Key Differences Between Leaders and Managers, Essay Example

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(Zaleznik,2008).  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, 2009).

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.  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.

References

Zaleznik, A. (2008). Managers and leaders: are they different? Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business Review.

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