Management and Leadership

As management and leadership are compared, the difference between the two is clearly evident. Leadership goes beyond the idea of managing day-to-day routine operations. To be a great leader, one must develop leadership skills to properly take on roles and responsibilities necessary to maintain an outstanding organization. For example, developing a sense of direction or vision and the ability to motivate personnel to reach a common goal in various situations are responsibilities that a leader must take into consideration to keep an organization competitive. At the end of the day, a manager with excellent leadership skills will always stand apart from average managers.

Although management and leadership are different, they are both a necessity for an organization to be prosperous. Management mainly includes planning, budgeting and other routine tasks. Leadership primarily encompasses developing a sense of direction, goals and vision. While management concentrates on staffing the organization, developing an organization structure and monitoring activities, good leadership looks toward motivating employees to reach goals that will lead the organization into the future. Even though they differ, an organization can flourish by employing personnel who can properly carry out the both leadership and management skills.

A great leader must be aware of roles and responsibilities that are essential in creating an exceptional organization. First, a leader must develop a goal and vision. Next, a leader must be able to utilize his sources of power to influence and communicate to others a common goal or strategy. Then, a leader must develop a leadership style that will ultimately influence employees to give a high, caliber performance. At times, this means being able to adjust the leadership style depending on the situation. Also, a leader must develop a sense of trust by creating an atmosphere of fairness and consistency within the work area. These simple responsibilities are essential for a leader to maintain a strong organization.

My two recommendations for a healthy organizational culture are to have a vision and combination of autocratic and democratic leadership style. Without a vision, there is not any direction. Therefore, an organization is very likely to fail. For example, when I join a new unit, I'm usually briefed on the ongoing projects and where the unit would like to be in the future. I believe this is good,