Differences Between Leadership and Management

1. When considering the differences between leadership and management, one can view the
purpose that each of them serves in organizations. Leadership pertains to a strategic
usage entailing goal setting, designing and developing policies, and change management
initiatives. It is a highly coveted and not so common skill.
Management is at a functional level, involving maintaining the status quo, making low
impact decisions, following the leadership directive and resource allocation. It is a
widespread skill characterized by reliability and consistency.
2. A framework to analyze individual leadership style, the Blake and Mouton (Blake,
Mouton, & Bidwell, 1962) grid characterizes a leader on their concern for people and
concern for results. An organization requires a different style of leadership when it
undergoes a different stage in its life cycle or when the demands of the workplace change
because of internal and/or external demands. In such cases, the leadership style has to
adapt to the situation. The Blake and Mouton grid classifies the different styles of
leadership based on their application and the priority the leader wishes to assign to the
tasks at hand and the people/team.
As an example, if we consider a CEO of a startup who has employed few of her friends in
key positions, she would do well with an equal concern for both people and tasks i.e. the
middle of the road style. In such a scenario, she does not alienate her friends and yet gets
the work done in an adequate manner. She could also employ ‘team management’ which
would help her leverage her friends’ strengths to get optimal work done while
maintaining a cordial relationship and thus having a win-win situation. This would prove
to be a more useful style in the initial stages of the startup. If she was a ‘country club
manager,’ she would risk not getting any work done as she would fear hurting the
sentiments of her friends in case of a conflict. Considering it is a startup, her business
would severely suffer since the people employed to help her, are actually hindering her
work. If she decides to keep the interactions strictly professional, she may be an