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Management and Leadership Essays

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Management and Leadership

Management and leadership are two words that are considered synonymous but describe two different concepts. According to the dictionary, management is the act, manner, or practice of managing; handling, supervision, or control; leadership is the capacity or ability to lead. In many organizations, management is a job description; leadership is a positive trait. The purpose of this paper is to distinguish between the two, to look at the responsibilities that come with leadership, and make suggestions about creating and maintaining a healthy organizational culture.

Management is 'the process of working with people and resources to accomplish organizational goals' (Bateman-Snell, 2003, p. 14). Management is a …show more content…

An effective leader understands that leadership is not just a trait; it is a responsibility.
Organizations should practice two forms of responsibility: social and corporate. According to investorwords.com, social responsibility is ?the idea that businesses should not function amorally, but instead should contribute to the welfare of their communities?; corporate responsibility is the ?accountability of a corporation to a code of ethics and to established laws?. An effective leader?s goal is to practice steps to support these responsibilities.

One of the main steps of a leader is to create and maintain a healthy organizational culture. According to Edgar Schein (n.d.), an organization?s culture defined is ?a pattern of shared basic assumptions that the group learned as it solved its problems of external adaptation and internal integration, that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way you perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems? (para. 5). A culture could be considered the company?s personality. Each organization has its own culture, and this culture ?determines the criteria for leadership? (Schein, n.d., para 11). An effective leader will shape the culture around the people working for the organization.

One of the ways a leader can create a healthy organizational culture is to establish a defined set of rules. Let each employee know what is

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