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Leading and Managing Differences

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Leading and managing are often used as interchangeable terms however there are small noticeable differences. As a comparison there are slightly different responsibilities within the organizational framework, a leader is one who is capable of broadening the scope of his or her involvement in the well being of the organization as a whole. In other words a leader evaluates an organization's current processes and integrates pertinent decisions to fulfill futuristic obligations whereas managers manage organizational operations on an incremental basis from period to period or quarter to quarter depending on what his or her realm of management includes. Leaders are generally the ones who are responsible for delegating authority and establishing a management team to monitor various processes within the organization and a manager usually reports to a leaders superiority in most cases. A leader tends to make decisions that significantly impact an organization's lifecycle in competitive markets; managers on the other hand make immediate decisions about daily operations. Both entities (mangers and leaders) are responsible for planning, organizing, and strategic decision making, however they only differ in terms of planning the future of the organization whereas managers focal point of concern is productivity and overall performance within a specified time frame. Managers incur the daunting task of posing as HR (Human Resources) representatives in which case they are responsible for conducting the hiring and firing of employees and developing policies and procedures that lays the foundation of organizational codes of conduct and professional demeanor. Leaders, however aim to fulfill the organization's mission and objectives and works tenaciously to help the organization reach its goals. Nevertheless, organizations rely on mangers and leaders alike to assist in the process of change implementation and competitive strategies to adequately function as a competitor.

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Solution Summary

Leading an organization is a complex task for the reason that many of the counterparts associated with the organization are inclined to resist change regardless of the fact that changes and upgrades to the organizational infrastructure is required for forward progression. The leader must maintain an aggressive straight forward approach in change implementation without alienating his/her work force. It is imperative that the leader possesses a transformational and transactional style of leadership. The aforementioned leadership style is relative to fulfilling what the leader is trying to achieve for the reason that those two styles ensure that the leader will influence and motivate staff members to embrace the new change. Oftentimes employees and leaders become complacent with the traditional methods of business transactions that they fail to remain current on organizational trends that promotes competitiveness and organizational positioning within the marketplace. A leader must take into consideration from the beginning that resistance to change is inevitable; however, he or she is obligated to integrate an effective change management process that will enable the organization to make a smooth transition from one out-dated process to an entirely new and different process. "Part of that change management process, includes preparing the organization for a new shift in leadership methods and requires that the organization build a team-oriented culture - starting from the top-down hierarchy to the bottom up (Rosenburg, 2001). Managers at all levels must identify and leverage each person's top skills, and create sound value-based communications between team members" (Dudink & Berge, 2006).

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1. How should the leader deal with the situation?

Leading an organization is a complex task for the reason that many of the counterparts associated with the organization are inclined to resist change regardless of the fact that changes and upgrades to the organizational infrastructure is required for forward progression. The leader must maintain an aggressive straight forward approach in change implementation without alienating his/her work force. It is imperative that the leader possesses a transformational and transactional style of leadership. The aforementioned leadership style is relative to fulfilling what the leader is trying to achieve for the reason that those two styles ensure that the leader will influence and motivate staff members to embrace the new change. Oftentimes employees and leaders become complacent with the traditional methods of business transactions that they fail to remain current on organizational trends that promotes competitiveness and organizational positioning within the marketplace. A leader must take into consideration from the beginning that resistance to change is inevitable; however, he or she is obligated to integrate an effective change management process that will enable the organization to make a smooth transition from one out-dated process to an entirely new and different process. "Part of that change management process, includes preparing the organization for a new shift in leadership methods and requires that the organization build a team-oriented culture - starting from the top-down hierarchy to the bottom up (Rosenburg, 2001). Managers at all levels must identify and leverage each person's top skills, and create sound value-based communications between team members" (Dudink & Berge, 2006).

2. How are leading and managing different?

Leading and managing are often used as interchangeable terms however there are small noticeable differences. As a comparison there are slightly different responsibilities within the organizational framework, a leader is one who is capable of broadening the scope of his or her involvement in the well being of the organization as a whole. In other words a leader evaluates an organization's current processes and integrates pertinent decisions to fulfill futuristic obligations whereas managers manage organizational operations on an incremental basis from period to period or quarter to quarter depending on what his or her realm of management includes. Leaders are generally the ones who are responsible for delegating authority and establishing a management team to monitor various processes within the organization and a manager usually reports to a leaders superiority in most cases. A leader tends to make decisions that significantly impact an organization's lifecycle in competitive markets; managers on the other hand make immediate decisions about daily operations. Both entities (mangers and leaders) are responsible for planning, organizing, and strategic decision making, however they only differ in terms of planning the future of the ...

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