Leadership and Management in Today's Business

Introduction

A significant and controversial question is how management is different from leadership. Some view the two as essentially the same; however, in increasingly complex and dynamic businesses, a need for greater specialization requires that we recognize that they are different. Managers and leaders are essentially two different functions and they serve two different purposes within organizations. Leaders promote new directions while management implements existing processes as efficiently as possible (McCrimmon, 2007). Managers and leaders are both essential in organizations and must be separate components that work together.

Leaders do not need to know how to manage, but managers need to know how to lead. This analysis will provide a background on leadership theory, in the process defining leadership and management, and discussing trait approach, contingency theory, and leader-exchange theory.

Background

Robbins and Judge (2013) define leadership as the ability to “influence others towards the achievement of a vision or a set of goals” (p. 368). “Leadership involves influence, it occurs among people, those people intentionally desire significant changes, and the changes reflect purposes shared by leaders and followers” (Daft, 2011, p. 5). Therefore, leadership includes the influence of people, of both leaders and followers, to bring about change toward a desirable future (Daft, 2011).

“Management can be defined as the attainment of organizational goals in an effective and efficient manner through planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling organizational resources” (Daft, 2011, p. 15). Management is a set of well-known processes that ensure an organization has the resources to predictably perform well (Kot...

... middle of paper ...

...Simpson, R. B. (2007). Classic Readings in Organizational Behavior (4th ed.). Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning.

Robins, S. P. & Judge, T. A. (2013). Organizational Behavior (15th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.

Sanders, C. G. (2014). Why the positional leadership perspective hinders the ability of organizations to deal with complex and dynamic situations. International Journal of Leadership Studies, 8(2), 136-150.

Sinha, J. B. P. (1995). The cultural context of leadership and power. New Delhi: Sage Publications.

Stogdill, R. M. (1974). Handbook of leadership: A survey of theory and research. New York, NY: Free Press.

Yukl, G. and Lepsinger, R. (2005). Why integrating the leading and managing is essential for organizational effectiveness. Organizational Dynamics, 34(4), 361-375.

Zaleznik, A. (1992). Managers and leaders: Are they different? Harvard Business Review. 1-12.