LEADERSHIP

Its Time to Accept That Leadership and Management Are Different

Dogs simplify leadership and management better than people

All too often the terms ‘leader’ and ‘manager’ are used interchangeably, which is incorrect. A common mistake by humans, but rare in Dogs.

Academics argue that ‘protected’ parts of an organization can survive from effective management, but ‘exposed’ parts require effective leadership.

In contrast, Dogs argue … “Woof.”

They are distinct. Distinctly different — Leaders and Managers. People and Dogs are up for debate.

Leadership versus management is a study in its own right, but its important to be clear about the differences.

This article will discuss leadership and management, oh, and Dogs.

Leader versus Manager

What is Management?

“Managers give direction to their organizations, provide leadership, and decide how to use organizational resources to accomplish goals”— Drucker (1974)

Or,

“Management is the attainment of organizational goals in an effective and efficient manner through planning, organizing, leading, and controlling functions”— Daft (2000)

According to Steers, management is:

“The process of planning, organizing, directing, and controlling the activities of employees in combination with other organizational resources to achieve stated organizational goals”— (Steers et al, 1985)

Leadership

What is Leadership?

“Leadership is the ability (through whatever means) to influence the behavior of others in a particular direction” — (Hicks et al, 1981)

Or,

“Leadership is generally defined simply as influence, the art or process of influencing people so that they will strive willingly toward the achievement of group goals” — (Koontz et al, 1976)

Steers said that leadership can be viewed from three perspectives:

1. An attribute of position (CEO)
2. Characteristics (natural-born leader)
3. A category of behavior (influence)

Katz and Kahn suggested the following three leadership patterns:

1. Organization — introducing structural change or formulating policy
2. Interpolation — piecing together various parts of the organization or making the existing formal structure more complete
3. Administration — using the organization’s structure to keep it in motion and running smoothly

So what is leadership? Here’s what the experts say:

1. Individual-level — leaders influence behavior by inspiring, motivating, and coaching others
2. Group level — leaders build team cohesion and resolve conflict
3. Organizational level — leaders foster culture, inspire change to ensure the attainment of goals

What about function?

Functions of leadership

If leadership is seen as a subclass of management the functions performed by a leader are therefore more specialized or tangible than those of a manager.

Is this right?

Hicks and Gullet classified leadership functions as follows:

• Arbitrating
• Providing security
• Suggesting
• Representing
• Supplying objectives
• Inspiring
• Rewarding and praising

Davis (1967) noted that leadership is a part of management:

• Manager — required to plan and organize
• Leader — as above + expected to influence others to follow

Leadership is the oasis where others to seek direction, to drink defined objectives with enthusiasm.

Academics say that management activities — planning, organizing, and decision making — are dormant until a leader triggers the motivation to guide and inspire others toward goals. Here’s a snapshot:

Leadership

• Leaders do the right thing
• Leaders are the architects of transformation
• Leadership is about coping with change

Management

• Managers do things right
• Managers are function-builders
• Management copes with complexity

… to expand:

A Leader

• Innovates
• Is original
• Focuses on people
• Inspires trust
• Has a long-term perspective
• Asks what and why
• Challenges the status quo

A Manager

• Administers
• Maintains
• Focuses on systems and structure
• Relies heavily on control
• Has a short-range perspective
• Asks when and how
• Eyes the bottom line — one dimensional
• Accepts the status quo

… to expand further:

Leadership qualities

• Visionary
• Passionate
• Creative
• Flexible
• Inspiring
• Innovative
• Courageous
• Imaginative
• Experimental
• Initiates change
• Personal power

Management qualities

• Rational
• Consulting
• Persistent
• Problem-solving
• Tough-minded
• Analytical
• Structured
• Deliberate
• Authoritative
• Stabilizing
• Position power

If “leadership is the oasis where others to seek direction, to drink defined objectives with enthusiasm”, where does this thirst derive?

Appetite for Power

Power has potential, the ability to influence others. A traditional manager has positional power:

1. Legitimate power — based on the individual’s position or right to exercise power, give orders or make demands
2. Reward power — based on the individual’s ability to grant or distribute rewards such as money, reward, promotion, or favors
3. Coercive power — based on the individual’s ability to discipline someone if they do not comply or resist the attempt of influence

A leader has personal power:

1. Expert power — based on special knowledge, skill, or expertise in certain areas. A person’s expert power increases when they suggest a successful course of action, and diminishes when their suggestions fail
2. Referent power — based on the desire to be connected to, associated with, or identified with the charismatic person

Power is a thirsty source.

Traditional leadership

Traditionally there are three broad categories of leadership styles:

1. Democratic
2. Autocratic
3. Laissez-faire

№1 — Leadership style: Autocratic

Autocratic styles involve close supervision of subordinates with the leader issuing precise and detailed instructions on each task.

A dictatorial style involves the leader giving orders and instructions to employees, without engaging in discussion.

Rewards are available for good performance (taking instruction) and sanctions are furloughed for poor performance.

The advantages of this style are:

• Work is normally finished on time
• Fast decision making
• Employees receive direct and immediate assistance to achieve goals

The disadvantages of this style are:

• Employee initiative is suppressed
• Workers don't develop their full potential
• Employees’ knowledge, skills, and experiences are not applied in full

№2— Leadership style: Democratic

Democratic involves a lot of communication and consultation between the leader and the group. Also, members actively participate in the leader’s decisions. This style of leadership is said to increase motivation and morale.

The advantages are said to be:

• Improved motivation through involvement in future planning and decision making
• Increased subordinate satisfaction due to broadening of responsibilities and making work more interesting
• Improved utilization of worker’s expert knowledge and skills in solving problems
• Creating ideas

The disadvantages of this style are:

• Decision making is slow due to the time required for consultation
• Subordinates may not be capable of working without close supervision

Also, encouraging worker participation in trivial matters while excluding them from strategic decisions causes friction and resentment.

№3— Leadership style: laissez-faire

This style centers on empowering followers, giving them the responsibility to make decisions to determine the best course of action.

Laissez-faire means that a leader is available for guidance, direction and support as required

As such, this style of leadership suits situations where followers have a high level of knowledge, expertise, and understanding of their role and areas of responsibility.

Contemporary Leadership

A contemporary approach to leadership suggests that an ideal leader is someone who can modify or change his/her style of leadership depending on the situation.

Leaders must have concern for group members, the group itself, and the task at hand.

That said, at any given moment a leader must be able to prioritize and adopt an appropriate style to fit the situation.

Contemporary leadership factors

There are dozens of factors that affect leadership styles, such as:

• The characteristics of a leader and subordinates
• The culture of the organization
• The nature of the situation
• The nature of the work involved
• The experience and training of the leader
• The experience and training of followers
• The quality of interpersonal communications

These are but a few that contemporary leaders face.

Barriers to leadership effectiveness

Steers (1977) said that constraints in the work environment “hinder the effectiveness of leadership”, proposing six barriers in leadership effectiveness:

1. Management decisions or behaviors are pre-programmed because of precedent, structure, technological specificity
2. The skills and traits of managers represent barriers to leadership effectiveness
3. The inability of managers to vary their leadership styles to suit particular situations
4. The extent to which the manager has control over the reward system
5. The characteristics of the work situation
6. How open an organization is to variations in leadership behavior

Final Thoughts

The decline of leadership has been underway for a long time, decades, during our watch.

Causes are varied, but leadership decline comprises of common defects:

• Leaders become detached from reality
• Leaders become complacent
• Leadership belief is associated with omniscience prowess, which exerts huge pressure on leaders to learn continuously at breakneck speed
• Exhaustion — wear and tear eventually takes its toll — leaders lose energy, vitality, and enthusiasm

There’s a leadership drought — we lack great leaders today.

The ideal leader

To date, no one theory of leadership has proved conclusively what the best leadership approach looks like.

We are the creators, the curators of the future.

The fact is, grotesque versions have emerged — Digital dictators.

From the leadership theories available, it's fair to conclude that if the ideal leader exists, he or she is:

• Agile and flexible
• Honest, trustworthy and socially driven
• Can weave in and out of various classical theories
• Has high empathy
• Is unbiased and highly self-aware
• Can weave in and out of ambiguous situations
• Has high emotional intelligence
• Exhibits more modern approaches, and
• Intuitively knows what to do in particular situations

That said, I’m disillusioned. Here’s why:

“We have a word for that — that word is monopoly”

— Joe Neguse, Democratic representative

Last week our dog-trainer said these words to our energetic pup, Bertie:

“Clever-girl, but not good enough.”

Why? Because Bertie tried to win a treat by half-heartedly following an instruction…she soon corrected her error.

Bertie is a Dog, a clever Dog, yes, but she needs leadership.

We all do.

Yet, somehow we humans make a dog's dinner of it.