Leadership vs. Management: Differences, Responsibilities, Examples

This report provides a detailed comparison of leadership and management, highlighting their key differences, styles, models, and philosophies. It begins by differentiating between the two concepts, emphasizing that leadership always involves leading a group of people, whereas management may only be concerned with things. The report then explores the overlap, noting that good leadership includes responsibility for managing. It presents a table comparing management and leadership responsibilities across various areas, such as creating visions, establishing targets, and developing people. The report also references James Scouller's expertise, discussing his views on leadership and management, and emphasizing that they are not separate but overlapping concepts. The report acknowledges James Scouller's contribution and expertise in leadership theory. The report concludes by emphasizing that while management is an important function within leadership, the latter is a much bigger responsibility.

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LEADERSHIP VS. MANAGEMENT
Explore the main differences between Leadership and Management, including styles,
models and philosophies. Develop an understanding of their key characteristics.
Explanation and Examples of Differences
It is appropriate here briefly to explain, and give examples of, the differences
between management and leadership.
I am grateful to James Scouller, an expert coach, thinker, and writer on leadership, for
the contribution of most of the technical content on this article, and for the collaboration
in editing it and presenting it here. Aside from what follows here, Scouller's expertise in
leadership theory is evidenced particularly in his 2011 book "The Three Levels of
Leadership", which I commend to you.
There are lots of confusions and overlaps, and also big differences, when comparing
leadership with management.
A very big difference between leadership and management, and often overlooked, is
that leadership always involves (leading) a group of people,
whereas management need only be concerned with responsibility for things (for
example IT, money, advertising, equipment, promises, etc). Of course, many
management roles have major people-management responsibilities, but the fact
that management does not necessarily include responsibility for people,
whereas leadership definitely always includes responsibility for people, is a big
difference.
The biggest most fundamental overlap between leadership and management - there are
many individual points - is that good leadership always includes responsibility for
managing. Lots of the managing duties may be delegated through others, but the leader
is responsible for ensuring there is appropriate and effective management for the
situation or group concerned.
The opposite is not the case.
It would be incorrect to suggest that management includes a responsibility to lead, in the
true sense of both terms.
We, therefore, may see management as a function or responsibility within
leadership, but not vice-versa.

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(Incidentally - Where a manager begins to expand his or her management responsibility
into leadership areas, then the manager becomes a leader too. The manager
is leading as well as managing)
Beyond this fundamental overlap - that leadership is actually a much bigger and deeper
role than management - a useful way to understand the differences between leadership
and management is to consider some typical responsibilities of leading and managing,
and to determine whether each is more a function of leading, or of managing.
Of course by inflating the meaning of the word 'managing', or reducing the significance of
the meaning of the word 'leading', it is possible to argue that many of these activities
listed below could fit into either category, but according to general technical appreciation,
it is reasonable to categorize the following responsibilities as being either:
 Managing
 Leading
To emphasise the differences, the two lists of responsibilities are arranged in pairs,
showing the typical management 'level' or depth of responsibility, compared to the
corresponding leadership responsibility for the same area of work.
The responsibilities are in no particular order, and the numbering is simply to aid the
matching of one item to another as you consider the management perspective versus
the leadership perspective.
SEE THE NEXT PAGE FOR THE COMPARISON TABLE

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Differences in Responsibilities
Management Leadership
1. Implementing tactical
actions
2. Detailed budgeting
3. Measuring and reporting
performance
4. Applying rules and policies
5. Implementing disciplinary
rules
6. Organizing people and
tasks within structures
7. Recruiting people for jobs
8. Checking and managing
ethics and morals
9. Developing people
10. Problem-solving
11. Planning
12. Improving productivity and
efficiency
13. Motivating and
encouraging others
14. Delegating and training
1. Creating new visions and aims
2. Establishing organizational financial
targets
3. Deciding what needs measuring and
reporting
4. Making new rules and policies
5. Making disciplinary rules
6. Deciding structures, hierarchies and
workgroups
7. Creating new job roles
8. Establishing ethical and moral
positions
9. Developing the organization
10. Problem-anticipation
11. Visualising
12. Conceiving new opportunities
13. Inspiring and empowering others
14. Planning and organizing succession,
and...
15. All management responsibilities,
including all listed left, (which mostly
and typically are delegated to others)
ideally aid motivation and people-
development
Observant readers will notice that the final entry in the leadership list is 'All
management... (delegated to others...)'.
This emphasizes that:
 Leadership is (usually*) a bigger responsibility than management, and also,
 Leadership includes the responsibility for the management of the
group/situation, which is typically mostly by delegation to others.

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*N.B. Management may, of course, be a bigger responsibility than leadership where the
scale of a management role is much bigger than the scale of a leadership role, for
example, the quality assurance manager for a global corporation compared to the leader
of a small independent advertising agency.)
Also, it is important to note again that many managers are also leaders, and so will be
doing, or perhaps will be asked to do, things which appear in the leadership list.
Where a manager does things which appear in the leadership list, then actually he or she
is leading, as well as managing.
There are lots of great leadership training courses that can help you to explore the
concept of leadership future.
James Scouller has an additional and helpful viewpoint on the distinction between
leadership and management: He says:
"Leadership is more about change, inspiration, setting the purpose and direction, and
building the enthusiasm, unity and 'staying-power' for the journey ahead. Management is
less about change, and more about stability and making the best use of resources to get
things done... But here is the key point: leadership and management are not separate.
And they are not necessarily done by different people. It's not a case of, 'You are either a
manager or a leader'. Leadership and management overlap..." (From The Three Levels
of Leadership, J Scouller, 2011)
Acknowledgements
James Scouller Biography
I am grateful to James Scouller for his help, patience, and expert contribution in producing this
leadership guide.
James Scouller is an expert coach and partner at The Scouller Partnership in the UK, which
specialises in coaching leaders. He was chief executive of three international companies for
eleven years before becoming a professional coach in 2004. He holds two postgraduate
coaching qualifications and trained in applied psychology at the Institute of Psychosynthesis in
London.
James Scouller's book is called "The Three Levels of Leadership: How to Develop Your
Leadership Presence, Know-how and Skill". It was published in May 2011. I commend it to you,
and his thinking too.
You can learn more about James Scouller's book at three-levels-of-leadership.com.
Details of James Scouller's executive coaching work are at TheScoullerPartnership.co.uk.