Leadership is a quality of influencing people, so that the objectives are attained willingly and enthusiastically. It is not exactly same as management, as leadership is one of the major element of management. Management is a discipline of managing things in the best possible manner. It is the art or skill of getting the work done through and with others. It can be found in all the fields, like education, hospitality, sports, offices etc.
One of the major difference between leadership and management, is management is for formal and organized group of people only, whereas leadership is for both formal and informal groups. To further comprehend the two concepts, take a read of the given article.
Content: Leadership Vs Management
Comparison Chart
| Basis for Comparison | Leadership | Management |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | Leadership is a skill of leading others by examples. | Management is an art of systematically organizing and coordinating things in an efficient way. |
| Basis | Trust | Control |
| Emphasis on | Inspiring People | Managing activities |
| Power | Influence | Rule |
| Focus on | Encouraging change | Bringing stability |
| Strategy | Proactive | Reactive |
| Formulation of | Principles and guidelines | Policies and Procedures |
| Perspective | Leadership requires good foresightedness. | Management has a short range perspective. |
Definition of Leadership
The skill of leading a group of people and inspiring them towards a direction is known as Leadership. It is an interpersonal process which involves influencing a person or a group, so as to ensure achievement of objectives, willingly and enthusiastically.
It is not a lesson to be taught, but a quality which is possessed by only a few number of people. The person who owns this quality is known as a leader. A leader is someone who has a large number of people following him, as their inspiration. Some examples of leaders, which are born in India are Mahatma Gandhi, Amitabh Bachchan, Kiran Bedi, Sachin Tendulkar, Saina Nehwal, etc.
Leadership is an activity of guiding and directing people to work together in achieving the objectives. It requires a good vision of thinking across the boundaries.
In an enterprise, you can see a number of leaders who are responsible for the work of their team members. For the achievement of a single objective, the employees of the organisation are divided into teams and each team is assigned a task which they have to complete within the specified time. Each team comprises of a leader who is appointed on the basis of merit cum seniority.
In the business environment, leadership is not only limited to persons, but an organisation can also attain leadership in the market by defeating its competitors. Leadership can be in terms of product, market share, brand, cost, etc.
Definition of Management
The word management is a combination of four terms, i.e. man+age+men+t (technique). In this way, management refers to a technique used by a man for dealing and managing persons (men) of different age group, to work together for achieving a common objective.
Although management is not confined to men only, it incorporates a complete balance of 5M i.e. Men, Money, Material, Machine, and Methods. The person who is in charge of the activities of management in an organisation is known as Manager.
Management Process
Now, let’s discuss what management is? And from where it starts? The answer is management starts from your home. All of us have seen our mother taking care of our needs whether they are small or big, maintaining the budget of the household, takes decisions regarding investment or finance, makes plans for our future, keeps a check on our activity, organizes the schedule, guides and motivates us for achieving our career objective etc. that’s all management. These are the functions of Management, i.e. Planning, Controlling, Organizing, Leading & Motivating and Decision Making.
Key Differences Between Leadership and Management
The major difference between leadership and management are as under:
- Leadership is a virtue of leading people through encouraging them. Management is a process of managing the activities of the organisation.
- Leadership requires trust of followers on his leader. Unlike Management, which needs control of manager over its subordinates.
- Leadership is a skill of influencing others while Management is the quality of the ruling.
- Leadership demands foresightedness of leader, but Management has a short range vision.
- In leadership, principles and guidelines are established, whereas, in the case of management, policies and procedures are implemented.
- Leadership is Proactive. Conversely, management is reactive in nature.
- Leadership brings change. On the other hand, Management brings stability.
Conclusion
Leadership and Management are inseparable in nature, if there is management, there is leadership. In fact, the qualities of a manager require leadership skills to inspire his subordinate. In an organisation, you can see both management and leadership. There is a manager in a department and a number of leaders who work with their teams in assisting the organisation in the accomplishment of their goals. Many times managers play the role of a leader too, at the demand of the organisation. So they both go side by side as a complement to each other. An organisation needs both for its growth and survival.
Management is all about the arrangement and maintenance of the 5M while leadership is about persuading people in a positive direction for digging out talent in them.
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