The Oxford Dictionary defines “Management” as
“The process of dealing with or controlling things or people”
“The people managing a company or organization, regarded collectively”
In our industrialized and high technology world we need managers. Managers are people who will ensure that a group of people are organized and work together to achieve objectives. Managers organize resources to ensure processes perform to expectations. They provide leadership and goals for an organization to achieve.
There are many books and articles written on Management. A large number of these books and articles writes about the differences between a Manager and a Leader. The common view is that
“Leaders have people following them and Manager have people who work for them”
Trying to differentiate Managers and Leaders is like splitting straws. I am in the opinion that Managers will have to be good leaders and Leaders will have to have good managers to lead and manage a team of people. Nobody can be an effective Manager or Leader without being the other. To an extent I have would say that Leadership is a subset of Management. Google “Management” and you will get over 2.7 Billion sites and “Leadership” 0.8 Billion sites.
More knowledge and development have been in Management. It is believed that through the understanding and application of management skill and the use of management tools a person can learn become an effective manager. Over the lifetime people develop soft skills and emotional intelligent (EQ) skills. Combining these skills makes an person an effective manager.
Can a person become a leader without having management skills? Yes the person can but not an effective leader.
There a few well known management/leadership books that are recommended. They are:
- 7 Habit of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
- The One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard & Spenser Johnson
- Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim & Renee Mauborgne
- Built to Last by Jim Collins
- Good to Great by Jim Collins
- How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie
- In Search of Excellence by Thomas J Peters
- Reengineering The Corporation by Michael Hammer & James Champy
- The Goal by Eliyahu M Goldratt
- The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni
- Six Thinking Hats by Edward De Bono
- Jack: Straight From The Gut by Jack Welch
There are many more good management books that I hope to share some of their thoughts and ideas here that we have effectively used during our working career and consultancy projects.