Air University Review, November-December 1982

Effective Managers Must Lead

As a student of management and a believer in leadership, I found it refreshing to read the article, "Promoting Leadership in the Air Force’s Management Environment," by Major Jeffrey C. Benton and the response by Dr. Richard I. Lester in the Fire Counter Fire section of the March-April 1982 Air University Review.

It was refreshing because since first entering the military in 1957, I have listened to and read the utterances of a wide variety of so-called experts on the subject. Most begin like Major Benton by carefully crafting a straw man called a manager. This manager is shown to be a cold, heartless, number-laden, results-oriented individual, incapable of a spark of human emotion and demonstrably unfit to lead. Fortunately, into this void steps a carefully molded, steely-eyed hero, strong of heart, sensitive, warm, and outgoing. This hero, usually called a leader, is quick, decisive, and right—or at least able to convince others that what he or she wants to do is worth doing. Unfortunately, this simplistic exercise in creating easy-to-use stereotypes results in a call for fewer managers and more leaders.

Dr. Lester, to his credit, does not fall into the trap of constructing a straw man. However, he does rather narrowly define management. I find it surprising that managers ". . . do not manage motivation, productivity, and personal aspirations." (p. 93) It is surprising because the managers I respect do exactly those things. Thus, in a more subtle way, Dr. Lester has created a straw man that implies managers do not do the things a leader must do.

This raises an obvious question. Could it be that the managers I respected were also leaders? That seems to be an explanation for the inconsistency between Benton’s and Lester’s writings and my experience. After further thought, an additional explanation seems to be more valid. That is, Good managers must and do exercise a great deal of leadership as they perform the functions of management. In fact, managers who do not possess leadership skills cannot hope to succeed as people managers.

The functions of management are generally identified as planning, organizing, directing, coordinating, and controlling. Others have listed such functions as staffing, communicating, etc., that in my opinion fit into the five functions without any problem. To assume that a manager can accomplish the planning, organizing, directing, coordinating, and controlling functions without having to consider motivation, productivity, and personal aspirations is so patently absurd as to make one wonder if we know what we are really talking about. It reflects the unfortunate but nonetheless widespread belief that being both a leader and a manager is not possible.

Simply put, you can manage things and people. However, effective people management requires an abundance of leadership skill on the manager’s part. The "manager" described in Benton’s article and implied in Lester’s is not an effective manager in any sense of the word. I could just as easily construct a "leader" straw man with the same faults. To do so would serve no valid purpose except to fan the flames of the leadership versus management fire. Rather it seems more productive to focus on areas of agreement with Benton and Lester. Both authors call for a greater emphasis on leadership development. I agree! Whether we in the Air Force can accomplish our mission depends on effective management of all our resources. People are the key resource, and to manage people effectively requires effective leadership. Benton says we need leaders. Lester says we can teach people to be leaders. I agree! But, if we want to do the best we can, we should train managers, and include in that training the leadership skills needed to manage in today’s Air Force. Any other approach would result in a fired-up gaggle following "leaders" who know not what, why, when, and with whom they are going to do anything.

Colonel Paul F. Murphy is Assistant Deputy Commander for Maintenance of the 351^st Strategic Missile Wing (SAC), Whiteman AFB, Missouri.

The conclusions and opinions expressed in this document are those of the author cultivated in the freedom of expression, academic environment of Air University. They do not reflect the official position of the U.S. Government, Department of Defense, the United States Air Force or the Air University.

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