M., & Riggio, R. E 2006, Transformational leadership. Chicago: Psychology Press. Bennis, W. G 2000, Managing the dream. Basic Books, Cambridge. Bertocci, D. I 2009, Leadership in organizations: There is a difference between leaders and managers. University Press of America, New York. Branson, R 2016, The Virgin way. Mizan kaifa, London. Daft, R 2007, The leadership experience. Cengage Learning, London. Kotter, J. P 2013, Management is (still) not leadership. Harvard Business Review, viewed 27 March 2017 https://hbr.org/2013/01/management-is-still-not-leadership Kotter, J. P 1990, A force for change: How leadership differs from management. Free Press, New York, NY. Lunenburg, F. C 2011, Leadership versus Management: A Key Distinction—At Least in Theory. International Journal of Management, Business, and Administration, vol. 14 no. 1, pp.1-4 Winkler, I 2010, Contemporary leadership theories: enhancing the understanding of the complexity, subjectivity and dynamic of leadership. Springer Science & Business Media, Mason. Zaleznik, A 2004, Managers and leaders: Are they different? Harvard Business Review, viewed 27 March 2017 https://hbr.org/2004/01/managers-and-leaders-are-they-different Read More