Leadership Is More Concerned with People Than Management Is - Essay Example

Title Author Institution Leadership is more concerned with People than is Management Management and leadership are two terms that tend to go together. Management has to do with the setting and achievement of the goals of the organization through various functions associated with it. These functions include coordination, monitoring and evaluation, organization and training. On the other hand, leadership is the wielding of influence to create followers, and guide them (Gosling & Mintzberg, 2003).At the beginning of the 20th century, there was a heightened increase in leadership. Early theories of leadership had their focus on the qualities marking the difference between leaders and their followers. The theories that followed later tackled other factors such as skill levels and situational factors. Other considerations look at the differentiating factors between leadership and management. Most people use the words leader and manager interchangeably. The two words commonly designate one person who takes leadership. However, they are different and their difference rotates around the level of motivation that people get from each of them. Management is often seen to be a career while leadership is a calling. A leader is a person that attracts people to follow him naturally by their own choice, but a manager demands to be obeyed. A manager may get his opportunity in an organization by investing in loyalty and time, but not because of his leadership qualities. This paper will discuss the statement that 'Leadership is more concerned with people than is management’. Management Management as a phenomenon is seen to be ambiguous. Several definitions have been suggested to explain what management is. Management has been in existence for thousands of years since the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt. Today, a large amount of management literature tackles organization, administration, control, planning and administration as some of the most important management functions. Other authors deal with softer elements such as inspiration, vision, motivation, value creation and vision which are categorized into leadership (Bhamani, 2012). Different people look at management in different ways. One definition of management is “the art of getting things done through people.” From this definition, it can be understood that managers achieve the goals of the organization by facilitating others to perform instead of themselves doing the work. Management may also be defined as “the process of planning, organizing, leading and controlling the efforts of organization members and of using all other organizational resources to achieve stated organizational goals” (Gosling & Mintzberg, 2003) Managers make use of company resources, be they human or physical in order to achieve goals. Management has its focus on the achievement of the goals of the organization through proper use of resources and as far much as the society finds suitable. It is obvious that the focus is on achieving objectives through the use of material, services of people, money and machines (Cooper, 2005). These inputs come from the environment where the organization is located. Management is task oriented and the tasks include the coordination of work activities, keenness on administrative details, monitoring the quality of products and the preparation of financial reports. Management is based of tasks, the definition of tasks and clarity of these tasks (Gold, Thorpe, & Mumford, 2010). Managers communicate about the direction they want their companies to go. They coordinate groups for specific tasks and make sure that members of these groups fully understand their assigned roles. Task oriented managers are best suited to work in places with structures where clearly known processes are repeated with increased levels of quality and quantity of productivity (Gosling & Mintzberg, 2003). The manager does not prioritize the betterment of the people, but his interest is in what those employees can help the organization to achieve. Productivity is of paramount importance to the manager and lack of it may result in a spoilt relationship between the manager and employees. Leadership vs. Management The roles of leaders and managers may be different, but they tend to overlap at times. Leadership differs from management mainly because leaders have followers, but managers have people working for them who are subordinate to them (Kotter, 1990). A business owner who wants to be successful should have both strong leadership and management qualities so that he can get the entire team working towards goal achievement. The leadership aspect should include taking responsibility for certain decisions, putting in place the strategic goals and ensuring that employees are trained to perform various allocated tasks. The traditional management view a few decades ago was centered on the processes and structure of organization. At that time the development of management was directed at competency building, control and the right balance of power (Cooper, 2005). The difference between management and leadership is in the conceptions held by the two, the order, chaos and psyche. Managers look for control and stability and embrace processes and attempt to look for quick solutions to problems. They can solve problems even before they comprehend the importance of those problems. As opposed to management, leadership can tolerate chaotic situations and the absence of structure and it can take time to obtain a full understanding of issues (Bhamani, 2012). Therefore, leaders are more similar in away to artists, creative thinkers and scientists than managers. Managers ensure balance of power and competence in groups that are potentially rivals, but it does not bring about imagination, ethical behaviour, and creativity in achieving the destinies of organizations. Leadership unavoidably needs the use of power in order to influence the actions and thoughts of others. Management places emphasis on control and rationality (Kotter, 1990). From the definition of management as “the art of getting things done through people”, it is clear that the manager focuses most on the tasks to be done and less on the people performing those tasks. Leadership is more focused on people than management. Through leadership, people are inspired and encouraged. A leader is concerned on how people will progress towards, the achievement of goals. A leader may fail to have organizational skills, but because of his vision, people get united behind the leader. Leadership is the chief change component because it provides vision, and the required dedication for realizing the dream (Bolden, 2007). Leadership skills come through education, personal experiences, interacting with people and inspiring them. Effective leadership broadly relies largely on how leaders define, pursue and share the vision with their followers. Leadership revolves around people and the mobilization of those people towards a common agenda. Leadership especially the relationship-oriented style has its focus on people (Kotter 2001). Leadership that prioritizes relationships is sensitive to the interactions and expectations of other people especially the ones being led. It also considers the views and feelings of those people. Leaders that are people oriented expect those under their leadership to be loyal. Management does not have people at its centre. Instead, it focuses on completion of tasks instead of motivating people by addressing their emotional needs (Bhamani, 2012). Leadership is positive about people and what they can achieve for the organization and for themselves. For example, relationship oriented leadership is self assured. It promotes relations throughout through the development and establishment of personal networks. A good leader gives inspiration to peope to develop confidence in them and in their leader as well. Leadership inspires followers to achieve the goals of an organization by making them take their work positively and remain optimistic about their careers (Gold, Thorpe & Mumford, 2010). Management does not have its focus on people because the most important thing to managers is the completion of assignments. Most responsibilities that managers have are based on projects that have short deadlines with no time to waste (Cooper, 2005). Managers are therefore devoted to meeting set deadlines and achieving the objectives of the organization through a combination of standard operating procedures and protocols, disciplinary measures and continuous feedback. Leaders at all levels such as company directors or educational leaders look at planning in an organization through a large lens whose focus is on people’s relationships (Bhamani, 2012). They have an understanding that nurturing strong bonds with people who are hard working and talented in important for the accomplishment of the goals of the organization. While leaders have a passion for teamwork, managers are more concerned about assignments that have to be completed even individually (Bolden, 2007). Managers depend on their formal positions and are used to operating with bureaucratic processes, among them; organizing, planning, controlling and budgeting. On the other hand, leaders depend on their personal abilities, coalition building, visions, and agendas and they majorly affect the feelings and thought pattern of people through methods that are not coercive. Kotter, (2007, p. 85-96) considers leadership influence as being able to change moods, triggering expectations and images and bringing about specific objectives and desires. The influence that leaders wield is meant to alter people’s thinking, what they desire and what can be achieved (Kotter, 1990). When managers seek to achieve results through the various management functions, they do not consider people’s thoughts and views. In contrast leadership places consideration on the toughts that people have, their feelings and how they can connect with the environment, the task and the organization. Leadership does not stand above or try to change culture, but its goal is to influence the minds of people. There are two main theories that are common in leadership literature. These are transactional and transformational leadership. Transactional leadership is founded on legitimacy and bureaucratic authority in an organization (Bhamani, 2012). Many managers practice transactional leadership. Transactional leadership is based on contigent rewards, whereby rewards are exchanged for effort, promised for good performance, and the manager as well as for recognizing employee accomplishments (Gold, Thorpe & Mumford, 2010). The transactional leadership model also shows active management by exception; where the manager looks for deviations from set standards and rules in order to take action to correct mistakes. There is also passive management by exception where the manager only intervenes when the set standards are unmet (Kotter, 1990). Transactional leaders place emphasis on work standards, work related assignment and goals based tasks. Their focus is on the completion of tasks and compliance by employees and they heavily depend on the punishments and rewards given by the organization as a way of influencing the performance of employees. Transformational leadership is associated with the motivation of followers by making appeals to moral values and higher ideals (Bolden, 2007). Transformational leaders should define and communicate their organizational visions, and those being led should accept the leader as credible. According to the transformational leadership model, transformational leadership has four dimensions. The first one is idealized influence which causes followers to admire the leader, trust and respect him (Cooper, 1997). The leader volunteers to share risks and considers the needs of followers above his personal needs or the moral and ethical behaviour. Inspirational motivation is another dimension. Under this dimesion, the leader displays behaviour that challenges and provides meaning to the work of the followers. It has something to do with behaviours that stand for clear expectations that demonstrate commitment to the general goals of the organization (Gold, Thorpe & Mumford, 2010). To add to this, teamwork in the organization arises through the existence of optimistic and enthusiastic people. Transformational leaders with this dimension facilitate their followers to generate new ideas and creative solutions to problems and encourage them to come up with new approaches to duty performance. Individualized consideration is another consideration. Leaders with this consideration have an attentive listening ear and are attentive to the growth needs and achievements of those they are leading (Kotter, 2001). Transformational leaders are interested in helping followers to develop into leaders and he also considers important the concerns of those under him, bearing in mind their physical needs that occupy a lower level, to psychological needs which occupy a higher level. The leader also gives inspiration to followers to go over their personal interest for the interest of the group (Gold, Thorpe & Mumford, 2010). The leader prioritizes service over personal interests, listenes first for the purpose of affirming others, nurtures trust in people by remaining trustworthy and nourishes others so that they can become whole. Good leadership is considered to be servant leadership whereby the the leader encourages others to develop themselves and to assist them to grasp the bigger purpose in the work they do. Good leaders observe high moral integrity, appropriate self awareness, awareness of other people’s strengths, values, needs and weaknesses. They also have good awareness of the context they are operating in (Cooper, 1997). As opposed to leadership, management is not people oriented because it instills into people the fear of breaking set rules and procedures which can result into high turnover, lost creativity and reduced morale (Gosling & Mintzberg, 2003). When employees are fearful of breaking organizational rules, they lose the courage to take risks meaning that no innovation will take place in the organization. Creative employees may then get demoralized by lack of creativity and move to other organizations where they can get attractive opportunities and good leadership to nurture them to growth (Kotter 1990). In unstructured environments, it has been observed that innovation and creativity thrive. In such places, managers have no rules and procedures to follow. Such may include businesses that are starting off and are yet to be established. Conclusion This paper has investigated the fact that leadership is more people oriented than management. Management deals with goal setting and the realization of those objectives in an organization through the various functions of management such as coordination, monitoring and evaluation, organization and training. As opposed to management, leadership involves exercising influence to win followers and to give them guidance. Through leadership, followers get encouraged and inspired. A leader preoccupies himsef with how the people under him will progress and go on to achieve their goals. Leaders may fail to have organizational skills, but a vision for people makes it possible for them to follow the leader. Leadership brings change into the lives of people because it provides vision, and the required dedication for realizing the dream. Management does not have its focus on people because the most important thing to managers is completion of tasks. Most responsibilities that managers have are based on projects that ought to be completed within tight deadlines. Managers are therefore devoted to meeting set deadlines and achieving the objectives of the organization through a combination of standard operating procedures and protocols, disciplinary measures and continuous feedback. Managers rely on their formal positions and are used to operating with bureaucratic processes among them organizing, planning, controlling and budgeting. On the other hand, leaders depend on their personal abilities, coalition building, visions, and agendas, and they majorly affect the feelings and thought patterns of people through methods that are not coercive. Therefore, leaders focus most on people development while managers prioritize task completion. References Bhamani, M. (2012). The Difference between Leadership and Management Schools of thought. Athabasca University. Bolden, R. (2007). Trends and Perspectives in Management and Leadership, Business Leadership Review IV: II, April 2007. Cooper, C.L. (2005). Leadership and Management in the 21st Century: Business Challenges of the Future, Oxford University Press, Oxford. Cooper, R. (1997). Applying emotional intelligence in the workplace’, Training and Development, Volume 51, Issue 12. Gold, J., Thorpe, R. & Mumford, A. (2010). Handbook of leadership and management development, 5th Edition, Farnham Surrey, Gower Publishing Ltd. Gosling J. & Mintzberg H. (2003). The five minds of the manager, Harvard Business Review, November 2003: 54-63. Kotter, J. P., (2001). What leaders really do? Harvard Business Review, Vol. 79 Issue 11, p.85-96. Kotter, J.P. (1990). A Force For Change: How Leadership Differs from Management, Simon and Schluster, New York. Read More