Management and Leadership

The theme of leadership is relevant today for many areas of life. After consulting the dictionary, one can construe the leadership as an inner force that manifests in the ability to influence and to control others. A person possesses this quality when he/she can guide masses and move them to the goal, take the consequences and realize the responsibility for himself/herself and others. Shakespeare once remarked that to be a good leader, first of all, one should serve faithfully and loyally. Otherwise, leadership is a destructive force: either you succeed, or it destroys you. “Macbeth” and “Lord of The Flies’ are epitomes of both leadership patterns and worth.

Management is about the day to day running of a function and getting the right people and resources in the right place with a focus upon implementation.

"Leaders are people who are able to express themselves fully…they know who they are, what their strengths and weaknesses are, and how to fully deploy their strengths and compensate for their weaknesses. They also know what they want, why they want it, and how to communicate what they want to others in order to gain their cooperation and support. Finally they know how to achieve their goals" (Ingram, 2004).

Leadership is, and always has been, a vital aspect of social and economic constructs. It is essential to the survival of societies, industries, organizations, and virtually any group of individuals that come together for a common purpose. However, leadership is difficult to define in a single, definitive sense. As such, theories of leadership, what constitutes a great leader, and how leaders are made have evolved constantly throughout history, and still continue to change today in hopes of improving upon our understanding of leadership, its importance, and how it can be most effective in modern organizational cultures.

The word ‘leadership’ often times triggers a preconceived image of an ideal leader—typically accompanied by the aura that the effective leader should be at the top of the hierarchy, ready to produce the solutions to complex problems. However, this is not true of leadership, given that effective leadership is not achieved by position but rather through style and situational awareness. Examining leadership requires the consideration of the catalysts for different types of leaders. Popular leader development theories tend to focus on the natural servitude of the leader, his or her capability to manage, and leader behavior.

Upon close examination of the definitions stated above as well as other definitions by various authors, the researcher has realized that there Is no agreement in the literature for defining the term “leadership”. Authors too such as Bryman (1986), Kotter (1988) and Yuki (1994) have noticed this as well. Bryman (1986) notes that there seems to be a mismatch in various definitions of leadership wherein some of this mismatched is associated to the element “having a goal or a target” which appears to be a part of some of the definitions but lacking in others. In addition, Bryman (1986) has also distinguished the study of leadership in organizations and the study of leadership per se.

Leadership has been a developing concept for me. People I have met throughout my life have greatly influenced my definition of leadership. I have seen my definition of leadership evolve as a result of their influence in my life. In this paper, I will discuss how my previous leaders and five leadership levels shaped the way I approach the idea of leadership.

Sampling of thinking about leadership from different perspectives as well as from various time periods and cultures will be given.

In an attempt to revisit my personal view of leadership, I will first review what fine points are of a leader that led me to define it as I did. My original definition identified leadership that “Scholars agree that there is no one definition of leadership and it remains a complex concept.” Further internet searches drummed up a plethora of slogans with different meanings and words of influence. This all was simply a bumper wall to stay in and fall between concepts, to no avail of a defined meaning of leadership. Without a concreate explanation into a definition of leadership that one can apply to effectively lead followers, one can only look at traits and concepts to rationalize within

What is the difference between leadership and management? Not many people understand what the “leadership” or “management” term means. Many people thing that they are similar or interchangeable. I was one of those a few years ago. Honestly, it was not easy to understand and recognize the roles of a leader and of a manager because both exist within the same department or organization. In fact, the leadership and management roles need to be differentiated and clarified. The roles’ clarification not only helps the employees to address their concerns to the appropriate higher-level “boss”, but also is crucial in making the organization’s strategies successful. This paper presents the historical definition of leadership and management as well

According to F.W. Taylor, "Management is the art of knowing what you want to do and then seeing that they do it in the best and the cheapest may."

Jaques E. & Clement, 1994 defined leadership as, “the process in which one person sets the purpose or direction for one or more other persons and gets them to move along together with him or her and with each other in that direction with competence and full commitment”.

The act of leadership is as old as humanity itself, yet it has only been throughout the recent few decades that more emphasis has been placed on leadership at a theoretical level. At the practical level, leadership has been exerted from ancient times, from the building of the pyramids, to the organization of Roman markets; it was an act completed by people in key positions and it was based mostly on intuition.

“Leadership is an influence relationship among leaders and followers who intend real changes and outcomes that reflect their shared purposes” (Daft, 2015).

“Leadership is having vision, sharing that vision and inspiring others to support your vision while creating their own.”(Gibbin-Klein, 2015)