Leadership and Management: Differences and Social Responsibility

This essay delves into the distinctions between leadership and management, highlighting their roles and responsibilities within an organization. It explores the characteristics of effective leaders, such as integrity, communication, and emotional intelligence, while contrasting them with the characteristics of management, which focuses on goal-oriented approaches and resource allocation. The essay emphasizes the importance of enterprise leaders in fostering social responsibility and building a culture that considers the impact of decisions on society and the environment. It concludes that although leadership and management share the common goal of organizational success, their approaches and features differ, and organizations must recognize these differences to achieve optimal balance and support socially responsible leadership for sustained success. The paper references various sources to support its arguments, including Bonau (2017), Bush and Middlewood (2019), and Kotterman (2006).

Running head: LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT
LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT
Introduction
The definition of leadership has been witnessed from various perspectives throughout
the 21st century. However, the concept has been deduced from the characteristics and role
played by a leader. The process encircling the responsibilities of guiding, influencing and
directing the behavioral approach of others with the motive of accomplishing certain
objectives within certain circumstances is known as leadership. Leadership strategies act as a
medium or source for stimulating confidence and capabilities amongst the team members
with the potential of framing positive behavior (Hechanova, Caringal-Go and Magsaysay
2018). On the other hand, management reflects the administration of a company with the role
of controlling people's actions and resources. Leadership and management are often mistaken
to have similar roles and accountabilities, it is crucial to learn the aspect of distinctiveness
and to understand the contribution of enterprise leaders in socially responsible companies.
The purpose of this paper is to understand the distinctiveness between leadership and
management, as the difference is often blurred due to a lack of knowledge on the roles. In this
paper, the discussion on the process by which enterprise leaders learn to become socially
responsible will also be discussed. The role of leadership in the context of socially
responsible functionalities is very crucial, as they portray the ability to manage the workforce
by extenuating the abilities and confidence.
Body
Leadership characteristics
Leadership roles and responsibilities related to the motive of accomplishing objectives
with a collaborative and engaged workforce towards a common goal of success. There are
various qualities and characteristics of leadership, which derives the state of cohesiveness in
accomplishing the organizational and individual goals. To become inspirational leadership, a
leader to be charismatic to influence the behavior and become the role model for approaching

2LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT
challenges (Bonau 2017). The basic characteristics of an effective leader are integrity,
delegation capabilities, self-awareness, effective communication, self-awareness, gratitude,
influence, learning agility, courage, innovating ability and empathy. Emotional Intelligence
and empathy are considered very crucial for an effective leader as it allows the leader to
enroll her understanding of the business and workforce behavior for better productivity.
Effectiveness in communication ability can be accomplished by understanding both verbal
and non-verbal cues along with the process of building empathy in the collaborative effort of
executing strategies. Along with the above mentioned crucial characteristics of a leader, a
strong vision facilitates the actual outcome of positive results (Simonet and Tett 2013). The
specific vision of a company is only executed by the effective participation and influencing
the ability of the leaders along with their decision-making ability.
Management characteristics
The characteristics of management differ from the leadership roles and these two
functions in the organization respond to different areas and engrave distinctive approaches
but with a similar motive in intention. Management is considered to be goal-oriented with the
approach of prioritizing company goals more than employee behavior. The role and
responsibilities of management are considered multi-dimensional and dynamic. The
characteristics of management also involve the role of balancing the organizational efficiency
with effectiveness by allocating resources, optimum utilization of allocated resources and
accomplishing organizational goals on time.
Leadership vs Management
The distinctiveness between management and leadership has been in the process of
stimulation for a long time. One of the main differences between the two terms and
responsibilities can be its origin. One of the oldest conceptions of the world is leadership,
which has been considered as the medium of innovation and disruption for years, however,

3LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT
management reflects a newer phenomenon with the motive of managing workplace chaos in
the newer formats and more complex structures of large businesses in 21st century (Maccoby
2016). Other distinctive aspects of leadership and management can be the approach of
accomplishing goals as both roles are dedicated to motivating people, aligning expertise and
implementing strategies but in case of management, the role is focussed at planning and
budgeting and the role of a leader is focussed at establishing direction (Bush and Middlewood
2019). The role of a manager is considered to be narrower in comparison to leadership with
the actions of maintaining discipline, organizing work and resources (Kotterman 2006). On
the other hand, leadership roles are focussed on stimulating newer objectives and strategies
for utilizing the expertise and competence of each member amongst the teams and will
ultimately directing them towards the overall objective of an organization (Kotterman 2006).
The management approach in the organization is more goal-oriented whereas the approach of
a leadership role is people-oriented with the focus on inspiring, motivating satisfying the
needs and helping by problem-solving for team members rather than controlling process and
monitoring outcome (Kotterman 2006).
Enterprise Leaders learning to become socially responsible
The responsibility and accountability of an enterprise leader encircle the role of
handling social welfare and economic aspects of a total enterprise across all businesses,
divisions, functions, locations, and businesses (Mujtaba and Cavico 2016). The decision of an
enterprise leader is based on the entire organization and associated impacts over the society
and environment. An enterprise leader learns the process of becoming socially responsible by
recognizing the gap between strategy and capabilities (Ready, D.A., 2004). They develop the
characteristics of authenticity, following the approach of rethink-reinvent-rewire, which
involves the courage and expertise to be creative. Becoming socially responsible involves the
step of treating the practices as a business function with the ultimate goal of a valuable

4LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT
organization. Moreover, becoming capable of building a responsible culture rather than
considering the act of charity is most significant (Carroll 2017).
Conclusion
Therefore, it can be concluded from the paper that, although leadership and
managerial roles reflect similar functionalities and ultimate goal but the characteristics,
actions and approach distinguishes the two functions. Leadership and Management both
works towards the goal of organizational success but a leader attempts at building trust,
expertise, and innovation in teams with problem-solving expertise for a collaborative effort.
Leaders are also accountable for maintaining the positive impact of an enterprise. Enterprise
leaders strategize the process of building a responsible culture throughout the enterprise for
integrating decisions that are cohesively formed by considering various aspects that can
influence business, society, and environment. Thus, leadership and managerial may have
similar motives but reflects distinctive features and approach and organizations must learn
and recognize the distinctiveness for optimum balance and must support the role of becoming
a socially responsible leader for ensured success.

5LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT
References:
Bonau, S., 2017. How to become an inspirational leader, and what to avoid. Journal of
Management Development.
Bush, T., Bell, L. and Middlewood, D. eds., 2019. Principles of Educational Leadership &
Management. SAGE Publications Limited.
Carroll, A.B., 2017. The moral leader: Essential for successful corporate citizenship.
In Perspectives on corporate citizenship(pp. 139-151). Routledge.
Hechanova, M.R.M., Caringal-Go, J.F. and Magsaysay, J.F., 2018. Implicit change
leadership, change management, and affective commitment to change. Leadership &
Organization Development Journal.
Kotterman, J., 2006. Leadership versus management: what's the difference?. The Journal for
Quality and Participation, 29(2), p.13.
Maccoby, M., 2016. The Human Side: Understanding the Difference Between Management
and Leadership. Research-Technology Management, [online] Available at:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/citedby/10.1080/08956308.2000.11671333?
scroll=top&needAccess=true
Mujtaba, B.G. and Cavico, F.J., 2016. Developing a Legal, Ethical, and Socially Responsible
Mindset for Sustainable Leadership. ILEAD Academy.
Ready, D.A., 2004. Leading at the enterprise level. MIT Sloan Management Review, 45(3),
p.87.
Simonet, D.V. and Tett, R.P., 2013. Five perspectives on the leadership–management
relationship: a competency-based evaluation and integration. Journal of Leadership &
Organizational Studies, 20(2), pp.199-213.