Leadership is the act of setting the trend in an organization. Leaders in the workplace both motivate and inspire others. This is the epitome of good leadership in an organization. On the other hand, management entails administering of rules, regulations and stipulations on how duties are to be accomplished. In contrast, leadership ensures that things are not only done well, but it also introduces the concept of innovation as well1.
Leadership focuses more on the human resource while management is more concerned with the systems and structures that have been put in place in the workplace. Leadership ensures that people are in their best state of mind to work by creating a comfortable working environment. On the other hand, management relies on control systems to ensure that work has been done.
Also, leadership entails choosing develop trust among the employees so that they do not feel obligated to perform but perform out of their own volition1. In contrast, management follows a certain perspective to get things done, while leadership is more strategic. It looks at issues from a bigger picture with a view to making them better.
In an organization setting (for instance, in certain a departmental), through trust, leadership will ensure that teams in a certain department are inspired to perform to the best of their ability. Leadership also directs employees to discover their inner motivation and find the inner strength to see things through.
If for example a manager proposes an idea for implementation by the company in a meeting but no one seconds it, then he/she is not a leader. Ideally, majority of the staff in the department headed by the manager in question should be able to support the manager’s ideas and often offer to implement them on his behalf before they can be described as a leader.
In a departmental setting, when a task is allocated and for some reason things do not go as planned, or the objectives are not met as is desired, the leader will always opt to consult with the team on how to rectify the situation. The questions they will always ask is why they did not perform as required or what can be done to make things better2.
Based on the foregoing arguments, a manager will always behave in a manner that contradicts the character of a leader. In the first instance for example, instead of being inspirational to the people, a manager will be keen on ensuring that a project for the department is successfully completed.
To accomplish this, they will instigate controls through performance evaluation, promotions of employees who perform exemplary and through communication with the team on matters arising depending on the goals set by the department.
In case the project is not fulfilled to satisfaction by the team as initially anticipated, the manager will always question how and when it went wrong. Since the role of the manager is to ensure that the project is successful they are not keen on the particulars but on the faults that took place. It is important that people with management skills also try to use their leadership abilities.
This is especially important in ensuring that there is a balance between the work done and the people in the organization. Through the incorporation of both skills the organization can be able to perform to its best due to the fact that both aspects of the organization will be at a balance. In case of predicting safety outcomes in the work environment, it is essential that both aspects of leadership and management are incorporated.
This way, safety incidents and issues at the work place are reduced through implantation of effective controls like implementation policies and investigation of issues when they occur. It is also in the implementation of ethics that a manager should also be able to implement leadership skills. It is essential that the manager acts in an ethical behavior in the activities of the company so that the other employees can learn from him/her3.
By conducting departmental activities in an ethical manner, the manager demonstrates his leadership skills by inspiring others, motivating them and setting the trend. However, to ensure that ethics are followed as stipulated, it is imperative that the manager puts in place controls and measures that will result in compliance.
In this case, it is essential that leadership skills are integrated with management skills. With regard to the challenges encountered in finding a balance between leadership and management, it is quite difficult for a leader/manager to be both approachable and still exhibit authority. They tend to either fall on one of the side depending on their personality traits.
One of the important skills that a manager has to master is communication. Effective communication is thus a pre-requisite for sound management. This is because management entails communicating with other people in an organisation. Communication skills are mainly possessed by leaders and therefore, organization should train managers to acquire communication skills so as to become effective leaders.
Challenges and issues that arise in organisation such as delayed or wrong decision making, or conflict among employees, result because a manager lacked communication skills4. Communicating with employee enhances their ability to understand the message being communicated across. An effective manager becomes an effective leader when they set an example of concern and care for other employees in the workplace.
For example, a manager who communicates and interacts with employees in the workplace and has negotiation skills could be regarded as an effective leader4. Through effective leadership the performance of employees and productivity in an organization is bound to increase. Good leadership also values, respects, and understand employees.
As a result, it becomes easier to integrate the talents and the gifts of teammates in the workplace. Therefore, a manager who is effective leader is able to find out the strengths of employees and bring the best out of them into practice. Management and leadership play significant roles and purposes, but they seek to get different outcomes.
Although the functions and the tasks of leadership and management are relatively unique, there is a correlation between the two. To successfully operate a company, it is important to balance between management and leadership4.
Moreover, balancing organizational responsibilities between management and leadership is vital. In nutshell, an organization is not supposed to be more management-driven or leadership-driven and be successful.
When an organization is leadership-driven, the organisation becomes micro-managed because the staff is isolated. While on the other hand, when it is management-driven, the board becomes isolated or out of touch which may jeopardize successful running of an organisation5.
Management process and leading employees in a department is necessary as it ensures that there is a balance of authority5. For example, effective leaders in organisation usually empower their employees with the objective of achieving a task. In this case, employees are influenced while the resources are managed with the aim of realizing the set goals.
Therefore, balancing between the two is vital because other than managing the people and resources, they should also be motivated and inspired into. Leadership is a subset of management, and therefore, while managing people, an effective leader is required. To achieve effective management, managers are required to have leadership skills.
Therefore, leadership as an integral to leading others is necessary for effective management6. For example, in the case of an incident commander, effective decisions have to be made which requires both leadership and management skills. For instance, effective decisions have to be made and it is the duty of the leader or the manager to determine the balance on when leadership or management skills are required to achieve the set strategic goals.
In the case of an incident commander, he or she is a manager and a leader and therefore, it is necessary to distinguish when to be a leader and when to be an effective manager. Therefore, a balance needs to be struck between the two if at all an organization is to be successful6.
We can conclude that both effective leaders and managers require leadership and management skills which are necessary in acquiring the set organizational goals. Effective communication is essential in order to enhance management and leadership skills in an organization. This also includes enhancing interaction among the employees in the workplace, find out the talents and gifts of employees and incorporate them in the workplace.
On the other hand, a leader who is an effective manager should be able to pool resources together and maximize them. Leadership entails ensuring that duties are conducted well while management has to do with the control rather than the motivation and inspiring of fellow employees and team members.
Management ensures that projects are successful while leadership sees to it that people are in their best state of mind by creating a comfortable working environment. There is always a need to strike a balance between management and leadership as they determine the outcomes of an organisation.
Therefore, an organisation is not expected to be more management-driven or leadership-driven because in either way, conflict may emerge if one overrides the other. Employees need to be managed, motivated and inspired, while resources need to be managed so as to achieve the goals of the organisation. To realize effective management, managers are required to have leadership skills. On the other hand, effective leaders need to have management skills if at all they are to become effective leaders.
Bibliography
Bertocci, D L, Leadership in organizations: There is a difference between leaders and managers, Lanham, MD : University Press of America, 2009.
Boddy, D, Management: An Introduction, Harlow: Pearson, 2004.
Hannagan, T, Management Concepts and Practices, Harlow: Pearson, 2005.
Moyles, J, Effective leadership and management in the early years, London: Open University Press, 2006.