MANAGERS AND LEADERS

Managers and Leaders: What's the difference?



Managers and Leaders: What's the difference?

Introduction

The purpose of this paper is to enlighten and explore the difference between a manager and a leader. This paper uses diverse dimensions to differentiate the managerial practice and leadership perspectives. In addition, the paper outlines diverse functions and values of manager and leaders

Difference between Management and Leadership

Leadership is an act of motivating, appealing, and satisfying the motives of others to willingly follow him or her towards the attainment of a defined goal (Blanchard and Zigarmi, 2011). Leader is more of a visionary person who inspires people through good communication skills, charisma, being knowledgeable and trustworthy. Whereas, managers work at the technical aspects of an organization, and their role is to develop an effective relation between the employees and create a harmonious working environment. Their job is to swiftly address the issues and resolve them before they can hamper the overall performance of the organization (Ahmed et al, 2010). Management is only one of the various leadership skills, and it facilitates the impact of a leader.

Functions of Management

There are five basic functions of management: planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. Goals and objectives are developed in the planning phase, and a set of determined actions which would be taken in order to achieve the goals. In organizing, resources are allocated to the respective departments and tasks are broken down and divided among individuals or teams, and a proper coordination plan is developed. The process of leading is to encourage all personnel involved and motivating them to put their utmost efforts and direct their effort to the prescribed goals. The controlling process engulfs evaluation of work performances executed, and improvements wherever needed (Charles, 2009).

Functions of Leadership

The key functions of leadership relate to establishing direction, aligning, motivating, and inspiring people ...