Management a Comparison of Management and Leadership Term Paper

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Management

A Comparison of Management and Leadership

Management and leadership are often mistakenly considered to be the same thing. In truth, management and leadership are different processes and involve different activities. This means that a good leader is not necessarily a good manager, and that a good manager is not necessarily a good manager. This will now be discussed in more detail by comparing leadership and management and by comparing the traits of a leader and the traits of a manager.

Management can be broadly defined as the ability to manage resources to achieve goals. In practice, this refers to controlling both material resources and people to achieve the goals of the organization. Management can be further divided into the tasks of organizing, planning, controlling, and directing. The manager's role is to manage tasks and people on a consistent basis to ensure that goals are met.

Leadership is defined as "the ability to influence a group toward the achievement of goals" (Robbins 2001, p. 314). Like management, leadership is related to achieving goals. However it specifically refers to motivating and influencing people so that they take action to achieve goals. The leader's role involved motivating people and influencing them so that they want to act in ways that will meet the goals of the organization.

The role of the manager can be further explored by considering the key traits that are characteristics of a good manager. The first key trait is the ability to set goal and organize. This ability is essential to ensuring effective ongoing operations, since without goals, the demands of the organization cannot be met. This reference to goals does not refer to a manager setting goals for themselves. Instead, it refers to a manager setting goals for the department, teams, and individual employees. This goal-setting plays a key role in managing the ongoing operations of a company. The next key trait is good communication. There are several reasons why communication is vital. Firstly, management includes controlling human resources.

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To manage the people of the department, a manager needs to be able to communicate clearly. This is essential to effective hiring, delegation, conflict management, and review processes. A manager will also normally need to coordinate the needs of their department with the other departments of the organization. This coordination allows the organization to function as a whole, with departments working effectively together to achieve the same overall goals. Without effective communication, a manager cannot coordinate with other departments effectively. Finally, there is often a need for managers to communicate effectively with people outside of the organization. This may involve dealing with customers, clients, suppliers, or service providers. It will be the manager's job to ensure that the departments and employees have whatever resources are needed, with this often requiring effective management with third parties. The third key trait of an effective manager is the ability to accept feedback and adapt to changes. Accepting feedback means that the manager gains the knowledge of what is going right, what is going wrong, and how things can be changed for the better. The ability to accept feedback is a key factor in constantly improving the department. It is also a key factor in managing conflict and in predicting and preventing problems. The ability to adapt to changes is also critical because a department is never operating in an isolated environment. Things change both within the company and outside of the company on a constant basis, and these changes impact the operation of the department. A good manager is aware of the changes and is able to be flexible and adapt, either to reduce problems or to take advantage of opportunities. The final key quality of a good manager is the ability to follow up and follow through. It must be remembered that a manager's job is to ensure that resources are being managed to achieve goals. While a manager's job is partly about planning for the future, it….....

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