Introduction
What is a manager? What is a leader? We may use these two terms thrown out synonymously, but they are two entirely dissimilar individuals complete with different characteristics and perspectives.
Let’s discuss the different personality styles of managers and leaders; the behavior of each one has toward their aims, their basic concepts of what their work entails, how they relate with others and their sense of self or self-identity and how it cultivates. It is important to examine leadership development as well and discover what criterion is needed for leaders and managers to reach their full ability in our schools.
Let’s start with definitions dealing with management. The Random House Dictionary of English Language (Flexner, 1987) gives the following definitions:
Manage: To bring about or succeed in accomplishing, sometimes despite difficulty or hardship; to take charge or care of; to dominate or influence by tact, flattery, or artifice; to handle, direct, govern, or control in action or use.
Management: the act or manner of managing, direction, handling, or control; persons or person controlling and directing the affairs of a business or institution.
Manager: the person who has the control or direction of an institution, business, etc, or of a part, division, or phase of it; a person who controls and manipulates resources and expenditures.
Merriam-Webster’s Third New International Dictionary (Gove, 1986) contains these definitions: Manage: Control and direct, handle either with or will cope with, guide by careful or delicate treatment; to bring about contriving; succeed in doing or accomplishing to achieve one’s purpose.
Management: More or less skilled handling of something conducting or supervision of; planning, organizing, and supervising any activity with responsibility for results.
Personality Differences
There are significant differences in personality styles between managers and leaders. Managers focus on rationality and control, are problem solvers (emphasizes on resources, goals, organizational structures, or people), determined, tough minded, diligent, intelligent, critical thinker and tolerant. Managers ask “What problems have to be solved, and what the best ways to achieve results are?”
A leader visualizes purpose and generates value in work, is creative, sensual, non-conforming, a risk taker, and often needs to achieve control of them before they try to control others.
A manager and a leader have entirely different attitudes toward goals. Managers take on impersonal, almost docile attitudes towards goals; in charge upon decisions based on needs instead of ambition (and are hence deeply attached to their organization’s culture), and tends to be conscious since he focuses on current information.
A leader become moving since they foresee and improve their insights instead of being conscious to present situations, mold concepts instead of reacting to them, have a personal focus toward aims, and provide a plan that changes the way people believe about what is attractive, achievable, and important.
Differences in Conception of Work
Managers view work as an enabling process, establishing strategies and making decisions by combining people and ideas. They regularly correlate and equal contradicting views, are good at achieving compromises and mediating battle between opposing views and perspectives and act to bound choice.
Leaders inculcate recent development to chronic problems and open views to new choices, use their perspective to stir up people, focus people on rational views and raise their anticipations, and work from risky situations because of high dislike of ordinary work.
Relationship Differences
Managers are better of working with others, are coordinated, keep a low level of emotional association in relationships, attempt to negotiate differences, find agreement and put up a balanced power, focus on how things are done, keep controlled proper and equitable structures, and may be seen others as hidden, disconnected, and scheming.
Leaders keep their inner responsiveness that they can utilize in their connection with others, relate to others’ in instinctive, accepting ways, concentrate on what it means to associate with events and decisions, establish systems where human relations may be unsettled, intense, and at times even disoriented.
Differences in Self-Identity
Managers’ developments in life have been direct and that their lives have been more or less composed since birth; have a sense of identity as means to establish behavior and character, which is based from a touch of being at home and in coordination with their surroundings; see themselves mediators and gives judgments of a present order of happening with which they personally determine and from which they acquire incentives and continue and build up existing institutions; and array a lifelong growth process that focuses on association. This association process braces managers to guide schools and to keep the existing correspondence of social relations.
Leaders apparently have not had a simple time of it; their lives are seen by a continuous hardship to find some sense of order, and they don’t take things for granted and are not contented with the present status. Leaders say that their “sense of self” is based from a feeling of distinct individuality. They may work in schools, but never have the feeling that a school “belongs” to them. Leaders find opportunities for change (technological, political, or ideological), uphold change, and find their reason is to profoundly change human, economic, and political connections.
Managers differ with leaders by the following:
• The manager administers; the leader innovates.
• The manager maintains; the leader develops.
• The manager accepts reality; the leader investigates it.
• The manager focuses on organizational structures and systems; the leader focuses on people.
• The manager depends on control; the leader develops trust
• The manager has a short-extent perspective and the leader asks what and why.
• The manager has his/her focus on the bottom line and the leader has his/her eye on the future.
• The manager initiates; the leader originates.
• The manager accepts the present situation and the leader interrogates it.
• The manager is the fine good scout and the leader is his/her own person.
As earlier mentioned, leadership and management are two individuals that are most of the time used synonymously. However, these terms actually define two different thoughts.
Leadership is an aspect of management. A rewarding manager must have leadership which is just one of his many characteristic. The major goal of a manager is to build up the outcome of the schools through authoritative application. Managers must undergo through the following roles to reach this; good organizer, planner, staffer, director and controller. Leadership is just one important constituent of the director role. A manager couldn’t just be a leader; but he or she also needs formal authority and power to be effective and efficient.
A manager needs a leadership style that acknowledges people as individuals. They need to coach others to peak performance by using empowerment and coaching relationships. This means empowering and motivating teachers and staff to peak performance by responding to employees’ human needs with sensitivity and flexibility (Leiding, 2004).
References:
Flexner, S. B. (1987). The Random House Dictionary of the English Language: Random House.
Gove, P. B. (1986). Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged: Merriam-Webster.
Leiding, D. (2004). Managers Make the Difference: Managing Vs. Leading in Our Schools. Lanham, Maryland – Toronto – Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield.
