Explain how leadership differs from management.

Using leadership
theories (at least one), how can a Prime Minister of a Caribbean
country best lead his/her management team (i.e. other Ministers) in
fulfilling their roles and work portfolios in the country?

Leadership is about getting people to understand and believe in your

vision and to work with you to achieve the goals of the organization
while management is the art or skill of getting things done through
people efficiently and effectively to achieve organizational goals.
Leadership and management . A Prime Minister is the manager of the
country who responsibly carries out the four most important functions
of management which are planning, organizing, leading, and
controlling. In that essence he or she is the leader of the country.
Leadership includes the responsibilities of management which
includes communication, motivation, providing inspiration and
guidance and encouraging employees to rise to a higher level of
productivity. Leadership styles can have insignificant impact on an
organization. Without proper leadership to lead the followers and to
provide guidance through actions and effective communication, it
would rather be difficult to reach the mutual goals of the organization.
Hence, leadership style refers to the approach taken by a leader
alongside the leadership styles that he or she possesses to influence
followers to ensure an organization achieve its goals.
The success and retention of Party leadership is significantly
influenced by the Prime Minister’s leadership and management style.
The extent to which a leader is functional or dysfunctional will
ultimately have a significant impact on his success or failure as a
leader. This is particularly true for political leaders who need the
support of fellow members of their party or other key actors who have
influence over the process of electing or deposing the leader. A Prime
Minister’s performance is greatly influenced by the quality of the
relationship he or she has with colleagues and staff.
 However, there are some common theories which were
developed to explain leadership effectiveness in an organization. One
of the earliest theories developed was the trait theory. This theory of
leadership focuses on identifying different personality traits and
characteristics of a successful leader. Some of these traits are
described as the drive, a desire to lead, honesty and integrity, self-
confidence, intelligence, job relevant knowledge and extraversion. In
that light, the trait theory can be inextricably linked to the leadership
style of a Prime Minister. However, these seven traits systematically
link to leaders’ propensity to challenge or respect constraints, their
opened to information and advice, the structure of their advisory
systems, the quality of decision-making processes and the policies
leader choose for their country.
The second theory was the behavioural theory which according
to Robbins and Coulter are leadership theories that identified
behaviours that differentiate effective leaders from ineffective leaders.
The University of IOWA studies discovered three types of leadership
styles which are the autocratic leadership style, which is a leader who
tended to centralize authority, dictate work, methods, make unilateral
decisions and limit employee participation. The second is the
democratic leadership style, which is a leader who involves
employees in decisions, delegates authority and uses feedback and
coaching for employees and last but the least the laissez-faire
leadership style. A leader who lets the group make decisions and let
the employees make decision in whatever way they see fit is
considered to be the laissez-faire leadership style.
From my observation I have concluded that our current Prime
Minister of Barbados follow the trait theory of leadership and certain
aspects of the behavioural theory of leadership. Generally, Prime
Ministers have a high need for power which gives them that drive to
exhibit a high effort level, high levels of ambition, energy and
initiative. They also have a string desire to lead others to reach shared
goals and that is the boost for the economy and a better living for the
citizens of the country and possessing this kind of trait is a strength
for a Prime Minister. Their followers must be trustworthy, reliable
and open between them and their leader. They are self confident in
whatever they do and must have the ability to make constructive
decisions. They must be capable of exercising good judgement, strong
analytical abilities and conceptually skilled. Our Prime Minister have
a very high degree of knowledge about the country and its needs
which helps her to make well-informed decisions. And finally she is
energetic, lively a very sociable which help makes her the great leader
that she is.
The traits approach gives rise to questions as to whether leaders
are born or made and whether leadership is an art or science.
Leadership may be something of an art; it still requires the application
of special skills and techniques. Even if there are certain inborn
qualities that make one a good leader, these natural talents need
encouragement and development. A person is not born with self-
confidence. Self-confidence is developed, honesty and integrity are a
matter of personal choice, motivation to lead comes from within the
individual, and the knowledge of business can be acquired. While
cognitive ability has its origin partly in genes, it still needs to be
developed. None of these ingredients are acquired overnight.
Possessing these traits to help manage the country is not all that
is needed to manage the country. One person cannot run country on
their own. There are many different sectors of the economy that
special attention needs to be paid to. This is where the democratic
style of leadership comes in to fill that gap. As stated earlier, the
democratic style of leadership is where the leader tends to involve
employees in the decision making process, delegate authority,
encourage participation in deciding work methods and goals and use
feedback as an opportunity for coaching employees.

If a prime minister wishes to have a major reshuffle of the ministry, the usual
method is to ask all ministers for their resignations. Reshuffles can be used to shift
poor performers to less important portfolios, or to promote the better-performing
ministers. In those parties where the selection of ministers is left to the prime
minister, a reshuffle can be used to promote promising backbenchers, or to put
unsatisfactory ministers (or ministers the prime minister finds incompatible) out to
pasture on the backbench. Of course the prime minister again has to consider the
likely reaction of his party.

Government is a strategic actor clothed with legislative authority and

the only actor that can change the rules by legislation. The
government commands the necessary resources to engage the social
partners and civil society, in good faith encounters, in the
development of national economic and social policy. It can establish a
well-resourced secretariat to provide the required research and
technical support. This requires political will and leadership on the
part of government, and the commitment of the key stakeholders.