Custom «Management and Leadership» Essay Paper Sample

Management and leadership have several differences which are based on their functions and responsibilities. Not so many people are able to distinguish leadership and management cause for one to be all rounded must have both leadership skills and management skills. Both also give direction and procedures to be followed towards the set goals. Management and leadership go hand in hand cause in order to be all rounded you must have ability to manage day to day activities and deliver result while seeing the opportunity for change and the big pictures. Demonstrating good leadership skills without management skills to support it will leave you with inability to operationalize your vision. Likewise being a good manager without leadership skills will cause continual challenge in motivating your team and producing result you are trying to manage.

Leaders are important in all aspects of life. Over years, the concept of leadership is under great scrutiny. Many countries, institutions and communities, invest money and time to develop leaders.  This is acceptable, because many leaders are made. As a matter of facts, no leader is born, only the environment they are in, mold them into being leaders. For any person to be a leader, then they have to be governed by some philosophies. A leadership philosophy, determines an individual’s perceptive on oneself as a leader. It has an influence on how the leader thinks behaves and acts. The philosophies are not innate; they are subjective to external and internal factors. They are liable to changes as the leader develops, and get a better insight on leadership skills. Leaders act as a role model to inspire and influence people to act and think like them.

Managers are people who are capable of using management skills so as to hold an organization title of being the manager of a specific organization or company. A manager’s work is to bear the responsibility of being able to plan and direct the general work of a group of individuals, take a corrective action when it is deemed necessary, and to monitor the work of the subordinates.

Unique features of Management

Management is Goal oriented. A good manager has to be self-motivated and willing to do his job with minimal supervision or no supervision at all and he/she should understand all the goals of the business or organization. Management is a very important activity in any business or organization because if they have to be successful, it has to has to employ management which is a tool meant to help in the utilization of physical and human resources to enable the organization or business to achieve the pre-determined goals.

Management integrates human, financial and physical resources. In any organization or business, human beings have to interact with non-human resources such as machines. Management comprise the interlocking function of  formulating, corporation policy organizing , planning and controlling  and directing the firm resources to achieve the policy objectives  There target is to make profit  for shareholders’ ,create valued product at reasonable  cost for Customers  and provide rewarding employments

Management is Continuous. It is a process which is non-stop since there is the continuous handling of issues and problems. It is mainly concerned with the identification of problems and the solving of the problems which were identified. For instance if a company’s main goal is making high profits, it shows that policies have to be put in place through processes like marketing and advertising to be able to increase the sales of the company. If the company has to continue making profits, the process has to be a continuous process.

Management is Pervasive. Many organizations and businesses require management because it can enable the business or the organization to direct their efforts towards the realization of their set goals. These businesses and organizations may include hospitals, clubs, government organizations, non-government organizations, schools and colleges, and political parties. Management is very important to a business or an organization irrespective of the size of the organization or business.

Management is a Group activity. It deals with the group effort so as to achieve the set goals of an organization or a business and it is less concerned with the efforts of individuals. The manager is a team builder and should be trustworthy and committed. The manager should have good leadership skills so as to be able to deal with group efforts and be the leader of the group.

Unique features of Leadership

Leadership involves Integrity. A good leader should have integrity and be able to uphold good moral principles like honesty, accountability, sensitivity and dependability. This is not the case with many leaders in the current world. Many leaders are fraudulent. They are self-centered. For instance, in many countries, the leaders steal the nation’s money and use it in their selfish developments. They invest the money in their personal businesses and then try to find scapegoats for the loss of that money. Some give lame excuses, which the vulnerable civilians have, no option but believe in them. These are acts that have led many countries into a pit, as they lag behind in development. The common civilian ends up becoming the victim in this case. He or she suffers a great deal as the leaders enjoy.

A good leader should have a sense of service and dedication. A leader should be motivated from the depth of their hearts to serve and give back to the society.  The motivating factor of a person to be in the leadership position should not be the advantages and wealth that is gained from being in the leadership position. It should be the urge and conviction to serve humanity making the world a better place to be through their positive influence as a leader. 

A good leader should also have a sense of justice. They should be fair in all their acts. Many people in the leadership position use their power to discriminate others. For instance, they are bias when it comes to employment opportunities. They use racism, tribalism or nepotism while making decisions. This is so unfair and discouraging as it leads hinders development, and shuts down potential people. As a leader, it has always been the policy to act fair and just to all. Everyone who has the potential should be given the opportunity to exercise their ability.

A good leader should have a clear vision. This will enable the leader to be able to accomplish his set goals. He should be able to be innovative in many ways and inspire change in his work force. The believe that one can have in one’s own vision to change is something which can lead to the success of one’s leadership. It is very difficult to force people to work towards a vision but a good leader should motivate people to focus on a vision.

A strong leader should be a person with good communication skills. This helps the leader to be able to empower people with knowledge and skills. A good leader is one who can communicate effectively with other people in order to execute the needs of the people one leads. Without communication, there is no leadership.

Similarities between Leadership and Management

Leaders and managers mobilize people and utilize resources. They bring people together, delegate some duties and responsibilities to them in order to take active part in project implementation. They also give them key procedure to follow to enhance unity, uniformity and smooth movements towards the set goals. This mobilization and utilization of resources ranges from human resource to natural resources. They make people understand the importance of implementing programmers’ and projects in the community by delegating duties and responsibilities to them.

Leaders and managers act as a link between top management and subordinates. They both transmit information to the members using various communication channels such as telephone, television fax mail e-mail and teleconferencing. Anything need to be known by all followers must be communicated on time otherwise it will raise inconveniences and conflict. Followers must be given instruction and direction by both parties to avoid confusion.

Managers and leaders both focus on the building of strengths. Being a leader or a manager, one has to understand oneself. This recognition of personal characteristics is a very important aspect where the leader and the manager can learn how to deal with others, to adopt an effective and appropriate leadership style and skills, and to identify and recognize strengths and weaknesses.

Both leaders and managers aim at achieving set objectives. Managers and leaders visualize, strategize, implement, evaluate and review desire projects and program. They take views from all sectors in order to make viable decision that lead to success. This shows that both leadership and management are very important to a business or an organization because to be a manager you have to be a leader and to be a leader you have to have good leadership skills.

Both the leaders and managers require skilled and competence personnel. For one to be able to do things successfully one must be have leadership and management skills and attributes such as integrity, knowledge and competency. Leading a group of people is not an easy task and proper skills are required which include personal traits like the ability to tolerate others.

In conclusion, leaders and managers can be differentiated on the basis of the origin, formal rights, followers, functions, necessity, stability, accountability, concern, mutual relationship, role continuation and sanctions. The most visible differences found in leaders and managers are commonly found in the extremes where poor leaders are termed to be despots and the poor managers are termed to be bureaucrats. Managers must be able to perform as leaders which make them to be related since the managers possess a lot of leadership abilities. Management and leadership are not the same things but they are necessarily linked together and complemented.