MGMT 342: Leadership and Management - Key Differences and Roles

This term paper from RUSANGU University's School of Business, focusing on MGMT 342 (Business Law II), analyzes the distinct roles of leaders and managers. It emphasizes that while both concepts share similarities, leadership is a calling focused on vision and inspiration, while management is a career centered on executing plans and maintaining order. The paper highlights that leaders set the vision and managers execute it, with communication and culture being key areas of difference. It also stresses the importance of both leadership and management in decision-making, change management, and overall organizational success. The paper references several authors, including Agatha, Benjamin, Daniel, Ennock, and Fideris, to support its arguments. The paper concludes by reiterating the importance of clear communication and collaboration between leaders and managers for an organization's success.

RUSANGU UNIVERSITY
School of Business
Department of Human Resource Management
The Lessons I have Learnt About Computers Due to Covid-19
A term paper,
Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements of the Course, MGMT 342 – Business Law II
By
Pretty Chaluka
Student ID # 2021
Due Date: 19/10/2021

Leadership and management are often considered to have overlapping functions. While this can
be true, these two terms have different meanings and they should not be used interchangeably.
Both imply a unique set of functions, characteristics, and skills that share similarities. However,
they show prominent differences in some circumstances. For example, some managers do not
practice leadership, while some people lead without a managerial role.
The difference between being a manager and being a leader is simply that Management is a
career while Leadership is a calling. A leader is someone who people naturally follow through
their own choice, whereas a manager must be obeyed. A manager may only have obtained his
position of authority through time and loyalty given to the company, not as a result of his
leadership qualities. A leader may have no organisational skills, but his vision unites people
behind him. Leadership and management are two notions that are often used interchangeably.
However, these words actually describe two different concepts. Leadership is the main
component of change, providing vision, and dedication necessary for its realization. Leadership
is a skill that is formed by education, experiences, interaction with people and inspiring, of
course, practice. Effective leadership depends largely on how their leaders define, follow and
share the vision to followers. Leadership is just one important component of the directing
function. A manager cannot just be a leader, he also needs formal authority to be effective.
(Agatha 2018)

A manager is generally someone who is selected or appointed within an organization. In most
cases, a manager is selected based on specific technical skills, knowledge, and expertise. On the
contrary, the greatest leadership skill is to influence and inspire people(Fideris 2009).
Leaders Set the Vision, Managers Follow It When it comes to setting and executing a company’s
mission and vision, managers and leaders have different roles. Leaders are visioners. Most of
them have a clear vision of where they want their organizations to be in the future. However,
they themselves are not the only ones responsible for making that vision come true. Here,
managers play a crucial role. While leaders may be responsible, through efficient leadership
communication, to transfer the company’s mission, vision and goals to the entire organization,
managers are responsible for keeping employees aligned with the core company values and
goals. However, 71% of employees believe that their leaders do not spend enough time
communicating goals and plans. (Ennock 2001)
leadership-importance, Even though managers are the ones who can influence people to work
towards the same objectives, many employees agree that their company doesn’t do a good job
communicating the company’s goals. Moreover, employees want and expect to be informed
about how their organization is doing and where it is heading. “I think of management as
working with other people to make sure the goals an organization has articulated are executed,”
“It’s the process of working with others to ensure the effective execution of a chosen set of goals.
Leadership is about developing what the goals should be. It’s more about driving change.”
(Daniel 2007)
management-challenges, Moreover, by speaking openly about the company’s goals,
opportunities, and challenges, leaders are the ones who can build trust in the workplace. They
can foster a productive work environment where employees feel empowered to share their own
ideas, needs and concerns. The more transparent leaders are, the healthier the work environment
becomes. (Benjamin 2020)
Leaders Think Ideas, Managers Think Execution, While a managerial culture emphasizes
rationality and control, leaders are more about looking for opportunities for improvement on the
organizational level. They do so by coming up with new ideas and driving the shift to a forward-
thinking mindset. In other words, managers always look for answers to “how and when”, while
leaders look for answers to “what and why”. Therefore, the managers’ main responsibility is to

fulfill their tasks based on the leader’s vision. Their main job is to ensure that people on different
functions with different responsibilities operate efficiently, productively and that they feel like
they can share their voice. (Agatha 2018)
manager-communication-employee-They should always watch the bottom line by controlling
employees and providing necessary information, processes, workflows and tools so that
employees are enabled for success. Managers relate to people according to the role they play in
a decision-making process, while leaders, who are concerned with ideas, relate in more high-
level but empathetic ways. The main difference is simply between a manager’s attention to how
things get done, and a leader’s attention to what should be done to achieve greater results.
(Agatha 2018)
As leaders always look for new ideas, they can also play a crucial role in driving change within
organizations. Moreover, a leader inspires positive, incremental change by empowering
employees to work toward common objectives. A leader’s most powerful tool for doing so is
efficient communication. (Benjamin 2020)
Leaders Inspire People, Managers Drive Their Success While leaders have a great power to
inspire people, managers are responsible for driving their continuous success and positive work
experience throughout employee's entire career journey. As managers account for over 70% of
employees’ engagement in the workplace, they are also held accountable for how successful and
productive their teams are. (Daniel 2007)
However, when people are not inspired by what leadership has to say, there is little managers can
do to help their people succeed. By developing a personal leadership style through self-
reflection, authentic communication and continuous feedback, leaders can empower their
workforce, get their followers’ attention and inspire them to pursue important organizational
initiatives. Studies show that employees feel less stressed and under pressure when they have the
opportunity to engage with the leaders regularly. Moreover, leadership has a great power to
impact employee engagement.(Ennock 2001)
Employees work more effectively within workplaces that support honest, open and transparent
communication. Yet, many organizations still neglect the importance of two-way communication

between leaders and employees. Instead, the information flows one way and employees don’t
have the opportunity to join company-wide conversations. (Ennock 2001)
Leaders Look in the Future, Managers Work In the Present
One of the main differences between leaders and managers is that leaders are more future-
focused, while managers are more focused on the present. Therefore, the manager’s most
important goal is to achieve organizational goals by implementing processes and procedures
around budgeting, organizational structuring, and staffing. On the other hand, leaders tend to
think ahead and capitalize on future opportunities.
(Fideris 2009)
Leaders Shape the Culture, Managers Endorse Its Culture is a system of values, beliefs, and
behaviors that shape and determine how an organization operates and how the work gets done.
When organizational culture is aligned to the overall business strategy, employees and other
stakeholders act and behave in ways that support and enable the achievement of business goals.
(Fideris 2009)
leadership-company-culture, When it comes to the organization culture, the difference between
leadership and management is that leaders define and shape the culture, while the managers lead
their employees to live up to that culture. It is the leader’s duty to uphold the core company
values and beliefs of the organization’s culture through their actions, authentic communication
and their decisions. Passionate and inspiring leaders have a great power to communicate the
organizational culture company-wide and influence employees’ behaviors. (Ennock 2001)
Their skills and leadership styles have a big impact on how employees take and live that culture,
while the manager’s role is to continuously support and endorse the culture within their teams.
Therefore, driving employees to live by the company’s culture and core values is impossible
without the collaboration between leadership and management. (Fideris 2009)
Communication: both leadership and management communication are crucial for an
organization's success. As mentioned earlier, employees expect to be informed and educated
about where their company stands and heading. While leadership communication should inspire

people, continuous and clear management communication empowers people to do their best and
build stronger relationships among teams. (Daniel 2007)
manager-challenges, Problem-solving and decision-making: effective decision-making and
problem-solving is both the manager’s and the leader’s responsibility. While leaders may be
responsible for decision making on a company-level, managers are held accountable for decision
making on the team or departmental level. (Fideris 2009)
Change and crisis management: similar to decision making, leaders and managers should work
collaboratively during times of change or crisis. The current world situation has taught us about
the importance of agile workplace transformation and the need to quickly adapt to change. While
leaders may have a better understanding of the change that needs to be implemented, managers
have better knowledge around how to enable their employees to accept the change and align with
it. ((Ennock 2001)
Management is the process of setting and achieving organizational goals through its functions:
forecasting, organization, coordination, training and monitoring-evaluation.Leadership is: the
ability to influence, to make others follow you, the ability to guide, the human side of business
for "teacher". Interest in leadership increased during the early part of the twentieth century. Early
leadership theories focused on what qualities distinguished between leaders and followers, while
subsequent theories looked at other variables such as situational factors and skill levels. Other
considerations emphasize aspects that separate management of leadership, calling them two
completely different processes.The words manager and lider are very often used to designate the
same person who leads, however, they represent different realities and the main difference arises
form the way in which people around are motivated. (Benjamin 2020)
REFERENCE

Agatha M. V (2018). management skills. London :longman
Benjamin Chungu. C. K(2020). Leadership skills. Chicago :chicago university
Daniel S. M (2007). similarities between leaders and managers. India:sterling
Ennock S. P(2001). Differences between leaders and managers. India: Sterling
Fideris M. K(2009). Roles of managers and leaders. London : Longman