TOPIC 3

LEADERS AND MANAGERS: DIFFERENCE, CHARACTERISTICS AND QUALITIES

INTRODUCTION:

The difference between managers and leaders, he wrote, lies in the conceptions they hold, deep
in their psyches, of chaos and order. Managers embrace process, seek stability and control, and
instinctively try to resolve problems quickly—sometimes before they fully understand a
problem’s significance. Leaders, in contrast, tolerate chaos and lack of structure and are willing
to delay closure in order to understand the issues more fully. In this way, Zaleznik argued,
business leaders have much more in common with artists, scientists, and other creative thinkers
than they do with managers. Organizations need both managers and leaders to succeed, but
developing both requires a reduced focus on logic and strategic exercises in favor of an
environment where creativity and imagination are permitted to flourish.

TOPIC CONTENT:

a. Definition of leader and manager

b. Difference between a leader and a manager
c. Qualities of a leader
d. Qualities of a good leader
e. Characteristics of Professional Managers
f. Shared character traits of a leader and a manager

TOPIC OBJECTIVES:

This topic aims the students to:

a. contrast leader from manager

b. list the qualities of a leader and a manager
c. compare shared character traits of a leader and a manager

TOPIC OUTCOME

At the end of the topic, the students will be able to:

a. Define leader and manager

b. List the qualities of a leader and a manager
c. Analyze the difference between a leader and a manager

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DEFINITION OF A LEADER
(http://www.vtaide.com/gleanings/leader.html)

 A leader is "a person who influences a group of people towards the achievement of a
goal".

Topic 3 Character Formation w/ Leadership, Decision Making, Management and Administration Prepared by: Jomel B. Pinera, Ph.D. Crim. Page 15
  “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” (John C.
Maxwell)

MANAGER DEFINED

 Is a person responsible for supervising and motivating employees and for directing the
progress of an organization.
 An individual who is in charge of a certain group of tasks, or a certain subset of a
company. A manager often has a staff of people who report to him or her.
(http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/manager.html)

The 3 P’s of Leadership

1. Person - Is one who goes first and leads by example, so that others are motivated
to follow him. This is a basic requirement. To be a leader, a person must have a
deep-rooted commitment to the goal that he will strive to achieve it even if nobody
follows him!

2. Purpose - A requirement for leadership is personal vision - the ability to visualize

your goal as an accomplished fact; a thing already achieved. Theodore M. Hesburgh
states that "The very essence of leadership is that you have to have vision. You can't blow
an uncertain trumpet."

In communicating your goal (AIMS), bear in mind that it should meet the following
criteria:

Achievable ... realistic yet faith stretching

Inspiring ... challenging your people to give of their best
Measurable ... quantifiable
Shared ... declaring your conviction in and commitment to the goal

The leader has to be practical and a realist, yet must talk the language of the
visionary and the idealist. Eric Hoffer

3. People - The next requirement is the realization that the goal cannot be achieved
alone, without the help of others. Is there a natural grouping of people from whom
you can elicit help? Or do you have to recruit your followers? In the latter, you
face a greater challenge. But whatever the situation, the leader must integrate his

Topic 3 Character Formation w/ Leadership, Decision Making, Management and Administration Prepared by: Jomel B. Pinera, Ph.D. Crim. Page 16
 (or the organization's) goal with his followers’ personal goals and then
communicates this goal in such a way that they embrace it too and the goal
becomes a common goal.

NINE (9) DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BEING A LEADER AND A MANAGER

https://www.forbes.com/sites/williamarruda/2016/11/15/9-differences-between-being-a-leader-and-a-manager/#606bc7b94609

1. Leaders create a vision, managers create goals - Leaders paint a picture of what they
see as possible and inspire and engage their people in turning that vision into reality.
They think beyond what individuals do. They activate people to be part of something
bigger. They know that high-functioning teams can accomplish a lot more working
together than individuals working autonomously. Managers focus on setting, measuring
and achieving goals. They control situations to reach or exceed their objectives.
2. Leaders are change agents, managers maintain the status quo - Leaders are proud
disrupters. Innovation is their mantra. They embrace change and know that even if things
are working, there could be a better way forward. And they understand and accept the
fact that changes to the system often create waves. Managers stick with what works,
refining systems, structures and processes to make them better.
3. Leaders are unique, manager’s copy - Leaders are willing to be themselves. They are
self-aware and work actively to build their unique and differentiated personal brand.
They are comfortable in their own shoes and willing to stand out. They’re authentic and
transparent. Managers mimic the competencies and behaviors they learn from others and
adopt their leadership style rather than defining it.
4. Leaders take risks, managers control risk - Leaders are willing to try new things even
if they may fail miserably. They know that failure is often a step on the path to success.
Managers work to minimize risk. They seek to avoid or control problems rather than
embracing them.
5. Leaders are in it for the long haul, managers think short-term - Leaders have
intentionality. They do what they say they are going to do and stay motivated toward a
big, often very distant goal. They remain motivated without receiving regular rewards.
Managers work on shorter-term goals, seeking more regular acknowledgment or
accolades.
6. Leaders grow personally; managers rely on existing, proven skills - Leaders know if
they aren’t learning something new every day, they aren’t standing still, they’re falling
behind. They remain curious and seek to remain relevant in an ever-changing world of
work. They seek out people and information that will expand their thinking. Managers
often double down on what made them successful, perfecting existing skills and adopting
proven behaviors.
7. Leaders build relationships, managers build systems and processes - Leaders focus
on people – all the stakeholders they need to influence in order to realize their vision.
They know who their stakeholders are and spend most of their time with them. They
build loyalty and trust by consistently delivering on their promise. Managers focus on the
structures necessary to set and achieve goals. They focus on the analytical and ensure
systems are in place to attain desired outcomes. They work with individuals and their
goals and objectives.
8. Leaders coach, managers direct - Leaders know that people who work for them have
the answers or are able to find them. They see their people as competent and are

Topic 3 Character Formation w/ Leadership, Decision Making, Management and Administration Prepared by: Jomel B. Pinera, Ph.D. Crim. Page 17
 optimistic about their potential. They resist the temptation to tell their people what to do
and how to do it. Managers assign tasks and provide guidance on how to accomplish
them.
9. Leaders create fans, managers have employees - Leaders have people who go beyond
following them; their followers become their raving fans and fervent promoters – helping
them build their brand and achieve their goals. Their fans help them increase their
visibility and credibility. Managers have staff who follow directions and seek to please
the boss.

Top 15 Leadership Qualities That Make Good Leaders

(https://blog.taskque.com/characteristics-good-leaders/)

1. Honesty and Integrity - The 34th President of United States, Dwight.D.Eisenhower

once said, “The supreme quality of leadership is unquestionably integrity. Without it,
no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in
an army, or in an office.” Honesty and integrity are two important ingredients
which make a good leader. How can you expect your followers to be honest when you
lack these qualities yourself? Leaders succeed when they stick to their values and core
beliefs and without ethics, this will not be possible.

2. Confidence - To be an effective leader, you should be confident enough to ensure that

other follow your commands. If you are unsure about your own decisions and qualities,
then your subordinates will never follow you. As a leader, you have to be oozing with
confidence, show some swagger and assertiveness to gain the respect of your
subordinates. This does not mean that you should be overconfident, but you should at
least reflect the degree of confidence required to ensure that your followers trust you as a
leader.

3. Inspire Others - Probably the most difficult job for a leader is to persuade others to
follow. It can only be possible if you inspire your followers by setting a good example.
When the going gets tough, they look up to you and see how you react to the situation. If
you handle it well, they will follow you. As a leader, should think positive and this
positive approach should be visible through your actions. Stay calm under pressure and
keep the motivation level up. As John Quincy Adams puts it, “If your actions inspire
others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” If
you are successful in inspiring your subordinates, you can easily overcome any current
and future challenge easily.

4. Commitment and Passion - Your teams look up to you and if you want them to give
them their all, you will have to be passionate about it too. When your teammates see you
getting your hands dirty, they will also give their best shot. It will also help you to gain
the respect of your subordinates and infuse new energy in your team members, which
helps them to perform better. If they feel that you are not fully committed or lacks
passion, then it would be an uphill task for the leader to motivate your followers to
achieve the goal.

Topic 3 Character Formation w/ Leadership, Decision Making, Management and Administration Prepared by: Jomel B. Pinera, Ph.D. Crim. Page 18
 5. Good Communicator - Until you clearly communicate your vision to your team and
tell them the strategy to achieve the goal, it will be very difficult for you to get the results
you want. Simply put, if you are unable to communicate your message effectively to your
team, you can never be a good leader. A good communicator can be a good leader.
Words have the power to motivate people and make them do the unthinkable. If you use
them effectively, you can also achieve better results.

6. Decision-Making Capabilities - Apart from having a futuristic vision, a leader

should have the ability to take the right decision at the right time. Decisions taken by
leaders have a profound impact on masses. A leader should think long and hard before
taking a decision but once the decision is taken, stand by it. Although, most leaders take
decisions on their own, but it is highly recommended that you consult key stakeholders
before taking a decision. After all, they are the ones who will benefit or suffer from your
decisions.

7. Accountability - When it comes to accountability, you need to follow the approach

highlighted by Arnold H Glasow when he said, “A good leader takes little more than
his share of the blame and little less than his share of the credit.” Make sure that
every one of your subordinates is accountable for what they are doing. If they do well,
give them a pat on the back but if they struggle, make them realize their mistakes and
work together to improve. Holding them accountable for their actions will create a sense
of responsibility among your subordinates and they will go about the business more
seriously.

8. Delegation and Empowerment - You cannot do everything, right. It is important for

a leader to focus on key responsibilities while leaving the rest to others. By that, I mean
empowering your followers and delegating tasks to them. If you continue to
micromanage your subordinates, it will develop a lack of trust and more importantly, you
will not be able to focus on important matters, as you should be. Delegate tasks to your
subordinates and see how they perform. Provide them with all the resources and support
they need to achieve the objective and give them a chance to bear the responsibility.

9. Creativity and Innovation - What separates a leader from a follower? Steve Jobs,
the greatest visionary of our time answers this question this way, “Innovation
distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” In order to get ahead in today’s fast-
paced world, a leader must be creative and innovative at the same time. Creative thinking
and constant innovation is what makes you and your team stand out from the crowd.
Think out of the box to come up with unique ideas and turn those ideas and goals into
reality.

10. Empathy - Last but certainly not the least, is empathy. Leaders should develop
empathy with their followers. Unfortunately, most leaders follow a dictatorial style and
neglect empathy altogether. Due to this, they fail to make a closer connection with their
followers. Understanding the problems of your followers and feeling their pain is the first

Topic 3 Character Formation w/ Leadership, Decision Making, Management and Administration Prepared by: Jomel B. Pinera, Ph.D. Crim. Page 19
 step to become an effective leader. Even that is not enough until you work hard and
provide your followers with the suitable solution to their problems.

11. Resilience - When the going gets tough, the tough gets going. You might have heard
this adage many times, but did you know that great leaders also follow this rule. They are
resilient and have a positive attitude. Irrespective of how difficult the circumstances
might be, you will find them rallying their followers. While most people are busy in
complaining about the problems, great leaders always focus on solutions, not the
problems.

12. Emotional Intelligence - Good leaders always have higher influence but how do they
increase their influence on the point where people accept what they say. They do this by
connecting with people emotionally. That is where emotional intelligence comes into
play.

Here are some of the reasons why a leader should be emotionally intelligent.

 Manage emotions effectively

 Better social awareness
 Seamless communications
 Conflict Resolution

With emotional intelligence, leaders can control their emotions, which prevents negative
emotions from influencing their decision-making skills. As a result, they are less likely to
make hasty decisions. Moreover, emotionally intelligent leaders are great at
understanding the emotions and care about the feelings of others. That is not all, leaders
who have this leadership quality not only handles conflict in a better way but also play an
important role in conflict resolution.

13. Humility - A good leader is always selfless and always think about his or her followers.
That is why the leadership styles most great leaders adopt put lots of emphasis on
problem-solving and team dynamics instead of focusing on self-promotion.

“Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real.”—Thomas Merton

14. Transparency - One of the best ways to win the trust of your followers is by being
transparent. Instead of hiding information, you should openly share it with them. By
giving visibility to your followers, they will buy into your vision and support you with
conviction in achieving the goal. More importantly, it gives your followers clarity,
autonomy and make them feel more empowered while keeping them engaged.

15. Vision and Purpose - Good leaders always have a vision and purpose. They not only
visualize the future themselves but also share their vision with their followers. When their
followers were able to see the big picture, they can see where they are heading. A great

Topic 3 Character Formation w/ Leadership, Decision Making, Management and Administration Prepared by: Jomel B. Pinera, Ph.D. Crim. Page 20
 leader goes above and beyond and explain why they are moving in the direction they are
moving and shares the strategy and action plan to achieve that goal.

“Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the
vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion.”—Jack Welch

Behavior and attitude of Trustworthy Leader

The behavior and attitude of a leader who is trusted by his/her group members and their
constituents are as follows:

a. Reliability
b. Truthfulness
c. Consistency
d. Walking the talk
e. Readiness to accept feedback
f. Confidence
g. Collaboration
h. Cooperation
i. Communication
j. Predictable

Personal Traits of a Leader

There have also been several personality characteristics or traits on which leadership has been
measured or assessed. Some of the traits generally associated by the leaders are as follows:

a. Assertiveness
b. Warmth
c. High tolerance for frustration
d. Charisma
e. Inspirational
f. Role model behavior
g. Responsibility
h. Review and follow up
i. Adaptability
j. Performance orientation
k. Skill development
l. Risk taking
m. Flexibility
n. Generous
o. Forgiving
p. Rational

Topic 3 Character Formation w/ Leadership, Decision Making, Management and Administration Prepared by: Jomel B. Pinera, Ph.D. Crim. Page 21
Interpersonal skills of a Leader

a. Empathy
b. Listening skills
c. Insight into people
d. Diplomacy and tact
e. Patience towards people
f. Concern for welfare of people
g. Emotional security
h. Non competitiveness with group members
i. Enthusiasm for people
j. Satisfaction in helping others grow
k. Interest in the development of group members
l. High expectations for each group members
m. Ability to give authentic feed back
n. Interest in people’s potential
o. Honesty and Integrity
p. Friendliness

Characteristics of Professional Managers

(file:///C:/Users/PC/Downloads/mc-101.pdf Dr. Karam Pal)

1. Managers are responsible and accountable - Managers are responsible for seeing that
specific tasks are done successfully. They are usually evaluated on how well they arrange
for these tasks to the accomplished. Managers are responsible for the actions of their
subordinates. The success or failure of subordinates is a direct reflection of managers'
success or failure. All members of an organization, including those who are not
managers, are responsible for their particular tasks. The difference is that managers are
held responsible, or accountable, not only for their own work, but also for the work of
subordinates.

2. Managers balance competing goals and set priorities: At any given time, the manager
faces a number of organizational goals, problems and needs all of which compete for the
manager's time and resources (both human and material). Because such resources are
always limited, the manager must strike a balance between the various goals and needs.
Many managers, for example, arrange each day's tasks in order of priority the most
important things are done right away, while the less important tasks are looked at later. In
this way, managerial time is used effectively.

A manager must also decide who is to perform a particular task and must assign work to
an appropriate person. Although ideally each person should be given the task he would
most like to do, this is not always possible. Sometimes individual ability is the decisive

Topic 3 Character Formation w/ Leadership, Decision Making, Management and Administration Prepared by: Jomel B. Pinera, Ph.D. Crim. Page 22
 factor, and a task is assigned to the person most able to accomplish it. But sometimes a
less capable worker is assigned a task as a learning experience. And, at times, limited
human or other resources dictate decisions for making work assignments. Managers are
often caught between conflicting human and organizational needs and so they must
identify priorities.

3. Managers think analytically and conceptually: To be an analytical thinker, a manager

must be able to break a problem down into its components, analyze those components
and then come up with a feasible solution. But even more important, a manager must be a
conceptual thinker, able to view the entire task in the abstract and relate it to other tasks.
Thinking about a particular task in relation to its larger implications is no simple matter.
But it is essential if the manager is to work towards the goals of the organization as a
whole as well as towards the goals of an individual unit.

4. Managers are mediators: Organizations are made up of people, and people disagree or
quarrel quite often. Disputes within a unit or organization can lower morale and
productivity, and they may become so unpleasant or disruptive that competent employees
decide to leave the organization. Such occurrences hinder work towards the goals of the
unit or organization; therefore, managers must at times take on the role of mediator and
iron out disputes before they get out of hand. Setting conflicts requires skill and tact.
Managers who are careless in their handling conflicts may later on find that they have
only made matters worse.

5. Managers make difficult decisions: No organization runs smoothly all the time. There
is almost no limit to the number and types of problems that may occur: financial
difficulties, problems with employees, or differences of opinion concerning an
organization policy, to name just a few. Managers are expected to come up with solutions
to difficult problems and to follow through on their decisions even when doing so may be
unpopular.

This description of these managerial roles and responsibilities shows that managers must
'change hats' frequently and must be alert to the particular role needed at a given time.
The ability to recognize the appropriate role to be played and to change roles readily is a
mark of an effective manager.

QUALITIES OF A GOOD MANAGER

(https://marketbusinessnews.com/financial-glossary/manager-definition-meaning/)

 Accountability
 Character
 Cultural affinity
 Prioritization

Topic 3 Character Formation w/ Leadership, Decision Making, Management and Administration Prepared by: Jomel B. Pinera, Ph.D. Crim. Page 23
  Warmth
 Patience
 Honesty
 Decisiveness
 Empathy
 Positive attitude
 Competence
 Flexibility

SOME OF THE COMMON TRAITS SHARED BY STRONG MANAGERS ARE:

 Being Able to Execute a Vision: take a strategic vision and break it down into a roadmap
to be followed by the team
 Ability to Direct: day-to-day work efforts, review resources needed and anticipate needs
along the way
 Process Management: establish work rules, processes, standards and operating
procedures
 People Focused: look after your people, their needs, listen to them and involve them

**END OF TOPIC 3**

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REFERENCES:

o https://www.forbes.com/sites/williamarruda/2016/11/15/9-differences-between-being-a-
leader-and-a-manager/#606bc7b94609
o http://www.vtaide.com/gleanings/leader.html
o https://www.go2hr.ca/retention-engagement/understanding-the-differences-leadership-vs-
management
o https://marketbusinessnews.com/financial-glossary/manager-definition-meaning/
o https://blog.taskque.com/characteristics-good-leaders/
o https://hbr.org/2004/01/managers-and-leaders-are-they-different
o file:///C:/Users/PC/Downloads/mc-101.pdf

Topic 3 Character Formation w/ Leadership, Decision Making, Management and Administration Prepared by: Jomel B. Pinera, Ph.D. Crim. Page 24