Article Critique

The article, ‘the critical challenges facing New Zealand’s chief executives: implications for management skills’ are an interesting read. The paper is about the 2012 survey of 265 New Zealand chief executives. The article discuses the changing nature of human resource management practices in the large organizations of New Zealand. The initial hypothesis of the authors in the article was that human resource specialists need to focus on the development of managers, and take part themselves in development processes that bridge internal and external boundaries. In the article, authors explained that organizations should develop a culture where leaders could be developed. Today, the organizations do not only need the managers who can do the transactional work but also organizations need the leaders who can transform the organizations. After reading the article I agree that it is possible and desirable to be both a leader and a manager, and they should be one of the same.  Based from past experiences managers dictated what should be done, but failed to effectively give examples or properly direct the staff. Many contributing factors played a role to the outcome, for example the managers lack of knowledge, ability and leadership.  When a manger and leader are one of the same, this can maximize completing goals and task effectively, with minimal stress, high productivity and positive outcomes (Jensen & Scott, 2014). An effective manager that can give direction, provide examples, lead effectively if change needs to be implemented, and have vision.  The discussion of differences between leaders and managers at first comes across as somewhat semantic. At times it seems that the term manager is used to indicate a lesser form of leadership. Mesko & Kor (2013) clarifies this debate by arguing that leaders must be effective managers and effective managers will be good leaders.

One of the biggest strength of the article is its simplicity. In a simple yet powerful way authors explained the difference between managers and leaders and the relevance of it for chief executives of large firms. The main difference between managers and leaders is that managers have individuals who work for them and that leaders have individuals who follow them. A thriving business individual needs to be both a strong leader and manager to be able to have his team on board to follow him-her achieve the vision of success. However, according to Pluncknette (2014), the world is full of many good leaders, but there are a small number of managers who are leaders.  Managing is focused on getting the job done as efficiently as possible and controlling the work that is done.  Their focus is often on their goals and directing the employees to do what is policy driven or organizationally recognized.  Knowing the intricacies of the organization, policies and direction and having the ability to lead and motivate clients is the best of both worlds and having the traits of a leader and a managers should be the goal.

The writer believes there is fine line separating the calling of the manager and that of a leader. In today’s economy, organizations must emphasize on nurturing skills, developing talent, along with maximizing efficiency.  In an organization, managers and leaders have to work to define purpose to their employee rather than just a task. I agree that that being both a leader and manager is possible or desirable. Being both you have to be an example of a strong and positive role model to encourage, inspire, and motivate others to work to their full potential for success of you, them, and the organization. It is challenging to be both but not impossible whereas the both have to influence others and support the needs and concerns of others. The combination of good manager and good leader is rare and valuable, and far more useful than either one alone (Andersen, 2012). Leadership takes the ability to guide and influence others.  Important characteristics of an effective leader are sharp perception skills, responsiveness to others needs, organizational skills, good communicator, and the ability to motivate your team, and be good at setting goals. Authors highlighted that Leadership and management have a considerable number of differences. In fact, it is right to say that all leaders are managers in a certain way, however not all managers can be leaders. It is however in order to understand that the roles of planning, leading, organizing and controlling within an organization can be performed by both a leader and a manager in equal measure. That being said, there are challenges faced by both the leader and the manager with regards to the aforementioned roles. Seeing as how the managers role is one of controlling, they are tasked with the constant checking of processes to ensure things go as planned (Drew, 2013). When these processes go awry, the manager is generally on the receiving end. In respect to the leader, the challenges faced in controlling are that he or she must reconcile the personal interests of those under him/her with the organizational goals.

Personally, I would agree that managers and leaders are different and that to be truly effective the two must be combined to formulate the ideal manager/ leader. I do believe that there are many effective managers that are not good leaders and good leaders that are not very good managers. I had a manager who knew his job so well that he had it down without thinking but he never changed or adapted he did a good enough job and all the numbers and tasks were accomplished, however he never saw or wanted to see the bigger picture upper management let this happen only because his tasks were accomplished. He had minimal people skills and no vision to see what his department could have been. There are also leaders who do not manage well and rely on delegating to keep things on the right track. I am not saying this is ideal but the fact is there are leaders out there that cannot manage but are good leaders and managers that do a good job managing but not leading. Like I said earlier a blend of the two would be preferable. 

I personally believe that self-reflection is the single greatest need that we have as leaders. Without that all else is academic. Unless we can step back and measure ourselves realistically against these various theories and find those areas to improve then we cannot grow as leaders. In reference to leading, managers face the challenge of brining out the best in their employees in term of trust amongst others, on the contrary, leaders are faced with the challenge of balancing the needs of the organization as well as the needs of individuals (Sanborn, 2015). With reference to organizing, managers face the challenge of ensuring smooth coordination of workflows between differing departments, where as leaders are faced with the challenges of ensuring smoother coordination and the success of a given project at specified timeframes. Lastly, in regards to planning, managers are faced with the challenge of taking risks hoping to achieve a particular goal or objective. On the contrary, leaders are faced with the task of taking risks in pursuit of long-term goals and objectives. 

As a conclusion I can say that I would agree with the authors that that the world needs more managers who are also leaders. A lot of people can perform the tasks of manager, but to lead and motivate requires attributes that may not be inherent in everyone. With all the different models of leadership and strategies in management, it is important to remember the individual and tailor ones’ leadership and management style to the person. The challenges faced by both the managers and leaders are in one way or another quite similar. It is important however to understand that not all managers have the potential and ability to become leaders (Ou & Tsui, 2014). The article, clearly defines the leader and manager roles, identifying the differences and the challenges of both roles. I agree with the definition of each role, and feel that someone could serve in both capacities. I would have to say that it would become overwhelming and one person working in both capacities would be severely challenging and could damage the team, a team needs a manager and the manager and team need a leader. Both roles require a specific skillset one person trying to balance both positions will not be beneficial to anyone or the business. The traits and qualities of mentoring and helping displayed by leaders along with the direction and oversight of a manager should meld together to create a leader/manager with all qualities that develops trust and respect with subordinates to create long lasting relationships where short term and long term goals are shared by the team. 

Andersen, E. (2012). Manage or Lead? Do Both. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikaandersen/2012/04/10/manage-or-lead-do-both/#76f5b69d373c

Drew, S. and Coulson‐Thomas, C., 2013. Transformation through teamwork: the path to the new organization?. Team Performance Management: An International Journal.

Jensen, K., Scott, R.J., Slocombe, L., Boyd, R. and Cowey, L., 2014. The management and organisational challenges of more joined-up government: New Zealand’s Better Public Services reforms.

Hutchinson, A. & Boxall, P. (2014), ‘The critical challenges facing New Zealand’s chief executives: implications for management skills’, Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, vol.52, pp.23-41.

Kor, Y.Y. and Mesko, A., 2013. Dynamic managerial capabilities: Configuration and orchestration of top executives' capabilities and the firm's dominant logic. Strategic Management Journal, 34(2), pp.233-244.

Ou, A.Y., Tsui, A.S., Kinicki, A.J., Waldman, D.A., Xiao, Z. and Song, L.J., 2014. Humble chief executive officers’ connections to top management team integration and middle managers’ responses. Administrative Science Quarterly, p.0001839213520131.

Sanborn, M. (2015). Mark Sanborn.Marksanborn.com  from: https://www.marksanborn.com/blog/5-biggest-challenges-leaders-face/