Management versus leadership - Essay Example

Leaders play a critical role in group and organizational effectiveness. Leaders can exert influence and direct task-related activities of other group members. They require motivational skills, exceptional people skills and flexibility. They also require courage of conviction and the foresight to stand by their pioneering and sometimes, even risky choices. What is surprising, however, is that leaders can be found at all levels of an organization. Although, many leaders are not necessarily managers, their abilities can be studied in ‘leaderless’ situations where they stand out by helping to keep clear goals and meeting targets.

Management refers to the practice of granting a person formal authority to be in charge of an organization or its subunits (Coffey, Cook, & Hunsaker, 1994). Managers are responsible for maintaining a smooth flow of work for optimum productivity and profitability and hence are given authority according to their organizational hierarchy. Managers perform many functions on the basis of their position of authority. However, much of the work relies on following protocol and ensuring compliance. Leadership, on the other hand, entails a certain degree of imagination and risk, and good leaders are those who learn from mistakes and lead by example as stated in The Leadership Challenge (Hellriegel and Slocum, 2010).

Leadership refers to the process of developing ideas and a vision, taking measured steps to fulfil that vision and influencing others to adopt them in their lives. This depends on the ability to change mind sets and no longer rely on command and control alone. According to Hellriegel and Slocum (2010), leader is one who exhibits these key attributes of leadership- ideas, vision, values, and the ability to influence others and make tough decisions. Management is a process that is used to accomplish organizational goals (Bohoris, & Vorria, 2009).

The focus of management is generally on improving the present conditions, like