MANAGEMENT VERSUS LEADERSHIP

Management versus leadership

Table of Contents

Introduction2

Management3

Leadership3

Management versus leadership4

Conclusion6

References7

Difference between management and leadership

Introduction

Human nature is the trickiest thing. It is difficult to understand the nature of a human being and what is even more difficult is managing behavior of human beings. For smooth and lucrative operation of business, it is so vital for an organization to manage behavior of its personnel. Organization behavior management is an indispensable function for an organization. Department of organization behavior management perform variegated tasks. This department analyzes and manages human behavior. It deals with a wide variety of topics. Change management, leadership, teams, groups and learning are few of the topics that come under the umbrella of organization behavior. The core aim of this paper is to explore one of the areas of organizational behavior. So, this paper discusses the phenomenon of leadership and management.

Management

Management is an integral function of all the organizations and businesses. Management is an act of getting all the resources or people of the organization together on a single forum for the accomplishment of one goal by utilizing given resources in an effective and efficient way. There are some basic functions of management. These basic functions include planning, organizing, leading and controlling. By performing these functions management makes an attempt to fulfill the organizational goal.

Leadership

One of the basic functions of management is leading, and this function of leading is performed by leaders. A good leader knows how to handle diverse members working in the organization. In fact, a good leader would always prefer diversity rather than homogeneity and take the utmost advantage of the diverse work force. Warren Bennis defined leadership by focusing on it from an individual's ability of leadership. His definition of leadership is as follows:

"Leadership is a function of knowing yourself, having a vision that is well communicated, building trust among colleagues, and taking effective action to realize your own leadership potential”

Leadership is the task of motivating, guiding, directing and leading others in the right direction in order to fulfill certain mutual aims and objectives. A leader through leadership role shows the right and correct path to his or her subordinates. Leadership provides subordinates a guidance with which they can bring improvement in their work (Northouse, 2001).

Management versus leadership

People generally assume that a manager, by default, is a leader. In reality, a leader and a manager can be distinguished clearly. The leader has followers, and the manager is a follower. There is a thin line of difference between leadership and management. Many scholars and practitioners have made an attempt to clearly describe the difference between these two fields. This thing can best be described by focusing on what are the elements of these two fields that compliment and support each other instead of seeking the differences between these two. One thing that is common in both leadership and management is that both deals with working with other people and working towards attainment of goals (Northouse, 2007).

Both of these fields are separated from each other, but they go ...