Free Essay On Leadership And Management

Management and Leadership have been demarcated in many several ways by different authors.

One definition of Management argues it to be an organizational process, which comprises of setting of objectives, strategic planning, the management of resources, financial asset planning and the deployment and development of human resources, for the final purpose of achieving the set objectives and measuring the acquired results. Conversely, management is also said to include the record and store of information, so that it can be retrieved in the future for use of different individuals in the organization, to facilitate decision-making (BusinessDictionary.com, 2015). Management is not limited to being the function of supervisors and managers alike. Each and every affiliate in the organization has a management role to play and abide by. Thus, the process of organizing and coordinating activities in an organization so as to acquire the preset objectives is management (HISSOM, 2015).
Leadership, on the other hand, is demarcated as the process in which people are influenced in order to make them understand and take their consent regarding what is to be done, how it is to be done and for what purpose. Leadership is, in fact, the facilitation of efforts; collective and individual, for the accomplishment of common organizational objectives. Another definition identifies leadership as the process in which an individual is able to influence a crowd of people, for the attainment of a common interest (DERUE, NAHRGANG, Wellman & Humphrey 2015). Given the diverse range of leadership definitions, we could argue that several components that are crucial to leadership phenomenon may be derived. Few of the components being, leadership established as a process, influencing individuals is one of the major functions of leadership, the term leadership is necessarily connected in the group context, goal achievement is the primary aim of leadership and the set goals are shared together by the leaders and the followers alike. Leadership, unlike the traditional definition, is defined more as a process rather than a trait, and this very fact is a reflection that not all individuals are capable of fulfilling this process need. Thus, we may say that the transactional event, which defines the relationship between a leader and a follower, is the leadership.
Leadership and management are two terms that are interrelated and are independent at the same time. There are many of parallels between these two terms, despite the differences if we come to analyze in detail. Influencing others, working in groups and having an effective goal achievement procedure are both the requirements of management as well as leadership. However, both these terms can be seen to be distinct in their own lights. As per the concepts of John Kotter, leadership may be taken as an age-old phenomenon, which has been existent for a number of centuries, while on the other hand, management is a concept that has arisen only since the past one century, as the result of the industrial revolution. There are various other authors and researchers who share this common viewpoint, including many others while differentiating management and leadership.
The argument by Bennis and Nanus says that the accomplishment of activities and mastery in routine task completion is management whereas leadership involves influencing others and creating unified visions for positive change.
Rost argues that while leadership is multidirectional, given its requirement of influencing people, management is unidirectional, depicting more of an authority association.
Different set of individuals with a different set of traits are required for these two separate fields; this has been argued by Zaleznik
Despite the clear differences, there is always a continuous overlap between these two sectors. Managers at different points of time, like when they have to influence a bunch of employees to achieve a certain target, they get into the shoes of a leader. If we flip the side, leaders seem to be wearing the hat of a manager whenever they are indulged in activities such as organizing, planning, monitoring, staffing and other management functions. Thus, however, arguments may be made on the distinction between management and leadership there may not actually be a point where both these processes function separately (Kotter, 2015).
The difference in the terms management and leadership is also very subjective in nature. Some individuals see both these terms as the substitute of the other and feel free to use them interchangeably. While another school of thought processes both these as the opposites, to the extremity that they believe that one individual cannot be a good manager and a great leader at the same time. There are also middle views in this whole matter, where people acknowledge the fact that there is a difference between both terms, but then with the correct amount of balance and knowledge, an individual may be able to pull off both management and leadership successfully at the same time.
Effective leaders and efficient managers are the need of current day organizations, in order to create a successful environment. The striking differences can be put in more detailed form between leadership and management despite the similarities, to help better understand the difference.
The distinction between leadership and management may be made easier by the comparison of functions that each process is supposed to achieve. The functions of management include planning, budgeting the financials, the establishment of clear agendas, the setting of timetables efficiently, and the allocation of required or limited resources. Leadership functions in this same regard involve the establishment of a direction for the organization, the creation of a vision, the clarification of common goals and the setting of objectives for all. Other functions of management include organization and staffing functions, the defining and setting of structures, job placement decisions and the establishment of procedures and rules. On contrary to this, leaders are supposed to align people, communicate their clear goals, and build proper and effective teams and alliances. Managers are more focused on the control and problem solving aspects, developing incentives, generating out of the box solutions to problems and implementing corrective measures, whereas leaders are more about follower motivation and inspiration, energizing, the empowerment of subordinates and identifying gaps to meet the unsatisfied needs (Ricketts, 2015).
Among the many models of leadership, trait and process leadership are the debatable ones. Some argue that leadership is a trait, meaning that it cannot be learned or inherited, and leaders are born. It depends more on the individual who is leading. The others argue that leadership is a process, whereby not just the leader traits but also his all other functions. This gives the room for leaders can be made thought through trainings and continuous efforts.
Thus, there may be certain differences between leadership and management but the truth is that one cannot thrive in the absence of other. The success may be short lived but for sustainable success of a Company, a combination of management and leadership is required.

References

BusinessDictionary.com,. (2015). What is Management? Definition and meaning. Retrieved 23 March 2015, from http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/management.html
DERUE, D., NAHRGANG, J., Wellman, N., & Humphrey, S. (2015). TRAIT AND BEHAVIORAL THEORIES OF LEADERSHIP: AN INTEGRATION AND META-ANALYTIC TEST OF THEIR RELATIVE VALIDITY (1st ed.).
HISSOM, A. (2015). Introduction to Management Technology (1st ed.).
Kotter, J. (2015). Leadership: What Is It? (1st ed.).
Ricketts, K. (2015). Leadership vs. Management (1st ed.).