Management Vs. Leadeship

Management vs. Leadership

Perhaps the simplest way to differentiate between management and leadership is to say that "managers have subordinates" and "leaders have followers".(ChangingMinds.org) Presently many of us have learned that managers are primarily administrators, who have learned to write business plans, utilize their resources, and keep track of progress. We must learn that we are not limited by job title, and that means we can utilize our management skills in any position that we are in. We must also know that we can use our leadership skills in the same situations. We have also learned that leaders are people who have an impact on those that surround them. The main difference that separates these two roles is that management is a function that must be utilized in any type of business, and leadership is the relationship that the leader has with his followers, which in turn can motivate and energize the organization.

There are many tasks that a manager does on a daily basis which includes problem solving, facilitating meetings, and many other routine office tasks. "Management is the process of working with people and resources to accomplish organizational goals. Good managers do those things both effectively and efficiently." (Bateman & Snell, 16) However many of these tasks should not be duplicated by a group of individuals. Different people can take on parts of the management function. Someone on a team can take care of the planning, while another person does the budgeting, and a third can monitor the progress and quality that each team member provides. "Management is like investment - you want to invest all resources at your disposal as efficiently as possible in order to get the best return on them you can." (McCrimmon)

In this case these team members may share the responsibility depending on what goal they are looking forward to achieving. The management function can be shared, coordinated, and planned by a team or group of individuals, in other words a team does not need good managers to generate good management. Through my experience in the Army I have seen that in many cases we share the load in order to get our team's mission accomplished by delegating many of the responsibilities among us. This gives each of the team members a choice and chance to do something that interests them. "Strictly speaking, you don't even have to have subordinates to be a manager - every employee has resources to dispose - time, talent, energy, organizational resources, etc." (McCrimmon)

Leadership as defined by the Army is "Influencing people-by providing purpose, direction, and motivation-while operating to accomplish the mission and improving the organization." (FM 22-100) There are many types of leadership skills that each of us is subject to each and every day. Leadership involves being able to select talent, the ability to motivate others, training and creating trust with the people we are working with. In the business aspect there are two distinguished types of leaders which include being a visionary, and an operational leader. A visionary looks for other ways of doing business and creating new business by utilizing his/her resources, and an operational leader finds a way of implementing the vision. Here is a great way to look at leadership provided by McCrimmon, "leadership is not about occupying a role - it's about doing something different."

While being a leader there are some things that you have to look at, and in many cases it is a person you are looking forward to hiring, or selecting talent. Selecting someone that knows more than you do based on talent and the ability to work with others can sometimes be a hard thing to do but in order to become a great leader you must be able to do this. "As with other things, you must work at developing your leadership abilities. Great musicians and great athletes don't become great on natural gifts alone. They also pay their dues by practicing, learning, and sacrificing." (Bateman & Snell, 414)

Motivation of individuals is also a common thing among us, and in order to motivate others, you should give them responsibility, a strong relationship, motives and last but not least rewards. A good leader then utilizes these tools to provide training that will develop competence and proficiency. Training or coaching your employees