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GEORGE OFORI
T
heliteratureonleadershipdatesbackto trast, the literature on management is relatively new and dates
several centuries. Ancient approaches backtothebeginningofthetwentiethcentury.
to leadership comprise the writings of Despite the different timing of their evolution and the dif-
early philosophers and thinkers who ferent contexts in which these concepts developed, leadership
put together their thoughts on leaders, and management are widely used interchangeably. Although
leadership, and the need for leadership many scholars have attempted to provide a distinction; there is
development. Philosophers such as Aristotle 共Nichomachean a common confusion that leadership is similar to management
Ethics and Politics兲, Plato 共The Republic兲, Confucius, Sun Tzu and leaders are similar to managers 共Kotter 1990, 2006;
共The Art of War兲, Niccolo Machiavelli 共The Prince兲, Pareto 共The Zaleznik 1977, 1998; Bennis and Nanus 1985兲. Cogliser and
Treatise on General Sociology兲, and many others contributed to Brigham 共2004兲 highlighted the growing interest of scholars
the development of the theoretical base of leadership. By con- in differentiating leadership from other related phenomena
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62 Leadership and Management in Engineering
others within a given context; the group itself; the action or person who manages 共a department of兲 a business, organiza-
influence necessary for the direction or organization of effort tion, institution, etc.; a person with an executive or supervi-
in a group undertaking.” sory function within an organization, etc.”
On the other hand, the word “manage” has two distinct
sources. The first is the Italian word “meneggiare” which
共roughly translated兲 meant handling things—especially DEFINITIONAL COMPLEXITIES
horses. This derivation was more masculine in nature and Goethals et al. 共2004兲, the editors of the Encyclopedia of Lead-
carried the connotation of taking charge, especially in the ership, argue that there is no single and universally accepted
context of war. By the beginning of the sixteenth century, definition of leadership. Leadership behavior involves par-
this broader sense of “manage” remained the so; however, it ticular acts in which a leader engages in the course of direct-
later got confused with the French word “menager” which ing and coordinating the work to his group members
meant careful use, especially in the household. The usage of 共Fiedler 1967兲. In their Handbook of Leadership, which is often
“menager” was more gentle and feminine in nature. This referred to as the bible on the subject, Bass and Stogdill
dual character of management has remained so ever since 共1990兲 define the leadership as, “the principal dynamic force
共Mant 1977兲. Bavington 共2005兲 observes that the term that motivates and coordinates the organization in the ac-
“management” encompasses three principal meanings: complishment of its objectives.” Burns 共1978兲 defines lead-
management-as-control 共with roots in the Latin word ership as “the reciprocal process of mobilizing by persons
“manus”兲, management-as-caretaking 共with roots in the with certain motives and values, various economic, political
French word “ménager”兲, and management-as-coping 共a and other resources, in context of competition and conflict,
in order to realize goals independently or mutually held by
modern understanding of management兲. The current defini-
both leaders and followers.” According to Bennis 共1989兲,
tion of “management” in the OED is: “organization, super-
leadership is the “process 共not a position兲 that involves lead-
vision, or direction; the application of skill or care in the
ers, followers, and situations.” House 共2004兲, the chief inves-
manipulation, use, treatment, or control 共of a thing or per-
tigator of the biggest ever study conducted on leadership,
son兲, or in the conduct of something.”
defines it as the “ability of an individual to influence, moti-
This discussion shows that the word “leadership” has vate, and enable others to contribute toward the effectiveness
evolved with the underlying meanings of influence, persua- and success of the organizations of which they are members”
sion, direction, and the ability to lead in a given context. 共House 2004兲.
These meanings reflect that a leader influences others by his Cogliser and Brigham 共2004兲 observe that the leadership
or her ability, persuasiveness, and vision. “One who guides field has been beset with conceptual or definitional chal-
others in action or opinion; one who takes the lead in any lenges. Whereas it is an important concept in various con-
business, enterprise, or movement; one who is “followed” by texts such as academia, military, politics, business, and soci-
disciples or adherents; the chief of a sect or party; the fore- ety, there is no commonly agreed upon definition or set of
most or most eminent member 共of a profession兲; also, in descriptions of leadership 共Bass 1990; Kotter 1990, 1995,
wider sense, a person of eminent position and influence; one 1999; Terry 1993; Zaleznik 1998兲. Each author appears
who leads a choir or band of dancers, musicians, or singers” view leadership as having an individual perception and defi-
共from OED兲. This understanding of “leader” and “leader- nition. However, it is clear from the previously mentioned
ship” was in existence over 2500 years ago when Lao definitions that at the definitional level, leadership is per-
Tzu, a Chinese philosopher and poet, wrote: ceived to encompass certain attitudes of the leader, who in-
spires the followers to achieve certain goals. The leader’s
A leader is best power is legitimized by the followers 共Bass 1990; Stogdill
When people barely know he exists 1997兲, and the leader influences others by giving them hope,
Not so good when people obey and acclaim him inspiring their self-efficacy, establishing their desires, and
Worse when they despise him consistently following a set of personal values 共Zaleznik
But of a good leader, who talks little, 1998; George and Sims 2007兲. People follow a leader for a
When his work is done, his aim fulfilled, mix of positive reasons such as hope of success, trust in the
They will say: we did it ourselves. leader, excitement about a project or mission, or the oppor-
tunity to stretch oneself to the limit 共Maccoby 2000兲. How-
On the other hand, “management” is about controlling, ever, at the same time, a number of moderating factors de-
supervising, application of skills, caretaking, and coping termine the effectiveness of leadership such as situation,
with prevailing circumstances. Therefore, a manager, accord- followers’ readiness to change, organizational context and bu-
ing to OED, is “a person who organizes, directs, or plots reaucracy, leader-follower fit 共Fiedler 1967; Gardner et al.
something; a person who regulates or deploys resources; a 2005兲.
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64 Leadership and Management in Engineering
Taking the problems as opportunities, leaders seek fresh and Kelly 1999兲. On the other hand, leadership culture em-
options and persuade their followers to innovatively grapple powers the employees by trust and gives them the freedom
with the problems. Leaders are more rebellious in nature to fulfill their job responsibilities. Where leadership reframes
while managers prefer to conform to the organizational the present employees of an organization through training
norms, rules, and hierarchy 共Kumle and Kelly 1999兲. There- and not rehiring, the emphasis of management is on rehiring
fore, most leaders challenge the status quo whereas managers resources, and not on reframing employees with more train-
prefer to accept the status quo 共Bennis 1989兲. ing 共Kumle and Kelly 1999兲.
George 共2003兲 notes that good leaders understand their In order to achieve better results, management strives to
purpose, lead with heart, follow their personal set of values, realize organizational efficiency along with effectiveness
establish and retain connected relationships, and demonstrate within the parameters of the organization’s mission. How-
the highest sense of self-discipline in the lives. Leaders’ be- ever, leadership takes a different approach. Perloff 共2004兲 ar-
haviors demonstrate their deep concerns for the development gues that leadership creates and sells its visions to those who
of their followers, the well being of their organizations, and need to implement them, and evaluates whether these have
the welfare of society. Whereas leaders remain original and been successful, along with determining what the next steps
authentic in their behavior, managers copy 共Shamir and are. He uses an analogy of “trains” to describe the difference
Eilam 2005; Bennis 1989兲. Zaleznik 共1977兲 argues that between leaders and managers. In his view, managers make
leaders’ relationships are mostly intensive and one-to-one. the trains run on time, but it is leaders who decide the des-
On the other hand, managers establish networks and widely tination as well as what freight and passengers the trains
distributed attachments. According to Stogdill 共1997兲, lead- carry. Put simply, managers are more like tacticians, whereas
ers are differentiated from others in terms of the influence leaders are strategists. Covey et al. 共1994兲 make the same
they exert upon the goal-setting and goal-achievement ac- point in a different way: management works within the es-
tivities of the organization 共Stogdill 1997兲. They stand out tablished paradigm while leadership creates new paradigms.
differently, question assumptions, are usually suspicious of Management operates within the established system whereas
traditions, and are champions of innovation 共Bennis 1989兲. leadership improves the existing systems and establishes
Leaders’ behaviors are directed by their inner values and are more and better systems.
inspired by their future vision. On the other hand, managers’ Leaders provide vision and inspiration, and support the
behaviors are mostly directed by others, and they are moti- people to do things, whereas managers provide the resources
vated by the targets they want to attain. and expect results. Zaleznik 共1977兲 suggests that leaders de-
velop fresh approaches to long-standing problems and open
issues to new options; managers act to limit choices. Whilst
FUNCTIONAL/OPERATIONAL DIVERGENCE leaders inspire the purpose, managers are concerned about
“People ask the difference between a leader and a boss. . . . systems, controls, procedures, policies, and structure 共Bennis
The leader works in the open, and the boss in covert. The 1989兲. The main role of the leaders is to set a new direction
leader leads, and the boss drives.” for a group. However, managers control, guarantee disci-
—Theodore Roosevelt pline, and introduce order according to established principles
共Schumpeter 1934兲. Leadership is about knowing where the
Maccoby 共2000兲 argues that leadership is a relationship organization needs to go, whereas management is concerned
共selecting talent, motivating, coaching, and building trust兲 with how to get there. At a further functional level, Maccoby
between the leader and the led that can energize an organi- 共2000兲 notes that leaders recognize and select the talent, nur-
zation. On the other hand, management is a function 共plan- ture the talent by motivating them, coach the talent, and
ning, budgeting, evaluating, and facilitating兲 that must be retain the talent by building trust; managers are task masters
exercised in any business. Similarly, Weathersby 共1999兲 of planning, budgeting, evaluating, and facilitating. Table 1
notes that leadership involves motivating people to contrib- presents, in the form of short summaries, the views of various
ute to the vision and encouraging them to align their self- authors on the difference between leaders and managers.
interest with that of the organization. However, manage-
ment is about allocation of scarce resources toward the
attainment of an organization’s objective共s兲, the setting of HOW LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT
priorities, the design of work, and finally, the achievement of OVERLAP
results. According to Kumle and Kelly 共1999兲, in manage-
rial culture, roles are rigidly defined within the organization. “Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success;
Management controls the processes through the power of a leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against
small group—usually those members who take the orders the right wall.”
directly from the top—instead of total team input 共Kumle —Stephen R. Covey
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66 Leadership and Management in Engineering
Table 1. „Continued兲.
Difference between Leaders and Managers
Leaders Managers Source
Leadersdevelopfreshapproachestolong- Managersacttolimitthechoices.
standingproblemsandopenissuestonew
options.
Leadersworkfromhigh-riskpositionsand Managersworktoreducetherisk.
areoftentemperamentallydisposedtoseek
outrisk.
Leadersareconcernedwithideasandrelate Managersrelatetopeopleaccordingtothe
topeopleinmoreintuitiveandempathetic roletheyplayinasequenceofeventsorina
ways. decision-makingprocess.
Leadersestablishandbreakoffintensive Managersrelyonmoderateandwidely
one-to-onerelationships. distributedattachments.
Leadersarevisionaries,collaborators, Managersarecaptains,analysts,conductors, Zimmerman
salespeople,andnegotiators. andcontrollers. 共2002兲
Leadersinnovate. Managersadminister. Bennis
Leadersareoriginal. Managerscopy. 共1989兲
Leadersdevelop. Managersmaintain.
Leadersareconcernedwithtrustandpeople. Managersareconcernedwithsystems,
controls,procedures,policies,andstructure.
Leadersinspirestrust. Managersrelyoncontrol.
Leadershavealongrangeperspective. Managershaveashortrangeview.
Leadersask“what”and“why.” Managersask“how”and“when.”
Leaders’eyesareonthehorizon. Managershaveeyesalwaysonthebottom
line.
Leaderschallenge. Managersacceptthestatusquo.
Leadersaretheirownpeople. Managersaretheclassicgoodsoldiers.
Leadersdotherightthings. Managersdothingsright.
Leadersconquersthecontext. Managerssurrenderstothecontext.
Leadersproducesvisions,concepts,plans, Managersadoptsthetruthfromothersand
andprograms. implementsitwithoutprobingthefacts.
Leadersareconcernedwitheffectiveness. Managersareconcernedwithefficiency.
Leadersoptfor“pull”ratherthan“push.” Managersoptfor“push”ratherthan“pull.”
Leadersprovidevisionandinfluence. Managersprovideresources.
Becomingaleaderissynonymouswith Becomingamanagerisbecomingwhat
becomingyourself. companywantsyoutobecome.
Leadership and management are interrelated, and may 1998; Bateman and Snell 1999; Yukl 1999; Perloff 2004;
sometime perform a similar function and achieve the same Hay and Hodgkinson 2006兲. In view of some, there is a
goals; however, they are different and distinct skills 共Kotter sense that leadership is an aspect of managing that is overtly
1990; Bass 1990; Conger and Kanungo 1992; Zaleznik concerned with thinking about the long-term future of the
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68 Leadership and Management in Engineering
human resources. Toor et al. 共2007兲 also argue that this de- ever, it is clear that today’s organizations need both leaders
bate does not aim to prove that leaders are better than man- and managers. They need leaders with managerial capabili-
agers or that leadership qualities are the only solution to ties and managers with leadership qualities. Therefore, it is
modern business challenges. important that organizations adopt strategies to systemati-
Some authors have argued in the literature that the terms cally develop their professionals into managers who are effec-
“leaders,” “managers,” and “entrepreneurs” “can be seen as tive leaders as well. These managers, in given circumstances,
enactments of archetypes, embodying the different fears and can then perform a leadership role. For this purpose, leader-
hopes of those who create organizations by their daily perfor- ship development should be made a part of organizational
mance” 共Czarniawska-Joerges and Wolff 1991, p. 529兲. strategy because it is a source of competitive advantage.
Czarniawska-Joerges and Wolff 共1991, p. 529兲 state: “Lead-
ership is seen as symbolic performance, expressing the hope REFERENCES
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70 Leadership and Management in Engineering
ent?” Harvard Bus Rev on Leadership, Harvard Business Environment at National University of Singapore. He
School Press, Boston. canbereachedviae-mailatshamas@nus.edu.sg.George
Zimmerman, E. L. 共2001兲. “What’s under the hood? The Ofori is professor and head of the Department of Build-
mechanics of leadership versus management.” Healthcare ingintheSchoolofDesignandEnvironmentatNational
Exec., 62共8兲, 10–12. University of Singapore. He can be reached via e-mail at
Shamas-ur-Rehman Toor is a Ph.D. candidate in the bdgofori@nus.edu.sg. LME
Department of Building in the School of Design and