Linking Empowering Leadership and Employee Creativity

Question: Discuss about the Linking Empowering Leadership and Employee Creativity. Answer: Introduction: Effective leadership goes hand in hand with the proper management for effective achievement of organizational goals. For an enterprise to succeed, effective leadership and understanding of management skills by a practitioner are required. Leadership refers to the skills and ability of an individual to guide other people or organizations through social influence so as to achieve predetermined goals and develop a vision without the use of positional powers (Dalglish Miller, 2016, p. 12). Leadership uses motivation and inspiration to achieve set goals. On the other side, management refers to the administration of an entity by setting the strategies to be followed and coordinating efforts of different parties in the environment so as to accomplish its goals and objectives (Pluchnette, 2014, p. 15). The goals to get achieved are clearly defined and planned so as to avoid deviations. This essay discusses the similarities and differences between management and leadership. Even though they have different meanings, leadership and management have several similarities one of them is the aspect of controlling. They both enable organizations to have control of their activities so that they can operate in the right manner which will lead to the attainment of organization goals and objectives (Crevani, Lindgren, and Packendorff, 2010, p. 85). Both leadership and management show direction to be followed by the subordinates performing different tasks in the organization. This control helps a firm minimize conflicts in the business which may hinder attainment of core mission and vision. Another similarity is that both require some power. Leadership requires personal powers while management uses formal powers so as to lead effectively. Power is necessary for reinforcing the influence that both the managers and the leaders have in their organizations so that all functions may be executed according to the given instructions or set rules and regulation (Zhang and Bartol, 2010, 60). The power of leadership and management creates respect in the organization. Further, it brings unity of command and unity of direction in the running of organizational operations. Both leadership and management need to have goals and objectives. Although leaders formulate their goals and objectives in the process of leading, they must have a common goal they want to achieve before the journey of leading commences (Pluchnette, 2014, p. 15). On the other hand, managers try to achieve the set goals and objectives of the organization. The objectives prevent the team from pursuing other goals which may not be needed by the management or leadership of the organization. Leadership and management have many differences; while leadership uses informal influence to lead an organization, management uses formal authority to manage firms activities (Pluchnette, 2014, p. 14). Since some managers are not leaders by nature, they need formal authority so as to lead effectively and that is why they use a power associated with their position to lead the organization. Leaders use their personal powers to influence and control their subordinates effectively, and that is the reason leadership is more preferred than management. Leadership involves creativity and innovation while management is all about administering. Leaders come up with new ideas that can propel an organization to greater heights as they are not afraid of taking risks that are associated with trying out new challenges (Pluchnette, D.,2014, p. 14). On the other side managers prefer administering what is there rather than coming up with new ideas because they are afraid of failing to meet the set targets and by failing to do so they may be risking their jobs. Leadership focuses on people while management focuses on the system and structure. Leaders value human beings as the most important asset of the firm. This means that leaders do not aspire to attain the set goals and objectives by exploiting human resources, but they inspire the employee and make them see the big picture of the organization. The motivation of employees by leaders makes them feel and thus motivated to employ more efforts to improve the productivity of the firm (Tseng, 2015, p. 490). On the other hand, managers use all the means available to them to achieve the set goals. They respect the existing strategy of achieving goals even if they exploit people. They all follow the set structures of achieving their objectives to the latter, and they are afraid of changing them because of fear that the new structures and system may not help to achieve the goals like the other managers have done. Leadership relies on trust while management relies on control. Leaders inspire their people, and in the process, people have complete faith in them that they will deliver the expected output once they follow the instructions. Achievement of organizational goals set down by the leadership is to some extent based on the trust and respect shown by personnel to the leaders (Dussauge Laguna, 2013, p. 3). Managers rely on the control they have on their people, and if the given instructions are out their jurisdiction, the subordinates will not follow them, and the manager will not be able to enforce them as he has no powers to do so. The manager can only facilitate achievement of goals which he has skills to administer. Lack of control in the running of firms operations hinders a manager from achieving the goals set by the organization Leadership involves undertaking risks while management is all about avoiding risks. Leaders try different methods of making missions and visions so as to look for the most suitable method of doing a certain task and in the process, they may be able to discover better ways of accomplishing a certain task (Day et al., 2014, p. 77). They do so because they are not afraid of taking risks in the process of looking for better means of achieving set goals and also setting new objectives. Unlike leaders, managers avoid risks by always and that is why they follow the established standards, systems and structures of achieving goals. Managers do not deviate from the established policies and work procedures since they fear the deviation may cause the adverse financial effect to the value of the firm. In conclusion, leaders and managers are critical people when running organizations. They give firms the required control so that tasks can be performed well and this helps organizations achieve their set goals and objectives. The achievement of organizational goals is vital for enhancing market sustainability and competitiveness. Managers and leaders need to be skilled and knowledgeable about the current market environment when designing the strategic plans to get achieved in a given period. The importance of management and leadership cannot be ignored. Therefore, every business enterprise should recruit skilled leaders and managers to control and run the activities of the firm effectively and efficiently. References Crevani, L., Lindgren, M., and Packendorff, J., 2010. Leadership, not leaders: On the study of leadership as practices and interactions. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 26(1), pp.77-86. Dalglish, C. Miller, P.,2016. Leadership: Modernising our perspective, 2nd ed, Tilde Publishing, Graham, Vic.pp.11-13 Day, D.V., Fleenor, J.W., Atwater, L.E., Sturm, R.E. and McKee, R.A., 2014. Advances in leader and leadership development: A review of 25years of research and theory. The Leadership Quarterly, 25(1), pp.63-82. Dussauge Laguna, M.I., 2013. Cross-National Policy Learning and Management By Results: Chile and Mexico in Comparative Perspective, 1990s-2010s (Doctoral dissertation, Ph.D. Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science). Planchette, D.,2014. Four differences between managers and leaders, Plant Engineering, December, pp. 14-15 Tseng, C.Y., 2015. Changing headship, changing schools: how management discourse gives rise to the performative professionalism in England (1980s2010s). Journal of Education Policy, 30(4), pp.483-499. Zhang, X. and Bartol, K.M., 2010. Linking empowering leadership and employee creativity: The influence of psychological empowerment, intrinsic motivation, and creative process engagement. Academy of management Journal, 53(1), pp.107-128.