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Leaders and Managers
Leadership and management are closely related activities but distinguishable. Leaders and managers can be the same individual performing both roles. The fundamental difference between leaders and managers is that a manager focuses on the implementation of company policy while the leader tries to lead and inspire people to do their best for the company. A leader tries to cultivate a sense of commitment to the vision and mission of the company by inspiring the subordinates to willingly strive for the achievement of organizational objectives. A manager on the other hand manages employees by the power and authority delegated to him by his superiors. While leaders strive to conquer the volatile, turbulent and ambiguous surroundings that seem to conspire against business organizations, managers tend to surrender to them. In other words, while managers administer, control, and accept the status quo, leaders innovate, inspire and change the status quo.
To be effective, a leader must win the hearts and minds of the followers. This requires a guiding vision and clear idea of what is to be accomplished. Effective leaders must be able to communicate their vision. Knowing what to do, but not being able to communicate this to others can be a major drawback to effective leadership.
Characteristics of a good leader/manager:
- Able to determine the objectives and policies of the company.
- Responsible for the execution of the company policies.
- To serve as a planner about how to lead people to achieve goals.
- Being the representative of the company for external relation and communication.
- To serve as a role model such as being persistent and innovative for subordinates to look up to.