Compare And Characteristics Of A Leader-Manager Assessment

Leader-Manager Assessment

In this paper I will compare and contrast leadership and management. I will identify the traits and characteristics of effective leaders and efficient managers. Then I will assess my effectiveness as a leader and manager. Finally I will reflect on insights I have gained throughout my life and during this course. Managers and leaders overlap and are two different roles the same person can accomplish; both have individual traits but also have traits that are similar; I have grown throughout my ears in the military and develop some of these traits to help me be an effective leader.

Some feel that leaders and managers are same, but this is not accurate to say. They are two different roles one can assume and are defined

A leader is effective and a manager is efficient. An effective leader would influence people to create favorable results. The key word here is influence. Influence is most important because if a leader cannot effectively influence people they will not be able to lead. “Leaders are able to coop with change, set direction, and are vision oriented” (Kotter, 2001, p.86). They do this by being trustworthy, having good communication skills, and connecting or having a positive relationship with their people. An efficient manager would perform task to achieved desire results with the minimum use of resources, time, and effort. Managers are good organizers. “Management develops the capacity to achieve its plan by organizing and staffing-creating…communicating…aligning people…controlling and problem solving” (Kotter, 2001, p.86). Managers are also good communicators. They are able to give direction and keep order. Managers manage processes and without these traits those processes would not be manage

First, as Northouse (2013) states “to be effective, organizations need to nourish both competent management and skilled leadership” (p.13). I saw when I was a managing process that I could not use the same techniques on people. People are not inanimate objects and they don’t respond well to being managed. You must learn to lead them. I definitely learned that during my early years in the military. This leads me into the second insight in that you can learn to lead people. Northouse (2013) states “leadership is a process that can be learned, and that is available to everyone” (p.15). In fact there are many that agree in this point. However many still get leadership and management confused and think that they are two different people. My third insight is that leaders and managers can and most often are the same person. “Leaders and management are different concepts that overlap…that are centered on how both involve influencing people in goal attainment” (Northouse, 2013, p.16). Leadership and management are just different roles the same person can play and are interchangeable. Kotter (2001) states “[People are] right to ignore the recent literature that says people cannot manage and lead…you can groom top people to provide both (p.86). Businesses are in need of