DISCUSSION QUESTION No word count!! After reviewing the resources for this week:
DISCUSSION QUESTION No word count!! After reviewing the resources for this week:
- Identify both a management theory and a leadership theory that have been presented and that appeal to you based on your own approach to management.
- How could these theories work together to make you a better manager and leader compared to applying either theory independently?
- How can leadership theory make you a better manager and how can management theory make you a better leader?
Leadership versusManagement: HowThey Are Different,and WhySHAMAS–UR-REHMANTOOR ANDGEORGEOFORIABSTRACT:“Leadership” is different from “management”; many just know it intuitivelybut have not been able to understand this difference clearly. These are two entirely differ-ent functions based on their underlying philosophies, functions, and outcomes. Similarly,leaders and managers are not the same people. They apply different conceptualizationsand approaches to work, exercise different ways of problem solving, undertake differentfunctions in the organizations, and exhibit different behaviors owing to their differentintrinsic and extrinsic motivations. Although discretely different, the terms “manager”and “leader” are often confused and used interchangeably. This paper attempts to ad-dress this issue at various levels, including etymological, development, conceptual distinc-tions, deFnitional complexities, functional divergence, and behavioral differences. It isargued that in order to be competitive, future organizations need to develop as manyleaders as possible, but that these leaders should also have sufFcient management knowl-edge and capabilities. Organizations also need effective managers who possess adequateleadership skills for better problem solving and overall functioning in the teams.The literature on leadership dates back toseveral centuries. Ancient approachesto leadership comprise the writings ofearly philosophers and thinkers whoput together their thoughts on leaders,leadership, and the need for leadershipdevelopment. Philosophers such as AristotlesNichomacheanEthicsandPoliticsd, PlatosThe Republicd, Confucius, Sun TzusThe Art of Ward, Niccolo MachiavellisThe Princed, ParetosTheTreatise on General Sociologyd, and many others contributed tothe development of the theoretical base of leadership. By con-trast, the literature on management is relatively new and datesbacktothebeginningofthetwentiethcentury.Despite the different timing of their evolution and the dif-ferent contexts in which these concepts developed, leadershipand management are widely used interchangeably. Althoughmany scholars have attempted to provide a distinction; there isa common confusion that leadership is similar to managementand leaders are similar to managerssKotter 1990, 2006;Zaleznik 1977, 1998; Bennis and Nanus 1985d. Cogliser andBrighams2004dhighlighted the growing interest of scholarsin differentiating leadership from other related phenomenaj61Leadership and Management in EngineeringAPRIL 2008
such as entrepreneurship and management. Some scholarsargue that leadership and management are two opposingstyles of employee supervision that are both popular, and arestill being used in the business worldsKumle and Kelly2000d. Others believe that they are two sides of the same coinsBryman 1992dand complementary systems of action, eachwith its own function and characteristic activitiessGokenbach2003d. Mangham and Pyes1991, p. 13dgo even further, say-ing, “It results in nothing more than a vague feeling that man-agingissomethingrathermundane,lookingafterthenutsandbolts of the enterprise and leading is something special andprecious undertaken by the really important people in theenterprise.” However, the majority of literary arguments sup-port the fact that leadership and management are completelydifferent from each other whilst leaders are distinct from man-agerssZaleznik 1977; Kumle and Kelly 1999; Kotter 2006;Perloff 2004d. Mowsons2001dbelieves that leaders may notexcel at management and, what is more often the case, manag-ers do not necessarily make great leaders. In practice, manymanagers perform the leadership role, and many leaders domanage. Therefore, the debate continues and the misunder-standingoverthetwotermspersists.Interchangeably referring to the terms “leadership” and“management” can engender functional complications andlong-term confusions over the roles of leaders and managers.Kotters2006dargues that blurring the difference betweenleadership and management will also cause difFculties in mea-suring, testing, assessing, hiring, developing, and promotingthem. Arguably, the boundary between whole existing knowl-edge domains on leadership and management is rather confus-ing, and will be further baf±ing if the difference between lead-ership and management, or leaders and managers, is notarticulated. This will not only have an unfavorable impact onfurthering the research on both bodies of knowledge, but alsoin providing an understanding of the work that has alreadybeen done. ²or example, researchers argue that this confusionof terms hinders efforts to attain accuracy and precision inresearch on leadership and managementsKotter 2006; Gor-don and Yukl 2004; Zaccaro and Horn 2003d. On a practicallevel, this misunderstanding might hinder programs todevelop managers and leaderssZaleznik 1998d, which sug-gests that organizations may face difFculties in their efforts todeveloptherighttalentfortherightjobs.If a natural leader emerges in a group being overseen by amanager, a con±ict of views is likely to develop. Similarly, inthe presence of a natural leader, the manager may feel uncom-fortable and feel that the manager’s authority is challenged.Organizations should appreciate the talents of their personnel,and place each of them in the right positions to help reduce thechance of such con±icts. ²inally, if there is no clear understand-ing of leadership and management, organizations cannotderive beneFts from complimenting with the attributes of thetwofunctions.“Most of what we call management consists of making itdifFcultforpeopletogettheirjobsdone.”—PeterDruckerPURPOSEThis paper attempts to elucidate the differences betweenleadership and management, and to distinguish betweenleaders and managers. The discussion is undertaken underthe broad topics of etymological development, deFnitionalcomplexities, conceptual distinctions, behavioral differences,and functional divergence between the terms “leadership”and “management.” The paper also discusses the intersec-tions of the roles of leaders and managers. These two termsbecome clearer and easier to understand when discussed inisolation from each other. The fundamental questions consid-ered in this paper are:1. How do leaders differ from managers?2. How does leadership differ from management? and3. How can leadership and management be construc-tively combined to achieve better results inorganizations?ETYMOLOGICALDEVELOPMENTThe history of the word “leadership” goes back several cen-turies. The best etymology of the word “leadership” has beendescribed by Graces2003d, who notes that the word evolvedin the English language over the last millennium. The ori-gins of the words “lead,” “leader,” and “leadership” have theirroots in pre-Anglo-Saxon culture. Leadership comes from theword “lead,” the roots of which are in “loedan”sor “lithan”d,which means “to travel.” Although the word “lead”swhichmeans “to cause to go along with oneself” or “bring or take aperson or an animal to a place”dappeared in theOxford En-glish DictionarysOEDdduring 825 CE, its modern deFnitionsthat is: “to guide with reference to action and opinion; tobring by persuasion or counsel to or into a condition; toconduct by argument or representation to a conclusion; toinduce to do something”dappeared in the text around 1225CE.In the early nineteenth century, the word “leading” wasexplained by the concepts of in±uence and exercising of do-minion. In the editions during that era, “leadership” wasdeFned as “the state or condition of a leader.” In the twenti-eth century, leadership was deFned as “the ability to lead”and later on it was used as a synonym for “manager.” Here, itis important to note that the sufFx “ship” broadly indicatesthe state or condition, the qualities of a class of human be-ings, or rank or ofFce. After more than a thousand years of itsFrst use, the OED deFnes “leadership” as: “the dignity, ofFce,or position of a leader, especially of a political party; ability tolead; the position of a group of people leading or in±uencingj62APRIL 2008Leadership and Management in Engineering
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