Management and Leadership

Management and Leadership

Rex Berry

University of Phoenix

MGT/330

Keith A. Bryant

July 31, 2006

Management and Leadership

Leadership is one of the many assets that a successful manager must possess. The aim of a manager is to maximize the output of the organization through administrative implementation.

Managers think incrementally. A manager cannot just be a leader; he also needs formal authority to be effective. ”For any quality initiative to take hold, senior management must be involved and act as a role model. This involvement cannot be delegated [1] A manager may have obtained his position of authority through time and loyalty to the organization, not through any leadership qualities. Management usually consists of people that are experienced in their field. A manager knows how each layer of the organization works and may have good technical knowledge. Management has to do with time. Good managers put people in positions best suited to their skills.

Leaders think radically. Successful leaders also think with a sense of intuition, the ability to foresee future events. “Managers do things right, while leaders do the right thing.” [2] This means that managers do things by the book and follow company policy, while leaders follow their intuition. “Leaders stand out by being different. They question assumption and are suspicious of tradition. They seek out truth and make decisions based on fact, not prejudice. They have a preference for innovation.” [3] Leaders have strategies, visions, goals and values that determine the course of action that they will take, rather than attempting to control others. [4] A leader may have no organizational skills, but his vision unites people behind him. A leader can be a new arrival to an organization that exhibits bold, fresh, new ideas with little or no experience. Leadership has to do with quality. Leadership is an action, not a position within the organization.

Leaders do not manage the managers, but may lead them. If you are a leader, overseeing managers, it is important that you provide them with the correct perspective, so that they will be effective in their roles as managers. There is a difference between being a leader and managing the effort. Many people in leadership positions are not leaders. They are managers, bureaucrats, technocrats, bosses administrators and department heads. On the other hand, some people that are in an organization as an individual are powerful leaders. Understanding the difference, and applying the correct identification is the key to success.

In the new information age, no one person can know everything about a job the way managers in the past did. In the information age, managers have had to create environments that empower knowledgeable people to unite and succeed. The transition to a service economy has placed less emphasis on controlling others and more emphasis on the human skills of building strong relationships. [5] Today’s managers have had to develop leadership skills.

In the past