Blog II: Leadership vs Management

An interesting topic that’s explored amongst scholars studying leadership is the contrast between leadership and management. In many ways, the relationship between leadership and management can be compared to the social process of a person ‘emerging’ as a leader, described as emergent leadership, and a person being ‘assigned’ a leadership position which is described as assigned leadership.

The process of emergent leadership is, in my opinion, what produces true leaders due to the respect and trust they receive from followers, despite holding any formal title or office. As described in earlier blog posts, leadership is a process that involves influencing followers towards a common goal and it’s in that process where leaders emerge and are identified.

On the other hand, people who have been ‘assigned’ management positions which hold legitimate power remain as such unless they garner the respect of their followers throughout the leadership process. Leaders and managers are often used interchangeably for one another, but in reality they are two distinct concepts. Managers focuses on maintaining the operational systems within the organization by mastering routines, and helping others master those same routines (Northouse, 2016). Meanwhile a leaders focuses on the person itself by providing a vision, influencing, and transforming their followers (Northouse, 2016).

A personal example I have which outlines the difference between leadership and management is when I was training a colleague to take over the social housing building that I had been running. When I was allotted time to train her, I did my best to use a transformational servant style of leadership by essentially focusing on her development. I imparted advice that would teach her the basics of running the building but also allow her to input ideas and changes that best suited her style. I also offered support by stressing that she could freely contact me after the allotted training time if she needed advice or experienced difficulty. Afterwards, my manager tried to administer his influence by teaching her the systems he used to manage his other building and allowed little input from her even though the building was different from others. As a result, my colleague still continues to consult me about the building and does her best to avoid the manager as neither she or I saw much positive value in the practices he was trying to implement on the building and it’s tenants.

Ideally, those that make the best managers for an organization are the ones who’ve emerged as leaders over time. There are cases however, where having an emergent leader move into a management position is not ideal such as when the environment of an organization is toxic and the emergent leader would further advance the toxic culture. In such cases, it is the responsibility of superiors to recognize these issues and look elsewhere to assign leadership to someone who can help change the culture. What are other instances that you can think where it’s more appropriate to assign leadership positions to those who don’t emerge as leaders? Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.

References

Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: theory and practice (Seventh ed.). Los Angeles: Sage Publications.

Suresh, B. (n.d.). Leadership vs Management [Digital image]. Retrieved September 29, 18, from http://www.asiainc500.com/leadership-vs-management/