This is the most debated topic in management research today, and yet there has not been any clarity in arriving at a conceptual distinction between these two styles at increasing number of organizations. Often organizations struggle to understand whether a given problem is to be handled by a Manager or a Leader, further so, there are situations wherein while establishing jobs to handle a group or team of people the recruiting authority is unsure about the nature of control to be exerted i.e. whether the recruited person should have management skills alone or leadership skills alone or is it a combination of both.

1. iPOTT 15-Feb-12
Getting you there…
Leadership Vs Management
CEO Speak This is the most debated topic in management research today,
and yet there has not been any clarity in arriving at a
conceptual distinction between these two styles at increasing
number of organizations. Often organizations struggle to
understand whether a given problem is to be handled by a
To visit this blog Click here. Manager or a Leader, further so, there are situations wherein
while establishing jobs to handle a group or team of people
iPOTT being an end to end the recruiting authority is unsure about the nature of control
provider of innovative and cost to be exerted i.e. whether the recruited person should have
effective services in the areas of management skills alone or leadership skills alone or is it a
knowledge management, sales combination of both.
enablement and consulting offers
a unique and unbiased platform Due to these minor differences in choices in initial stages
for software product companies many organizations have failed in missions or have
worldwide to reach their target experienced disconnect in operational alignment which has
markets led to some serious blunders. Examples include BP oil spill
event in 2010 which has been associated with leadership
failure and NASA’s Columbia and Challenger disaster again
www.ipott.om associated with leadership. Studies have indicated that leaders
info@ipott.com carry a stronger impact on deciding organizational culture as
they can induce more vibrations than a manager.
How can these two styles be distinguished and how do we
know which one to adopt in a given situation? One of the
most important reasons why these two do not have clear
distinctions at fundamental level is because their styles are
slightly linked or overlapping. Management style operates in
distinct boundaries and is highly restrictive to job expectations
unlike Leadership style which does overlap with Management
style to some extent, but there is neither any distinct
boundary to tasks nor any restrictions on actions or responses
to certain events.
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DN: 008/CEO/2012 V1.0 Copyright © 2012 iPOTT

2. iPOTT
Getting you there…
A Leader can be a thinker, creator, innovator and doer. A
Manager can be a facilitator, adapter and planner. A manager
believes in taking actions that is limited to his resources, a
CEO Speak leader may have to generate resources to achieve a task.
History portrays and associates radical changes and
We have blogs targeting a range of revolutionary movements with Leadership and not
audience starting from potential Management. Some of the best politicians have been
product innovators to CEOs described as leaders again and not managers. It is quite
obvious by now that leadership is a stronger style requiring
Audience interested in knowing charisma, self-awareness and strong presence of mind.
about Marketing Strategy, Indian
IT trends and Best Practices to be The divide becomes even more apparent during certain
adopted while kick-starting situations when there is a sudden need to change priorities
company can utilize the and look for alternative action plans. It is said that in certain
information provided in these industries such as manufacturing and automobiles, having a
blogs leader is the way to strengthen their Contingency plan as
proactive approach is required to mediate and implement
To visit this blog Click here. backup processes immediately in case of emergencies.
Other links: Considering the fact that Collaborations are an increasing
trend with knowledge sharing and leveraging business models,
Go Goal researchers at Harvard Business School have described a new
leadership style called “Collaborative leadership”. My earlier
Tech Trends articles dealt with Apple as a case study to understand this
leadership style and deliberate on how it can impact the
culture of organization and its vibe.
www.ipott.om
info@ipott.com
As more and more companies are kicking off, there is a need
to have clarity in job descriptions and the intrinsic qualities
expected in the hired individual. One of the biggest reasons
for operational failures is ‘wrong people in right places’.
Imagine a transactional leader who believes in accepting
orders and performing them in a step-by-step process to
arrive at results. The vibe that he sends is different from the
vibe that a transformational leader can send. Assessing people
for their psychological strengths and weaknesses maybe one
of the ways to avoid a future disconnect.
2|P a g e
DN: 008/CEO/2012 V1.0 Copyright © 2012 iPOTT