Leadership vs Management

Leadership differs from management in several ways. In this section we will show the main differences between them. Even though these concepts are being used for each of others purpose, their meanings are totally different.

The main aim of a manager is to maximize the output of the organization through administrative implementation. To achieve this, managers must undertake organization, planning, staffing, directing, and controlling functions. Leadership is just one important component of the directing function. On the other hand, managers think incrementally, while leaders think radically. Therefore managers rule while leaders are followed.[1] The other differences of these people are shown in the below table.

 

Differences of Leader and Manager

Leader	Manager
Renovates	Manages, Imitates
He / She is original	He / She is a copy
Improves	Saves
Focuses on human resource	Focuses on system and infrastructure
Believes people	Believes control
Makes long term decision	Makes daily or short term decision
He / She asks “how”, “when” questions.	He / She asks “why”, “what” questions
Life style is like freedom	Life style is like army hood

Source: Aylin Yücel, “Cinsel Role İlişkin Kalıpyargıların Lidere Atfedilen Özelliklere Etkisi ve Bir Uygulama”, (Marmara University, 2002), p. 10.

For a better understanding, the differences of these terms are explicitly shown in the below figure. The performance of the organization is getting higher under the coordination of a leader where the performance of the organizations remains still under the managers management.

Performance Difference between Leaders and Managers

Source: John Latham, “What is leadership?”, http://www.drjohnlatham.com/filemgmt_data/files/What%20is%20Leadership.pdf,.

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[1] Schools of Engineering and Electronics, “The Difference Between Management And Leadership”, http://www.see.ed.ac.uk/~gerard/MENG/ME96/Documents/Intro/leader.html,