Compare And Contrast Leadership And Management

While leadership and management are often used interchangeably, they are in fact not the same thing. It’s not hard to understand why many people use these two skill sets reciprocally since quite often both are required by individuals in charge. For instance you may hear someone say “ His lack of leadership and direction lead to budget overruns” , or “Her inability to manage her team is the reason for high turnover”. However in the first instance budget overruns are not a result of bad leadership but poor management, and in the second case the inability to inspire and create buy in for the project is the result of bad leadership. It is possible to be a great leader but poor manager, or an excellent manager but an inadequate leader. In many cases Leadership and Management are two sides of the same coin, but are distinctively different skill. Leadership is people focused. Product, ledgers, accounts, materials, facilities and resources are not inspired but are managed. On the other hand …show more content…
Leadership is concerned with relationship between staff and the organization. Management is concerned with the work and actions of the staff as it relates to the organization goals. Sam Allman (2009) wrote that the main purpose of management is to insure the current system is functioning, while the goal of leadership is to inact useful change. The skills, and responsibilities of Leadership and Management are very different, but go hand in hand. In order to be a successful Manager or leader it is important that the individual develops both leadership and management skills and then understand when and how to apply them. Those who master these sometimes conflicting yet very necessary skills will more than likely be very successful in their role. Management about doing things, right, leadership is about doing the right thing. (Gladson,