Leadership and Management
Leadership and management have been comprehended differently by many people. The concepts are often used interchangeably in various contexts despite the significant difference in meanings. Leadership is defined as the process where an individual has an influence on a group of people with a common objective. On the other hand, management refers to the exercise of executive powers, and supervisory direction within an organization or on a certain group of individuals.
These concepts have many similarities in that they involve influence, working with other people, and working to achieve a common goal. However, these concepts are different as far as their primary functions are concerned. Leadership involves the use of interpersonal skills to influence others with the aim of achieving a common goal. Leaders are entitled to be sincere and energetic in their duties. Moreover, leaders need to be risk takers. Contrarily, the primary function of management is to generate order and consistency in the way of processes such as financial planning. Additionally, a manager is required to perform certain tasks and has defined roles (Ali, 2004). As such, an effective nursing manager needs to be competent in resource coordination and adhere to rules.
The main objective of leadership has often been to create change and improve the outcomes. However, there have been differences in the responsibilities of leadership and management hence the overlap. In this regard, an individual is often required to possess effective leadership and managerial skills. In the healthcare sector, nurses have often been leaders as well as managers. In recent years, health changes have been experienced making the nurses’ responsibilities more significant. They have engaged in independent critical thinking and effective listening abilities. Moreover, leaders and managers are required to predict the future for the effectiveness of their organizations (Bohoris&Vorria, 2008). Nurse managers and leaders should explore the practice more despite the changes being experienced. They should also acquire adequate knowledge about the practice by reading nursing journals. As a nurse leader, I can create change by significantly influencing the employees through communication lines and engaging them in organizational leadership and management issues. Moreover, I can establish an effective working culture that aims at improving the quality of healthcare services to boost the health status of the patients.
In a nutshell, management and leadership concepts have often been challenging as many still consider managers to be leaders and the exact opposite is also true. As such, models and structures need to be established to differentiate between the two within the organizations.
References
Ali, S. (2004). Leadership and management-are they alike?. Bulletin of Education & Research, 26(2). Retrieved from https://ecommons.aku.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://scholar.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1138&context=pakistan_ied_pdck
Bohoris, G. A., & Vorria, E. P. (2008). Leadership vs Management. Business Excellence/Per. Retrieved from https://osila4real.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Leadership-vs-Management.pdf