Management Vs. Leadership

Running Head: MANAGEMENT VS. LEADERSHIP

Management vs. Leadership

Leadership can be defined as the ability to direct the operations, activity, or performance of others. A leader is an individual who leads, guides or inspires others. A leader is someone who will take charge of a group or be vocal amongst others. However, to be a leader, one must not only have the ability to take charge or be vocal, but also must have the respect of others in the group, team, or organization. With leadership, perception is the better part of reality: Being a good leader may be difficult if followers do not perceive the individual as one (Altar 2006). A leader must know what his or her followers think. Most important leaders will say that leadership ability is the single most important personal attribute that one needs to succeed.

Leadership has many facets to its name. Some of the most important leadership skills are communication and relationship building. One trait that is not characteristic of a good leader is dominance. When a leader tries to dictate, they will lose respect from others. A commanding style of leadership in not recommended, but rather have one who can win hearts and minds. In the present, many organizations are putting their employees through different leadership development programs. “Companies with effective processes for assessing individual leadership development needs were significantly more likely to have recorded an increase in sales and net income between 2003 and 2004” (Switzerland 2006). Leadership has become such a critical aspect to organizations that universities are starting to open leadership schools. People are now offered leadership as a major at some colleges and universities.

Management can be defined as the ability to handle or direct with a degree of skill, to make and keep compliant, to treat with care, and to exercise executive, administrative, and supervisory direction of a business (Kinnes 2004). Effective business skills are imperative to provide the best quality service to people. Typically, companies focus on profit, market share or growth, but in order to maintain productivity, first-class management skills are essential. Management skills are not easy to come across, as they are hard to learn and quantify. Most managers come from within an organization, as it is imperative to send employees through management skills courses.

Leadership and management have many similarities. Most of the time, leaders hold some kind of management position within the company. Most executives gauge a manager’s success by numbers. This ties in greatly to how a manager leads the different employees in a company. One leadership quality is to have the approval and positive relationship with employees. If employees do not respect their manager then his or her work will probably show for that. They will not be willing to go the extra mile for their manager. In return, the numbers of the company will not be as good and it will look bad for the manager. Many leaders are ones that take charge or are vocal. This is imperative to be a manager. There are never successful managers that are soft spoken or that are afraid to be vocal and take charge. No one would ever reach a management position if he or she were like this. One important leadership quality is to build relationships with employees. This ties in directly with management. As a manager it is important to build positive relationships with employees. As a leader it is also important to have excellent communication skills. If a manager does not have outstanding communication skills then how is he or she supposed to lead a group of people? One responsibility of a leader is to communicate with the employees. This also relates back to building positive relationships with employees. If a manager does not have exceptional communication skills, then he or she cannot build these relationships. Managers are faced with many important decisions on day-to-day basis. A leader also faces these important decisions. Therefore, it is important to have these important decision-making skills. A manager will be viewed as a well-respected leader if he has these traits of a leader. Many top executives will send their managers through leadership training courses. These courses can range from attending conferences and seminars to attending weekend getaways to team building workshops that have activities such as rope courses. This is becoming very common in the workplace today.

Managers can also differ from leaders in a few aspects. A manager is someone who is expected to handle or direct and organization with a certain degree of skill. Someone can still be a proven leader and not have the ability to lead an organization.