Leaders versus managers essay and EI test guide
In a 1,500 to 2,000 word essay, explain the differences and similarities between leaders and managers, give three examples covering strong managerial skill, strong leadership skill and poor managerial skill with the effect on staff, and discuss your Emotional Intelligence Test scores and what you learned.
Editorial process
Last reviewed · August 14, 2026
Two roles, three examples, one honest self-assessment
The distinction is old and still useful if you state it precisely. Management is about producing predictability: planning, budgeting, staffing, organising, measuring against a standard and correcting deviation. Leadership is about producing change: setting direction, aligning people to it, and motivating through it. The similarities matter as much as the differences, because both require judgement about people, both are accountable for outcomes, and both need communication and credibility. The point worth making explicitly is that the two are not ranked. A unit run by an inspiring leader with no managerial competence runs out of supplies, publishes a rota nobody can plan around, and exhausts everybody; the reason poor management is worth an example of its own is that its damage is concrete and easy to describe. The essay is graded on the effect each style has on the people working under it, so keep the staff in view throughout.
The three examples need to be constructed rather than merely recalled, and the brief allows invented individuals, which is a genuine convenience since the third is somebody performing badly. For each one, the requirement is to discuss how the staff would be affected, so write the consequence rather than the character: the manager whose rota is published late, so nobody can arrange childcare and sickness rises; the leader who explains why a change is happening, so staff who disagree still implement it properly. Then the Emotional Intelligence Test section has its own instruction buried in it — the brief tells you a ten indicates strength and points to the interpretive guidance behind the scoring page. Report the scores, use that guidance to say what each subscale means, and connect your lowest one to a specific leadership situation you have handled badly. At five hundred words per prompt, that section is a third of the essay rather than a closing paragraph.
Likely learning objectives
Inferred from the brief — check these against your own rubric.
- 01Distinguish management as producing predictability from leadership as producing change.
- 02Identify what the two roles share as well as how they differ.
- 03Analyse the staff-level consequences of strong and weak practice in each.
- 04Interpret emotional intelligence subscale scores using the supplied guidance.
- 05Connect a self-assessment result to a specific leadership behaviour.
Read the full question
Review every instruction before using the planning guidance that follows.
Course-wide instructions that accompany this question
Important information for writing discussion questions and participation Hi Class, Please read through the following information on writing a Discussion question response and participation posts. Contact me if you have any questions. Assignment Different between leaders and managers Important information on Writing a Discussion Question Your response needs to be a minimum of 150 words (not including your list of references) There needs to be at least TWO references with ONE being a peer reviewed professional journal article. Include in-text citations in your response Do not include quotes—instead summarize and paraphrase the information Follow APA-7th edition Points will be deducted if the above is not followed Participation –replies to your classmates or instructor A minimum of 6 responses per week, on at least 3 days of the week. Each response needs at least ONE reference with citations—best if it is a peer reviewed journal article Each response needs to be at least 75 words in length (does not include your list of references) Responses need to be substantive by bringing information to the discussion or further enhance the discussion. Responses of “I agree” or “great post” does not count for the word count. Follow APA 7th edition Points will be deducted if the above is not followed Remember to use and follow APA-7th edition for all weekly assignments, discussion questions, and participation points. Here are some helpful links Student paper example Citing Sources The Writing Center is a great resource Welcome to class Hello class and welcome to the class and I will be your instructor for this course. This is a -week course and requires a lot of time commitment, organization, and a high level of dedication. Please use the class syllabus to guide you through all the assignments required for the course. I have also attached the classroom policies to this announcement to know your expectations for this course. Please review this document carefully and ask me any questions if you do. You could email me at any time or send me a message via the “message” icon in halo if you need to contact me. I check my email regularly, so you should get a response within 24 hours. If you have not heard from me within 24 hours and need to contact me urgently, please send a follow up text to. I strongly encourage that you do not wait until the very last minute to complete your assignments. Your assignments in weeks 4 and 5 require early planning as you would need to present a teaching plan and interview a community health provider. I advise you look at the requirements for these assignments at the beginning of the course and plan accordingly. I have posted the YouTube link that explains all the class assignments in detail. It is required that you watch this 32-minute video as the assignments from week 3 through 5 require that you follow the instructions to the letter to succeed. Failure to complete these assignments according to instructions might lead to a zero. After watching the video, please schedule a one-on-one with me to discuss your topic for your project by the second week of class. Use this link to schedule a 15-minute session. Please, call me at the time of your appointment on my number. Please note that I will NOT call you. Please, be advised I do NOT accept any assignments by email. If you are having technical issues with uploading an assignment, contact the technical department and inform me of the issue. If you have any issues that would prevent you from getting your assignments to me by the deadline, please inform me to request a possible extension. Note that working fulltime or overtime is no excuse for late assignments. There is a 5%-point deduction for every day your assignment is late. This only applies to approved extensions. Late assignments will not be accepted. If you think you would be needing accommodations due to any reasons, please contact the appropriate department to request accommodations. Plagiarism is highly prohibited. Please ensure you are citing your sources correctly using APA 7th edition. All assignments including discussion posts should be formatted in APA with the appropriate spacing, font, margin, and indents. Any papers not well formatted would be returned back to you, hence, I advise you review APA formatting style. I have attached a sample paper in APA format and will also post sample discussion responses in subsequent announcements. Your initial discussion post should be a minimum of 200 words and response posts should be a minimum of 150 words. Be advised that I grade based on quality and not necessarily the number of words you post. A minimum of TWO references should be used for your initial post. For your response post, you do not need references as personal experiences would count as response posts. If you however cite anything from the literature for your response post, it is required that you cite your reference. You should include a minimum of THREE references for papers in this course. Please note that references should be no more than 5 years old except recommended as a resource for the class. Furthermore, for each discussion board question, you need ONE initial substantive response and TWO substantive responses to either your classmates or your instructor for a total of THREE responses. There are TWO discussion questions each week, hence, you need a total minimum of SIX discussion posts for each week. I usually post a discussion question each week. You could also respond to these as it would count towards your required SIX discussion posts for the week. I understand this is a lot of information to cover in 5 weeks, however, the Bible says in Philippians 4:13 that we can do all things through Christ that strengthens us. Even in times like this, we are encouraged by God’s word that we have that ability in us to succeed with His strength. I pray that each and every one of you receives strength for this course and life generally as we navigate through this pandemic that is shaking our world today. Relax and enjoy the course!
Turn the brief into deliverables
- 01The differences and similarities between leaders and managers.
- 02An example of strong managerial skill, with staff effects.
- 03An example of strong leadership skill, with staff effects.
- 04An example of poor managerial skill, with staff effects.
- 05Your Emotional Intelligence Test scores and their interpretation.
- 06An essay of 1,500 to 2,000 words with title and reference pages in APA format.
The distinction, three people, then your scores
Management and leadership defined
Set out predictability against change, with the functions of each.
What they share
Identify the judgement, accountability and communication both require.
Strong management, and strong leadership
Give the first two examples and trace the staff effects.
Poor management
Give the third example and describe the damage precisely.
Your emotional intelligence scores
Report and interpret the subscales and connect one to your practice.
Leadership theory and emotional intelligence evidence
Recommended databases
- StatPearls via NCBI Bookshelf
- American Nurses Association
- AHRQ Patient Safety Network
- CINAHL
- The Emotional Intelligence Test and its interpretive guidance
Search sequence
- 1.Take the test and read the interpretive guidance before writing anything.
- 2.Read a current account of leadership and management functions.
- 3.Find evidence linking leadership behaviour to staff outcomes.
- 4.Draft the three examples as consequences rather than characters.
- 5.Allocate at least five hundred words to each of the three prompts.
Reference shortlist
These are authoritative starting points, not a ready-made bibliography. A qualified reviewer must confirm that each source fits the assignment and supports the claim beside which it is cited.
Nothing here is cleared for citation until you have read it.
- 01
Healthcare Professional Burnout
StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf · 2023
The staff-level damage poor management produces, described clinically.
- 02
Conflict Management in Healthcare
StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf · 2023
Where emotional intelligence subscales show up in actual leadership behaviour.
- 03
Culture of Safety
AHRQ Patient Safety Network · 2024
Evidence that leadership behaviour changes whether staff report and speak up.
- 04
Official Position Statements
American Nurses Association · 2024
Professional standards for conduct that the poor management example can be judged against.
Review before submission
Common mistakes
- Ranking leadership above management rather than distinguishing them.
- Describing the three individuals' personalities instead of the effects on staff.
- Using real identifiable colleagues when invented figures are permitted.
- Reporting the emotional intelligence scores without interpreting the subscales.
- Treating the self-assessment as a closing paragraph rather than a third of the essay.
- Falling short of the word count by writing one example in depth and two briefly.
Submission checklist
- Both differences and similarities are addressed.
- All three examples appear and each includes staff effects.
- The poor management example is as developed as the other two.
- Subscale scores are interpreted using the supplied guidance.
- A specific personal leadership situation is connected to a score.
- The essay meets the word count and includes at least three scholarly sources.
Use this guide to plan and review your own work. Follow your institution's rules and read our academic-integrity policy.
Written by
Aaron Bishop
MA, Education
assignment interpretation and research-methods coaching across disciplines
Aaron leads the EssayCrackers editorial desk. He works on how assignment briefs are read — what a rubric is actually asking for, and where students most often answer a different question than the one set.
Reviewed by
Dr. Nathan Cole
PhD, Rhetoric & Composition
Argumentation and thesis development
Nathan teaches first-year composition and directs a university writing center. He reviews EssayCrackers guides for argumentative soundness and citation accuracy.