Leadership and management should be in harmony. Though these two are not the similar thing, they are essentially and significantly linked and complementary in nature. Previously, an organization was managed by a leader, who commanded and controlled the workforce of the organization. But, with the ever changing business environment, management techniques have taken a new dimension. A detailed study of both the concepts would make us more aware of the most effective way of managing workforce (Uloth & Teoh, 2005).
| Leadership | Management | |
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Definitions |
It is the ability of a person to motivate and influence its associates in a positive way so that they contribute towards the success and achievement of organizational goals. | Management comprises directing and controlling a group of one or more people or entities for the purpose of coordinating and harmonizing that group toward accomplishing a goal. |
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Personality Traits |
They are charismatic people with high level of intellect. They have got brilliant imagination power. Leaders are private person. | Managers focus on strategy and organizational structures in order to solve problems. They are intelligent and work under pressure. They are methodical. |
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Focus |
To lead people | To manage people in order to execute some strategy or plan. |
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Result |
Achievements | Execution of plans effectively. |
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Approach to problem |
Leaders provide creative solutions to the problems and motivate others to solve the problem and excel. | Managers are responsible for building teams, creating strategies and policies. Managers are risk averse and focus on the methods. |
| Decision making | Leaders facilitate the procedure | Managers are involved on the entire decision making process. |
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Organization |
Leaders have followers | Managers have subordinates |
The core function of an organization is management. Management helps to maintain the well being of the organization as well as its stakeholders. Management should be able to work effectively. Best practices in an organization refer to the knowledge management and it is reusable. Two best practices are discussed below:
- INTERNAL BEST PRACTICES: It involves internal knowledge of the organization.
- EXTERNAL BEST PRACTICES: It is also known as industry best practice and it involves hiring of experienced, efficient and skilled employee and organizing external training programs for them (Anderson & Sun, 2012).
The key areas where the best practices can be applied are discussed below:
ü Business Communication: Effective business communication plays an important role in the growth of an organization. It requires different kind of internal, external, verbal, non-verbal, horizontal, vertical, diagonal communication. The best practices should be applied in organizational communication.
ü Setting realistic goals: An organization has specific vision and goal and the managers should also set goals for their subordinates in order to achieve the goal of the organization. The goal should be realistic and achievable. Best practices suggest setting goals of an individual or group by using SWOT analysis. Goal setting is an important task and based on the goal the further activities, strategies and planning are made.
ü Strategy Planning: Best practices are required in the strategic decision making procedure of a company. Once the goal is set the right strategy needs to be adopted in order to achieve that goal.
ü Setting Examples: If a leader set an example the subordinates will be motivated and follow him.
ü Management Style: The management style should be transparent and open. The employees will be clear about the process and there is a smooth flow of information.
Hence, as a member of a team, I would like to be led in an organization that employs management best practices and undergo either Democratic or Laissez-faire type of management styles.
Democratic: In democratic style, the manager is not rigid. He welcomes the opinions and views of other people and encourage them to contribute in the decision making process by sharing their idea. In this case, decisions are made with the consent of majority. It can be referred as team effort. In an organization several meetings are organized for decision making. In these meetings decisions are made and those decisions may be referred as collective decision or consensus. The employees feel more satisfied if this style is followed in an organization (Limbare, 2012).
Laissez-faire: laissez-faire is a collaborative and creative management style. In this case, individuals are assigned to a responsibility. If an employee faces a problem he can approach the manager and after that the manager interferes. It allows the employee to work independently and the manager act as a facilitator (Biddle, 2005).
References:
Uloth, A. a., & Teoh, L. (2005). Leadership. TAFE SA, Regency Publishing.
Anderson, M. H., & Sun, P. Y. (2012). The combined influence of top and middle management leadership styles on absorptive capacity. Management learning , 43 (1), 25 – 51
Limbare, S. (2012). Leadership styles & conflict management styles of executives. Indian Journal of Industrial Relations , 48 (1).
Biddle, I. (2005). Approaches to management: styles of leadership. Businessdate , 13 (3).
Leading in Changing world 