MANAGERS VS LEADERS

WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES? 

WHICH ONE IS BETTER? 

WHY DOES IT MATTERS?

Hello to all of you who are currently here and reading this post (intentionally or not).

This is actually my first time posting in a blog ever. Yeay!

So please forgive me if something i put here offended you. Orz

First of all, Welcome to potofhiz.blogspot.com,

 This blog is where i will put my personal POT, short for Perspective On Things, on almost anything that I find the need to put in here. There will be no pattern of what I am going to post in this POT blog, it will be very random hehehehe.

And now, for my first post, I am going to put up some info, thoughts, explanation, and also some opinion or POT about what I put in the title of this post, Managers VS Leaders.

            But, why did I put VS in there???

Back then in the old times, people and organizations didn't really care about it, the Managers and Leaders thing.

They only know about good and bad leaders, not the complex things behind it.

If some people got some kind of a status that allowed some power, a control, over some people below them, they will use it according to their previous experiences and knowledge (whether it is from studying, observing and learning from others, direct experiences, etc.) so that they can achieve what they want to achieve by using or “Managing” the people below them.

Those people have different ways to manage people below them, and each person way are different with each other. From lots and lots of this different ways, were found some similarities and also absolute differences between them. Finally, leading us to differentiate them into two general styles of management, that are Manager and Leader.

But people back then still didn't put much attention to it. They had too much things to do than focusing about management styles, because even if they did, it won’t really affect their everyday life.

However, now, with the advancement of human era also come the advancement of organizational activities. These advanced and complex organizational activities gave rise to the needs of a better organizational management, which led to differentiating between Managers and Leaders in the management of an organization. (Note: Business organization are also included)

A person with Manager-style won’t yield the same result as a person with Leader-style management. They have different Advantages and Disadvantages that separated them, leading people to think of a question, “Which one is better?”

Hence why I put VS in there. A bit long of unnecessary explanation eh?

           

Stay with me folks, we'll go to go to “What are the differences?”.

First off is Leader. 

For the example of a leader is King Leonidas I of Sparta.

Gerard Butler as Leonidas in the movie "300"

Marble statue of Leonidas, (5th century BC), Sparta, Archæological Museum of Sparta, Greece

King Leonidas became the leader of 300 Spartans combined with some allied Greek force and led them to the glorious defeat against the overwhelming numbers of invading Persian army, known as The Battle of Thermopylae.

Map of The Battle of Thermopylae, 480 B.C.

He directly joined the battle along with his men, leading them to successfully hold off the outnumbering Persian army for seven days, something that is almost impossible to happen because of the huge difference in their army size. They could have hold them longer if not for that damned Ephialtes’ betrayal, whom told the Persian army a path to surround the Greek force, leading to their heroic defeat by the Persian army.

Leonidas final War Cry before his death in the movie "300".

But even though they were defeated, the leadership of King Leonidas to his men were so great that his story were told again and again even to this day. He basically became a legend, being regarded as a Hero and also one of the most amazing military leader in human history, Zack Snyder even made a movie out of it called 300 and it was really great.

               THIS IS SPARTA!!!

From the example that I use, I can say that a Leader is someone who manage their followers while also being one of them. 

Because only by doing that would they know well the conditions of their followers that they are in charge of, and by understanding the followers, the leader can choose the most appropriate actions to do in the situation that they are in at that moment. Also only if the Leader know what is happening to the followers would the Leader able to support and empower them appropriately according to the situation.

And for the followers, when the people that are supposed to be above them in their mind does the same thing as them, it inspires them to do better in what they do. Because, even their leader goes the extra miles to do the same thing as what they are doing, obviously they got the feeling to show that they are at least capable of doing better than their leader by putting in extra efforts.

This simple act of joining the followers in what they do also influences them to be closer mentally to their leader, allowing more trust to be gained by the leader, which led to an easier control over the followers for the leader to lead them achieving their goals.

You talk easier to a classmate than when you talk to your school’s headmaster right?

Now, for the example of a manager is the reign of the Leader of Nazi-Germany, 

Adolf Hitler.

Adolf Hitler Original Portrait

I will only take example of him being the chancellor and Fuhrer (Leader) of Nazi-Germany in World War 2 (1939-1945). You can Google it yourself or check this link to his Wikipedia page for his biography.

            Hitler, as the de-facto leader of Germany, one of the super power in the world at that time, rule his nation using an extreme form of Manager-style of management that is also knows as Dictatorship. He created rules and policies to assert his control over Germany, creating more of a sense of fear rather than love to his subordinates and his people of Germany, though some who agree with him would loved his actions.

Europe before World War 2 started

He didn't hesitate to order the executions of those who didn't follow his rules and orders. Using this sense of fear, he ordered his subordinates to do things needed to be done to achieve his goals, or in this case, his ambitions. Thus he started the World War 2 by ordering the invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939.

Germany Europe Conquest Map in World War 2

            Hitler never joined the war directly by joining and fighting in the battlefield. He always stay far behind the battle in his office or somewhere without risking his life in battles. He only gave the orders for the army to do something required to achieve his ambition. He received reports on the situation of the war, but he didn't know directly the condition his troops fighting in the front line against other countries.

The Peak of Nazi-Germany Territory in World War 2

But through the control that originated from his rule, his subordinates still do what they were ordered and managed to achieve some success in World War 2, even though in the end he lose the war and made Germany suffered because of the post-war retribution cost. He was found dead by the Soviets in his office on 30 April 1945 because of committing suicide by shooting himself.

By the example that I put about Hitler above, I can say that a manager is someone who basically manage their subordinates by not being one of them. 

A Manager gave orders to the subordinate and the subordinate are supposed to follow it to the best of their capabilities. While managers also got some knowledge about their subordinates’ conditions, the managers still don’t have in-depth knowledge of the condition of their subordinates, especially the subordinates’ mental conditions, thus making them unable to be closer to the manager.

Managers get their control from their status and position. And most of the time this status came from someone above them. For example, a prince got his status from a king and a business company regional general manager got his position from his company higher ups.

A truly independent leader can be created through sheer great management and leadership skill, but a truly independent manager are impossible to exist in a human society. Because using manager-style management limited the human relation growth that can influence the rise of a new organization between the manager and the subordinates, unlike the leader-style management where human relation is very important.

But a somewhat independent manager can still exist.

These Independent manager become exist because the existences of other factors than just the management skill, such as financial and physical factors. Some people are willing to become a subordinate to a person with a lot of money while hoping to get some and some people also willing to be the subordinate of a manager-style person if it means safe from harm.

Manager are there for reasons. Managers are mostly result oriented, so that is why they don’t put too much focus on their human resources unless it potentially endanger the organization and the goals. If it is a goal that must be achieved at all cost, the result-oriented manager-style person would do a better work than the people-oriented leader-style person simply because the manager focus more on the work and result than other things.

Managers will work best if their subordinate are professional and skilled in their field of work. That way the managers can put more focus on giving the right instructions for reaching the goals to their subordinates rather than worrying about the subordinate conditions. That way, things will be more effective and efficient for the organization.

These are the main points that differentiate managers and leaders.

Next, to the question of “Which one is better?”

This question is one of those question that can only be answered by “Its relative.”

Most people, if asked which one is better between a leader and a manager would answer that leader are better than a manager. This is because the idea being close to your boss is much more appealing than actually working and getting the job done.

But if you asked this to a CEO, a boss, a president, or a person with power over some people, they will mostly answer that they would like to be a manager more than being a leader. Simply because being a leader required a lot more effort than being a manager that is more result-oriented.

Though if we try to look at it more objectively, there are a lot of different kinds of situation that required different managerial style in an organization. And it all comes down to the goals of the organization itself.

If the goals are focused more on its members (for example a teacher’s union) and/or goals that needed good teamwork to reach (for example a military squad), then Leader-style management is best suited for it.

If the goals are focused more on the results (for example a bank) and/or goals that required little to no teamwork (for example a lawyer agency), then Manager-style management is the best for it.

It didn't end there folks.

Organizational structure and hierarchy itself can also limit or prevent the use of different style of managerial.

The higher a person is in an organizational hierarchy and the more people that person is managing will make it harder to use leader-style management and make manager-style management more effective to use, and vice versa.

The lower a person in the hierarchy and the lesser the people that person is managing will make it easier to use leader-style management and also make the manager-style less effective because most low level organizational activities required a lot of team work to be done.

            And lastly, onto the last question, “Why does it matters?”

            If you really read this post then you definitely already got your own personalized answer.

            

            If you didn't get your own answer, you can use mine.

            In this day and age, in this era, organization are basically everywhere.

                From the smallest organization of school study groups to the largest organization on earth that is the United Nations.

                ORGANIZATIONS ARE EVERYWHERE.

Even a small group of friends is an organization. There’s got to be that someone that become the beacon in that group, whether they realized it or not, and that person is the leader.

So by knowing more about management, or in this case Managers VS Leaders, you would at least have this knowledge just in case you need it later.

But if you maximized the use of this knowledge and the knowledge of the management itself, you are in for a successful life.

That is all from me, Hizrian.

Thank you for reading and see you at another posts.

Hizrian Out.