The Differences Between Leaders And Managers

In comparison, management focuses on systems and structures and is distant from the thoughts and emotions of individuals. It applies coercion in its endeavour to achieve results. The law of force has it that where there is force there is a reciprocating resistance. Therefore, managers do not attain the required attitudes and behaviours in personnel that are in line with the goals of the organisation.

Management and leadership are two of the most important positions to have for anyone in an organization. Both of these positions come with a great deal of responsibilities; however, they both serve two different purposes and responsibilities in an organization, along with a different sent of guidelines.

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

Leadership and management are alike and different in many ways. There are many different debated by scholars regarding the differences of leadership and management (Marquis & Huston, 2009). Part of the confusion stems from the word “leadership”. Marquis and Huston state that, “the word leadership was not known in the English language until the first half of the 19th century” (Marquis & Huston, 2009, p. 32). Theorists and leadership researchers disagree on what the word leadership is (Marquis & Huston, 2009). Therefore, it is wise to state what roles are integral in leadership (Marquis & Huston, 2009). Marquis lists leadership roles as decision maker, communicator, evaluator, facilitator, risk taker, mentor, energizer, coach, counselor, teacher, critical thinker, buffer, advocate, visionary, forecaster, influencer, creative problem solver, change agent, diplomat and role model (Marquis & Huston, 2009). “Leaders are in the front, moving forward, taking risks, and challenging the status quo” (Marquis & Huston, 2009, p. 33). According to Marquis & Huston (2009), the functions of management include planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling” (GCU, 2009). Grand Canyons lecture notes go on to state that, “within each of these functions,

Roles of leadership produces change among the movement, establishes direction, aligning people, motivating and inspiring. The roles of both leadership and management have impact on each other and can inspire and make one advance into something they did not believe they have in themselves. Functions of management are making sure employee’s time is managed, jobs assigned are structured, and problems are solved with a prominent solution. Leadership functions are providing a vision one can build up in one’s mind that evolves into a big picture, building goals and teams to brooding ideas, and motivating people that energize them to be motivated to want to work. These roles are similar because leaders can manage and visa verse. Leaders lead people while management delegates roles to lower

The trait leadership theory focuses on the individual leader’s personal characteristics as the basis of its investigations. It is one of the earliest leadership theories upon whose tenets many researches on leadership have been done. Although it is not very coherent, its heuristic nature has contributed to its significance in leadership research. Zaccaro and Klimoski (2002) define traits of reference to leadership as the stable personality characteristics, which result in a consistent leadership performance pattern, given different scenarios and groups. They include individual personalities, temperament, rationale, prowess, as well as cognitive abilities. Initially, the theory explored both physical and psychological characteristics that tell apart leaders from non-leaders.

Based on the definition, leadership means the power and ability of a person to motivate, influence, and enhance members to contribute towards the common goal of an organization (Hunt, Hosking & Schriesheim, 2013). On the other hand, management comprises of controlling and directing a group of individuals in an entity to harmonize and coordinating that group towards accomplishing the set goals

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.

Leaders are made up by traits, skills behavior and effectiveness, which are determined by distinguishing personal characteristics of a leader, such as intelligence, honesty, self-confidence, and appearance. However, the value of a particular trait or set or traits, skill behavior and effectiveness vary with the organization’s situation (Draft, 2015). For example, our executive leaders of Humana have their own unique style.

Organizations depend on the management and leadership skills of individuals in order to be successful. Leaders do not have to be managers but are equally important. Leaders are individuals who possess traits, behavior and abilities to influence others to accomplish tasks and other needed objectives for the company. Leadership is defined as “the ability of an individual to influence, motivate, and enable others to contribute toward the effectiveness and success of the organization. . . .” (House et al., 1999, pg. 184).

Moreover, the trait approach gives a deeper understanding of the leader element in the leadership process by emphasising exclusively on the leader, (Gore et al, 2011). The trait theory does not offer hypotheses about the role of situational variance or characteristic of the followers. Instead, this approach provide information about leaders, and about which traits cause which behaviours and that certain set of traits are central to the leadership process and play an indispensible part of effective leadership.

Leadership is about inspiring the confidence and support of people needed to achieve organisational goals, a dynamic relationship between leaders and group members and the facilitation of contribution (DuBrin 2016, p. 3: McShane and Von Glinow 2013, p.351). Kotter (1992, p. 102) draws a distinction between management and leadership, saying the former deals with getting things done while the latter decides what to do and why, but in practice they overlap and complement each other.

This theory is based on the premise that there are certain personality characteristics that are essential for a person to possess in order to be a leader. The main emphasis is on what the person is in terms of a constellation of personality traits. This theory searches for that set of universal leadership traits that will assure success. Numerous traits have been suggested: courage, integrity, loyalty, charisma, ambition, intelligence, honesty, clairvoyance, persistence, arrogance, health, political skill, confidence and vision.

Leadership is an approach for a leader to guide, motivate, supervise, manage, and influence others in different situation to reach a goal. According to the Pettinger (2007), the leadership can be explained in several situations. First, the leaders have the responsible to provide vision and direction to the followers. Second, the leaders shall energise and motivate the followers. Third, the leaders shall set and enforce absolute standards of behaviour, attitude, presentation and performance.

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.