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What Makes A Leader?

Decent Essays

A leader can be a manager, but a manager is not necessarily a leader. The leader of the work group may emerge informally as the choice of the group. If a manager is able to influence people to achieve the goals of the organization, without using his or her formal authority to do so, then the manager is demonstrating leadership (Allen, 1998). Great organizations are managed by people who have the necessary skills and attributes which allow them to connect with the organization and the people involved in the company. Managers must meet the many demands of performing their functions; managers assume multiple roles which include being a figurehead, leader, liaison, monitor, disseminator, spokesperson, entrepreneur, disturbance handler, …show more content…

Gemmy Allen says that the key point between leadership and management is the idea that employees willingly follow leaders because they want to, not because they have to (Allen, 1998). Managers and leaders have the unique ability to either inspire or suppress employees by handling different situations accordingly. Managers, who have the ability to lead, are able to motivate employees to accomplish tasks without direct intervention by the manager. Employees that are inspired work diligently, effectively and efficiently because they want to. The culture in an organization which has great leaders is uplifting and pleasurable to work in. Organizations with non-leading managers are likely to fail because the employees are not happy working there. The culture at my previous job with El Paso Natural Gas was not very fun to be in. The managers did not know how to lead during the merger and all of the employees were simply told what to do. Inspiration and motivation was replaced by fear of loosing your job and depression because the job became monotonous. Working there was one of the most horrible work experiences I have had. I believe the role of the manager in an organization is all of the above. To be an effective manager, they must be able to lead, organize, plan and control the employees and resources. Managers who are not capable of doing all of the functions of management well should not be in a management position. Creating and

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