Management and Leadership

Your name

School Affiliation

Management and Leadership

Introduction

In a software project, management and leadership must be applied effectively. The two aspects are relatively different but they complement each other. As such, separating the two aspects would lead to more problems in the project than solutions (Fairley & IEEE Computer Society, 2009). Managing and leading differ in different ways relating to roles, systems and the teams. Comparatively, this work categorizes some of the major ways in which management differs from leadership.

Administration and innovation

Leaders focus on innovation within the project whereas managers focus on administration. Administration in a software project involves the allocation of duties among the team members to ensure smooth running. Managers are expected to manage the project in terms of the risks, team, budget and conflicts.

Managers are focused on structure and systems; leaders are focused on the team

Managers are responsible for ensuring that all elements of the system function properly and that effective structures are in place to ensure that all activities are carried out as required. Contrary to this, leaders focus on the people in a team rather than the structure. Understanding the functionality of the system helps managers to organize their teams as they have a better comprehension of the system’s weaknesses and strengths.

Managers depend on control; leaders focus more on trust

Managers require controlling all aspects of the project as they are the answerable party in relation to its success or failure. However, leaders place more emphasis on building trust among their team members and exploiting this trust to improve productivity. Incorporation of control and trust at standardized levels would be significant in ensuring that the team is governed accordingly.

Managers’ actions in maintaining team’s morale

In a software project, it is impossible to differentiate between leadership and management. Both concepts are important in a supervisor as they help to ensure a positive attitude within the team while guaranteeing that the systems and structures function appropriately. Supervisors with both leadership and management skills prove to be effective as they not only assign tasks to team members, but they also define each member’s purpose in the project. Organization of team members is also important as it maximizes the team’s efficiency, develops talent, nurtures different skills and also inspires positive results (Fairley & IEEE Computer Society, 2009). These help to guarantee job satisfaction in the workplace and consequently a positive attitude towards the task.

Conclusion

It is important for project supervisors to focus on implementing both managerial and leadership roles in the project to ensure positive results. Managers ensure that all rules are followed and that all the necessary tools for the project’s success are implemented. Contrary, leaders help to motivate the team and guarantee that all needs of the members are met to increase productivity.

References

Fairley, R. E., & IEEE Computer Society. (2009). Managing and Leading Software Projects. Los Alamitos, CA: IEEE Computer Society.