Management has been highlighted as an authority relationship to maintain the status quo through coordinating and controlling subordinate activities. This is where scholars part ways. Once the status quo is mentioned, it appears that management is stagnant and overly consuming in nature. It is not—management and leadership are one in the same; to be a good manager, a person also must be a good leader.
The table below summarizes some distinctions between leadership and management that have been posited by scholars over the last 10 years or so. The table indicates a dichotomy of management and leadership, but anyone can see that being both is much more important than being simply one or the other.
While the table shows the highlights of leadership versus management, there are times when everything in the table—on both sides—represents important functions of managers.
Although the current definitions of the concepts of leadership and management are somewhat different, these idealized definitions provide various viewpoints about leadership that could positively contribute to define the overall concept of leadership. Let us now define this thing called “leadership” as influenced interactions with groups of followers to implement changes and achieve the determined goals. That definition sounds a lot like management, and it should be, because leadership is a function of management. This controversy among academics has taken on new form. Scholars are experts in management and leadership, but few take pride in being scholars of both, except for Fayol, who falls into the category of a management historian.
The key takeaway for executives is that authentic leadership increasingly has become one of the most dominant paradigms today and will be used by many companies around the globe in the next five years.
Authentic Leader Competencies
Let’s look at authentic leaders and determine their competencies in an attempt to answer the question of how executives can become better at what they do by using the seven practices of authentic leadership. Much of what I share comes from my experience as a senior management consultant.
Seven practices have been determined for authentic leadership:
- Positive psychological capital
- Positive moral perspective
- Self-awareness
- Leadership process/behavior management
- Self-regulation
- Follower development
- Organizational context
It is important for executives to develop a positive work climate in which employees more effectively contribute to a company’s performance and competitive advantage. Executives also must have the desirable expertise about the authentic decision-making process, which identifies moral dilemmas, and then evaluates and selects the best available alternative to be implemented.
Furthermore, executives need to understand that authentic leaders continually understand their own beliefs, strengths, desires, values, and aspirations. These leaders can distinguish the processes and mechanisms whereby an authentic leader influences his or her followers. Authentic leaders can effectively influence their followers through various processes such as positive social exchange. Executives should at least be aware of self-awareness and self-regulation by which authentic leaders effectively align their core values and individual interests with institutional interests and their practices. In fact, a strong alignment can be achieved in values and goals by using a transparent process between leaders and followers. Executives are already aware that an authentic leader takes a coaching role for transforming and developing people.
Finally, it is important for executives to develop effective workplaces that promote the depth and range of knowledge access and sharing and provide equal opportunity for all employees at various levels of the company in order to actively respond to the constant changes occurring in external environment.
It would be beneficial for scholars to use this detailed picture of authentic leadership within organizations as a focal point, so academic scholarship can meet the needs of managerial implications at the higher echelons of organizations worldwide.
Mostafa Sayyadi works with senior business leaders to effectively develop innovation in organizations, and helps companies—from start-ups to the Fortune 100—succeed by improving the effectiveness of their leaders. He is a business book author and a long-time contributor to business publications.
