Difference Between Project Manager and Project Leader
Project Manager and Project Leader are two roles that are well known in the corporate canvas. In the present scenario, more and more attention is being paid to leadership qualities and managers are being hired while keeping this quality in perspective. However there are huge differences between a project manager and a project leader.
Project leader leads a team and is a person who has been selected to monitor and manage the worker level and technical aspects of a project. A project manager is handles the project and does not necessarily have the technical knowledge like a project leader. It is the duty of the project leader to report to a project manager.
The focus of a project leader is on the internal aspect of a project and he is to make sure that his team is working properly to accomplish the project in a timely basis. But a project manager has to concentrate on the external side of the project and he has to ensure that the project is completed in time and also that the finished product /service is according to the requirements of the target customer.
Maxwell, in his book “The 360 degree leader” that released in 2005 wrote that the work duty of a manager lies with the processes and a leader deals with the people. Kotter said that manager is a person who should be dealing with organizing, staffing, controlling planning, budgeting, and problem solving. According to him a leader should be ideally involved with setting direction, aligning people, and in the process of motivating and inspiring this talent pool. Kotter believes that, management and leadership are two different terms each of which has its own characteristics and respective functional aspects. However, according to Kotter, both a project manager and a project leader are invaluable in the evolving and complex business environment.