Leadership and Management

Management is the co-coordinating individual effort in order to achieve a common goal. It is the act of getting things done through other people. It is the coordination of activities in an organization to achieve a set goal. It involves the coordination of factors of production such as land, labor, entrepreneurship, and capital, machinery, and raw materials. The managers have power bestowed upon them by the owners of the organizations to make the decision and oversee the firms’ performance. Leadership is the ability to influence, direct, and guide others. A leader can direct a group of individual, a party, or a union. Leadership and management differ significantly. To begin with, a leader set goals and look for ways to achieve them. They are the torchbearers for the team who motivate and lead the group members. The leaders challenge the status quo. Managers, on the contrary, maintain the status quo and work in accordance with the set standards. Manager’s makes short-term goal used to run day-to –day activities, whereas the leaders make long-term decisions. The actions of the managers are reactive while those of leaders are proactive. On the subject of the essence, the essence of a manager is all about stability while the essence of a leader is change (Rost, 1991). Leaders try to bring change to an organization and the way people think. A manager makes and strictly follows the rules set while the leaders break those rules. The manager plans the details of approaching a particular situation while leaders set directions. Managers execute the culture, which is already in existence, whereas the leaders shape the culture in an organization. Managers work in such a way to avoid conflicts while leaders try to face those conflicts. Leaders believe that for an organization to move forward friction in the form of conflicts is bound to occur. Managers always take credit while leaders give out credit. The manager makes decisions while leader gives out the decisions. Manager memories and tell the vision of an organization while leaders facilitate the vision. The style adopted by the managers is the transactional style that enables them to achieve the set goals while the style adopted by a leader is the transformational style. They work to transform people, organization, and culture to a more productive level. Finally, the manager does things right and changes them while leaders do the right thing and change the world (Bertocci, 2009).

Over the decades, several schools of thoughts try to explain where leaders come from, their identity, and their personalities. The trait theory and skill theory are the two schools of thoughts trying to answer these questions. The trait theory is the ancient theory, which believes that leaderships inborn. The theory postulates that the leaders have special talents that distinguish them from others. The born leaders take control and guide situations (Lussier, 2008). They believed that these individual shapes the history using their personal characteristics and inspiration thus, through examining their lives critically, one can clearly understand the true nature of leaders. On the other hand, for the skill approach, a leader is defined by the attributes that are innate and fixed. The theory believes that one can also become a leader through technical knowledge and proficiency in an activity. The trait theory originated from the great man concept that postulates that the leaders have specific characteristics that are neither learned nor acquire. The theory later evolved and asserted that leaders’ characteristics such as weight and height are hereditary while other attributes such as knowledge are dependent on learning and experience. The major difference between the trait approach and the theory approach crops from the idea that born leaders could not be developed nor taught. Individual characteristic components of the skill model are trait driven. The trait theory explains who a leader is whereas the skill theory shows what a leader does. The actions that a leader takes come from the behavioral theory. The trait is an attribute genetically determined while a behavior is the way an individual conducts himself. A good leader should be honest. He has to be trustworthy. He should be able to multiply himself by the delegation of duties and responsibilities. He should possess excellent communication skills and should have a sense of humor. A leader should always be confident with whatever he does. He should be a positive thinker and very creative. He should be in a position to inspire the people he manages ( Ledlowet.al, 2014).

There are four major leadership styles adopted by the situational managers. To begin with is the coaching style. It is a type of situational leadership, which involves hands-on involvement in the workers’ work process. This approach is more beneficial when an employee shows some weaknesses, thus a manager steps in helping him. The employee, however, should be able to acknowledge his weakness and should show the desire to improve for coaching effectiveness. Secondly, is directing. It involves identifying a challenge and looking for ways to overcome them. The manager has to establish goals to achieve. Thirdly is delegating. The manager in this type places the responsibility for the employees. He only provides guidance when the need arises. This style is very effective when dealing with experienced staff who can execute their duties independently. Finally is the supporting style where the leader plays the motivational role. He works to instill confidence and improve employees’ morale. The development level is very crucial as it helps the managers to select the leadership style that suits the situation and best benefits the organization ( Malhotra, 2005).The teleological and deontological theories are the major theories to the study of ethics. The deontological theory is rule driven. It has rules to follow whereas teleology base morality on the result of an action. The difference between the two theories results from the focus. The deontological theory focuses on actions and rule that differ from one system to another. The teleological theory focuses on the action. This theory does not set rules to follow like deontological theory. The deontological ethics takes into consideration the motives and intentions of individual while teleological theories consider the outcomes and purposes.

Ethical egoism is a position where individuals ought to do what is in their self-interest. This theory states that one’s self should be the motivator to his actions. People should act for themselves. On the other hand, altruism is the practice of unselfishness.  According to this theory, an individual has a duty to help others. The two theories completely contradict each other. With egoism, individual may lack support. It reduces the firms’ productivity and performance unlike adopting the altruism. In addition, a problem of conflicts with moral convictions may arise. A good leader should minimize being self-centered and work to improve his welfare, as well as the welfare of others. It is hard to motivate another and almost impossible. The word motivates means to change them. One may not be able to change another person but can only help that person to change himself. A leader may adopt several ways in an attempt to help others change themselves. He has to act as a role model for the employees. The leader has to clearly define the vision, mission, goals, and objective of each employee and help them towards the realization of those goals. He has to delegate duties and monitor the progress of employees’ performance (Lunenburg et. al, 2008).

References

Rost, Joseph C. Leadership for the Twenty-First Century. New York: Praeger, 1991. Print.

Bertocci, David I. Leadership in Organizations: There Is a Difference between Leaders and Managers. Lanham, Md: University Press of America, 2009. Internet resource.

Ledlow, Gerald R, M N. Coppola, Katey Birtcher, and Michael O’Donnell. Leadership for Health Professionals: Theory, Skills, and Applications. , 2014. Internet resource.

Lussier, Robert N. Management Fundamentals: Concepts, Applications, Skill Development. Mason, OH: South-Western/Cengage Learning, 2008. Print.

Malhotra, Naresh K. Review of Marketing Research: Vol. 1. Armonk, N.Y: M.E. Sharpe, 2005. Print.

Lunenburg, Frederick C, and Allan C. Ornstein. Educational Administration: Concepts and Practices. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 2008. Print.