Dichotomy of Leadership and Management, Research Paper Example

How does great leadership differ from great management? Leaders and managers are both critical to the success of organizations no matter their operational or strategic intent but the core competencies between the two differ slightly in purpose and development. Leadership is the accumulation of skills and qualities an individual utilizes when he or she is trying to accomplish a task or objective. This influence that the individual has becomes the process in which they pull together the support of others in a common goal. Leadership traits include influencing skills, charisma, intelligence, foresight and integrity to name a few. These traits are critical in the ability to lead a group of individuals to accomplish a common goal. There are five elements of leadership that will be discussed ranging from the individual leader, their followers, context, skills and management.  Each area plays a critical role in the understanding and implementation of leadership. Leadership is a skill honed by practice, study and imparting the right guidance and practices. Leadership is what will drive change and new processes and methodologies that will take business, government and other entities to the next level of performance and goal achievement(Kotter 134). Throughout this look into leadership the key aspects include understanding leadership as a whole, how to take advantage of the lessons from leadership and imparting the vision of the future roles of leadership and how it relates to management(Kouzes & Posner 33). The difference between managers and leaders can be slight but more than likely the difference can be as vast as a canyon.  As we discuss leadership there are key elements that will be covered including the individual leader, their followers, leadership situations, skills and management. The elements of leadership are blended into multiple situations and will be outlined in scenarios as well as insights into leadership.

Leadership Criticality And Importance

Leadership can be described as “management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.”  This simple statement places the emphasis on how leadership is more than accomplishing goals and objectives but how those achievements are obtained and implemented while also imparting guidance and strategic intent throughout the process.  In the business world, hierarchy is built into levels of authority based on roles, organizational needs and functional expertise.  The levels in the organization include titles such as departmental manager, shift manager, functional manager and general manager.  These areas are broken down into core competencies that require that role to perform certain aspects of the job.  The goal of a shift manager working within the confines of an automotive production plant has specific measurable objectives to reach during the course of his or her shift, week, month, quarter and year.  These goals and objectives are set forth by senior management based upon their goals and objectives in order to meet the senior accountable forces within the organizations business strategy.

Roles and responsibilities do not necessarily determine who a leader is but allows a leader to fulfil their desire to guide and direct.  Leaders are thought to be born and not trained but there is a mixture of internal drive to want to lead and take charge of situations as well as learning to hone the leadership skills to become more effective and efficient in leading differing tasks and objectives.  The goal of the manager is to manage the specific, tactical and operational functions underneath his or her span of control (Zenger and Folkman 88).  The manager will more than likely be compared and appraised upon how well he met the metrics established for his group.  The metrics for the manager’s area of responsibility does not necessarily take into account his or her leadership ability and how well the leadership skills are being developed and implemented within the manager’s team (Zenger & Folkman 90).

Leadership represents the ability to guide a group of individuals with initially separate and distinct goals into a concerted and synergistic focus toward the same objective.  This is a shift in individualistic goals and objectives into those that are for the greater good of the group as a whole.  These leadership traits revolve around building an individual with the ability to guide and direct while also maintaining a level of trust and hope within the organization of people he or she is leading.  Motivation is the reason or purpose for doing specific actions.  This includes the motivation to take on challenges or tasks that would not normally be taken on or attempted.  Motivation comes from an internal drive or an external factor that can be based on repercussions or successes.  This motivation or desire to do certain things is influenced by multiple factors.  This desire to take action or do nothing is influenced by internal factors, known as drive, or external factors.  These invisible forces push a person to take action either out of personal responsibility, fear of repercussion or for a greater influencing power based on a desired outcome.  Throughout history people have tapped into the power of motivation to solve problems, conquer issues and drive people to complete tasks that they may not want to achieve without the invisible force of motivation.  The act or process which provides a person a reason for doing something is the basic foundation of motivation (Conley 145).

Harnessing the power of motivation is what mankind has been trying to accomplish since the dawn of time.  In order to better understand what motivates individuals or groups of people there must be an understanding for what those factors entail and how to focus effort into maximizing those efforts.Building leaders is achieved through the experience that is provided to the individuals as well as the self-directed situations the individuals take on during their lifetimes.  Leaders come in a variety of skillsets and abilities but the common foundation of the leaders remains a constant.  This foundation is the ability to lead a group of individuals while not only focusing on obtaining the goals and objectives in which they are in charge of but also building the relationships between themselves, the organization in which they are leading and the followers that are providing the vessel in which to achieve their vision.  Management is a subset of the necessary abilities of leadership.  You can be a manager and not a leader but you cannot be a leader without the ability to manage.  In essence, leadership is the ability to guide and direct while management is ensuring tasks are completed, checklists are checked and criteria for tollgates are accomplished.

Management Purpose And Practicality

Management is the activities and skills to coordinate the efforts of those within the organization, either directly or indirectly assigned to the manager, to accomplish the goals and objectives of the organization.  Management is the human interaction within a business system to utilize the limited resources of capital, time, technology, human resources and physical resources to generate an outcome for the business.  The key focus of the management role is to align those limited resources to the appropriate tasks and activities to meet the goals and objectives of the function they are currently managing while also aligning their goals and objectives with those priorities of the managers up the hierarchical chain of command.

Management can be seen in two halves.  One area includes the management of tasks to achieve an objective.  The other half is the skills and ability to achieve those objectives.  The two halves are distinct and necessary for management.  There are two significant portions of a management positions.  There are the managerial duties as well as the leadership aspects of the position.  Leadership in the management role is more than accomplishing goals and objectives but how those achievements are obtained and implemented while also imparting guidance and strategic intent throughout the process. Achieving the objective is measured on whether or not the goal was met.  How the objective was achieved is an entirely different skillset and is measured in a more qualitative way than meeting the objective.  There are some inherent challenges with being a manager and also ensuring success as a manager.  Challenges include utilizing the resources assigned to meet the objectives and expectations established by senior leadership.  Other challenges include managing the people and ensuring they are up for the commitment of the organization on a daily basis.  Interpersonal work relationships must be managed to ensure the performance of those that are being led by the manager is up to par with the organizational standards.  Yet another challenge is the balance to not only align the goals and objectives of the organization but to also ensure that the people and other resources are not underutilized or mistreated throughout the process.  This can be the misappropriation of resources such as natural resources, material, office equipment or other business resources as well as the utilization of the people in the business.

Role Based Leadership

The metrics of the manager are encapsulating how well the manager performed on the things that he or she did right and not necessarily doing the right thing.  Metrics and indicators for managers can be a hindrance as well as a way to gain insight into the performance of their organization.  Part of the manager’s responsibility to leadership is to achieve those assigned goals and objectives to the specified performance levels developed by the organization.  If the metrics of the organization do not align with the direction the company is going or how they want to be monitored or controlled, it is up to the manager to use their leadership voice and raise the issues or concerns.  This is a very important aspect of leadership due to the fact that the manager has a voice to the leadership, management understands their area of responsibility and ultimately the manger will drive the culture and actions of their area of responsibility to meet the metrics assigned to their area.  The metrics can drive actions of the organization and ensuring the right metrics are utilized ensures the correct direction of the business unit is established.When organizations are looking to improve their competitive advantage and improve their business model, they look toward the managers of the organization. It is the managers’ role to drive these changes and be the catalyst needed by senior leadership to implement the improvements.Changes could include technological advances, new core business models, improved tools are all great implementations that can be used to improve the rate of success for a business but leadership innovation and managerial acumen propel the organization to another level (Kee and Newcomer 163).  Implementing new tools and changes require management’s ability to lead the relentless pursuit of effectiveness and efficiency while continually improving and changing the business.  These managers are leading the charge as well as standing in the forefront of the business driving, guiding and spearheading the business opportunities.  This success or failure hinges on the abilities of management to allocate resources, meet objectives, ensure the quality of the product and the work/life balance of the employees, track and align metrics all for the greater good of the organization.

Two types of leadership styles can progress a company through change.  The first includes that of a leader-centric culture.  This includes a hierarchy which is dependent on strong leadership to influence and effect change within the organization.  While this is effective when a strong leader is present, it does not take into account other’s perceptions within the organization and there is a communication breakdown between those performing the efforts and the upper echelons of leadership.  On the other hand there is the follower-centric culture that increases the rate of influence of those within the organization and enables buy-in from those that are most impacted by the changes.  While this is theoretically a great way to utilize teamwork it does not necessarily work within large organizations.  There would be too many people with drastically or potentially slightly different ideas that would never come to fruition due to the inability to come to a decision.  The strategic intent of the group as a whole could be off from what is best for the organization and lack the vision that is necessary at the leadership level.  Within the business sector as well as other areas that require leadership, there is the change-centric culture in which there are strategic plans followed by operational and tactical actions (Atkinson169).  This enables change to flow throughout the organization in a less resistant culture.  The downside is holding anyone accountable for the decisions that are made or the actions taken.  The process drives the change and the end-state could be lost in the organizational gears of progress.

Leading and managing individuals can be a daunting task that takes technical expertise as well as honed skillsets that are not readily measurable through quantitative measures.  Those skills are necessary to be a change agent within the organization and requires the leadership to understand what is needed by those performing the tasks for the change as well as what strategy is needed to make the transformation.  The leadership of the organization is solely responsible for the management of their people.  The people within the organization are a key strategic resource to the overall success of the leadership and shareholders of the organization.

School of Thought and Clarity

What skills are necessary to be a leader in a management position?  Management takes operational skills but the role of manager can also provide a springboard into other leadership opportunities.  Great managers have the mix of inherent abilities and learned behavior.  Just like the athlete, even those with minimal athletic ability can be taught the basics of running but only those with the tangible attributes such as; muscles, structure, height and stride coupled with that of the intangible attributes like: heart, determination, and mental aptitude could become Olympic athletes.  The school of thought for management can be seen in the same light.  Managers can be taught how to manage teams but to become exceptional managers they must also have the intrinsic value of leadership ability.  Managers can be grown but the level of effort to grow these managers into high performance candidates is dependent on the base level skills sets coupled with the desire and determination to become exceptional.  The skill set is a diverse mix of tangible and intangible traits that are built through experience and training.  They are also formulated through the enhancement of key characteristic traits such as being an extrovert or having a highly technical in background coupled with the ability to outwardly present what the leader has internally to a group of individuals or followers.  Henri Fayol developed a management school of through that revolved around the general principles a manager should follow to organize and utilize their respective operational areas.  The general areas included: division of work, authority/responsibility, discipline, unity of command, unity of direction, subordination of individuality to commonality, salary, centralization of personnel, chain of command, order, equity, stability of the work environment, initiative and esprit de corps (Wren, Bedeian and Breez 2).  These key areas formulate the key focal areas for maintaining good order and discipline, aligning organizational objectives with business unit actions, personnel management and the quality of life at the work place.  These fourteen principles of management provide the general guidelines on how to manage responsibility and organize the staff in which the manager is in charge of.  This management school of thought is the basic building blocks for successful management and each area requires thought and actions to fully utilize the beneficial actions of the fourteen principles.

Works Cited

Atkinson, C. Managing for excellence in the public and nonprofit sectors. (2014). Florida Atlantic University. Print.

Conley, C., Peak: how great companies get their mojo from maslow. (2007). A. Wiley. Print.

Herzber, F., Mausner, B., and Snyderman, B. The motivation to work. (2010). Transaction Publishers. Print.

Kee, J.E. and Newcomer, K. E. Transforming public and non-profit organizations: stewardship for leading change.  (2008).Management Concepts. Print.

Kotter, J. Leading change. (2012).Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press. Print.

Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. The leadership challenge. (4th ed.). (2008)San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Inc Pub. Print.

Wren, D., Bedeian, A., and Breez, J. The foundations of Henri Fayol’s administrative theory. (2002). Web.http://bus.lsu.edu/management/faculty/abedeian/articles/Fayol.pdf

Zenger, J. H., & Folkman, J. The extraordinary leader, turning good managers into great leaders. (2009). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Professional. Print.