Management refers to the process through which an organization organizes and distributes its available resources efficiently and effectively to meet the set objectives and goals. The authors further contend that a management system is deemed effective if it efficiently leads, controls, plans, and monitors all the activities and resources of that given organization. Managers are the people taxed with the role of marshaling the human resource in the organization for its growth and expansion. Their role is crucial and they must possess exemplary leadership skills to fulfill these tasks. Leadership on the other hand often refers to a process through which one person uses the help and support of others towards achieving a particular goal or task.
Being a good leader and at the same time, a good manager is an art that cannot be mastered by many. However, in today’s dynamic business environment, it pays to know that both leadership and management are essential to the smooth running of any organization. This can be attributed to the fact that some concepts in management can be applied in leadership and vice versa in the process of running an organization. Some of the similar aspects between these two concepts include but are not limited to their joint input in motivating employees, decision-making process, and their focus on the success of the business. However, there are some differences worth noting between management and leadership.
As mentioned earlier within this paper, management is all about the organization and disbursement of an organization’s resources in a way that will ensure that the set goals and objectives yield the expected if not better results. Leadership on the other hand evolves around the motivation and monitoring of employees’ activities to ensure that they effectively work in unity towards the set goals and objectives. To better understand the differences between these two aspects, we have to discuss the roles that leaders play and those of the managers towards the success of any business venture.
Leaders are responsible for the policy formulation process and they monitor the strengths as well as the weaknesses of the same while managers are the enforcers. More distinct are the skills applied in executing the duties of the managers and those of the leaders. Van Eeden et al, state that leadership is more concerned with the development of an organization’s vision and mission while management dwells mainly on the implementation of these plans.
In addition, leadership is about driving change as well as anticipation of environmental changes while management deals mainly with the adaptation process in times of change. On the same note, leadership skills take on a positive view of things while management is more concerned with the negative consequences that may arise at any point. As such, leaders are viewed as persons who know their flaws and strong attributes and have the ability to accept and correct their mistakes while managers avoid taking risks so that they can protect themselves and the jobs that they are tasked with.
It should be noted that despite their differences, these two components often complement each other and efforts should be put to ensure that they coordinate accordingly to ensure that the organization is always successful with all its undertakings. From the arguments presented in this segment, it can irrefutably be stated that honing better and ethically sound leadership and management skills in today’s business setting is pivotal in ensuring that your business remains relevant (survives) amidst the present challenges.