Leadership Vs. Management

A considerable amount of academic writing has been undertaken on the definition of ‘Leadership’ and ‘Management’ over the last couple of centuries. Numerous theories, models and philosophies have been developed to explain each and the different nature of the role of the leader versus the manager. To attempt to summarise all of these would be nigh on impossible but over the recent decades a few theories have resonated and become popular due to the simplicity with which they clarify the thinking.

Management and leadership functions are definitely not one and the same, although they are unavoidably linked together hand and hand. Evidently, it is clear to note that they overlap and compliment one another. Having one without the other no doubt will cause more problems than it solves. Yet the two indefinitely have their major differences. To start, a manager manages tasks and systems, while a leader leads and inspires people. “The manager’s job is to plan, organize and coordinate. The leader’s job is to inspire and motivate.” (Murray, 2010).

Some theorists use the terms ‘leadership’ and ‘management’ reciprocally as if they are tantamount with one another, while others use them in a very purposeful sense to express that they are, in effect, rather different (Bush, 2003). Organisational successfulness, it is generally accepted, is dependant on both competent leadership and consistent management (Dimmock and Walker, 2005) According to Grace (1995) they do not follow from one or the other, but

Leadership and management are two terms which are different and should not be confused with one another. The difference in these terms is based upon their motivation, personal history, how they think and act, their orientation toward goals, work, human relationships and themselves, and their views of the world (Grossman & Valiga, 2009, p.5). In leadership, their vision and goals come from a personal interest and passion in which may not be within the goals of the organization. In management, their vision and is from within the organization and not from their personal interest or

What Leadership Means Leadership is 'the behaviour of an individual when he is directing the activities of a group towards a shared goal'. (Hemphill and Coons, 1957, p.7) A leader is interpreted as someone who sets direction in an effort and influences people to follow that direction. How they set that direction and influence people depends on a variety of factors.

“Understanding leadership in early childhood has been plagued by its confusion with the concept of management” (Rodd, 2013, p. 19). The quotation highlights the overlapping of different roles of leadership and management. It is true in respect that people misunderstand the true nature, roles and responsibilities of both the roles because the educational leaders play the role of manager in early childhood setting and the managers perform the duties of educational leader. The following essay will discuss the role of the leaders, which is different from the managers in early childhood settings. There will be discussion on the different skills and dispositions required to perform the role of a leader and a manager. There are different models and theories, which influence the way of working of the leaders and managers. First, the essay will explain the Collin’s level five leadership model; and Katz’s four development stages model followed by the Formal, Collegial and Cultural models of educational management in early childhood setting. Finally, the essay will compare and contrast the current theories of leadership; the charismatic theory, the transactional theory and the transformational theory of leadership. The different theories’ implication to the early educational settings will also be discussed through the essay.

Leadership will be defined as “a process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task” (Chemers, 1997) and management will be defined as the process of “working with and through other people to accomplish the objectives of both the organization and its members” (Montana and Charnox, 2008)

As we know that, leadership is nothing. But the influencing flowers. Leadership includes three fundamental clusters of skills creating vision, garnering commitment to that vision, an managing progress toward the realization of that vision. powerful and effective leaders plays very vital role to reach the maximum production for any organization.

In today’s business world employees, industries, and consumers look toward company leaders like Steve Jobs (Former Apple CEO), Anne Mulcahy (Former Xerox CEO), Jeff Bezos (Amazon CEO), Elon Musk (Former PayPal CEO), and Eric Schmidt (Goggle CEO) to understand the dynamic roles of leadership and management. These two allusive terms have inspired a great deal of conversation, articles, and books full of material about their true meanings. These two words have also inspired the academic world to create core and major courses in an effort to help future managers and leaders plan, organize, and lead. But what does Leadership or Management really mean and are the terms related?

Leadership and management are often referred to as the same thing. However, researchers are starting to change the way leadership is seen. The very root of the word leadership implies helping lead one on a journey, while management’s root suggests submission. With these pieces of information as lenses, it becomes easier to see the difference. In Margaret J. Wheatley’s book, Leadership and the New Science, she makes a simple statement: “Management’s task is to enforce control, to keep information contained, to pass it down in such a way that no newness occurs” (Wheatley, 2006, p. 97). This, along with much more of her and others’ wisdom, emphasizes the difference between leadership and management. Additionally,

Leadership can be thought of in an infinite amount of ways, and can be described in just as many. According to Leadership for Recreation, Parks, and Leisure Services, written by Christopher R. Egdinton, Susan D. Hudson, Kathleen G. Scholl, and Lara Lauzon, leadership in recreation, parks, and leisure services can take on a variety of definitions, but most include some version of a person who influences another person or group to achieve a certain goal or objective (2011). In his article, “Leadership Versus Management: What’s the Difference?,” author James Kotterman provides a table that compares the actions of management and leadership, describing leadership actions as so: “displays very passionate attitude about the vision and goals, influences creation of coalitions, teams, and partnerships that understand and accept the vision, motivates and inspires, and

Management and leadership are viewed as two different perspectives in the business environment. As described by Dr. Warren Bennis ‘Managers are people who do things right, while leaders are people who do the right thing’, this means that managers do things by the set rules and follow company policy, while leaders follow their own intuition, which may in turn be of more benefit to the company.

Share Our Strength’s leadership style is based on shared leadership (Crutchfield & McLeod Grant, 2012). From the start the leadership has been a joint effort. The founders are a brother and sister team, Bill and Debbie Shore (Crutchfield & McLeod Grant, 2012). This style of management has continued through the development of the organization. The leadership is divided between the founders, president, CFO, executive vice president, multiple offices, multiple senior directors, the board, and a leadership counsel (Share Our Strength n.d.). The leadership being divided between a wide variety of people helps to provide varied opinions and ideas when approaching the goals of the organization.

The concepts of leadership and management are often viewed in different ways with different theories and schools of thought regarding the meaning of these terms (Gold, Thorpe and Mumford, 2010). Management and leadership can be defined individually and encompass different roles and attributes, however, both management and

The relation between leadership and management has for a longtime influenced how organizations are perceived. It has also contributed to maintain some type of confusion in education and within the organization itself.