Management and Leadership based on John Kotter

Management and Leadership
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Management and Leadership
John Kotter's article "What leaders really do" is an eye-opener to the importance of incorporating both management and leadership. Organizations are operating in extremely competitive environments. Businesses have to remain innovative to survive. Otherwise, they will close down. In such an environment, management and leadership emerge as critical in steering companies to the next level. However, balancing between managing and leading is sometimes challenging. Kotter seeks to address the problem of organizations that are overmanaged and underled. Drawing from his extensive experience, Kotter's article is outstanding and demonstrates what organizations should do to succeed. In this response, I will focus on areas that have interested me most from the article.
It is impressive how Kotter differentiates between management and leadership yet demonstrating that the two should complement one another. Kotter demonstrates that the two remain distinctive yet critical in the success of corporations. In today's complex business environment, it has become common to emphasize one aspect at the expense of another. Businesses, in an attempt to maintain their systems, may lean more on management. Such businesses only want to get things done, and management ensures that this is accomplished.
On the other hand, other businesses are going through a transition and would need leadership to effect it. Such a business may emphasize the leader to make sure that change happens while neglecting the role of management (Kotter, 2001). Kotter argues that strong leadership with weak management and vice versa is no better. The biggest challenge remains striking a balance between strong leadership and strong management (Kotter, 2001). Kotter acknowledges that it may not be possible for someone to be good at both leading and managing. However, successful companies value both aspects and strive to ensure that bot leaders and managers are part of the team.
I am challenged by Kotter's idea that executives need to align individuals as opposed to organizing them. Indeed, organizations have a form of interdependence since no single individual has complete autonomy. Because of the linkages in an organization, change can be difficult to implement. Without individuals moving in the same direction, Kotter demonstrates that people will eventually fall all over one another. In such a state, executives may be tempted to "organize" by creating systems that can implement plans (Kotter, 2001). They may address the design problem by implementing various ...