Leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 4

Leadership - Essay Example Then there are those who believe that these two concepts are two different extremes, they believe that a good manager can never become a productive leader. Certain individuals even hold the view that both concepts operate together and a manager can play a leaders role while being in a management position. An organization comprising of teams and groups require the assistance of both leaders and managers to operate successfully. Several similarities may exist within the roles of the managers and the leaders, and several differences that separate both the positions even exist. This writing will focus on the differences between the two roles while accepting the fact that one single individual can play both roles at the same time. Body Leadership is referred to as a process in which an individual has the task of influencing a team of individuals with the aim of achieving common goals (MANNING, 2003, p.5). This means that leadership is firstly a process and it involves a sub process called influencing and cannot occur without the availability of a group and aims at attaining goals. These components of the definition of leadership are available in almost every theory and definition related to leadership. A leader is supposed to have several characteristics, some of the most important characteristics a leader should have in order to be successful includes: skills to coach others, confidence in one self and others, he should be do as he say or in other words there should be consistency between what he preach and what he does, he should have creative skills and should have an eye for creativity to acknowledge the creativity shown by others (MANNING, 2003, p.364). Some other skills that a leader require is emotional intelligence, emotional intelligence is referred to as the ability to figure out the emotional issues that one is suffering and then helping them to solve those issues. A leader should have a strong vision of the future and should be able to inspire others thr ough the vision and should be motivated towards the long term achievements of the organization. He should be able to not only respond to the needs of his/her team members at the team level, he should address their issues at the individual level as well. A leader should be high in self esteem and should view him positively, he should stand for trust and integrity and pass on the same message to his/her followers. He should have adopted or learned technical skills in order to assist team members when ever required, he/she should have the ability to not only delegate responsibility, he should even delegate authority so followers can accomplish their task in the best manner and he should always provide feedback to employees to keep them motivated. These are some of the characteristics and skills of a leader, these skills and characteristics do overlap with the skills and abilities of a manger, still there is tremendous amount of difference between these two occupations. Several definiti ons that differentiate leadership from management and managers are available. This does not necessarily means that both these positions cannot be handled by one single individual. One individual has the ability to carry out the responsibilities of a leader as well as a manager. Management is defined as a body that has the power to direct individuals within an organization by administering, supervising these individuals. Both leadership and management have various aspects in common. The principle job of both the responsibilities includes influencing others within an organization, assisting those who are working with them and for them in an