Leadership and Management
What is the difference between leadership and management? Not many people understand what the “leadership” or “management” term means. Many people thing that they are similar or interchangeable. I was one of those a few years ago. Honestly, it was not easy to understand and recognize the roles of a leader and of a manager because both exist within the same department or organization. In fact, the leadership and management roles need to be differentiated and clarified. The roles’ clarification not only helps the employees to address their concerns to the appropriate higher-level “boss”, but also is crucial in making the organization’s strategies successful. This paper presents the historical definition of leadership and management as well as the differences between the two.
Historical definition of leadership There were many conceptions in the past that have described the leadership. To many people, a person that could change the world by inscribing that world with his/her own human action and an imagination fraught with struggle of the inner voices is considered “leader” (Boje, 2001). For a deep understand of leadership, I present some viewpoints of Dr. James R. Bean from the Lock Haven University. Dr. Bean discusses four conceptions of leaders and leadership in his book, “Leadership Theories and Skills”, that was published in 2001. Those four concepts are: 1/ Hero theory; 2/ Puppet of Historical Forces; 3/ Cultural Symbol or Totem; and 4/ Cybernetic. According to Dr. Bean, these concepts are considered the historical definitions of leadership. The four concepts are briefly discussed in the next paragraph. “Hero” theory is maybe the most commonly visualized by many people and attached to the term “leadership” where “leaders are seen as major forces in society, able to make changes for good or for bad and leave indelible marks on history”. However, it depends on the views of the followers that the leaders could be heroes or devils because these leaders have the
Historical definition of leadership There were many conceptions in the past that have described the leadership. To many people, a person that could change the world by inscribing that world with his/her own human action and an imagination fraught with struggle of the inner voices is considered “leader” (Boje, 2001). For a deep understand of leadership, I present some viewpoints of Dr. James R. Bean from the Lock Haven University. Dr. Bean discusses four conceptions of leaders and leadership in his book, “Leadership Theories and Skills”, that was published in 2001. Those four concepts are: 1/ Hero theory; 2/ Puppet of Historical Forces; 3/ Cultural Symbol or Totem; and 4/ Cybernetic. According to Dr. Bean, these concepts are considered the historical definitions of leadership. The four concepts are briefly discussed in the next paragraph. “Hero” theory is maybe the most commonly visualized by many people and attached to the term “leadership” where “leaders are seen as major forces in society, able to make changes for good or for bad and leave indelible marks on history”. However, it depends on the views of the followers that the leaders could be heroes or devils because these leaders have the
References: Barnett, Tim. (2001) Leadership Theories and Studies. Retrieved Dec 6, 2007 from http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/management/Int-Loc/Leadership-Theories-and-Studies.html Bean, James R. (2001). Leadership Theories and Skills. Retrieved December 6, 2007 from http://www.lhup.edu/leadership/book/1.htm Boje, David. (2001). Existential Leadership. Retrieved December 6, 2007 from http://business.nmsu.edu/~dboje/teaching/338/existential_leadership.htm Ehin, Charles. (2005). Leadership and Self-Managing Systems. Retrieved December 6, 2007 from http://www.unmanagement.com/publications/leadership%20&%20self-managing%20systems%20article.htm Gerotaxas. (2007). Historical Views On Leadership. Retrieved December 6, 2007 from http://gerotexas.org/commune.htm McCrimmon, M. (2007). What Is Management? Retrieved December 6, 2007 from http://ezinearticles.com/?What-is-Management?&id=566529 Wikipedia. (2007). Management. Retrieved December 6, 2007 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/management#management_functions