Better Manager 7th prelims:Better Manager 7th edition

THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN MANAGEMENT

AND LEADERSHIP

Managers have to be leaders and leaders are often, but not
always, managers. But a distinction can be made between the
processes of management and leadership.

Management is concerned with achieving results by effectively

obtaining, deploying, utilizing and controlling all the resources

required, namely people, money, information, facilities, plant and

equipment.

Leadership focuses on the most important resource, people. It is the

process of developing and communicating a vision for the future,

motivating people and gaining their commitment and engagement.

The distinction is important. Management is mainly about the
provision, deployment, utilization and control of resources. But
where people are involved – and they almost always are – it is
impossible to deliver results without providing effective leader-
ship. It is not enough to be a good manager of resources, you also
have to be a good leader of people.

THE FRAGMENTARY NATURE OF

MANAGERIAL WORK

Because of the open-ended nature of their work, managers feel
compelled to perform a great variety of tasks at an unrelenting
pace. Research into how managers spend their time confirms
that their activities are characterized by fragmentation, brevity
and variety. This arises for the following six reasons:

1. Managers are largely concerned with dealing with people –
   their staff and their internal and external customers. But
   people’s behaviour is often unpredictable; their demands
   and responses are conditioned by the constantly changing
   circumstances in which they exist, the pressures to which
   theyhave to respond and their individual wants and needs.
   Conflicts arise and have to be dealt with on the spot.


2. Managers are not always in a position to control the events
   that affect their work. Sudden demands are imposed upon

How to be a Better Manager 7