Characteristic Differences between a Manager and a Leader - Literature review Example

Management Principles for Ms Insert Name Tutor Task Date Management Principles for Ms Introduction Management and leadership are frequently used interchangeably in business. However, the two are in reality quite different in meaning (Klagge 2006). A manager is a person placed in charge of a given collection of tasks, or a given subset within the company, and he or she has a group of people or staff who are answerable to him or her. Within a Small to Medium Enterprise (SME) for instance, the manager has control over expenditures and resources (Thorpe et al. 2009). A leader on the other hand is one who exerts some influence upon others so that they may accomplish objectives and in so doing, direct the organization in ways which that make it more coherent (Kerr 2006). Having a leader is more important than just a manager in SME operations. This paper discusses the various elements of management and leadership, and the best approach for ensuring a successful SME. Roles of a Manager The roles played by the manager include the making of contacts on behalf of the organization. He establishes and maintains such contacts with various people both outside and within the firm. The people that he interacts with regularly in the organization include other managers and subordinates while external ones include suppliers and government officials among others (Thorpe et al. 2009). According to Visser et al. (2006), the main role of the manager is decision-making. Managers are supposed to make routine decisions relating to the business’ daily operations. For instance, there are decisions to be made relating to raw material purchases, employee leave and wage payment. They are also involved in crisis handling within the organization. For instance, one may be required to take charge in cases of employee strikes, fire accidents or machinery breakdown. In such instances, the manager has to act wisely and swiftly in identification of remedies. According to Klagge (2006), the present day manager has five main roles to play and these are Planning, Direction, Organizing, Controlling and Staffing. He supervises. He needs to supervise the work done by subordinates and provide any help that is necessary in the process. Supervision is also necessary in order to make sure that there is no wastage of time by the employees during their working time. In addition, he sets out to attain targets. They may have to operate under pressure for much of their time due to set targets which they need to achieve. This mostly applies to sales or production managers who are usually the line managers within SMEs. The delegation of authority is one important role of the manager. Managers have to get work done by those under them. Because of this, they are obligated to delegate authority as much as possible in order to facilitate the accomplishment of the assigned tasks. They have to make sure that delegated authority is just sufficient for the carrying out of duties. Cases where authority gets above responsibility result in the misuse of such authority. Where inadequate, accomplishment of the task may prove difficult (Thorpe et al. 2009). The manager convenes meetings. Matzler et al. (2008) explains that these enable the communication of views to employees and also getting feedback relating to work progress. Managers from different departments also may have to meet periodically in order to maintain co-ordination and also review the progress made. Significantly, the manager ensures proper usage of available resources. He is charged with ensuring that people, money, materials and machines are utilized optimally. This is in addition to conflict resolution. In cases where there is conflict among employees relating to organizational matters, managers are expected to deal with the conflicts and ensure the arrival at amicable solutions. Roles of a Leader The main role of the leader in the organization is the provision of leadership in activity, an aspect that is necessary at every management level. Kerr (2006) argues that at the top, it is important in marshalling cooperation in policy and plan formulation. At the middle and lower levels, it becomes important in interpreting and executing programs and plans that are set by the top managers. Leadership may be exercised through offering guidance and counseling to employees during the implementation stage of plans. The leader acts as the organization’s representative. He will be the one to represent his business entity at conferences, seminars and general meetings. His role in this respect is the communication of the organization’s rationale to the people who are external to the organization. He will also represent the department that he leads during intra-organizational gatherings. A leader reconciles and integrates individual and organizational objectives and goals. His leadership traits are supposed to facilitate the co-ordination of employee efforts towards the common purpose set out by the organization’s objectives, goals, mission and vision (Raelin 2011). According to Ahedo (2010, a leader is responsible for soliciting support. The leader is a manager and in addition to this, has to invite and entertain the cooperation and support of employees in various quarters of the business. He can do this through his intelligence, personality, experience and maturity that provide him with positive results. He will therefore invite any suggestions and ensure that they are incorporated into programs and plans of the business. In this way, he ensures that there is the soliciting of full employee support that leads to greater willingness at work and therefore effective running of the business entity. The leader plays the role of a philosopher, guide and friend to the others. These are three traits that are considered most valuable for him. He should be able to share the opinions, desires and feelings of employees, and also be the philosopher by using his experience and intelligence hence providing guidance to them whenever there is need to. He can guide them through communicating and supervising to the employees the policies and plans set by the top management and ensure the acquisition of co-operation in seeking organizational goals. He is in some instances expected to be like a counselor, listening to whatever problems the employees communicate and try resolving them (Wiesner & Innes 2010). Characteristic Differences between a Manager and a Leader Among the main characteristics of the manager is that he has authority defined by the role’s nature. According to Klagge (2006), the manager will ensure that work is accomplished, maintain focus on routine day to day work, and be in charge of other people’s activities. He focuses on the tactical aspect of activity and will therefore have a more controlling and directive approach. Being tactical is important as it is necessary especially considering that the current environment is so fast-paced. The ability to manage is therefore a great asset. A leader on the other hand has to be strategically focused and not just a directive force for employees through their tasks. A leader will motivate and inspire employees so that they may have a higher performance. While the manager acquires authority basing on his role, the authority of a leader is innate. Good skills in a leader are hard to attain as they tend to be more of behavioral than those of managers. For instance, it may be likened to teaching a person to manage a certain task using a handbook as compared to teaching them how they can negotiate a sale effectively. While the former is a step by step procedure, the other calls for the application of soft skills which if absent, might be a challenge. This makes the attainment of effective leadership difficult for the manager (Raelin 2011). A leader is change-oriented. According to Alvesson & Sveningsson (2006), the recognition that continuous improvement in employees is possible is important in ensuring the continued success. The ability to lead a team through change instead of managing it has its infinite rewards. Leadership entails doing the right things while management is about doings the things right. So as to be effective, a leader should be able to manage while identifying change opportunities. Leadership in the absence of management skills might leave one unable to operationalize the vision. In the same way, being a manager and lacking in leadership skills might limit the motivation of teams so that they produce the results which they are being managed to. Raelin (2011) elaborates that while the manager handles complexity, the leader tackles uncertainty. The manager tries to find facts while the leader makes various decisions. The manager is more concerned with having things done right while the leader seeking the doing of right things. The manager is mainly concerned with efficiency at a time when a leader pursues effectiveness and while the manager establishes policies, the leader derives principles. According to Wang & Poutziouris (2010), the manager will find solutions and answers while the leader formulates questions and ensures the identification of problems and while the manager checks whether the solution can be reapplied, the leader would be wondering if the problem would require a different remedy if it occurs in a different setting. Raelin (2011) observes that while the manager just administers, the leader has to innovate. The difference between the two is in their conception deep within their psyches of order and chaos. A manager embraces processes, seeks control and stability and tries to solve problems fast, at times even before fully understanding their significance, while the leader in contrast tolerates lack of structure and chaos and will be willing to take time so as to fully understand issues. A leader therefore works by enabling other members of the organization to engage together as part of the vision-seeking process. In many instances, a manager would be a previously high performing employee. It is therefore possible for any type of person to eventually manage. However, there are certain aspects that can make the manager an effective leader. The Advantage of Leadership over Management in SMEs Wiesner & Innes (2010) explain that in order to be a good manager, one needs to be able to be a good leader. Leaders and managers have considerably varying sets of skills. However, no style is superior to the other. In any form of organization, there is the need to have a good mix of the two if success is to be attained. For instance, in case a firm has only visionary leaders, then the business focus will tend to be more on the big picture rather than having as much work done from day to day towards the accomplishment of the organizational vision. In case the business opts for managers only, then there is the likelihood of inadequate innovation and the avoidance of risk, which may not be good for business growth. Large organizations require both leadership and management skills. The managers will organize work so that quality standards are met in output, but there will also be the need to have leaders to propose and agitate for new processes which will encourage advancement of the business (Thorpe et al. 2009). According to Wiesner & Innes (2010) however, they usually also have a considerable amount of compartmentalization, and departments are created hence staff having specific skills in management are recruited, and it is known that they can not be expected to provide leadership. The big organizations also afford the creation of roles which are entirely leadership-oriented, with for instance some staff devoted to the implementation of the leadership’s vision. Unlike the large organizations however, SMEs have their similarities and differences. Just like the large ones, they also need both managerial and leadership skills. However, in their case there is no possibility of compartmentalization. There are no exclusive positions for management or leadership skills. Because of the rapid growth, evolution and fast moving nature of SMEs, the environment tends to be always changing and in progression. At whichever time, most SME owners end up drawing upon both leadership and management skills, hence the requirement of more flexibility in typical SME managers. In an ideal SME therefore, it would be a good idea to have an effective combination of managers and leaders, in addition to the people who are to be managed and led. Within an SME that has a substantial number of employees therefore, there would be the need to have about 20% of leadership talent while the rest will be management skills (Ahedo 2010). SME owners will need to have both effective management and good leadership traits. One will need to come out as a visionary in the starting of a new business or development of a new service or product. At the same time, he will need to be a good people and process manager hence organize, plan, solve problems, direct and measure the effectiveness of his actions and business results (Wang & Poutziouris 2010). According to Raelin (2011), the manager is granted the direction or control of a business or institution, or a division, phase or part of it and will manipulate and control the resources as is appropriate for the attainment of stated objectives. In modern management however, value is increasingly believed to be derived from people’s knowledge. Unlike in the past, workers are no longer viewed as being just undifferentiated cogs within a process machine. It is therefore difficult to separate leadership from management. Managers are not simply expected to be assigning tasks, but also be defining a purpose for them, organizing the people not only for the sake of efficiency, but also to nurture their skills, develop their talents and be able to inspire positive outcomes. Leadership is always important for success or organizations. However, its approach is highly dependent on the growth stage of the firm. For SMEs, it would involve actively managing the company and establishing a vision so that the employees know well where they are headed. The SME entrepreneur should have true qualities of leadership in order to be able to successfully steer the business through bad and good times. The employee teams have to be motivated continually, especially in trying times such as the current one, with him being able to fully understand their insecurities and perspectives (Alvesson & Sveningsson 2006). According to Ahedo (2010), leadership is more useful in SMEs. This is because without structured organization, social and financial security for the employees, it becomes more important to protect and motivate them in times of hardships hence leadership. Within the current setting of economic hardships, SMEs have arguably been the most affected, with many workers losing their jobs. This kind of situation is a test for leadership as in such circumstances genuine leadership tends to be more pronounced. Wang & Poutziouris (2010) argue that having a manager within the SME is not enough, irrespective of its scale. This is because he will only be in charge of ensuring that processes are performed well. This is not enough because the people, as the main resources are not simply motivated by for instance the availability of resources and financial rewards. Reaching out to them as human beings is arguably more important, and a leader will be able to do this more effectively as compared to the manager. Identification of possible future challenges and equipping oneself with the ability to cope with them is also important within the current setting. Conclusion The manager’s role is basically to achieve effective resource utilization within the organization. This is achieved through coordination of human efforts. He is therefore important in the attainment of organizational objectives as he will be instrumental in the alignment of individual and organizational objectives. However, for a modern SME, it is important to go beyond management. This is because the challenges that abound require more than just allocation of resources. The people need to be intrinsically motivated and inspired, hence the greater need for leadership. A true leader will definitely already be a manager hence the belief that it is a leader who will be all-round and effective in an SME. The most important component of successful business and one that drives the achievement of peak performance and enables them to survive tough times is leadership. 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