Difference Between The Role Of A Leader And The Functions Of A Manager (Essay Sample)

MANAGEMENT AND OPERATION Student’s Name Institutional Affiliations MANAGEMENT AND OPERATION Difference between the role of a leader and the functions of a manager According to Carmichael (84), a leader is defined as a person who exercises a dominant or a superior position in a particular field, and he is in a position to exercise a high degree of control over the people he is leading. In an organization, a team leader is someone who gives or provides instructions, guidance, direction and leadership to a group of other individuals or a team with an aim of achieving a certain organizational goal. There are many aspects that make someone a good leader in an organization. If someone has followers, then he/ she can be termed as a leader. This is because if someone has many followers, he is in a position to be listened to and understood by the followed. The abiding of rules by such followers can make an organization achieve its set goals. One can also become a leader if he/ she is in a position to translate the vision of an organization in to reality. Hence a good leader is a person of the people. The main duty of a leader is therefore to provide leadership to a particular group of people. It is therefore important to understand its meaning (Carmichael, 99). Leadership refers to the ability of a person to understand and utilize ones inner talents and to effectively influence the natural strength of his or her team so as to achieve the organizational mission. A leader should be humble, express his/ her personality authentically and in pursuit. A manager is a person who has the authority of management towards an organization. A manager can be in charge of a department, a business or a whole company. Again, a manager is able to control people who work for him as well as making viable decisions on how things are suppose to work in an organization (Sack,149,). Management on the on the same refers to the administration of an organization, that is, a business, a non profit making organization or a government entity. Management functions is has a wide scope of activities as it includes setting the strategies of the whole organization and coordinating the efforts of employees or other volunteers so as to achieve the organizational mission using the available resources. A good manager should have technical skills to enable them accomplish their tasks. They should also have good communication skills so as to transfer information to others efficiently and effectively (Baffour, 133). Decision making skills will give them the ability to distinguish between positive decisions and the negative ones, and then select the positive ones. They should posses proper interpersonal skills and be good managers of time. Mitchell (649) defined the difference between a leader and a manager giving the following examples. To be a manager is a career, being a leader is a calling. This means, for one to become a leader, he/she must pass through training so as to get the basic skills of managing an organization. Its therefore termed as a career which one can pursue in the college so as to land in that position. On centrally, being a leader is a calling by the Supreme Being. This is because leaders are endowed with that veracity of realizing a crowd and making proper decisions for them. A manager must be obeyed whereas a leader is obeyed by people just at their own will. Manager’s positions are safeguarded by the law and that’s the reason as to why people must obey him/ her, or else attract the sanctions of the law (PETTINGER, 231). A leader is just followed by people from their own will because of his inborn ability to influence them. Leaders create vision while managers create goals of an organization. Leaders are change objects in an organization whereas managers aim at maintaining their status quo. Leaders take the risks which are likely to face an organization whereas leaders control such risks so as to prevent them from occurring in future. Leaders grow at personal level while managers rely on those skills which have been in existence. Leaders are known to coach, managers are always there to direct. Finally, leaders create fans while managers have employees following them. It’s therefore that good managers are not always good leaders. Management theory Carmichael et al (337) argued that a management theory is a set of which sets the general rules on how organizations should be managed. It addresses the relationship of managers and supervisors with their organization in the manner on how the goals should be set and implemented. There are several theories of management but in this context, we are going to discuss the contemporary and the seminal theories of management which includes management by objectives, the classical theories of management, the behavioural theories and the contingency theory. From the contingency theory, Carmichael et al (342) argues that, when managers make decision on how an organization should be run, they must put in to consideration aspects which are evident in the present situation and then act on those situations that are currently at hand (Sack,152,). The same theory claims that there is no best way to organize a situation in leadership or even to make decisions and that, the optimal cause of an action by both leaders and managers depends on both internal and the external factors of an organization. A leader is termed as contingent if he/she is in a position to apply his own style to lead an organization. Carmichael et al (347) defined some contingencies for a company which includes the following: supplies of an organization, technology used by an organization, the customers and the government due to its involvement its involvement in business activities. Another type of management theory is the classical management theory, which was formulated by Fredrick Taylor. This theory is based on a belief that workers are only faced with economic and physical needs but social needs and job satisfaction are not put in to consideration. The classical management theory advocates for specialization of labour in an organization, a central point leadership, centralized decision making and finally profit maximization as a tool for achieving organizational objectives. The strengths of this theory of management are that, it anticipates for a clear structure of management, its operations and functions. The theory encourages specialization and division of labour that that makes it easier for tasks to be accomplished in good time and this promotes productivity (Wakefield, 235). Finally, the classical theory of management defines clearly the various roles of employees which minimises guesswork to a great extend. The theory has faced some critiques from other classists. To begin with, it overlooks the human creativity and relations. It views workers as machines who are also considered to apply old fashioned skills to work in the manufacturing sectors, which is a deterrent to productivity. A behavioural theory urges that leaders are made but not born and that successful leadership is based on a learnable behaviour and judges leaders by what they do. Management by objective is a case whereby an organizational leader does their management work by setting up objectives which should be achieved for an organization to be successful (Wakefield, 239). Management functions. Management is an elaborate function which every leader should uphold so as to ensure that organizational objectives are attained. Some of the management functions which every leader should have are planning, organizing, controlling, coordinating and directing of activities in an organization (schedlitzki, 111). Good managers therefore learn on how to discover these functions. Planning refers to setting the goals of an organization and working on how such goals will be achieved. Managers should therefore set those goals which are in line with organization mission and objectives. They should aim at long-term goals rather than short term benefits. Organizing refers to putting the activities of an organization in a logical manner. It involves designing tasks to employees in terms of their skills to ensure that such tasks are performed well. Coordinating involves controlling all the other activities of an organization, including planning, controlling and staffing. It involves to a larger extend communication and supervision of employees. Controlling ensures that all the activities and functions are in place and are also performing successfully. Directing is the process by which a manager guides, gives instructions and oversees the performance of the employees so as to ensure organizational performance. It also includes building a climate for motivated workers. This has been put forward by (schedlitzki, 112). Theories of leadership. There various theories which have been developed on leadership. Some of them include the contingency theory, trait theory and the style theory. The trait theory believes that people and especially leaders are born or either made with some useful qualities that make them to be successful leaders. Such qualities include creativity, integrity; sense of responsibility and others usually puts a person in the shoes of a good leader (Slack et al 39). Such theories are however not more useful in selecting leaders. The contingency theory argues that, when leaders make decision on how an organization should be run, they must put in to consideration aspects which are evident in the present situation and then act on those situations that are currently at hand. It assumes that different situation in an organization will attract different characteristics of people and there is no most favourable and psychosomatic outline of a leader exists. Transformational and Transactional Leadership Afsar (24) defined transformational leadership as a leadership style which brings change in an organization. Transformational leaders are those k...