Management and Leadership

People often refer to managers as the leaders of an organization. Leadership and Management are two complementary systems of action, which both are necessary for an organization to thrive, but they are not the same. Although you would think that in order to successfully manage, one must first be a leader, many managers do not possess the qualities and skills needed to be a leader.

Leadership is defined as the process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task or goal. They often have a new vision or direction set for the group and serve as the spearhead for the process of reaching the desired goal within the organization. They possess the ability inspire, motivate, and influence others within their organization and have an infectious passion for excellence and absolute commitment to their team, helping them to achieve their goals. Some of the most important qualities a leader must possess include but are not limited to:

1. Having a Vision: They are always looking for ways to improve his/her organization. If they do not have the authority to act on an improvement opportunity, they find someone who is able to do so.

2. Being able to Develop: A leader develops his employees by rewarding them. They give them more responsibilities, giving them a sense of "worth".

3. Being Respectful: Leaders abide by the golden rule, "treat others as you would expect to be treated". Leaders are selfless individuals, whereas managers are often selfish caring only about what is in it for them.

4. Being Trustworthy: Leaders earn the trust of their team member over time. They accomplish this by sticking to their word, admitting when they have made a mistake, and being honest in their relationship with others.

5. Instilling a Sense of Purpose: Leaders instill a sense of purpose in their team members by making them know the importance of their job as it relates to the organization. This often results in employees wanting to do their job to the best of their ability rather than feeling as if their job is just something they have to do.

Management is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively. They control and/or direct people and resources in a group according to the principles and values that have already been established for an organization, ensuring the policies, procedures, and values of the organization are understood and executed by all employees under his/her direct supervision.

Leaders and managers perform different tasks, but their functions do coincide with each other. Most organizations cannot afford to have leaders who cannot manage and managers who cannot lead. Leaders are usually in top management positions. In larger organizations, such as the Tuscaloosa VA Medical Center (TVAMC), they often have "chief" in their job title, e.g., Chief of Environmental Services or Chief of Nursing. Managers usually have the word "manager" or "supervisor" in their title, e.g., Unit Manager or Housekeeping Aide Supervisor. The Director, the top rung of most corporate management ladders--have the most even mix of management and leadership responsibilities.

In order for an organization to maintain a healthy organizational culture, a good leadership role is very important. The leaders are the ones within the organization that make the decisions about the organizational design. They have to focus on their leadership role, and not managing the operational life of the organization. They have to be sure about their role in the organization and recognize the level of importance of the daily tasks. Leaders set the Strategic visions and basic rules for the organizational design, monitoring the development of the organization making sure it is what they want and need it to be.

In a healthy organizational culture, managers accept the strategic direction derived by the leadership team and find ways to carry it out. Leaders communicate clearly and honestly, and establish goals. Managers will accept direction from leaders and add to it, adding what is needed to it and providing the leaders with the resources necessary to achieve the desired results of the strategic vision. They will honestly communicate successes and failures to the leadership team, to help keep the vision in sync with reality.

One example of the way the TVAMC maintains a healthy organizational culture is within the implementation if Culture Transformation. The Director, Chiefs, Managers, and regular employees all work together to achieve this goal. There are several managers within each service line, who work under the Chiefs. The Managers appoint regular employees as Leaders within their work group. Leaders are responsible for building teams, referred to as Culture Transformation Work Groups, and setting goals for the team, working with the team members to achieve their set goals. The teams within the service lines meet once a week to set goals, discuss resources needed, and share ideas on how to achieve these goals, and delegate responsibility to each employee so that these goals can be achieved. They communicate ideas and goals to the "Unit Managers" or "Supervisors", and they communicate them to the Chief of the service line, getting approval to implement the ideas within the individual unit. At the last meeting of the month, two employees are chosen from each individual work group to attend the facility wide monthly Culture Transformation Work Group Meeting. Here, they share with upper management, Director, Chiefs, Managers, and other service lines the progress being made within the workgroup, what did and what did not work for the work group, and to get ideas from other groups in other service lines.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word "globalization" was first noted in a publication entitled Towards New Education in 1930, to denote a holistic view of human experience in education. When used in an economic context, it refers to the reduction and removal of barriers between national borders in order to facilitate the flow of goods, capital, services' and labor... although considerable barriers remain to the flow of labor. Simply put, globalization can be described as the expansion of companies across borders through mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures and subsidiaries.

Globalization within an organization affects management and leadership in many different ways. It affects the market and customer base, international employee transfers, competition, and provides employees with an increase in opportunities. Before organizations began to globalize, they usually only considered the customer base and market to be within their own county. Due to globalization,