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Compare and Contrast of Leadership and Management

Within the Four Functions of Management
Mariel C. Madrigal
Christian Gonzalez
South Texas College
Management Theory I ORGL -4341
Nancy Gonzalez
December 7, 2016
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Within an organization, the four functions: planning, leading, organizing, and controlling

need to take place in order to ensure goals are met. There are various characteristics that differ

within each of these functions differentiating managers from leaders. Along with what they both

consist of.

Management, translates the business goals into the work of their function. They are

measured according to how well their employees perform and meet defined key performance

indicators, and their success is based completely on the efforts and success of their employees.

Leaders on the other hand, inspire the employees and motivate them to excel in the life

surpassing their expectations are.

In an organization, planning must schedule every part of processes. It is crucial that there

is a timely manner when conducting critical projects and a manager will ensure that productivity

is on track. Therefore, management must make certain all of the necessary resources came

together at the appropriate time of production. It is significant to master the vision, goal setting,

and correlating objectives when planning to ensure production.

The role of manager is one responsible for the work and results of others. As such, a great

deal of the work of a manager focuses on building and supporting an effective team (Reh, 2016,

p.1). Therefore, there needs to be a team that is functioning properly, but if the individual is just

managing and not being a leader the team will soon lose motivation. There needs to be a fine line

with managing and being an authoritarian manager in that one runs a risk of belittling the team

and hindering their creativity process.

The managers are required to plan accordingly, because otherwise the hierarchal structure

may spiral downward. When the planning turns out badly, it can deflate employee morale,

employees tend to miss out on days, avoid being challenged mentally, and so on. When they feel
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much undervalued, they might feel like compensating themselves through searching for new

work, or worse off stealing from the company. Poor management may result in more fragmented

departments and work roles. This means that each employee neglects the importance his work

plays in achieving company and departmental objectives (Kokemuller, 2016, p.1). The image of

what value the employee brings to the company is not imprinted.

Leadership, is helping other get where they need to be, guiding them by trust, influence,

charisma, clear vision. Employees are impacted by leaders because they set a clear vision for the

organization by feeling motivated and influenced by the goals of the organization. Throughout

the planning process the employee trust the leader in guidance through the work process and the

build of morals within the organization. The constant focus on what is the objective is an aspect

leaders should enforce and remain focused on the organizations objectives to avoid steering

away from what management expects of them in both the long-term and short-term.

It is most effective to be both a manager and a leader within the planning process in order

to build trust and engagement within an organization. Planning is an ongoing step, and can be

highly specialized based on organizational goals, division goals, departmental goals, and team

goals. It is up to the manager to recognize which goals need to be planned within his or her

individual area. The managers must also utilize their leadership skill in order to provide high

morale and boost productivity amongst other helpful benefits.

Organizing places an immense role in the hiring process within the various departments

to make sure that the functionally as a whole is conducted not only efficiently, but effectively.

Managers within organizing must first make decisions regarding division of labor, work

specialization, chain of command, departmentalization, centralization and formalization. After

these decisions are finalized, groups then mobilize to achieve a stated goal. The division of labor
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involves deciding who does particular jobs. Some workers or departments have special skills

while others have different sets of abilities. Managers must organize these workers in certain

ways to get jobs done. Jobs are then divided into different departments. One of the most common

ways to departmentalize is to group workers together by function. If certain workers and jobs

serve similar functions, those people should logically work together. The chain of command,

along with the span of management, determines who is responsible for getting various tasks

done. Managers must decide how many people to oversee effectively to get the tasks done. The

delegation of authority, assign work, and provide direction is very significant to ensure staff can

work towards their goals without having barriers in their way (Hartzell, p.2).

Within organizing, good will have people work well together and bring out the best in

each other to succeed in the task at hand. A groups environment can include things like the

group leaders behavior, the physical conditions in which the group works, the society and

organization in which the group operates, the outside pressures on the group, the size of the

group, and so on. Critical decisions are always made when ensuring that organizing is done most

effectively. An autocratic leader tends to make decisions without input from others, whereas a

democratic leader will seek input and then either make a decision or engage the group in

collective decision making, a laisses-faire leader remains at a distance from the decision-making

process, allowing the group to make decisions without leadership intervention. (McKee, 2014,

p.344-345).

Within the organization, it is best to combined both manager and leader skill when

utilizing the organizing structure due to the influencing, inspiring, and developing conducted

when handling the incoming staff and ensuring productivity.

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Leading is another of the basic function within the management process which is use of

influence to motivate employees and form effective groups. During the phase managers help the

organization move toward goal attainments (Barnett, 2014, p.1). The ability to lead people is

critical to your success as a manger. The organization and the team count on you to navigate your

group through change, make tough decisions, and focus efforts productively on the most

important task in order to move towards achieving the goals. Leadership is not about being

domineering or tough on people. It is about having high expectation and helping individual meet

them as a whole. A leader's role in an organization can be formally assigned by his or her

position, like manager or department head, and it can also be informally assumed by an

employee who possesses a certain charisma that attracts others to follow (Kadian-Baumeyer,

2016, p.1). Making the tough decision and taking risks while seeking opportunity for change,

building enthusiasm for change efforts, and being an agent of change is all part of a managers

duties in order to lead an effective team.

Within the leading aspect for a leader, this function is very important because this where

get employees inspired and motivated to move towards the organizations goals. By this phase, a

leader would already be known by others either through formal or informal means.

The third function of management, leading, and managers spends time connecting with

their employees on an interpersonal level. This goes beyond simply managing tasks; rather, it
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involves communicating, motivating, inspiring, and encouraging employees towards a higher

level of productivity. Not all managers are leaders. An employee will follow the directions of a

manager because they have to, but an employee will voluntarily follow the directions of a leader

because they believe in who he or she is as a person, what he or she stands for, and for the

manner in which they are inspired by the leader. Which is why in this section a manager, in order

to be able to interact with employees in and interpersonal level must utilize their leading skills

(Kadian-Baumeyer, 2016, p.1).

The final phase of the management process is controlling. "Controlling means monitoring

employees' activities, determining whether the organization is on target toward its goals, and

making correction as necessary (Richard Daft ). Controlling ensures that, through effective

leading, what has been planned and organized to take place has in fact taken place. (Barnett,

2014, p.1). Within the controlling structure, there is aspects that management conducts such as

how to reward the employees for their work performance and how to provide contingencies.

The control process has such a better impact as a leader and a manager combined, rather

than just a manager. Leaders set the agenda; leaders control their team by influencing the

organization culture and the long-term effectiveness of an organization. Leaders are models of

the behavior as well as inspire a shared vision all while enabling others to act (Koroma, 2015,

p.1)

It is better to be both a manager and a leader within controlling because one then is

viewed as an individual with goals and expectations along with exquisite communication. I

personally like this one because I shows how much one cares about the company and its

employees. It lets employees know that you are interested in their success and performance.

Sharing information and encouraging open communication. For example, if in your managers
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meeting you are required to let you team know about new regulations and polices, but you forget

to tell them a communication barrier is established.

Managers can promote organizational effectiveness, reputation, values, and ethics, but

leaders take it a step further and build relationships with their teammates which establish loyalty.

Employees want to feel good about their leaders, where they work, the products they sell or work

with and the reputation of their company. Culture, we need encourage our employees to find a

personal connection or fit with the company. A big one that we miss all the time is trust, yes trust.

You see employees are constantly watching leadership to see how their decisions affect the

strategic direction of the organization and if their behaviors reflect what they say. We can are

managers we are usually walking by make sure everything is getting done their right way, well

sometime for the employees the right way is the hard confusing way. What I mean is we should

encourage our employees to be innovators.

Leadership is path-finding; management is path-following. Leaders do the right things;

managers do things right. Leaders develop; managers maintain. Leaders ask what and

why; managers ask how and when. Leaders originate; managers imitate. Leaders

challenge the status quo; managers accept it . . . Leadership is concerned with

constructive or adaptive change, establishing and changing direction, aligning people,

and inspiring and motivating people . . . They set the direction for organizations. They

articulate a collective vision . . . They sacrifice and take risks to further the vision. (Bass,

2008, p. 654)

Leaders surpass the mindset that managers possess to ensure that the teammates within an

organization are motivated, inspired, and challenged to prosper. The four functions of

management all play an immense role on the overall procedure of an organization with the help
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of technological innovations and virtual teams. Due to so much research, it has been proven the

effectiveness of leaders over centuries of trial and error. The perfect balance of leadership and

management is the key to an effective organization.

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References
Barnett, R. (2014). Strategic Management: Formulation and Implementation.

Hartzell, S. (n.d.). Retrieved December 08, 2016, from

http://study.com/academy/lesson/four-functions-of-management-planning-organizing-leading-

controlling.html

Kokemuller, N. (n.d.). Poor Leadership & Its Effects on the Staff and Company.

Retrieved December 08, 2016, from http://yourbusiness.azcentral.com/poor-leadership-its-

effects-staff-company-21754.html

Koroma, J. A. (2015, April 1). Linked In. Management and Leadership Impact

Organization Performance, 1-37. Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/management-

leadership-impact-organization-performance-james-a-.

McKee, Annie. (2014). Management: Focus on Leaders. Upper Saddle River, NJ:

Pearson Education, Inc.

Nguyen, P. S. (2013). Leadership and Management: Are They Different? Retrieved

December 08, 2016, from https://workplacepsychology.net/2013/06/19/leadership-and-

management-are-they-different/

Reh, F. J. (2016, September 09). Business Management and Leadership. What Does A

Manager Do?, 1-11. Retrieved from https://www.thebalance.com/what-does-a-manager-do-

2275722.