Leadership and management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Leadership and management - Essay Example According to Waite, leadership â€Å"covers a complex set of circumstances that include the psyche of the period, the economic situation, and the structure of a culture. In other words, leadership transcends all boundaries† (1). However, not all individuals have the attributes of becoming capable leaders. Influence is the primary concept involved in leadership. It is a human invention process that is compared with successful business control, with powerful, influential and charismatic leaders, and Chief Executive Officers. Daft defines leadership as a relationship between followers and leaders that is based on influence in order to achieve actual changes and results based on their common objectives (4). Daft defines management as â€Å"the attainment of organizational goals in an effective and efficient manner through planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling organizational resources† (14). The efforts in management involve members of an organization focused on a particular goal. Management is therefore a group of people responsible for directing the workforce and ensuring that the organization meets its goals and objectives. Management is the act of getting work done through people. Management has various functions which include, planning, organizing, staffing, motivating, and controlling. Planning involves setting organizational objectives and outlining plans to achieve the objectives, organizing involves classifying and allocating tasks, and supplying necessary power to perform tasks. Staffing includes recruiting relevant and qualified individuals for various positions, motivating involves inspiring people to make great efforts in attaining organizational goals, while controlling involves seeing to it that organizational goals are achieved. Although leaders are sometimes managers and managers have to be leaders, leadership and management are different in a number of ways. While management concentrates on achievement of results through effective acquisition, arrangement, implementation, and regulation of all resources such as money, facilities and people, leadership â€Å"focuses on the most important resource, people. It is the process of developing and communicating a vision for the future, motivating people and gaining their commitment and engagement† (Armstrong and Stephens 5). Management is focused on managing complex issues pertaining planning and budgeting with an aim of producing results, while leadership focuses on producing change by developing a vision that will last for the future, along with strategies that bring about the changes needed. Management involves itself with the development of the capacity to achieve pl ans by creating an organizational structure and developing human system, while leadership organizes people by communicating the new created direction, and the creation of collaboration that understands the vision and is committed to achievement. Management ensures that plans are undertaken through controlling and problem solving, while leadership uses motivation to energize people, leadership tries to satisfy basic human needs through achievement (Armstrong and Stephens 6). Management is the most important human activity; because it’s the basic task of managers at all levels in all business and institutions. A leader has the ability to influence people, while a manager may not. Leaders have three major roles; defining a task, where they ensure to make it clear what they expect a group to do, achieving a task, where they ensure that the group`s purpose and goals are achieved, and maintaining effective relationships. They ensure that a good relationship is built between themsel ves and group members, and among the group