Week 2: Distinguishing leadership
Introduction
Leadership is a popular word with positive associations. However, all too often when people say they are practising ‘leadership’, they’re actually doing something different. This something else is usually a more traditional form of management, or it could perhaps be described as simply bossing people around. Attaching an exciting word like ‘leadership’ to very different practices can erode trust, breed cynicism and, worst of all, sometimes act as cover for harmful activities.
Therefore, in this week of study you will learn how to distinguish leadership from two practices that are commonly confused with it: management and command. You will begin this week by engaging with these two terms, learning their definitions and identifying strengths and weaknesses, before considering how they might work alongside leadership. Distinguishing between leadership, management and command will help you better evaluate when each may be necessary, and how each can be improved.
Finally, you will engage with a case study, that of the great US civil rights leader Rosa Parks and the Montgomery bus boycott. You will do some thinking about elements of leadership, management and command demonstrated in the story. This story will then be used as a point of reference for ideas introduced in later weeks.
By the end of this week, you should be able to:
- describe and analyse the main features of management and command so that you are better positioned to identify them in practice
- critically evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of management and command in relation to leadership
- analyse the diverse qualities of leadership, via reflection on the practice of a major civil rights activist.