Warren Bennis, business professor at the University of Southern California says, "There is a profound difference between Management and Leadership, and both are important. To Manage means to bring about, to accomplish, to have charge of or responsibility to conduct. Leading is influencing, guiding in a direction, course, action, opinion. The distinction is crucial" Leadership doesn’t require any Managerial position to act as a Leader, but a true Manager does have the traits of Leader in him. By virtue of his position, Manager has to provide Leadership to his group so that his subordinates willingly carry instructions and accept his guidance as he performs all five functions to achieve goals, i.e., Planning, Organizing, Staffing, Directing, and Controlling. Whereas Leadership is a part of these functions, the Manager’s main role is to facilitate the work of an Organisation through sound policies, procedures and practices, by means of a structure that will interpret and impose rules within the organisation. “All Managers are Leaders, but all Leaders are not Managers.” A Leader is one who influences the behavior and work of others in group efforts towards achievement of specified goals in a given situation. A person can be a Leader by virtue of all qualities in him. For John Kotter, the Leadership process involves (a) developing a vision for the Organisation; (b) aligning people with that vision through communication; and (c) motivating people to action through empowerment and through basic need fulfillment. Whereas Leaders advocate Change and new approaches, Managers advocate stability and the status quo but at the same time are able to take the ideas and dreams of others and develop them into concrete agendas and action plans. Furthermore, whereas Leaders are concerned with understanding people’s beliefs and gaining their commitment, Managers carry out responsibilities, exercise authority, and worry about how things get accomplished. Leaders are in the vision business and they provide the enthusiasm and the energy that unites and inspires people to believe in the future vision. Leaders are never content with the status quo and therefore constantly challenge the workplace to be better, create Uncertainty and Change in the Organisation. Management, though not so good a word now, is still a vital part of every business environment, as without it, Leadership cannot create a sustainable Change. Similarly, without Leadership, Management does little more than defend the status quo against Change. It is often said that Managers Manage things and Leaders Lead people. Organisations provide its Managers with legitimate authority to Lead, but there is no assurance that they will be able to Lead effectively. Organisations need strong Leadership and strong Management for optimal effectiveness. In today’s dynamic workplace, we need Leaders to challenge the status quo and to inspire and persuade Organisation members. We also need Managers to assist in developing and maintaining a smoothly functioning workplace. Effective Leading starts with effective personal Leadership and one needs to continually pursue increased awareness of oneself along with ones values and aspirations and then set one’s goals accordingly. Leadership does not just happen on Monday to Friday job. It is a role we perform at different points, places and stages of our lives – Parenthood is a prime example. More recently, John Kotter (1990) of the Harvard Business School argues that Leadership and Management are two distinct, yet complementary systems of action in Organisations. Specifically, he states that Leadership is about coping with Change, whereas Management is about coping with Complexity (Kotter, 1987).

 

Warren Bennis (1989) notes: “To survive in the twenty-first century, we are going to need a new generation of Leaders—Leaders, not Managers. The distinction is an important one. Leaders conquer the context—the volatile, turbulent, ambiguous surroundings that sometimes seem to conspire against us and will surely suffocate us if we let them—while Managers surrender to it” According to Warren Bennis and Nanus, “Managers are people who do things right and Leaders are people who do the right thing”.  According to the author of ‘The seven habits of highly effective people’, Stephen Covey, “Management is problem-orientated and Leadership is opportunity-orientated.” However, Leadership without Management cannot sustain Change or improve the now. At the same time, Management without Leadership is a soulless endeavour which at best merely controls the present. One should be focusing on the roles of both Leadership and Management. Even if the roles are performed by one person, the approach taken in Leading or Managing will display different traits: