Leadership Management, Role of Ethics, and Developing Leadership Skills

Leadership Reflection
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Leadership Reflection
Leadership involves a broad number of aspects with regard to institutions. Being a process, leadership emerges as a trait in an individual who is in a position to lead others. However, it is worthwhile noting that leadership is significantly different from management. While leadership involves an intrinsic approach that considers the state of others, management only espouses a role provided to achieve a target. As a result, leaders influence others to work and perform while managers give direction on achieving performance (Ciulla, 2014). The concept of leadership thus provides a better understanding of the appropriate methods of inspiring others to work towards achieving common goals without the need to maximize its use to enhance organizational success.
Leadership and Management at a Glance
Leadership provides an opportunity for individuals to use their positions effectively to institute viable changes. Leadership is not in-built and has to be developed over a long period through which one learns how best to approach situations in an organization. By being a leader, an individual is assigned a position of authority over others. Hence, the approach one takes from such a point determines their leadership style (Continuum, 2021). While most people in these positions view themselves as great leaders, most are simply managers hired to achieve set targets.
The manager position emanates from a professional designation; hence people are inclined to follow them due to such a position of power. Since their duties are part of a job description, most managers follow the set guidelines for their duties and handling subordinates. Consequently, a manager may not qualify to be a leader since the focus lies in meeting the organizational goals and objectives (Continuum, 2021). However, managers can display leadership traits if they use their position to influence others to work and increase their productivity due to their power and their ability to encourage them through appropriate communication and motivation methods.
Noting these differences, it becomes clear that most leaders that I have encountered are simply managers. While this may not be an issue in a majority of the instances, having the ability to influence others resonates more with such positions of power in organizations. Therefore, I would rather work under a leader as opposed to a manager since I would feel better if I am encouraged to not only fulfill the organization’s goals but also fulfill my own during the process. More so, the use of control to bring out the best in people ultimately leads to distrust instead of pushing employees to be at their best. Therefore, leadership plays a major role in management by creating an environment where employees can thrive. In my opinion, the best manager in an organization is a leader who will be supported by their subordinates whenever a problem occurs since they were fully involved in the process leading up to it.
Role of Ethics in Leadership
Ethics form an important part of leadership since they require an individual always to do the right thing. From the course material on ethics, people choose to do the right thing f...