A Leader Versus a Manager - Paper Example

Introduction

A leader is a top person who oversees and ensures that the organizational activities are being carried out in a corrected. Leaders give directions on how staff members should perform their duties for the benefit of the organization. Therefore, leaders should possess excellent communication skills so that they can control their staff members well. Additionally, leaders should be visionary, team builders, and problem solvers in any organization that they manage. Any person who understands the roles of a leader as mentioned above can work as a good manager and improve the performance of the company. A visionary leader will work towards bringing modifications and achieving goals in the company. A problem-solving leader will ensure that the negative factors affecting the organization are dealt with appropriately. Lastly, a team building leader will make sure that workers work in unity and cooperation to improve the organizational outcome.

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What Is a Leader and a Manager?

A leader can be referred to as a person in an organization who commands and directs what is being done by other organizational members. On the other hand, a manager is a person who is entitled to take care of the resources of an organization to ensure that everything is under good control and administration for the betterment of the outcomes. Both leaders and managers have to possess adequate communication skills which can help them rationally run the organizational activities. They also have to apply the different roles of leadership and management which include problem-solving, team building among others.

In analyzing the different parts practised by leaders and managers, I realized that managers apply the function of controlling and supervision most of the time. In controlling, managers and leaders keep watch on how the organizational resources are being utilized in ensuring that the outcome is recommendable. In this case, leaders and managers limit the use of materials to avoid overuse and wastage. As such, the organization does not quickly run out of resources. Apart from controlling, managers and leaders also practice supervision which involves overseeing what workers are performing in the working environment. As usual, most workers like working under supervision, therefore, doing this will substantiate their efforts and improve organizational productivity. In this two parts of leadership and management, adequate communication skills have to be applied which include upward and downward communication. In essence, utilizing the two parts of management in a company can enable managers to use time wisely in ensuring that the organizational functions are well achieved.

What Is the Meaning of “Leader as a Visionary?”

Leaders who practice visionary leadership ensure that they work through creativity and critical thinking to so that they can achieve long-term goals which have not been met by the company before (Genco, 2018). For that matter, those leaders come up with communication and management strategies that necessitate further development of the company. They may open talks with external stakeholders who can liaise with the organization to increase its productivity. The process also involves the active involvement of the managers in initiating the plans of action to make the organizational visions come true. For example, leaders should listen to others who might have good decisions on achieving goals and apply the same in their management. Also, leaders should use all communication channels including upward, downward and horizontal channels to attain enough information on how to set achievable dreams.

Leadership on its own has been termed visionary with various reasons supporting it. Firstly, almost all managers and leaders who get a chance to take charge of a group of people aim at initiating new plans that differ from those that were put in place before. Such leaders always decide on the effective ways to achieve the goals. Among ways to do this is setting strategies that are linked to the objectives to be completed. Also, every person has a different thinking capacity which cannot be compared to others. The differences in thinking make leadership visionary because every new leader comes up with a new level of creativity that enables the organization to move on different direction as far as the management is concerned. Therefore, leadership is visionary, and every leader works towards achieving set goals and objectives.

What Is the Meaning of “Leader as a Problem Solver?”

A leader can be termed as a problem solver if he/she tries to solve in the organization and tries to come up a solution to an existing problem. As such, the leader will have to work closely with other members of the company so that he/she can strengthen the communication channels between them. Communication channels, in this case, include upward, downward and horizontal channels which help in passing information to different levels of the organization. A well-established communication channel can be used by he manage to solve problems existing within the organization at all levels of the organization are accessible (Mumford, 2017). Besides, problem solvers should possess excellent listening skills. Such skills can help them listen to different channels that may contain some vital information that can provide a solution to an existing problem. Leaders should not ignore workers at the lower levels since they might have some knowledge concerning some aspects of the organization.

What Is the Meaning of “Leader as a Team-Builder?”

An effective leader should be team-builder in that he/she should be able to lead the other team members in initiating plans that can enable the organization to improve is productivity. As a team-builder, the leader informs the team about their roles, responsibilities, and their anticipated contributions in achieving the organizational goals. He also makes all the needed announcements concerning the company's progress. In case of any conflicts arising among workers, the leader should work towards solving them to bring the organization back to the line for high results. Thus, the leader as a team-builder plays a significant role in necessitating the company's progress by ensuring that the team members work in the unit and with close cooperation (Lim, 2016).

References

Genco, R. J. (2018). D. Walter Cohen, DDS: A Visionary and Gifted Leader. Journal of Periodontology.Lim, H. M. (2016). The Responsible Builder Leader. In HEART to HEART with Asian Leaders: Exclusive Interviews on Crisis, Comebacks & Character (pp. 160-170).

Mumford, M. D., Todd, E. M., Higgs, C., & McIntosh, T. (2017). Cognitive skills and leadership performance: The nine critical skills. The Leadership Quarterly, 28(1), 24-39.