Chapter 1: Management VS Leadership

Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the

ladder is leaning against the right wall.

Stephen Covey

Management and leadership phenomenon go hand in hand but it is not necessary for good mangers

to be good leaders too. Being walking on this earth for quite a time now, I have come across many

people who have such great abilities to be mangers but not so strong in the area of leadership and

some have great leadership potential in them but for a variety of reasons it is difficult for them to

become a strong manager, and it’s all fine.

Warren Bennis, in his book “Becoming a leader” published in 1989, said, “While management is

about doing things right, leadership is about doing the right things”. His analysis of leadership

and management is still on point, as, focus of management is more result-oriented and task-driven.

Whereas, leadership focuses on people and change, while values are central to the decision-making

process.

The part that leaders and managers play in the development of the society and organizations is

proven to be very important as leaders are people who inspire, influence and encourage their people

to work voluntarily to achieve desired goals. Furthermore, managers represent an important link

between the society and the people (employees, customers, suppliers, shareholders, governments,

companies, etc.). They are the force behind all management functions.

John Kotter of Harvard Business School has done much contribution to leadership and

management phenomenon, he argues that management and leadership are two different systems
of action yet complementary to each other. In particular, he pointed out that leadership deals with

change and management deal with complexity. He has a very broad vision related to management

and leadership. After reviewing his work the understanding that I developed related to leadership

and management is that these phenomena are basically the processes with certain steps to follow.

The process of leadership includes developing a vision, communicating that vision to people and

aligning them to it and motivating people to act by empowering and fulfilling basic needs. This is

how change is brought into society.

Now, in contrast, the process of management involves budgeting and planning, staffing and

organizing and controlling and solving the problems. So it can be said that the change that leaders

brought in the society, managers are the one who deals with the organization of change and helps

in stabilizing the society. As Robert house says, management includes the vision and direction

provided by executive leaders in coordinating and organizing people and tasks and managing day-

to-day issues.

What is Leadership?

To answer the question “what is leadership?” we need to first develop the understanding about

what leaders want to achieve: The Results. Leaders have to work in a way that their efforts bring

the desired results. When the topic of leadership is discussed, one question that always crosses our

mind is that” who is an effective leader?” A very generic answer we get in the reply, highlighting

the certain attributes of the leaders like they have a vision, they inspire others, they act with

integrity, and leaders are authentic people and so on and so forth. This is not what leadership is all

about. We often miss out on the very important aspect of leadership and being a leader, which is

bringing the results.

I shall give you an example of the political situation of Pakistan, this can clear the concept of

leadership very vividly. The political parties of Pakistan, they have their so-called leaders, they

work tirelessly near elections in delivering their speeches to make their followers know of their

vision, they inspire them and tell them what transformations they will bring in the society once

they get the power, and they do get the power, they spend five years under power but when people

see no results they start questioning the leadership about the results which are nowhere to be seen.

And then period ends, again election time come and cycle continues. Every leader does get the

chance to stay in power but they do not bring results. No doubt they are leaders, but they are not

effective leaders who practice effective leadership.

The great example of leadership and an effective leader is MR. Muhammad Ali Jinnah. He was a

true leader, he was authentic and result-driven. He was determined to give Muslims a state of their

own and he worked hard over it, he made it possible for the Muslims of the sub-continent to live

in a state where they can practice their religion without any restriction. He promised a separate

state to his followers and this is what he delivered to them.

Now to make the phenomenon more clear, if I want to give you a clear definition of the of

leadership, this will be a daunting task, because many of the authors in the literature have defined

leadership with their own ideas and given the best way for their opinions in definitions. We can

examine a series of definitions to understand this phenomenon more broadly and understand its

evolution over the period of time.

As Grace Hopper (Admiral, U. S. Navy (retired)) said in his speech in Washington, D. C., February

1987 “Leadership is a two-way street, loyalty up and loyalty down. Respect for one’s superiors;

care for one’s crew.”

Then in 1990, Kotter stated that “Leadership is the capacity for collective action to vitalize”

John Maxwell defined leadership by influence (Maxwell, 1998)

Peter Drucker defined a leader is someone who has followers (Drucker, 1999)

Northouse, 2007, he has been defined leadership as a behavior; a style; a skill; a process; a

responsibility; an experience; a function of management; a position of authority; an influencing

relationship; a characteristic; and an ability

It is clear from the above-mentioned definition of leadership that scholars have different definitions

of "leadership", but the basic philosophy has not yet been challenged. The conceptual basis of

"leadership" is very old and goes back to ancient literature, mainly in the context of politics,

religion, society and government. It has always been one of the oldest topics under discussion in

the world and has been a hot topic for thousands of years and a major driver of innovation. That

is, leadership is a practice that involves the motivation, vision and actions of the leader to enable

followers to achieve certain collective goals. It involves leaders, followers and situations. The role

of leadership is to provide advice and make changes.

In short, Leadership means defining and achieving the objectives, taking actions and coping with

the competition.

Leadership has always been considered as an important factor in sustainable development. One of

the key functions of leadership is to effectively manage to change circumstances and to adapt the

culture of change. Another function of leadership is to have a significant and positive impact on

society’s/organizational structure, culture, technology and administrative systems. Leadership is a

prerequisite for creating a fair and equitable environment where people feel comfortable.
By now we have got a clear view of what leadership is, let’s look at an example from a corporate

setting that how good leadership is effective in running a successful business.

Jake Welsh demonstrated his leadership during his tenure as president and CEO of General Electric

from 1981 to 2001. He participated in 600 important acquisitions in developing markets, increasing

GE's market capitalization to $ 505 billion from $ 12 billion by the time of his retirement. As the

world continues to change, Welch insisted that everyone in GE accepts the changes. In order to

continue to advance the company's activities and improve performance, employees and managers

must constantly adapt to change and work.

Welch hired those mangers with his vision of GE, with infinite vitality and the ability to encourage

employees to continue their work. He sought out managers who could create, develop and refine

ideas for the future and find what makes these ideas possible. He also pointed out that managers

have the duty to work side by side with the employees to develop understanding about their work.

Thanks to Welch's leadership style, employees and managers have been strengthened, product

quality continues to improve, customer satisfaction continues to increase and profits have

increased significantly.

This example is the great depiction of the fact that a great leadership style can bring such great

outcomes.

These kind of examples are a great inspiration for managers to be leaders and work hard in

developing leadership skills.

What is Management?
To answer this question let's look at an example. Look at the management role of a homemaker,

“a housewife” and how she uses the management ingredients in family management. First, she

evaluates her family and their needs. She provides for the needs of the family for a week, a month

or more. She takes accounts available resources and any restrictions on those resources. She Plans

and organizes those available resources to make the most of them. She controls and monitors her

family budgets, expenses and other activities. In a large family, she shares the work with other

members and coordinates their activities. She encourages her family members and motivates them

to do their best to carry out their activities. She lookout for improvements, refer goals that need to

be achieved and resource. All that she does is what the ideal management is and these ingredients

are usually the basic functions of management.

Role of management in everyone’s life is very significant because it exists in every aspect of the

world. This applies to self-management, concentrating on our goal-achieving capacity. This

applies to our working relationship with others because it influences our choice of others.

Management is also the collection of organizations that work together to achieve goals. The basic

activity of the manager is planning and execution. The manager evaluates the organization's goals

and resources. He clearly defined them for others. The manager develops an action plan or a road

map. Once the plan is in place, the manager will continue to execute it. Managers must constantly

monitor the position of the organization (are we moving towards the goal?) And how does the

organization behave (can we make better use of resources?).

It is difficult to define precisely the term "management". Different specialists from different walks

of life see and understand the management of their point of view. Economists view management

as a resource for land, labour, capital and organization. Bureaucrats believe that this is a licensing
system that helps in achieving business goals. Sociologists believe that managers are part of the

social elite.

Like leadership, scholars have also defined management in their own ways.

Kreitner’s definition of management: “Management is a problem solving process of effectively

achieving organizational objectives through the efficient use of scarce resources in a changing
environment.’

According to Harold Koontz, “Management is an art of getting things done through and with

the people in formally organized groups. It is an art of creating an environment in which people

can perform and individuals and can co-operate towards attainment of group goals”.

Megginson, Mosley and Pietri define management as “Working with human, financial and

physical resources to achieve organizational objectives by performing the planning, organizing,

leading and controlling function”.

These definitions give a clear idea about what management is. The gist of all these definitions has

focused on one aspect of management involving action. Most attempts to define management

follow the same behavior: doing things the right way, budgeting and planning, systems and

processes, d) organization and management of personnel, and problem-solving. The aspects

produce order, likelihood and expected results.

Comparing the TWO

"Leadership is more about change, inspiration, setting the purpose and direction, and building the

enthusiasm, unity and 'staying-power' for the journey ahead. Management is less about change,

and more about stability and making the best use of resources to get things done... But here is the

key point: leadership and management are not separate. And they are not necessarily done by
 different people. It's not a case of, 'You are either a manager or a leader'. Leadership and

management overlap..."

(From The Three Levels of Leadership, J Scouller, 2011)

Different people use management and leadership differently. Although some people use them as

synonyms, others treat them as two completely different words. Although leadership and

leadership have many of the same tasks in working with others and influencing others to achieve

goals. Managerial skills are used to build, plan and guide organizational systems to achieve tasks

and objectives, whereas leadership skills are utilized to build direction, align people, motivate and

inspire.

Kotter stated that “Leadership is different from management, but not for the reason most people

think. Leadership isn't mystical and mysterious. It has nothing to do with charisma or other exotic

personality traits. It is not the province of a chosen few. Nor is leadership better than management

or replacement for it: rather, leadership and management are two distinctive and complementary

activities. Both are necessary for success in an increasingly complex and volatile business

environment”.

Leadership focuses on long-term goals, as leaders' decisions influence relationships and the future

of the entire society or an organization. Leaders aim to provide a vision to motivate employees to

achieve their stated goals. Management is based on short-term goals because managers participate

in decisions about day-to-day activities, monitor subordinates, and measure performance.

Leadership can be interpreted as synthesis based on the conclusion from some previous analysis.

Management can be explained as an analysis involving a process designed to break down things

into parts or more like using a reductionist approach to deal with tasks.

Leaders have followers because their main purpose is to lead others. The subordinates of the

manager are because their main purpose is to manage their work.

Leadership means setting new goals to improve the overall performance of the followers and

society. The principle of leadership is to find the right strategy to motivate others. Management

means effective control of the team to organize the team's performance against objectives set in

accordance with established principles and values. The management principles are based on certain

behavioural aspects that can be modified according to changes in the environment and

organizational culture of the company.

Leaders can be described as heroes because they have personality traits that make them leaders,

especially in terms of adaptability, self-confidence, creativity, emotional control and integrity.

Managers seek to motivate employees to perform their tasks in accordance with established

organizational goals. The manager's personality traits include openness, socialness, awareness and

friendliness.

Leadership is one of the oldest, most natural and effective relationships. Management is a

subsequent product. Leadership is the soul, composed of vision and personality; practising is an

art in itself. Management is the mind, in addition to accurate calculations of statistics, methods,

timing and routines; it is a practice of science.

You need a manager, the leader is essential.

A Scholar, Bernard Bass pointed out in his " Bass and Stogdill’s Handbook of Leadership ":

managers lead and leaders mange, but these two activities are not identical, management roles can

provide leadership, leaders can contribute to management but this also true that some managers

cannot lead and some leaders cannot manage. ".

Extensive research on this topic explains that leader has soul, passion and creativity and is

inspiring, flexible, innovative, courageous and independent. Although the manager is voluntary,

authoritative consultative, analytical and stable, it has a rational mind, tact and perseverance.

Leadership and management are two distinct complementary action systems. Each has its own

characteristics and function. But, both are equally important to gain success in every aspect of life.