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Leadership
Leadership is the process of leading a group of people and influencing them to achieve the goals of an organization. Not all mangers could be leaders as leadership is one of the four functions of management (Robbins, Coulter, & Vohra, 2009). It is observed that all mangers should have some leadership qualities in them. Many definitions are provided for term leadership. Some researchers are of the view that there are as many definitions for leadership as there are persons who tried to define this concept. Peter Drucker, a management consultant defines leader as a person who has followers and that leader requires influence in order to gain followers. The leader gain influence of followers through flexible means of training and education as well as support and protection. The leader has such abilities that without destroying the uniqueness of person, he could achieve unity of common values and directions. Building credibility and trust are the foremost characteristics of leadership (Winston & Pattersom, 2006).
Difference between Leadership and Management
Leadership and management are considered as overlapping concepts because leadership is one of the dimensions of management. Many academic professionals, theorists and researchers are of the view that the difference between leadership and management is important and that both the terms should not be used interchangeably. Leaders set new goals and vision for a group of people that are following them, they are pioneer in setting new directions for their group. On the other hand managers control the people and give them directions to follow and these directions are already developed by the organization which they are managing (Myers, 1995).
Peter Drucker, a management consul...
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...rence? Journal of Quality and Participation, 29(2), 13-17.
Lunenberg, F. C. (2012). Power and leadership: An Influence Process. Internationall Journal of Management, Business and Administation, 15(1).
Myers, S. (1995). Definitions Of Leadership And Management. Retrieved November 18, 2013, from www.teamtechnology.co.uk: www.teamtechnology.co.uk/leadership/management/definitions-of-leadership-and-management/
Robbins, S. P., Coulter, M., & Vohra, N. (2009). Management (10 ed.). Pearson Education, Inc. Prentice Hall.
Winston, B., & Pattersom, K. (2006). An Integrative Definition of Leadership. International Journal of Leadership Studies, 1(2), 6-66.
Yukl, G. (1989). Managerial Leadership: A Review of Theory and Research. Journal of Management, 15(2), 251-290.
Zaccaro, S. J., Rittman , A. L., & Marks, M. A. (2001). Team Leadership. The Leadership Quarterly, 12, 451-483.
Maxwell, John C. "The Definition of Leadership." Developing the Leader Within You. Nashville: T. Nelson, 2005. 1.
Pierce, Jon L. and John W. Newstrom (2011) 6th edition. Leaders and the Leadership Process.
Leadership at times can be a complex topic to delve into and may appear to be a simple and graspable concept for a certain few. Leadership skills are not simply acquired through position, seniority, pay scale, or the amount of titles an individual holds but is a characteristic acquired or is an innate trait for the fortunate few who possess it. Leadership can be misconstrued with management; a manager “manages” the daily operations of a company’s work while a leader envisions, influences, and empowers the individuals around them.
The systematic and scholarly study of leadership consumed much of the twentieth century and continues to remain a vital topic of discussion today. Theories abound as to what makes one a good leader and, despite the continued efforts of many, no single operable expression of the meaning of leadership exists. In an attempt to address this issue James Kotterman wrote, “Leadership Versus Management: What’s the Difference.” The following review shall briefly summarize Kotterman’s article and follow with conclusions based on the experiences of this author.
Leadership has been defined in different ways, a definitaion of leadership that would be most commonly accepted would be “the ability of an individual to influence, motivate, and enable others to contribute toward the effectiveness and success of the organization…”(House et al., 1999, p. 184 as cited in Yukl, 2013, p. 19). After a comprehensive review of different leadership literature, Stogdill (1974, p. 259, as cited in Yukl, 2013, p. 18) concluded that “There are almost as many definitions of leadership as there are persons who have attempted to define the concept." Leadership can be viewed from two different angles one is shared influence process and other as a specialized role. Researcher who view leadership as a specialized role consider attributes as a factor in selecting a designated leader. On the contrast, theorist who emphasises on influence process considers “Leadership” as a social process or a pattern of relationship.
A leader can be defined as a person who influences a group of people, organization, etc. in to achieving a set out or common goal. The aim of this paper is to identify the different approaches to leadership, but there is no single definition of leadership, as it can mean many different things to many people depending of their profession, environment and leadership style (Mielach, 2012).
Yukl, G. (2002). Leadership in organizations. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. p. 1-19. Retrieved from http://www.blackdiamond.dk/HDO/Organisation_Gary_Yukl_Leadership_in_Organizations.pdf
Northouse, P. (2010). Leadership: Theory and practice (5th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.
Robbins, S.P., & Coulter, M. (2009). Management (10th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Presently many of us have learned that managers are primarily administrators who have learned to write business plans, utilize their resources and keep track of progress. We must learn that we are not limited by job title, and that means we can utilize our management skills in any position that we are in. We must also know that we can use our leadership skills in the same situations. On the other hand we have also learned that leaders are people who have an impact on those that surround them. The main difference that separates these two roles is that management is a function that must be utilized in any type of business, and leadership is the relationship that the leader has with his followers, which in turn can motivate and energize the organization.
Robbins, S. P., & Coulter, M. (2009). Management (10th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson
There are certain essential elements that constitute the definition of leadership. It may refer to the totality of an organization’s top direction-giving functionaries, or the actions applied in providing direction that enables the organization or team to move forward towards a goal. In reality, there are very diverse definitions of leadership depending on the context. Grint’s (2010) summary of leadership definitions that includes the position, the person, the results, and the process, provides a comprehensive view of leadership. While not absolute, this view covers much of the areas where there is consensus on the definition of leadership.
The method of leadership is almost as similar as management, and a leader can be a manager. “Both management and leadership are seen as positions of responsibility or accountability in an organization” (Edwards, Schedlitzki, Turnbull, & Gill, 2015). Leadership and management can relate and overlap within the roles and functions and are similar within one another in meaning. Together leadership and management direct the actions of a group or individually.
Stroup, J. (2004). Managing leadership: toward a new and usable understanding of what leadership is and how to manage it. Lincoln, NE. iUniverse, Inc. Retrieved July 20, 2011 from http://managingleadership.com/blog/2008/09/04/great-man-theory/
Yukl, G. (1998). Leadership in organizations (4th Ed.). Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle River, NJ.Morrison, A. J. (2000). Developing a global leadership model [Electronic Version]. Human Resource Management, 39, 117. Retrieved March 24, 2014 from LIRN ProQuest.