Management and Leadership are words that are often considered synonymous. But leadership is just an essential part of an effective management. To better understand management and leadership, we need to know what leadership and management means.
What is Leadership?
Leadership is the process of influencing and supporting others to work with enthusiasm towards achieving objectives. It is an important factor that helps an individual or a group identify its goals and then motivates and assists in achieving the mentioned goals. Without leadership, an organization would simply be a confusion of people and machines.
What is Management?
Management is the coordination and administration of work to achieve a goal. Such administrative activities include determining the organization’s strategy and coordinating staff efforts to accomplish these objectives through the application of available resources. It is the art or skill of working with and through others.
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Management and Leadership
Management and Leadership are very interrelated, where leadership is an important part of management, but it is not the whole story. The main role of a leader is to influence others to voluntarily seek defined objectives. Managers plan activities, organize appropriate structures, and manage resources. Managers hold formal positions, where anyone can use his informal influence while acting as a leader. Managers achieve results by pointing out the activities of others, whereas leaders create a outlook and inspire others to achieve this outlook and to stretch themselves beyond their normal capabilities. Strong leaders can be weak managers if poor planning allows their group to go astray. While they can move their group forward, they cannot move it in a direction that best meets organizational objectives.
Other combinations also are possible. A person can be a weak leader and still be an effective manager, especially if he or she manages people who have a clear understanding of their work and a strong drive to work. This set of circumstances is less likely, and so we expect excellent managers to have reasonably high leadership abilities among their other skills. Fortunately, leadership skills can be acquired through effective role model observation, participation in management training, and learning from work experience.
Difference Between Management and Leadership
The main difference between management and leadership are as under:
Management |
Leadership |
| 1. Management is a process of managing all things of the organization. | 1. Leadership is a virtue which lead people through encouraging them. |
| 2. Management is control subordinates. | 2. Leadership emphasize trust of followers. |
| 3. Management is like a science. | 3. Leadership is like an art. |
| 4. Management has a short range vision. | 4. Leadership has foresighted vision. |
| 5. Management is reactive. | 5. Leadership is proactive. |
| 6. Management relies more on written communication. | 6. Leadership relies more on verbal communication. |
| 7. Management brings stability. | 7. Leadership brings change. |
