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The Heart of Management

Sergio B. Gonzales

School Principal II/Cabiao National Senior High School

The roles being played by a manager is very significant towards the success of the organization. In his shoulders lies how he gets people to work together on a common system and platform in order to achieve the specific goals of the organization.  Minding the strategies how the objectives of his group will be accomplished, a manager performs challenging duties and responsibilities.

There are two types of managers, the boss and the leader. A boss refers to the authority who takes charge of people and their activities inside an organization.  He or she possesses power to control his/her employees, gives orders, designate sign tasks and duties to them. In most of the times, He/she is entitled to decision making on many important matters. On the other hand, a leader is an individual who possesses capability to influence by motivating and inspiring others in order to attain their common goals.  He or she uses his position not to control but to leads others by example (Small Wars Journal).

According to Bolduc (2019), a boss is an authority who is inclined in status quo. This means that he or she least thinks of changes for he or she believes that following the procedures and creating managerial means of leading are enough to ensure the success of the group. Meanwhile, a leader is constantly engaged in finding ways improve the performance of his/her followers as well as the organization’s. He/she believes that changes will provide upgrading and enhancement that leads to better performance.

Hughes, Ginnett and Curphy concluded that leader versus boss concerns have something to do with competence and incompetence. Studies reveal that not all managers are competent. There might be more incompetent managers than competent. While a boss may be lacked of knowledge, skills and competence in handling an organization, a leader has the characteristics and traits needed to prevail over his incompetence.

A boss owns credits for accomplished tasks. He believes that the way he/she directs his/her people as well as the organization is the sole reason of attaining the targets of the group. This is totally different from the views of Michael Edwards. In his article (2015), Edwards defined a leader as a person who motivates people by recognizing and acknowledging all efforts exerted to accomplish the goals and objectives of the organization. He believes that appreciation and recognition boost the morale of people leading them give their best efforts needed in getting the tasks done.

Surbhi (2016) defined the significant differences between a boss and a leader. Here are his findings.

  • A boss is an authority who orders his/her employees what to and believes that his/her authority can control people. A leader is a person who influences and leads people by inspiring, motivating, encouraging and supporting a group of individuals. He/she involves himself/herself  in working continuously to achieve the goals of the organization.

  • A boss considers people his/her employees on the contrary, a leader considers people his/her followers.

  • A boss governs the organization by rules and fears while a leader inspires and empowers by trusting people.

  • A boss earns respect because of his power, authority and control over people, but a leader gains respect for himself/herself. Thus he is respected by people because of his character.

  • A boss always focuses on profits and results.  Conversely, a leader minds his/her people on doing their duties and tasks.

  • A boss always tries to control everything, unlike a leader who shows commitment, dedication and determination to accomplish things.

  • A boss bases his/her decision making on standards, organization’s norms, rule and regulations. This is contrary to a leader decides based on values and principles.

  • A boss delegates tasks and assigns responsibilities to people.  In opposition, a leader shows trusts to people by delegating authorities.

  • A boss blames people for the breakdown and failures. In contrast, leader takes full responsibilities for breakdowns but identifies what goes wrong and fixes everything to correct the wrong.

Fulfilling the tasks, duties and responsibilities is a component critical in ensuring the success of an organization. In doing so, it requires a manger to possess knowledge, skills and competencies. But most importantly, a manager must have spirit that considers character, values and principles in accomplishing what has to be done.

The shoulders of a manager must be strong enough to carry the responsibilities of good management. But, his/her heart must be stronger in doing the job.