Compare and contrast leadership and management essay
Leadership and management are two ways of organizing people that are effectively used in business relationships. Today it is impossible to imagine a business organization without an effective leader, as well as without an effective manager. In fact, leadership and management have very much in common. Both leadership and management practices are very important in organizational hierarchy. According to researchers, leadership and management are “vital elements” in running any business (Hughes et al., 2009). At the same time, there are certain differences between these styles. For example, it has been found that leaders inspire others and initiate organizational change, while managers are able to cope with challenges that may occur in the result of change. The differences are concluded in different personalities, focus, outcome, approach to tasks/objective, risk association, role in decision making and style and type of organization.
To start with, both leadership and management can be used to define group behavior in a professional business setting. Both leaders and managers should be well-trained to achieve the established goals (Hughes et al., 2009). Leadership and management are interdependent because the principles of leadership and management should be adapted to changing environment.
Nevertheless, there are certain differences between leadership and management.
Leadership is focused on long-term goals because the decisions of leaders affect the future of business relationships and the whole organization. Leaders are aimed at bringing vision in order to motivate employees toward the set goals (Raducan & Raducan, 2014). In addition, leadership can be explained as a synthesis, which is based on the outcomes of the previous analysis. Leaders have followers as the major goal of leaders is to lead others. Leadership means setting up new goals in order to improve organizational performance. Leadership principles are based on finding the proper strategies to inspire others (Hughes et al., 2009; Rost, 2011). Additionally, leaders prefer to build teams in order to apply their skills and experience encouraging collaboration (Moyles, 2006). Leaders can be characterized as heroes because they have the traits of personality that make them leaders, including adaptability, creativity, self-confidence, integrity and emotional control.
Management is based on short-term goals because managers are involved in making decisions regarding everyday activities, supervising subordinates and measuring performance. Moreover, management can be interpreted as an analysis which involves the procedures aimed at breaking something into parts. Managers have subordinates as their major goal is to manage work. Management means providing effective control over the group in order to organize the group’s performance toward the set based on the established values and principles (Raducan & Raducan, 2014). Management principles are based on certain behavioral aspects that may be changed due to the changes in business environment and organizational culture (Rost, 2011). Besides, the above mentioned facts, managers are aimed at inspiring staff member to perform their duties in a proper way, based on the established organizational goals (Moyles, 2006). The personality traits of a manager include openness, extraversion, conscientiousness and agreeableness.
In conclusion, it is necessary to say that leadership and management are two important terms that have been widely discussed in the world of business. Leadership and management are interchangeable because their characteristics are interdependent. At the same time, they are not the same. Leadership differs from management in the following characteristics: personalities, focus, outcome, approach to tasks/objective, risk association, role in decision making and style and type of organization. In general, there are four major differences between the activities of leaders and managers. Leaders are focused on giving direction, offering inspiration, building teamwork, setting an example and gaining acceptance. Managers are focused on planning, organizing, coordinating and controlling practices. Leaders have followers and managers have subordinates.
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