Conceptualisation of management and leadership
Abstract
Purpose
The divide in the conceptualisation of the terms “management” and “leadership” is not clear. The purpose of this paper is to explore the concepts of management and leadership.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach of the study followed a synthesis review and also applied content analysis, identifying the tasks constituting management and leadership respectively.
Findings
The findings of the literature review demonstrated that the concepts of management and leadership are intertwined. The word “management” has French and Italian roots, while the word “leadership” has Greek and Latin roots. Essentially, though, these words are synonymous. All of the tasks fall within the boundaries of management, while leadership tasks overlap with management. Unlike management, leadership has no distinct task that falls exclusively within its boundary.
Practical implications
Implications of the findings of the study include debate regarding how practising managers can know what is expected of them if the literature is unclear on the distinction between these concepts, and playing down the demonstrated need and relevance of management.
Originality/value
This paper is original as no previous work on management and leadership has attempted to compare the content of these concepts.
Keywords
Citation
Nienaber, H. (2010), "Conceptualisation of management and leadership", Management Decision, Vol. 48 No. 5, pp. 661-675. https://doi.org/10.1108/00251741011043867
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2010, Emerald Group Publishing Limited