Question

Read Understanding the Difference Between Management and Leadership and provide a critique of it. Be sure to discuss the points from the paper as they relate to engineering management. What two major points from this paper will you use as an engineering manager and why? What did you disagree with from the paper? Do not simply review the paper; be sure and provide a critique of it.

Answer 1

There are lots of confusions and overlaps, and also big differences when comparing leadership with management. A very big difference between leadership and management, and often overlooked, is that leadership always involves (leading) a group of people, whereas management need only be concerned with responsibility for things, (for example IT, money, advertising, equipment, promises, etc).

Of course, many management roles have major people- management responsibilities, but the fact that management does not necessarily include responsibility for people, whereas leadership definitely always includes responsibility for people, is a big difference. The various differences between the manager and leader are stated below:-

– The manager administers; the leader innovates.

– The manager is a copy; the leader is an original.

– The manager maintains; the leader develops.

– The manager focuses on systems and structure; the leader focuses on people.

– The manager relies on control; the leader inspires trust.

– The manager has a short-range view; the leader has a long-range perspective.

– The manager asks how and when; the leader asks what and why.

– The manager has his or her eye always on the bottom line; the leader’s eye is on the horizon.

– The manager imitates; the leader originates.

– The manager accepts the status quo; the leader challenges it.

– The manager is the classic good soldier; the leader is his or her own person.

– The manager does things right; the leader does the right thing.

Is a good manager automatically a good leader? What is the difference between leadership and management? The main difference between leaders and managers is that leaders have people follow them while managers have people who work for them. A successful business owner needs to be both a strong leader and manager to get their team on board to follow them towards their vision of success. Leadership is about getting people to understand and believe in your vision and to work with you to achieve your goals while managing is more about administering and making sure the day-to-day things are happening as they should.

Good managers are essential to any successful organization. An exceptionally good manager achieves a hardworking, productive and effective workforce that punches above its weight in its performance. Good managers attract exceptional staff; they make the organization a preferred employer; they help to increase market share; add to profits and surpluses, and reduce costs. Their staff is engaged, committed and ‘go the extra mile’.

Managers, however, dance on a fault line - they either have the behaviors that inspire followers to do what they otherwise may not be willing to do, and without creating any psychological distress, or they do not and the costs will escalate and ripple for a long time.

“Leadership is about getting people to understand and believe in your vision and to work with you to achieve your goals while managing is more about administering and making sure the day-to-day things are happening as they should”. A leader must have honesty and integrity because the people you are leading need to believe in you and believe into the course you are going to take them on. A leader must have a vision. To have a vision a leader must know where they are at that moment, where they want to go in the future, and engage their team in outlining a path for the future. A leader must be inspirational. A leader must be able to inspire their team to be all they can be by making sure that the team understands what their role is in the bigger picture. A leader must have the ability to challenge the status quo.