OB IS FOR EVERYONE
Have you ever wondered if
there was one rightway to
lead?Is a leader always
necessary?Can anyone be a leader? How do you manage
yourself?illions of people around the world
were glued to their television sets
in September 2005, watching thedevastation of Hurricane Katrina unfold.^1
While the storm damaged parts of
Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana, it was
the damage to New Orleans that got the
most press coverage. The entire city had to be
evacuated because of severe flooding, caus-
ing thousands of people, mostly poor and
black, to be stranded at the city’s Superdome
and Convention Center.
For many of those watching people wav-ing from rooftops begging to be rescued, and
people from the Convention Center and
Superdome begging for food and water, the
questions that arose were, Who was in
charge? Why wasn’t help coming faster? There was
plenty of blame to go around, and the obvious leaders,
Louisiana governor Kathleen Blanco, and President
George W. Bush, and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin,
shown here, were all singled out for criticism. Subsequent
investigations of what went wrong suggested that these
leaders did not do enough to minimize the damage of the
storm, starting right from the top with President Bush.
In this chapter, we examine the various studies on
leadership to determine what makes an effective leader.
We first consider the traits, behaviours, and situations
that affect one’s ability to lead, and then we consider
visionary leadership. We then look at how leadership is
being spread throughout the organization, and how you
might lead yourself, through self-management. Finally,
we consider contemporary issues in leadership.M
257AREMANAGERS AND LEADERS THE SAME?
Leadershipand managementare two terms that are often confused. What is the differ-
ence between them?
John Kotter of the Harvard Business School argues that “managers promote stability
while leaders press for change and only organizations that embrace both sides of the con-
tradiction can survive in turbulent times.”^2
Professor Rabindra Kanungo at McGill University sees a growing consensus emerg-
ing “among management scholars that the concept of ‘leadership’ must be distinguished
from the concept of ‘supervision/management.’”^3 Exhibit 8-1 on page 258 illustrates
Kanungo’s distinctions between management and leadership. Leaders provide vision
and strategy; managers implement that vision and strategy, coordinate and staff the
organization, and handle day-to-day problems.
1 What is the difference
between a manager
and a leader?Harvard Business School
http://www.hbs.edu