Leaders are managers, but managers
are not necessarily leaders….
Many
studies have proven that leadership and management to be two different roles
with different approaches but working towards a same target or a goal. According
to Kotter “leadership and management are two distinctive and complementary
systems of action. Each has its own function and characteristic activities.
Both are necessary for success in today’s business environment” (Kotter, 2001) . If one focuses more
on people handling, he or she would express leadership and if one focuses more
on controlling and achieving results, he or she would be performing managerial
skills. Nayar states
that “Management
consists of controlling a group or a set of entities to accomplish a goal.
Leadership refers to an individual’s ability to influence, motivate, and enable
others to contribute toward organizational success. Influence and inspiration
separate leaders from managers, not power and control” (Nayar, 2013) .
As
I believe, subordinates normally follow a leader rather than following a
manager, because a leader tries to actively guide the people by developing and
motivating them. A typical manager would analyze the task, plan for the desired
target, staff the work load and then monitor the results only. But the
important of both roles cannot be neglected. It is impossible for us to be
judgmental and either leadership or management is better because both perform
certain unique elements of work which would support achieving the goal in the
end.
Because
in day to day business environment, controlling is as important as guiding.
Characteristics of a leader naturally includes managerial skills, such as
planning, organizing, and providing directions to complete a given task and
subordinates try to rely on a leader because these automatically tend to
believe and count on the guidance of a trustworthy leader. On the other hand, a
manager focuses more on self-development and progress of the given task
through, monitoring and problem-solving methods. Some managers might be
expressing leadership qualities to a certain degree. But we cannot exactly say
that managers always have leadership qualities, because one can still perform
well as a manager through he or she does not have good leadership skills. (Malcolm Higgs, 2003)
In
my opinion, I think that both managers and leaders are necessary for the
success of an organization. If a person has both management and leadership
skills he/she would be an optimal person for any organization. Considering all the facts above,
we can come to conclusion that leaders are managers and managers are not
necessarily leaders but both management and leadership are equally important
for the organization.
References
Kotter, J. P. (2001). What Leaders Really Do. Harvard
Business Review, 3.
Malcolm Higgs. (2003). How can we make sense of
leadership in the 21st century? Leadership & Organization Development
Journal, 273-276.
Nayar, V. (2013, August 02). Three Differences
Between Managers and Leaders. Retrieved from Harvard Business Publishing:
https://hbr.org/2013/08/tests-of-a-leadership-transiti
hi
ReplyDeletelooks good
Thank you sir..
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