Role of a Manager, Research Paper Example

Aspects of Management and Leadership

Management and leadership are two interrelated elements in an organization. However, they are wholly different in some applications. Leadership is the ability and a capacity of leading people in directions that they cannot make it alone, however it is not necessarily that a leader is also a manager (Miner, 2005). Management is the process of controlling and overseeing a business or the people operations within organizations (Blake, 1964).

Management has several essential functions that change depending on the main role of the manager as well as the size of the organization. In essence, there are the chief roles that manager can hold within an organization for instance Human Resource Management. The manager in this case chooses whom to recruit in the organization (Miner, 2005). The manager recruits the individuals considering qualifications of the individual also how best he can contribute to the entire organization. Another main component of management is organization where the manager has a responsibility of dividing work to respective individuals (Blake, 1964). This is the case mostly when considering large projects that involve a large team within an organization. A leader on the other hand holds the aspect of Coordination. Once the management chooses individuals in performing various tasks, leadership concept comes in to coordinate the running of respective practices within the organization. The leader also acts as a role model for the team to facilitate a guide on what the team has to hold values, responsibilities and elements of teamwork (Miner, 2005).

How Management Differs From Leadership

One major difference of leadership and management is that leadership is transformational while management is transactional. In management, it is about transacting what a manager feels right in the realization of organizational goals while in leadership, it is all about leading by example and transforming people’s character and roles to fit a given task and execute in delightfully. Management involves bringing about accomplishment to have responsibility or charge of while leadership involves making influences on individual conduct and guiding an action, direction or an opinion (Blake, 1964).

Management involves processes that keep a system of technology and people running smoothly within the organization.  The most significant aspects of management within an organization include organizing, staffing, planning, budgeting, controlling, and problem solving (Miner, 2005).  Leadership involves processes that are necessary for the creation of organizations and the running of the same. It is a part of the organization adapting the same to significant changes within the operations environments (Blake, 1964).

The result of perfect management is the production of predictability as well as thorough order within an organization, it also gives the organization a potential to produce short-term results. For leadership its results include changes in the working environment that are often dramatic giving the organization a future that exerts useful change (Blake, 1964).

How Management Crossover With the Concept of Leadership

There are circumstances where management and leadership crossover in the process of the organization’s operations. Management plans specific timetables, plans to implement the relevant strategies in an organization, and creates the organization’s budget for implementing financial project in the realization of the organization’s goals and objectives. On the same note, leadership takes a vision into practice within the organization’s operations bringing out an appealing and sensible picture; it creates strategies to make the realization of organization’s vision possible. Therefore, both management and leadership interrelate in practices geared towards the realization of the objectives and goals of an organization (Blake, 1964).

Concepts of Manager as Motivator and Coach

Management is more on motivating the employees as an overall team. There are concepts that managers should hold in order to realize the attainment of goals with that organization and provide a brighter future for the organization. It is only through motivation that managers will generate success in the organization thereby; creating a degree of market dominance that is a positive to the future of the same organization (Miner, 2005).

Motivation is the general activation of goal-oriented behavior in employees of the organization. Motivation is either intrinsic or extrinsic within or outside the organization respectively (Miner, 2005). According to theories, motivation is rooted in the need of individuals to maximize pleasure and minimize physical pain when working in the organization. A major concept of motivation is intrinsic motivation that involves rewards inherent to an employee’s task or an activity. This should be in the manager’s plans in order to deliver perfect services and increase productivity in employees (Blake, 1964).

Extrinsic motivation is another great concept good for use by the managers in controlling the organization’s operations. The motivation comes directly from the outside and not within the performer. Money is a great example of this motivation concept (Miner, 2005). There are others including coercion or using threats of punishment that are ideal in controlling individuals behaviors and enhancing responsibilities in individuals that are better placed to keep the individuals in control and maximize their output. In general, motivation details the ability of a manager to understand the other people in the team appreciate their works and know how to manage pressures that lower motivation abilities in a working environment (Miner, 2005).

Reference

Blake, R. (1964). The Managerial Grid: The Key to Leadership Excellence. Houston: Gulf Publishing.

Miner, J.B. (2005). Organizational Behavior: Behavior 1: Essential Theories of Motivation and Leadership. Armonk: M.E. Sharpe.