Leadership and management both appear to have the same meaning, though they have some slight difference. Whereas leadership involves coming up with goals and policies on how an organization operates, the management means getting more involved in the daily activities and implementing the policies of the organization in the production process. The functions of both the managers and leaders are, however, related and in some cases, one individual or a group of individuals serve in the same capacity.
The theory of leadership and management has evolved greatly since the industrial era to the present time, known as the knowledge era. Before the industrial revolution, management was not manifested that much in organizations (McGrath, 2014). Mostly, the owner of the business would carry out almost all the duties such as coordination, planning, decision making, and controlling. But since the revolution, management has seen three distinct eras, which include execution era, expertise, and empathy era.
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Execution Era
With the beginning of industrial revolution, production levels began to rise from the small scale to mass production. Organizations were also rising in size. There was, therefore, the need to employ more control mechanism. The organizations could no longer rely solely on the control of the owners. The owners needed to employ the services of other people, termed as agents by the economists, or managers, by the rest. The importance of these managers was to help run and coordinate different organs or levels of production. For example, the managers executed the mass production process. They also provided managerial solutions in areas such as quality control, staff management, planning of workflow, and accounting management.
In the early stages of the industrial revolution, the firms that used the services of managers enjoyed benefits of operating at larger scales with little competition. An example is in America, where the Titans faced minimum challenges in the production of petroleum products, food and, steel. The owners of capital who acquired and expanded their scales of production thrived economically during this era (Witzel, 2016).
Expertise Era
After establishing the role of management in the organizations, revolution continued. There was the need to apply knowledge more in the management process to increase efficiency. Schools that dealt exclusively with business classes were established both in Europe and the US throughout the 1880s. In 1881, the first higher learning institution of business management was established in the United States, the Wharton School. Many more schools followed afterward (McGrath, 2014).
The introduction of knowledge-based management strategies marked the era of expertise in the history of leadership and management. Leadership involved using skills rather than the position of power. For example, staff management and motivation changed from following the rule of thumb to a more personal approach (Dalkir, 2017). In management, more theories were introduced by various writers such as Elton Mayo and Max Weber, who borrowed from the other fields like sociology. Statistical and mathematical approaches were introduced in the operations management. Peter Drucker, one of the first management specialists, contributed much to this era through his book, “Concept of the Corporation” (McGrath, 2014).
Empathy Era
Currently, organizations at different levels are experiencing the challenge of competition. The markets are demanding more from the businesses, regarding quality and services offered. The leadership and management theory, therefore, has also evolved to a more knowledge work system. Initially, management and leadership were as easy as making the staff produce goods and execute tasks according to the rule. This new era requires that more value is created by the workers and so, the use of information is necessary. The era has introduced the new issue of the relationship between the leader and the subordinate (Northouse, 2018).
The new theories of management involve more of staff motivation and engagement in various processes like decision making and also listening to their complaints. The era also involves the customers’ prioritization (McGrath, 2014). For example, the leaders and managers currently need to learn more about their customers, their preferences, and their cultural demands. This way, the leadership now applies both the acquired and innate skills to achieve success.
References
Dalkir, K. (2017). Knowledge management in theory and practice . MIT press.
McGrath, R. G. (2014). Management’s three eras: A brief history. Harvard Business Review Blog, https://hbr. org/2014/07/managements-three-eras-a-brief-history. Accessed March , 18 , 2016.
Northouse, P. G. (2018). Leadership: Theory and practice . Sage publications.
Witzel, M. (2016). A history of management thought . Taylor & Francis.
