1. C2C Christopher C. Corbett (USMA)
December, 12, 2013
Management v. Leadership: A USAFA Cross-Comparison
As a vigorous, passionate, and studious exchange cadet from West Point I have had the
unique opportunity of sampling the flavors of both the Management and Behavioral Sciences and
Leadership departments. My experience has not only been worthwhile and intellectually
stimulating thereby further exacerbating my drive for learning and affirming my decision to be a
Management major, I have observed a plethora of similarities between my courses and have
effectively harnessed their interdependence to produce results and solidify my passion. I believe
this article will be beneficial for those thinking about either a MGT or BS&L major. With my
limited understanding so far, I will briefly outline the institutional differences between USAFA
and USMA in regards to the core curriculum and the respective departments and how they are
organized. I will then detail the overlap of course material, illustrate the differences between the
two majors, and then culminate my discussion with why they both hold their respective values to
both a student and to the everyday world outside the academy.
The institutional structure of the departments is important to understanding how closely
these two disciplines correlate. While USAFA has two distinct departments, the MGT major is
incorporated into the larger BS&L dept. at USMA which encompasses everything from
Sociology to Engineering Psychology to a specific Leadership major. This conglomerate of
majors shows that the upper echelon of academic leadership (the Dean and his staff) recognize
the strong ties between all these majors and thereby organize them under one singular
department. This is a testament to the magnitude of correlation between leadership and
management in that they are seemingly interchangeable topics. However, I advocate the USAFA
approach in that, despite their interdependence, each discipline houses nuances that the other
fails to address. This separation of departments gives each the autonomy to control its grading
system. This has personally benefitted me through a curved grading scale here at USAFA. The
other major difference I have noted is that at USAFA there is a core requirement for both
leadership (BS310) and management (MGT400), whereas West Point only has PL300 (the
BS310 equivalent) in its core curriculum. While I did not get the chance to take MGT 400, I’m
sure it is a beneficial class. As my discussion has indicated I firmly believe in the separation of
the two classes and like the fact that students are required to take both in order to see the distinct
differences between the two disciplines and how both are vital to an officer’s career. The key
takeaway is that despite their differences, both disciplines share more objectives and ideas than
one would think.

2. A Correlated Curriculum
The fusion between both disciplines is evident after my experiences with both this
semester. This correlation aided my ability to apply the material and had a multiplicity effect on
my ability to internalize the concepts and perform on my graded assignments. The first similarity
that triggered a cognitive recognition was the existence of bases of power in how one interacts
with the people in their organization and chain of command. The MGT345 text identifies that
“Within each organization a manager’s power is determined by his or her position and personal
power, his or her individual actions, and the ability to build on combinations of these sources.”1
Additionally, “A leader’s ability to influence others stems from his or her perceived ability to
exercise reward, coercive, referent, expert, and/ or legitimate power. It has been suggested that a
leader’s power base is not the simple sum of the various sources of power that he or she is
capable of exercising. Instead, it appears as though there is a synergistic effect that stems from
some combinations of power.”2 The fact that both courses emphasize the importance of a
personal power vs. positional power approach was effective in my role as an element leader and
helped me gain high commitment levels as a result of implementing this tactic.
(MGT 345) (BS310)
1
Schermerhorn, John R., JR.. MGT 345 - Fall 2013 eText for US Air Force Academy. Wiley Custom Select,
7/22/13. <vbk:9781119918813#page(240)>.
2 Team 310. “Beh Sci 310: Foundations ofLeadership Development.” Dept. of Behavioral Sciences and Leadership
w/ McGraw-Hill Inc. (2013): E-text.

3. The next comparison is the use of satisfaction and motivation theories. In both MGT345
and BS310 we discussed multiple motivational theories and the link between satisfaction and
performance both individual and organizational. BS310 frames summarizes the correlation
between satisfaction, motivation, and performance as, “an adequate level of motivation may be a
necessary but insufficient condition of effective performance…The best leaders may be those
who can motivate workers to perform at a high level while maintaining an equally high level of
job satisfaction.”3 MGT345 illustrates this multi-faceted relationship by claiming Satisfaction
results when rewards received for work accomplishments are performance contingent and
perceived as equitable.”4 We can therefore see that both courses hammer home the notion that
high performance leads increased satisfaction levels and that paradoxically high satisfaction and
motivation does not always lead to high performance. While both satisfaction and performance
are contingent upon one another both courses insinuate that high performance is the primary
driver of satisfaction on all levels. The concepts of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, goal-setting
theory, empowering your employees/subordinates, and the three forms of justice are all definitely
translatable and nearly identical in both courses emphasizing the close nature of both disciplines
and how these concepts are applicable to manager/leader action in both realms of control.
(BS310)
(MGT345)
More than what meets the eye
You might ask yourself why if both courses are so similar then why are there two
separate courses and majors at the academies. While it seems viable to combine two similar
3 Team 310. “Beh Sci 310: Foundations ofLeadership Development.” Dept. of Behavioral Sciences and Leadership
w/ McGraw-Hill Inc. (2013): E-text.
4 Schermerhorn, John R., JR.. MGT 345 - Fall 2013 eText for US Air Force Academy. Wiley Custom Select,
7/22/13. <vbk:9781119918813#page(310)>.

4. classes (i.e. BS310 and MGT345 or MGT400) or even create a singular hybrid
management/leadership major due to these similarities, it holds that both contain vital
components that the others do not. I have gained newfound knowledge in the specific lawsuits
and legal background governing organizational behavior in MGT345. MGT 345 has also
broadened my understanding of how to create organizational change through “transformational
leadership”. While BS310 takes the “four I’s approach” (individualized consideration,
intellectual stimulation, inspirational motivation, and idealized influence), MGT 345 defines
transformation change as “results in a major and comprehensive redirection of an organization”5
and uses Lewin’s three phase model of unfreezing, changing, and freezing to effect a change.
While both means achieve the same ends, they are by nature different. BS310 is more
individually focused on specific individuals whereas management teaches you how to affect a
large scale change. This is proof that even though there exists two alternate definitions and
methods to achieve change, both are important, effective, and quintessential in their own way.
(MGT345) (BS310)
Lastly, MGT 303 incorporated systems and reductionist theory as well as the explanation
of “implicospheres” and how they apply to creativity and higher levels of learning. These
seemingly abstract concepts are important to a manager’s self-awareness and consequently their
ability to lead. One 303 lesson discussed equity and efficiency in terms of money allocation and
the stratification of social classes in Atlas Shrugged. This heightened my sense of how one’s
affectivity and disposition could impact how they are judged and consequently their ability to
lead. Without this class, I would not have gained a macroscopic view of how organizational
systems (applicable to an Army platoon or AF flight/squadron) operate and function. This is
necessary knowledge in order to lead effectively. On the other hand, BS310 taught me a different
way to be self-aware. We discussed dark-side traits regarding how extreme characteristics of
traits can have negative effects on one’s perception and reputation and consequently ability to
lead. Thus, both classes are instrumental in teaching self-awareness and how organizations
(303)/groups and teams (310) run effectively but use a different strategy to do so.
5

5. Conclusion
To sum up this article’s discussion I will emphasize the importance of having two
separate disciplines/departments and why my experience has been worthwhile as a guest to the
respective departments. Having two interdependent yet separate curriculums is beneficial for a
host of reasons. 1) It increases the 303 idea of requisite variety “The larger the variety of actions
available to a control system, the larger the variety of perturbations it is able to compensate.”6
We as students, the control system, have more methods available, more toolkits and a more
expansive arsenal which we can use to solve a leadership or managerial dilemma. 2) The
existence of two departments is living proof that there are indeed differences between the two
disciplines but that elements of each are transferable and applicable to the other. This illustrates
the idea that a truly great manager is also a great leader and vice versa. 3)While two separate
majors creates the need for a student to make a choice between the two, having both as part of
the core curriculum complements this decision (in case they thought they were missing out on
the other major not chosen) and that each are unique in their own respect. These are only three
reasons of many that challenge the counterargument of a more efficiently combined
leadership/management course or major.
Ultimately, I have benefitted from both arenas of academia and it is clear that each have
taught me lessons that I can use on an everyday basis. While I still feel that BS310 aided by HR
(human resourcing) and people skills and that MGT345 and 303 taught me the daunting task of
how to control a large scale organization, both are required for controlling a group, team,
6 http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/REQVAR.html

6. platoon, flight, system, etc. A mastery of the intricacies of both disciplines is fundamental to
both a microscopic and macroscopic application of what I have learned. One takeaway that my
experience has taught me is that prescribed management/leadership has negative effects. The
“Mosaic coaching system/program” for element leaders and coaches is completely prescribed
and coordinated through giant email clogging messages demanding timelines, numerical goals,
and meetings from us. In my mind, an effective leader should be conducting the things that are
part of this program automatically. Defining goals, organizing element meetings and conducting
feedback should be natural occurrences and should not contain the forced feeling it does.
Leadership and management should be an autonomous, intrinsically motivated, and self-driven
effort on the part of the leader/manager. While I understand that advice, frameworks, and
methods of leadership are beneficial, they should be used as mere guidelines to how you actually
conduct your organization, team, element, etc. A prescribed requirement on how to lead is
irrational and burdensome rather than productive and motivating. In this article, I have sought to
outline the differences and similarities between leadership/behavioral psychology and
management. My hope is that through an article like this and a strong advocacy and promotion of
both departments that we can shift from the concept of both being “easy majors” for
unmotivated, academically deficient cadets, and IC’s who “don’t have time for serious academic
pursuits” to majors with courses that are not curved and equally as challenging as any
engineering major. If we can effectively recruit a strong following of motivated scholars and
passionate majors, management and behavioral leadership will come alive with sky high grades
and leaders dedicated to improving the dynamics of the very organizations we experience every
day, both operationally and commercially.