Difference Between Leadership And Management

Often, the difference between leadership and management has been a topic of debate especially in the business community. Presently, managers are predominantly the ‘administrators’ while the leaders motivate organizations and employees to change. However, the terms management and leadership are usually considered synonymous which neglects the significant overlap between the two terms. This paper hopes to share the differences between leadership and management including the characteristics of successful leaders in comparing with ordinary managers.

Leadership versus Management

Leadership is the process of a person exerting influence over a group of members to accomplish a common goal (Northouse, 2010). The leaders can be either given formal

He proposes that management is reactive, as managers perform with minimal emotional participation although they are willing to work with members in the group to resolve issues. Meanwhile, leadership is proactive in nature because leaders participate emotionally and shape ideas rather than reacting to the others’ opinions. In reactive management, choices are restricted by managers whereas in proactive leadership, leaders pursue to enlarge the number of solutions to problems that have affected an organization for a prolonged duration. An example of reactive management is when a manager is pressured to abandon his plans and choose a short-term decision to cope with the rapid changes of situation. In contrast, an example of a proactive leadership allows him to anticipate events that are beyond his control but he is guarded with his problem-solving capabilities and competency of the group

Members of a group are not willing to acknowledge someone as their leader if they do not have trust especially the leader’s ethical and moral. For leaders to lead successfully, they must defeat their fear of losing control and begins to inspire trust between them and the employees. Thus, successful leaders can inspire trust by developing consistent action with integrity that cultivates both respect and trust. For example, a successful leader needs to always be open and honest in communicating and building relationship. If the leader is hiding certain information, the employees will not have full trust in the leaders because of poor honesty and transparency. Successful leaders need to explain reasons for decisions made, being truthful about compensation policy and business performance to the employees. As for ordinary managers, they provide control by nature of their role. Thus, they merely ensure that work gets done and are usually use more controlling approach. Ordinary managers monitor the work performed by the employees and often make comparison to the actual progress if it is following the plan. For instance, an ordinary manager wants to monitor the work schedule of staff and their electronic activities so that