Category: Leadership

Not all Leadership is about changing and challenging People’s Vision of the Future

Not all Leadership is about changing and challenging People’s Vision of the Future
Not all Leadership is about changing and challenging People’s Vision of the Future

Not all Leadership is about changing and challenging People’s Vision of the Future

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the assignment need 8-10 reference list in APA format, and if u need to quote example, pls don’t use Australia, use HK style. Thank you.

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“Not all Leadership is about changing and challenging People’s Vision of the Future”

Effective leadership and management systems are the key components for success in any organization, regardless of its core business. While some people use the terms leadership and management interchangeably, the two are distinctly different and the present organizations should have effective leaders and managers (Stanley, 2012). Effective leadership is instrumental in providing the right direction to an organization by transforming the minds of people and pushing the organization forward in the right path to achieving organization’s set objectives (Stanley, 2012). Leaders, therefore, provide direction and inspiration to the teams they lead, and play a visionary role. Management, on the other hand, is majorly about marshaling of organization resources appropriately to ensure organization’s stability (Kotter, 2009). The health care department is vast involving numerous departments and it is becoming increasing necessary for clinicians to play a leadership role in their profession, at different levels or departments, so as to apply their expertise in influencing and bringing desirable change as well as effectively managing the changes in the field. Leadership in clinical practice or simply clinical leadership, therefore, involves enabling clinicians to play a central role in setting goals, providing direction, influencing decisions and outcomes, and managing change so as to improve quality of service provided to patients, and better the entire healthcare sector (Swanwick & Mckimm, 2011). This essay shall critically analyze various management and leadership theories, with close reference to leadership and management in the field of healthcare, critically compare management and leadership to oppose the notion that  “not all leadership is about changing or challenging people’s vision of the future.

Since the 18th century to date, various management theories have been proposed by various researchers in the field of management (Kouzes & Posner, 2007). The earliest, classical theories on management were the scientific management theory, bureaucratic theory and administrative management theory. These classical approaches to management emphasized the managers’ sole role in determining how tasks are to be performed, with employees only performing what the managers have suggested (Kouzes & Posner, 2007). They also emphasized strict supervision of workers and division of labor especially on the skilled labor force. The scientific management theory by Fredrick Taylor, for example, suggested that tasks in organization can be standardized, measured accurately by the managers and rewards and punishment appropriately apportioned. The classical theories have no place in the healthcare sector since it is difficult for a manager in healthcare sector to determine tasks without the input of nurses, doctors and other healthcare providers. Strict supervision is also not ideal in the health care sector since clinicians, nurses and doctors work effectively with minimum supervision (Stanley, 2012). Again, this theory was most applicable for organizations with routine activities and assembly lines. Clinicians and nurses usually face new medical situations and methods of treatment usually change from time to time (Kouzes & Posner, 2007). The classical theories, due to their ineffectiveness and inapplicability in all organizations, gave way to the rise of contemporary management theories.  These include the contingency theory, the system approach theory and the chaos theory (Kouzes & Posner, 2007). The contingency theorist fronted the idea that managers should examine and consider all aspects of a problem before making a decision (Dickenson, 2008). According to this theory, there is no single best way in which managers should structure an organization since circumstances organizations face call for different approaches to decision making. This approach has some applicability in the health care system. Clinicians and nurses, in the course of providing services to patients, face new challenges as sometimes patients can come with a condition that requires unique ways of handling it. There are cases, for example, where a patient may develop resistance to drugs or a therapy method and so new and effective approach that are not usually applicable, may have to be considered at some point. The theory provided for the seeking of  comprehensive solutions to solving organizations problems by mangers, which is an applicable factor to be considered by those heading healthcare sector. Healthcare leaders need to look at situations from all points of view to get a comprehensive solution. The system approach theory, shifted focus to the systems within an organization. In this approach, systems refer to the interrelated parts of an organization. It recognizes the fact that organizations are made up of different  complex systems which are related and depend on each other (Garrubba, Harris & Melder, 2011). Theorist of this theory view organizations holistically, direct attention to entire tasks performed in an organizations and show how structure and the human resources can be put together for effective results. The interrelated systems could include workers, finance, technology, and raw materials. If one part of the system is removed, then the organization may not work properly. ( Garrubba et al, 2011). This theory has its way in the modern healthcare sector. Most hospitals and other health care facilities are composed of complex systems ranging from various employees such as nurses, clinicians and doctors, finance that run the facilities, several units such as casualty, emergency section, theatres for operation among many other interrelated systems. It will be difficult for example to withdraw finance from health care facilities, and expect them to run. The healthcare facilities cannot operate with doctors only or nurses only. All health professionals work in an interrelated manner for quality service delivery to patients. Management in the health care profession therefore, needs to look at the departments they are heading from a broad and comprehensive point of view. All departments are equally important and should be managed effectively as they depend on each other (Northhouse, 2007). The chaos theory fronts the idea that organizations are faced with chaotic situations, just like the  world today  is chaotic and full of unpredictable events. Just like external environment is chaotic, so are organizations as they are frequently faced with events that are beyond their control. If the events are not properly managed, then the organization collapses (Northhouse, 2007). We see the applicability of this theory in today’s health care management where professionals of the health care sector, especially those heading it, need to be prepared and able to deal effectively with unlikely events such as outbreak of rare infectious diseases.

Various leadership theories have also been fronted that explain the role and importance of leadership. Leadership in organizations involves superiors inspiring, influencing and directing the behaviors and minds of the team one is leading to adopt and follow a particular path in achieving desired goals (Northhouse, 2007). The theories have since evolved from the great man theory, trait theory, and behavioral theory, to contingency, situational, participative, transactional, and transformational leaderships. The great man theory is the point of view that leaders are born and possess certain desirable characteristics for leadership, such as communication skills, confidence, intelligence and ambition (Edmonstone, 2009). This, together with the trait theory assumes that leaders are born with traits that place them above the average persons, and must have appropriate combination of the desirable traits (Pauly, Schreiber, MacDonald, Davidson, Crickmore, Pinelli, Regan & Hammond, 2004). For the healthcare professionals, the traits in this theory, for instance intelligence, composure even under pressure, and courage, are important for effective clinical leadership since the profession requires right thinking in every aspect of decision making. The theory, however, is not effective in explaining situations where some individuals possess the desirable characteristics yet they are not leaders.  Behavioral theory, on the contrary, was of the assumption that leaders are not necessarily borne, but rather, an individual can be shaped and trained to become an effective leader. Successful leadership is based on certain behaviors that can be learned through observation, in other words, leaders can be made. This theory implies that individuals not possessing leadership qualities can learn and be taught on how to be great leaders (Pauly et al, 2004).  In clinical leadership, this implies that they should not leave leadership in the profession solely for the management only, but they can also learn to be great leaders through observing what great leaders do and  learning from them. So nurses, clinicians and even doctors have the obligation to participate in leadership in this profession to steer change and lead the sector to a better tomorrow. Again, the major concern of leaders in this theory is the concern for people (Kouzes, 2007), a concept that healthcare professional can utilize because concern for patients’ wellbeing is necessary. The contingency and situational theories bear great semblance (Bass, 1994). Both theories are of the assumption that there is no single best way of dealing with a situation correctly. Contingency theory is, however, broader in its perspective and views success in leadership as an interplay of factors such as the type of leadership style, leader’s ability, nature of the followers and the situation at hand. Situational theory focuses on the situation itself and suggests that different situations require certain leadership styles (Northhouse, 2007).  The healthcare profession, being an intricate and a delicate one since it involves patients’ health, requires looking at situations in broader perspectives. Effective clinical leadership entails having a broad view of situation, controlling and inspiring the team you are leading and applying a suitable method of decision making based on analysis of the situation to direct change (Garrubba et al, 20011). The transactional leadership is yet another theory, based on the assumptions that rewards and punishment are the primary motivators for individuals, systems function effectively in the presence of a clear defined chain of command, and that subordinate’s main role is to follow what their managers or leaders tell them (Swanwick et al, 2011). The application to this theory  in clinical leadership is that clinicians and nurses need to follow and depend on their leaders in their respective departments, and be aware of the consequences in cases of protocol breaches set by their leaders. Participatory leadership involves encouraging other members such as subordinates and other stakeholders in a team, to take part in decision making, instead of assuming autocratic powers (Edmonstone, 2009). It entails joint decision making. The clinical leadership alike should allow for full participation of peers and other stakeholders in decision making that affect the sector. For change to be realized, effective leadership requires the various views of different team members. An important style of leadership in generating visions for change in organizations is the transformational leadership. This kind of leadership style assumes that individuals usually follow someone who inspires them and has great vision ( Northhouse, 2007). It involves coming up with visions and energizing followers to get things done. These kinds of leaders stand out, are motivated, and possess unswerving determination towards success and change. Thus, clinical leaders and other leader in various departments of health care should in fact be transformational leaders. This can lead to adoption of many reforms in the health sector that will benefit the entire profession and those in need of health care services.

Leadership and management are two distinctive concepts and leaders and manager play different roles in organizations. Leaders are agents of change and movement through creation of visions, and influencing followers towards goal achievement while management involves planning, harmonization  and proper allocation of resources, resulting into order and stability in organizations (Garrubba et al, 2011). Leadership also tends to focus on leading people or followers who follow them voluntarily. Leaders do not necessarily have subordinates. Management on the other hand put priority on structures and personnel, and focuses more on goals and how work and subordinates are managed. The perception about risk also differ, with leadership and leaders tending to take risks, while managers are averse to risk and would do all possible things to avoid it. Leadership focuses on long-term visions, readily travels on new roads, and may sometimes break the rules to achieve the desired change. Management, on the other hand focuses on set objectives, designs rules that must strictly be followed  to achieve desired results. Clinical leaders need to be aware of these differences so that the clinicians and nurses with leadership roles effectively guide their followers to successfully implement desired future changes (Kotter, 2009).

In conclusion, healthcare professions need to engage even more in assuming leadership roles in their profession to steer future positive changes in the department. This is because it is leaders, not managers, who have the role of designing a clear vision of an organization, and establish the right path through he or she will lead his or her followers. Leadership is, therefore, aimed at changing people’s vision of the future since an effective leader is able to influence the minds of his followers and together, move towards the new, desired change.

References

Bass B, & Avolio B. (1994.) Improving Organizational Effectiveness Through Transformational Leadership. Thousand Oaks: Sage; 1994.

Dickenson H, & Ham C., (2008). Engaging Doctors in Leadership: A review of the literature. Birmingham: NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement, University of Birmingham and Academy of Medical Royal Colleges.

Edmonstone J. (2009). Clinical leadership: the elephant in the room. Int J Health Plan Manage;24(4):290-305.

Garrubba M, Harris C and Melder A. Clinical Leadership: A literature review to investigate concepts, roles and relationships related to clinical leadership. (2011) Centre for Clinical Effectiveness, Southern Health, Melbourne, Australia.

Kotter, J. (2009). A force for change: How leadership differs from management. New York: Free Press

Kouzes M. James & Posner Z. Barry, 2007. The leadership challenge, 4th edition.

Northhouse, P. (2007). Leadership theory and practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Pauly, B., R. et al. (2004). “Dancing to Our Own Tune: Understandings of Advanced Nursing Practice in British Columbia.” Canadian Journal of Nursing Leadership 17(2): 47–59. Retrieved from  <http://www.longwoods.com/content/16346>.

Roots, A. and M. MacDonald. 2008, September 17–20, 2008. 3 Years Down the Road: Exploring the Implementation of the NP Role in British Columbia, Canada. Poster presented at the 5th International Council of Nursing, International Nurse Practitioner/Advanced Practice Nursing Network (INP/APNN) Conference in Toronto

Stanley J. D., (2012). Clinical leadership and innovation. Journal of Nursing Education and Practice, 2(2), 119-126

Stedman, N. (2005). Leading teams. SEAL 2005 – Individual Advisory Member Development. Retrieved on November 26, 2008 from: http://extensioneducation.tamu.edu/SEAL/LeadingTeams-LP.pdf.

Swanwick T. & Mckimm J., (2011). What is clinical leadership and why is it importance? The clinical teacher journal, 8(2), 22-26

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Investigating Executive Case Scenario Paper

Investigating Executive
Investigating Executive

Investigating Executive

Investigating Executive.Research a Portland politician; what information can you find on their most recent election? Percentage of winning vote? Percentage of votes from women? Men? Minorities? Specifics on counties won, campaign budget and spending. Major campaign platforms. Write a 300-400 word article on your findings.

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leadership values, styles and challenges Essay

leadership values, styles and challenges
leadership values, styles and challenges

leadership values, styles and challenges

We are expected to answer the following questions:
What do you believe about leadership, followership, leaders and followers? where do these beliefs originate? (Reflection)
Some thoughts to consider: I grew up in a village that adopts a tribal system. My father is the Chief, I learned a lot of my leadership skills from him. We
need to relate this to the leadership values, styles, and challenges nowadays.

Use at least three (3) quality references Note: Wikipedia and other related websites do not qualify as academic resources.

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

  • Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
  • Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.

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Leading and Change Management Essay

Leading and Change Management Order Instructions: Case study research assignment (50%): An essay of 3,000 words identifying a strategic planning or change management initiative within an organisation with which you are working or with which you are familiar.

Leading and Change Management
Leading and Change Management

The requirement can be past, present or future. The essay will need to draw heavily upon the learnings from the workshops supported by students’ own research.

 

Leading and Change Management Essay Sample Answer

Leading and Change Management

Assessment of the strategic initiatives employed in the case study: Journey of Hong Kong Public Teaching Hospital in Preparation of Hospital Accreditation will be based on Kotter’s 8-Step Change Model. Strategic planning refers to a disciplined attempt that offers basic decisions and actions, which contribute to the shaping and guiding what a firm is, what a firm does, and why such a firm does what is does, in relation to the future (Heward, Hutchins & Keleher, 2007, 176). Strategic planning focuses on three cyclical elements, which are often known as the ABCs of strategic planning. They include: moving from component A to component B takes into consideration the clarification of vision, mission and objectives; moving from component A to component C represents a process of strategy development/formulation, whereas moving from component C to component B represents the aspect of strategy implementation. The case study focuses on the aspect of preparation accreditation, which is aimed at transforming Queen Mary Hospital’s culture and fostering safety, effectiveness, reliability of services and quality.

In 2008, Hong Kong SAR Administration and Hospital Authority’s Food and Health Bureau launched a pilot plan of hospital accreditation. Accreditation involves a process in which health institutions/hospitals struggle to offer high quality care in relation to the external peer-reviewed standards (Chiu, Seto & Lai, 2011, pp. 231). This concept is gaining a global popularity, but happens to be a novel idea in Hong Kong’s health care system. Most of the workers are ignorant of the concept or means of preparation. As such, developing new ideas can be discouraging to both frontline staff and hospital executives. This problem can be compounded by situations in which health care facilities lack sound and robust quality management schemes/plans.

In relation to Kotter’s 8-Steps Change model, Queen Mary’s management should be developing a sense of necessity/urgency, which is step 1. Major projects of change can emerge successful when they obtain adequate support from the organization’s employees. As such, organizations should ensure that they begin the process of transforming their institutions by convincing members of staff of the significance and urgency of moving a new direction. In relation to this, the hospital’s management should gather it staff members and inform them about the hospital need for accreditation (Heward, Hutchins & Keleher, 2007, 177). Being that accreditation is aimed at improving the quality of health care services in hospitals, Queen Mary’s management should inform its staff about this necessity. Moreover, since many health care employees are unaware of this concept, the hospital’s management should use this opportunity to inform them about it, and its significance. This step is significant in ensuring that the hospital’s employees develop the determination/willpower to move and win.

A false sense of necessity/urgency and complacency alongside anger, frustration and anxiety act as the principle stumbling blocks to change in organizations. To succeed individuals should often focus on the significant/important aspects of change. Creating a sense of urgency will ensure that the hospital’s management succeeds in minimizing cases of complacency, anger and anxiety among its employees in relation to the intended change. In the real sense, urgency not only acts as a significant trigger for the change, but also serves as the engine or driving force of change (Hillol & Viswanath, 2013, pp. 1125). Successful creation of a sense of necessity among staff members requires that change management leaders, point out the risks and potential opportunities that arise from the business environment in relation to the intended change. Successful leaders often accomplish this goal by appealing to the minds and hearts of workers. One of the approaches that the firm’s management can employ in accomplishing this goal is conducting a SWOT analysis.

SWOT analysis will play a vital role in pointing out the external environmental aspects, which are the threats and opportunities, and the internal environmental aspects/company’s internal environment dimensions, which are weaknesses and threats. While addressing weaknesses and threats, focusing on the opportunities provides suitable platform on which the organization’s management can build strengths and enhance performance (Heward, Hutchins & Keleher, 2007, 178). Exploring the hospitals internal environment helps in the revelation of its core competencies alongside its distinctive core competencies as shown below:

Leading and Change Management Essay Strengths

  • Significance of Queen Mary Hospital to the community: the hospital acts as a tertiary referral center kidney, heart, liver, bone marrow transplantation and lung (Chiu, Seto & Lai, 2011, pp. 231). Moreover, the institution is affiliated to the University of Hong Kong, which makes it significant to students who often conduct some of their learning it.
  • Financial position of the institution: Currently, the hospital’s annual is estimated to be over HK$30 billion. This robust financial position is significant in funding the intended change (Chiu, Seto & Lai, 2011, pp. 231).
  • Robust Partnership: Being a public teaching hospital, the Hong Kong SAR Administration and Hospital Authority’s Food and Health Bureau has opted to partner with the firm in enhancing the implementation of the change.
  • Robust staff Capacity: The hospital employees more than 4800 individuals who can be employed in leveraging the process of delivering of high quality care.

Leading and Change Management Essay Weaknesses

  • Many staff members with the organization are not aware of the concept of accreditation (Chiu, Seto & Lai, 2011, pp. 231).
  • The hospital lacks a suitable mechanism of ensuring that its staff members deliver high quality care to patients.

Conducting an assessment on the external environment will help the hospital’s management identify the following threats and opportunities.

Leading and Change Management Essay Opportunities

  • Support from the government: Hong Kong’s government aims at enhancing the process of change implementation in Queen Mary Hospital (QMH) through the Food and Health Bureau
  • Support from the NGOs: Apart from the government , the change implementation process in the hospital is supported by the ACHS (Australian Council of Health Standards)
  • Most health institutions in the country have not implemented this concept: the hospital is at an advantage of gaining a competitive benefit over its rivals who in terms of delivery high quality care to patients. Many health care institutions (Hong Kong Authority Hospitals) have not implemented the concept as it is not popular in Hong Kong.
Leading and Change Management Essay Threats
  • Threat from the Inclusion of other Hospitals in Change’s Pilot Scheme: other hospitals are also inclined towards the implementation of the same change in their institutions. The accreditation exercise has been joined by three private health care institutions and five public hospitals (Chiu, Seto & Lai, 2011, pp. 231). As such, the organization is likely to face an intense rivalry from these institutions in terms of funding from the sponsors. Besides, the Queen Mary Hospital is likely to witness intense rivalry from these institutions in relation to the delivery of high quality health care, which is the principle purpose of the accreditation process.

Step 2: Establishing a Guiding Coalition

Formation of a coalition of individuals to be in charge of leading the change exercise process acts a significant step towards the realization of a successful change implementation process. Members of the team should have enough expertise, credibility, power, and excellent skills of leadership. Moreover, these individuals should have a share aim as it is vital in the realization of a successful strategy implementation process (Hillol & Viswanath, 2013, pp. 1127). When members of the change implementation team have a common objectives, issues such as conflicts, which are always associated with different interests, can be minimized in an effective manner. Moreover, lack of a shared objective among individuals selected to spearhead the project can result into wastage of resources. As such, organizations should ensure that they are involved in the selection of individuals who have shared goals to lead the change exercise.

The consideration of aspects of leadership skills, expertise, credibility and power is also significant in ensuring that individual who are selected to lead the strategy implementation have the necessary physical and intellectual abilities, which are required for successful execution of the change implementation exercise. Such abilities are vial in ensuring that these individuals provide adequate guidance to other people who are included in the change process. Furthermore, the possession of such potentials is significant in ensuring that the core team is at a suitable position of addressing challenges that can be encountered during the strategy implementation process in an effective manner.

Queen Mary Hospital’s management responded to the accreditation exercise an effective way. This reaction occurred twenty-four months prior to the formal process of accrediting QMH. The formation of the projects core team took into consideration individuals from with robust leadership skills, credibility and expertise (Hillol & Viswanath, 2013, pp. 1129). These individuals were recruited from various disciplines such as allied health, nursing, laboratory, administration, clinical specialties and pharmacy among others. Such a selection was significant in ensuring that issues from various perspectives cold be integrated, thereby leading to the realization of a rational decision-making process.  QMH’s Chief Executive acted as the core team’s patron. The core team’s function was to oversee the entire change implementation/accreditation exercise.

Step 3: Establishing a Change Vision

The third step that could have been followed during the implementation of the change is development of a vision for the strategy. This role was to be played by the core team. The establishment of a vision for the change could have served as a basis for efficient decision-making. Efficient decision-making during change implementation can be accomplished in an effective manner when an appropriate vision is developed for the exercise. Developing a vision for a change implementation exercise ensures that strategy executors have a clear direction of as to where the project heads.

Developing a vision for the project could have also contributed to the motivation of the core team members towards taking action in the appropriate direction in case the initial steps of the project happened to be painful. Strategy implantation is not a smooth process as it is always associated with other drawbacks such lack of adequate funding, conflicts among core members and resistance (Scott, 2010, 481). As such, establishing a clear vision for the process is vital in ensuring that core team members remain in the right path despite encountering such challenges. Furthermore, such vision offers a significant meaning to individuals. It also serves as glue that binds every aspect of the change implantation process.

QMC’s management could have ensured that a clear vision is developed for the accreditation exercise. This vision needed to be imaginable, desirable, feasible, focused, flexible and communicable. By being imaginable, the vision could have ensured that it conveys a clear picture/view of what the future would be to the organization. This feature could have contributed positively to the motivation of core team members, and other stake holders. The aspect of desirability could have ensured that the vision remain appealing to the long-term interests of the organization’s management, staff and other stakeholders, thereby minimizing cases of resistance (Hafiz, Ali-Fazal & Fareeha, 2014, 194). The aspect of feasibility could have ensured that the accreditation’s vision contain attainable and realistic goals. For instance, change’s vision could have been developed in manner that does not compromise the organization’s financial potential of HK$30 million. This undertaking could have ensured that the company’s resources are taken into consideration, thereby minimizing the wastage of the firm’s resources. By being focused, the strategy’s vision could have provided a clear guidance on the direction that should be taken in relation to the realization of an effective decision-making process. Consequently, the aspect of flexibility could have ensured that the strategy’s vision allow alternative responses and individual initiative in relation to the changing circumstances involved in the accreditation exercise. Some of the factors that could have been considered in the attainment of this goal are the company’s resources and other alternatives of funding. By being communicable, the change’s vision could have ensured that it is explained in an easy and quick manner to the target group or stakeholders (Foltin & Keller, 2012). This aspect could have also contributed significantly to the minimization of cases of resistance from the firm’s employees/staff members.

Step 4: Communication of the Vision for Buy-In

The next step that could have been embraced by QMH’s management is spreading the strategy’s vision through the firm/organization. This approach could have ensured assisted the organization management in receiving opinions of employees about the vision (Feyerherm et al, 2014, pp. 1167). As such, it could have provided a suitable platform on which changes that matched the interest of employees could have been made. Moreover, this step could have provided a suitable platform on which employee engagement could have been achieved. Employee engagement in a strategy implementation exercise helps in minimizing cases of resistance as it makes them feel as part of the change process.

Effective communication of the change’s vision is significant in ensuring that all individuals involved in the change implementation exercise comprehend the process. As such, QMH’s management could have ensured that they employ various mechanisms in communicating the strategy’s vision to employees and other stakeholders. For instance, the organization’s management could have attempted to employ mechanisms such as story telling in communicating the vision to the target groups (employees and stakeholders). Such an approach could have helped in making the strategy’s vision more vivid than in a situation in which only words were used in communicating it (Decker et al, 2012, pp. 43). Leaders should ensure that they motivate and inspire employees as this helps in overcoming cases of mistrusts in the organization.

 Step 5: Empowerment of Borad-Based Action

Once QMH’s management had ascertained that its employees had accepted the novel vision, it could have adopted measures that are aimed at empowering employees to act upon the new vision. The core team can contribute significantly to the realization for this goal. This team can achieve this objective by engaging in an active removal of barriers, which are associated with the accreditation process. In the case study, is clear that the core team engaged in the identification and elimination of barriers that were encountered during the accreditation exercise. Some of these barriers were complacency, vested interest, technical businesses terms, inertia, lack of alignment of key stake holders and core team members understanding and ideology on accreditation and poorly managed meeting among others (Diane et al, 2014, pp. 75). Leaders should ensure that they are involved in a active process of addressing the barriers or resistances to change.

The Four types of resistance that leaders should focus on addressing are rational factors that arise from different evaluations between management and employees concerning the need for change and results, non-rational factors such as emotional responses, poor management and political factors. As seen in the Case study, individuals often resist organizational change due to self-interest or vested interest. Besides, individuals can resist change due to issues such as disturbance/interruption of social networks, loss of face, and fear of unknown outcomes and change-averse among others (Canato, Ravasi &Philips, 2013, 1743). Some of the methods that people often employ in resisting change are anticipation and humor. As such, leaders should prepare adequately to address such issues as resistance can lead to skill gaps.  After addressing such issues, QMH’s management could have ensured that all members possess appropriate systems, tools and skills that are needed in the realization of the intended change. In addition, the organization’s information systems and human resource systems could have been employed in implementing the vision at this stage.

Step 6: Generation of Short-Term

QMH’s management could have then proceeded to the generation of short-term wins stage.  Major and long-term efforts of change often lose their momentum earlier than expected. For change implementers to uphold/maintain the sense of urgency and motivation of everyone involved, they need to point out their short term successes. This step could have involved the mentioning of the successes that the company has achieved prior to the achievement of the main objective (Casida & Parker, 2011, pp. 484).  Besides, the company could have enhanced this step by celebrating such achievements. This often plays often contributes positively to members’ motivation, which is essential for the accomplishment of the project’s main objective.

Short-term wins also contributes to the taking out of winds of sails of resistors and cynics. Research indicates that organizations that  witness significant short-term successes have higher chances of completing their transformation processes in successful ways that those firms that do not witness significant short-term wins (Casida & Parker, 2011, pp. 485). Such organizations are often characterized by high levels of motivation on the part of employees and members of core teams.

Step 7: Consolidation of Gains and Production of More Change

Declaration of victor prior to the full incorporation of the business improvement and changes into the organization’s culture can lead to a significant failure. As such, firms should not overindulge in the celebration of short-term success as such this tendency may lead to the loss of focus on the major vision. Moreover, such an act can result into the killing of the ongoing momentum, thereby allowing resistors to gain control of the process (Taina, 2013, pp. 54). In relation to this, the company’s management should have also taken this aspect into its consideration while celebrating its short-term wins during the change implementation exercise.

Project leaders should use this stage a suitable platform on which they can realize more change. They should ensure that they employ the increased credibility from the previous wins in enhancing the change process. At this stage, QMH’s management could have involved new groups of individuals in the process of accreditation (Taina, 2013, pp. 56). Moreover, such individual could have been promoted to major roles. The level of focus and urgency should be kept constant to avoid people from engaging in activities or actions that can derail the change implementation process.

Step 8: Incorporation of Changes into the organization’s Culture

The final stage of the Kotter’s 8-steps Change model involves the incorporation of the changes into the organization’s culture. In relation to this, QHM’s management could have finalized the accreditation process by incorporating the policies and guidelines that are associated with it into the organization’s culture. After incorporating these approaches into the firm’s culture, the management could have embarked on constant process of communicating the improvements or benefits realized from the accreditation process (Tyler & Jonathan, 2014, 327). Consequently, this stage should be accompanied by the establishment of leadership succession and development plans, which are in line with the norms and values of accreditation.

Processes of change often put significant demands on managers and executives alongside the entire organization. Kotter’s 8-step framework offers a robust checklist for many things that should be taken into consideration during the process of change execution (Wilson, 2014, pp. 49). The key requirements/prerequisites for the steps involved in this model are a sense of urgency, excellent leadership, open information exchange or open communication among the involved groups and constant communication across various levels of the company.

Leading and Change Management Essay Reference List

Canato, A., Ravasi, D & Philips, N. (2013). “Coerced Practice Implementation in Cases of Low Cultural Fit: Cultural Change and Practice Adaptation during the Implementation of Six Sigma at 3M,” Academy of Management Journal, 56(6), pp. 1724-753.

Casida, J & Parker, J. (2011). “Staff Nurse Perceptions of Nurse Manager Leadership Styles and Outcomes,” Journal of Nursing Management, 19(1), pp. 478-486

Chiu, A., Seto, W & Lai, L. (2011). “Journey of a Hong Kong Public Teaching Hospital in Preparation of Hospital Accreditation,” Hong Kong Medical Journal, 17(1), pp. 231-236.

Decker et al. (2012). “Predicting Implementation Failure in Organization Change. Journal of Organizational Culture,” Communications & Conflict, 16(2), pp. 39-59.

Diane et al. (2014). “A Theory of Organization HER Affordance Actualization,” Journal of Association for Information Systems, 15(2), pp. 53-85.

Feyerherm et al. (2014). “Partners for a Healthy City: Implementing Policies and Environmental Changes within Organizations to Promote Health,” American Journal of Public Health, 104(7), pp. 1165-1168

Foltin, A & Keller, R. (2012). “Leading Change with Emotional Intelligence,” Nursing Management: Retrieved from: www.nursingmanagement.com

Hafiz, N., Ali-Fazal, A & Fareeha, Z. (2014). “Four Factors to Influence Organization & Employee Commitment to Change within Pakistan,” International Journal of Information Business & Management, 6(4), pp. 183-200

Heward, S., Hutchins, C & Keleher, H. (2007). “Organizational Change-Key to Capacity Building and Effective Health Promotion,” Health Promotion International, 22(2), pp. 170-178

Hillol, B & Viswanath, V. (2013). “Changes in Employee’ Job Characteristics During an Enterprise System Implementation: A Latent Growth Modeling Perspective,” MIS Quarterly, 37(4), pp. 1113-1135.

Scott, S. (2010). “We’Re Changing or Are We? Untangling the Role of Progressive, Regressive and Stability Narratives during Strategic Change Implementation,” Academy of Management Journal, 53(3), pp. 477-512

Sotanto et al. (2008). “Change Management in Inter-organizational Systems for the Public” Journal of Management Information Systems, 25(3), pp. 133-175

Taina, S. (2013). “Change Implementation in Intercultural Context: A Case Study of Creating Readiness to Change,” Journal of Global Business Issues, 7(2), pp. 51-58

Tyler, T & Jonathan, C. (2014). “Pressure and Performance: Buffering Capacity and the Cyclical Impact of Accreditation Inspections on Risk-Adjusted Mortality,” Journal of Healthcare Management, 59(5), pp. 323-335

Wilson, J. (2014). “Managing Change Successfully,” Journal of Accountancy, 217(4), pp. 38-41

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The Leader Member Exchange Theory

The Leader Member Exchange Theory
The Leader Member Exchange Theory

The Leader Member Exchange Theory as a Framework for Assessing Leader-Follower Relationships

Order Instructions:

In Part B, we require you to write an essay on the following topic.

Essay Topic:
Roe (2014) argues that according to leader member exchange theory, followers who experience high quality relationships with the leader are in receipt of higher tangible rewards, such as pay, bonuses and more challenging assignments.
Critically assess whether leader member exchange theory provides an effective framework for assessing the relationships between leaders and followers.

Marking schedule for Part B:
10% of marks are allocated to the presentation of the essay. The student’s work should be typed with clear use of paragraphs and headings. Typographical and spelling errors should be avoided.
10% of marks are allocated to appropriate referencing of content. Students should familiarise themselves and make use of the Harvard referencing system and should cite and reference material properly. Students should make use of a range of resources (books, journal articles etc) and the literature used should be appropriate to the arguments made.
60% of marks are allocated to the analysis presented in the essay. Students should examine appropriate theoretical concepts and frameworks. Students should demonstrate an awareness of the wider context and present an in-depth discussion of current issues. Better students will demonstrate critical analysis skills and communicate their arguments in a clear and coherent manner.
20% of marks are allocated to the conclusions drawn. The conclusions should identify the key themes or issues under consideration. Conclusions should be well supported from the analysis and highlight the significance of arguments, evidence and insights

Guidance Notes on Part B:
You must refer to relevant literature throughout the essay. This can be in the form of textbooks, journal articles, or relevant web-based material. Student are directed in particular to the following databases which they may find useful in developing their essay:
• Emerald
• ABI Inform Complete (Proquest)
• Ingenta
• Science Direct
• Sage Online

In particular, the following journals may be helpful to you in relation to the prescribed topic:
• Leadership Quarterly (Available on Science Direct)
• Leadership and Organisation Development Journal (Available on Emerald)
• Team Performance Management (Available on Emerald)
• Journal of Management Development (Available on Emerald)
• Group and Organisation Management (Available on Sage Online)

You may wish to refer to relevant theory or you may wish to cite relevant research or examples to support your arguments. Remember all material cited must be referenced using the Harvard Referencing system. Also please refer to the University guidance notes on the avoidance of Plagiarism.
Please remember to structure your essay appropriate. You should use headings – and include an introduction, main body and conclusion/recommendations sections.
While we do not specify a particular number of references/citations to be included, you should include at least a minimum of 15 different citations/references from books and journal articles in your essay.
Please answer the topic posed. Your essay should NOT be a summary of leadership theories. You need to specifically address the topic and question posed.

Minimum Essay Length: 2000 words
Maximum Essay Length: 2500 words
Aside from the reference list, your essay (Part B) should not include any appendices.

Submission deadline: Friday 29thAugust 2014, 11.59pm (UK time)
Please note that whilst the submission deadline is Friday 29th August at 11.59pm (UK time), you are free to make your submission at any time before this date. You do not need to wait until this day, or the day before or the week before.

Important Note:

Please ensure that Part A and Part B are submitted as separate documents. The documents should clearly be marked Part A and Part B and your matriculation number and module code should be clearly marked on the submission.

Coursework Assessment Feedback
Matriculation No. Date of Submission:
Module: Leading Strategic Decision-Making
Part B: Essay Cohort:

Category Comment

Presentation of the essay. Clear use of paragraphs and headings and the text is free from typographical and spelling errors.
(10%)

Referencing of content. Consistent use of Harvard Referencing throughout the essay with adequate citation support for arguments being made.
(10%)

Analysis.
Comprehensive examination of appropriate theoretical frameworks and models. Strong arguments presented with critical insights and good communication skills in evidence.
(60%)

Conclusions.
Clear identification of key themes and issues. Synthesis of core arguments and formulation of insights and recommendations as appropriate
(20%)

General Comments:

Overall Grade: Marker:

SAMPLE ANSWER

The Leader Member Exchange Theory as a Framework for Assessing Leader-Follower Relationships

Introduction

The leader member exchange (LMX) theory does not qualify as an effective framework for assessing the relationship between leaders and followers. Roe (2014) in defining the LMX theory postulates that followers whose relationship with leaders are of high quality tend to receive higher tangible rewards including pay, bonuses and superior assignments. While this theory is praised for being the only leadership theory that brings dyadic relationship as a core of the leadership process and thus explains how people relate with each other and with leaders within organisations, it fails to explain how the leader-member relationships are created and what underlies how respect, trust and obligations are built. The theory is also denigrated because it tends to only support privileged groups within the organisation and therefore appears discriminatory and unfair. In this paper, the LMX theory is critically assessed with an objective of demonstrating that it is not an effective framework to assess leader-follower relationships.

Understanding the leader member exchange theory

The LMX theory was first introduced by Dansereau, Graen, and Haga (1975) and is based on the idea that leadership is built based on dyadic relationships between a leader and his/her followers (Sparrowe and Liden, 1997). According to Graen and Uhl-Bien (1995), leaders tend to create higher quality relationships with selected followers; who are consequently accorded higher tangible rewards and more superior assignments. This can be explained by the formation of in-groups and out-groups which represent those with higher quality relationships versus those with lower quality relationships respectively (Van Breukelen, Konst and Van Der, 2002).

A closer look at the application of LMX theory

The LMX theory has in the past received an almost equal share of support and criticism as far as its ability to assess leader-follower relationships is concerned. This is mostly pegged to its potential to promote effective relationships and consequently lead to a productive workforce (Jones, 2009).

            Strengths

A number of strengths are associated with the LMX theory. To begin with, it is the sole theory that explains leadership based on dyadic relationships (Chen, Lam and Zhong, 2007). Secondly, it establishes the importance of communication in the organisation and consequently validates our understanding of why people and leaders interact as they do within organisations (Fix and Sias, 2006). Thirdly, the LMX theory can be used to explain how leadership networks are created by individuals within the organisation and how these translate into future working relationships. The LMX theory is applicable in different types of organisations and at all management levels (Becker, Halbesleben and O’Hair, 2005). Lastly, the LMX theory has been found to influence surbodinates’ level of creativity, motivation and positive organizational outcomes. In a study of 26 project teams in high-technology firms however, the frequency of negative LMX was as high as that of positive LMX (Tidd and Bessant, 2011). This denotes that it may either enhance or undermine the sense of competence and self-determination among subordinates.

Weaknesses

The LMX theory has been criticised over its ability to create meaningful relationships, with questions being raised as to how members of the in-group are selected and whether personal interests could challenge professionalism where this theory is applied (Murph and Eshner, 1999). Secondly, the theory is seen to be discriminatory as it tends to alienate members of the out-group; given that the most important tasks, assignments and rewards go to the in-group (Becker, Halbesleben and O’Hair, 2005; Chen, Lam and Zhong, 2007). Thirdly, the LMX theory does not address the question of personal characteristics and how they could affect relationships. In this relation, it has been established that such characteristics may affect the nature of relationships due to differences in perception, interaction and communication exchanges (Chen, Lam and Zhong, 2007). LMX theory according to Sherony and Green (2002) could have a significant impact on the level of trust, respect and openness in the organization; leading to hoarding of resources by employees who do not feel appreciated. Lastly, culture plays an imperative role in determining the nature and quality of relationships; yet this is not addressed in the LMX theory (Graen, G. B.; Uhl-Bien, 1995).

Why the LMX theory is not effective in explaining leader-follower relationships

The discussion above establishes that LMX theory has its pros and cons as far as assessing leader-follower relationships is concerned. A majority of the strengths however dwell on the validation of the theory itself as opposed to its application in relationship development. In essence, the LMX theory can be considered ineffective in explaining leader-follower relationships. This section is a discussion of the weaknesses of LMX theory outlined above; with an objective of demonstrating its ineffectiveness in explaining leader-follower relationships.

The question of how the high quality relationships between leaders and members are developed is among the most debated about factor in this theory. The LMX theory fails to illustrate any guidelines that would ensure that the strong relationships are based on a high the level of professionalism (Sparrowe and Liden, 1997). Are the relationships based on performance where the leader tends to build better relationships with high performers? Is it at a personal level where the leader creates good relationships with people they know or who are easy to deal with depending on personality compatibility? Or is it at an intellectual level where individuals get along because they have common interests? These questions point to the fact that there is no effective means of establishing how these relationships are created (Sherony and Green, 2002; Tierney, Farmer and Graen, 1999).

. Furthermore, it is difficult to determine whether such relationships are authentic and professional; given that human beings tend to have better relationships with people who are considered ‘useful’ in their lives (Sagie, 1996). This again leads to the issue of followers who do not have qualities that the leader would ‘admire’ and this implies the possibility of poor relations with this group (Sherony and Green, 2002).

Based on the above argument, the plight of the out group who do not have close links with the leader is not addressed in the LMX theory. This brings out the theory as discriminatory as it only concentrates on members who have a higher quality relationship with leaders (Fix and Sias, 2006). The LMX theory does not address issues associated with unfairness and distributive justice and how these could impact on the overall relationship situation in the organisation (Becker, Halbesleben and O’Hair, 2005). Does this mean that the leader does not strive to establish good relationships with other followers? Is there a possibility that the low quality relationship are likely to deteriorate further because the followers in this group are not well motivated? The LMX theory according to Murphy and Ensher (1999) tends to favour the group with the higher quality relationships; such that they get all the superior privileges and this raises the question on whether the other group receives similar attention. It appears as though followers who do not enjoy good relationships with the leaders are unimportant and is hence highly discriminatory. Consequently, it is only natural that the remaining group will feel left out and demotivated; which may further degrade the leader-follower relationship and create tension within the organisation (Becker, Halbesleben and O’Hair, 2005). Using the LMX theory to assess leader-follower relationships thus creates room for matters of inequality to cast doubt on the effectiveness of the theory.

The theory fails to illustrate how personal characteristics could affect the relationship between leaders and followers. George and Jones (2008) seeks to explain why some employees may appear to have better relationships with supervisors while others have low quality relationships and narrows this down to the role of personality and personal characteristics in influencing communication exchanges. They note that such characteristics may impact on the nature of interaction, perceptions of one another and interpersonal communication.

In an example demonstrating a link between personality traits and communication, Schaubroeck, Lam and Cha (2007) compare extroverts and introverts. They note that extroverts are more outgoing, open to interaction, assertive, accommodative to arguments and have a higher tolerance for disagreement; while the opposite is true for introverts. This could explain why different forms of relationships are likely to emerge based on personal traits. The LMX theory does not bring into consideration such traits and how they are likely to impact on the quality of leader-follower relationships; yet they would serve as the utmost predictor of the quality of LMX between leaders and followers (Tierney, Farmer and Graen, 1999). It would be natural for example for a leader to have better relationships with followers who are outgoing and aggressive as opposed to those who are reserved and quiet. This means that the latter not only fail to enjoy a good relationship with their leaders but their potential may also go unnoticed (Sparrowe and Liden, 1997). The LMX theory therefore appears incomplete and does not form a good basis for analysing relationships between leaders and followers.

The LMX theory fails to address the importance of trust, respect and openness in building relationships and how the leader can effectively maintain the trust of the ‘out-group’. According to Tidd and Bessant (2013), these values exist where there is emotional safety; such that everyone in the organisation is free to air their ideas and opinions. They further note that where trust and openness are too low, the possibility of people hoarding resources including information is high. Given that the LMX theory has been criticized for creating trust, respect and openness issues among employees who feel alienated, how then does a leader ensure that he can bring out the best out of each employee based on the LMX theory? (Zaccaro, Rittman and Marks, 2001). A critical look at the theory would therefore indicate that the theory has a significant level of gaps; especially in how the leader manages relationships to ensure that trust levels are maintained within the organisation and that the potential of all employees is utilised (Taggar, 2001).

Research has shown that some dyads experience difficulty in forming high quality LMX relationships; given their cultural characteristics. Cultural aspect not only determine the kind of relationship a person has with others Jones (2009), use gender dissimilarity as a means to explain this phenomenon; arguing that members of the same gender are more likely to have high quality exchange relationships than when the opposite is true. This denotes a skewed position and further questions the factors underlying the development of relationships within organisations. The LMX theory fails to illustrate how gender similarity may influence the nature of relationships and how this would impact on the organizational outcomes (Jones, 2009). The same is applicable for other cultures where members of one culture are likely to have common interests, understand each other better and even tolerate each other (Sparrowe and Liden, 1997).Van Breukelen, Konst and Van Der (2002) note that individual interactions are driven by common bonds such as cultural characteristics, beliefs, religious and gender orientation among others and that people from the same cultural affiliation are likely to enjoy better relationships because they understand each other better. This has a significant implication on the nature of relationships in the organisation; yet the LMX theory fails to address the influence of culture in its theoretical framework. The theory is thereby ineffective in assessing leader-member relationships.

Conclusion

The LMX theory inadvertently favours the development of privileged groups in the organizational setting and therefore appears discriminatory. This gives rise to a significant number of issues which the LMX theory does not address as far as relationship building is concerned. Issues arise on the underlying procedure of how relationships are created, whether they are out rightly professional and whether personal traits, cultural characteristics and gender similarity among others have an impact on the kind of relationships created within the organisation. These are conspicuously ignored in the theory despite their significance in determining the nature of relationships within groups. There is also the possibility of straining relationships within the workplace as members who have lower quality relationships begin to feel the alienation. Lastly, the LMX theory fails to explain how a leader can maintain healthy relationships with all members and thus eliminate the possibility of trust issues emerging within the organisation. Despite the strengths identified for the LMX theory, these mostly explain application of the theory but do little in providing a framework that effectively assesses relationships in the workplace setting. In conclusion, it is possible to affirm that the leader member exchange (LMX) theory does not qualify as an effective framework for assessing the relationship between leaders and followers

References

Becker, J. A. H., Halbesleben, J. R. B., & O’Hair, D. H. (2005). Defensive communication and burnout in the workplace: The mediating role of leader-member exchange. Communication Research Reports, 22, 143-150.

Chen, Z., Lam, W., & Zhong (2007). Leader-member exchange and member performance: A new look at individual-level negative feedback-seeking behavior and team-level empowerment culture. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92(1), 202- 212.

Fix, B., & Sias, P. M. (2006). Person-centered communication, leader-member exchange, and employee job satisfaction. Communication Research Reports, 23, 35-44.

George, J. M., & Jones, G. R. (2008). Understanding and managing organizational behavior  (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Graen, G. B.; Uhl-Bien, M. (1995). “The Relationship-based approach to leadership: Development of LMX theory of leadership over 25 years: Applying a multi-level, multi-domain perspective”. Leadership Quarterly, 6 (2): 219–247

Jones, J. A. (2009). Gender Dissimilarity and Leader-Member Exchange: The Mediating Effect of Communication Apprehension. Emerging Leadership Journeys, 2 (1), 3-16.

Murphy, S. E., & Ensher (1999). The effects of leader and subordinate characteristics in the development of leader-member exchange quality. Journal of Applied Psychology, 29(7), 1371-1394.

Sagie, A. 1996. Effects of leader’s communication style and participative goal setting on performance and attitudes. Human Performance, 9, 51-64.

Schaubroeck, J., Lam, S. S. K., & Cha, S. E. 2007. Embracing transformational leadership: Team values and the impact of leader behavior on team performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92, 1020-1030.

Sherony, K. M. Green, S. G. (2002). Coworker exchange: Relationships between coworkers, leader-member exchange, and work attitudes. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87, 542-548.

Sparrowe, R. T. & Liden, R. C. (1997). Process and structure in leader-member exchange.

Academy of Management Review, 22, 522-552.

Taggar, S. (2002). Individual creativity and group ability to utilize individual creative resources:

A multilevel model. Academy of Management Journal, 45, 315-330.

Tidd, J. & Bessant, J. (2013). Managing Innovation: Integrating Technological, Market and  Organizational Change. Edinburgh, Scotland: CAPDM Limited.

Tierney, P., Farmer, S. M., & Graen, G. B. (1999). An examination of leadership and employee creativity: The relevance of traits and relationships. Personnel Psychology, 52, 591-620.

Van Breukelen, W., Konst, D. & van der Vlist, R. (2002). Effects of LMX and differential treatment on work unit commitment. Psychological Reports, 91, 220-230.

Zaccaro, S. J., Rittman, A. L., & Marks, M. A. (2001). Team leadership. Leadership Quarterly, 12: 451-483

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Keys to Effective Team Leadership

Keys to Effective Team Leadership
Keys to Effective Team Leadership

Keys to Effective Team Leadership

Order Instructions:

Assignment: respond to student 1 and student 2 separately in one of the following ways:

•Validate your colleague’s analysis of important factors for developing and leading an effective team with your own personal experience as a team leader or team member. Explain how your example validates your colleague’s viewpoint.

•Extend the conversation by providing an additional resource on leading an effective team, and explain how that resource either supports or refutes your colleague’s viewpoint.

•Critique your colleague’s analysis, and offer additional insight by explaining how environment might affect one of the factors he or she chose.

Be sure to include at least one additional scholarly reference to support each response.

Student #1
The team leadership can be effective if both the leaders as well as team members consider the following factors.

Shared Goals and objectives

The team goals and objectives must be stated clearly. The team members must be committed to these goals in order to accomplish the given task. The team commitment is achieved by engaging all the team members particularly on the definition of goals and objectives that relates to their main aim (Ledlow & Coppola, 2011).

Utilization of Resources

The ultimate aim of a certain team is to ensure all their operations are effective. This is attained through use of its resources at disposal efficiently. Therefore, they must establish an environment that tolerates personal resources to be employed. Each member must be allowed to contribute any relevant information or ideas in order to sustain the rational argument of the team. Additionally, utmost utilization of team members calls for complete participation as well as self-regulation (Bleak & Fulmer, 2009).

Trust and Conflict Resolution

Since there must be disagreement among the team members, the aptitude to identify conflict and to look for resolution ways through discussion is a critical role for a team to succeed. For a team leadership to prosper effectively, members must deal with their emotional and interpersonal issues with a feel of common trust and respect in order to resolve inevitable conflicts among them.

Reference:

Bleak, J & Fulmer, R. (2009). Strategically Developing Strategic Leaders. Retrieved from:

Ledlow, G. R., & Coppola, M. N. (2011). Leadership for health professionals: Theory, skills, and applications. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett.

Student # 2

In order to manage a team effective, trust has to be established. It is one of the important aspects of developing a team. Having trust in a team is a critical element that allow team members to bond and work together. A leader need to also be able to listen, coach, mentor effective delegating and conflict resolution (Turaga, 2013). Creating a culture of trust requires the seven Cs of trust, capability, character, commitment, consistency, and connection that a team should represent. A team must have open and honest communication because this allows the team to get to know one another. Members can take ownership of his or her task and responsibilities, (Turaga, 2013).

Turaga, R. (2013). Building trust in teams: A leader’s role. IUP Journal of Soft Skills, 7(2), 13-31. Retrieved from http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/

SAMPLE ANSWER

Keys to Effective Team Leadership

According to Sadler (2003), leadership involves the mobilization of different resources towards the achievement of a shared goal or objective. Leadership is a never-ending process where the leader continuously applies his knowledge and skills into inspiring his followers (Sadler, 2003). As stated by Student #1, having and working towards a shared objective represents one of the key characteristics of an effective team. In order to be an effective team leader, it is imperative that one ensures that the team he heads has the same vision for the good of the group. This way, all the other factors such as trust and conflict resolution fall into place all on their own. In addition, benefits accrue such as better time management, efficient resource utilization, and effective service delivery among several others.

From personal experience, I have witnessed the chaos that arises when team members do not share or are not aware of the goal of their team. At the time, we as team members did not know what we were working towards, and as such, most of our input to the group would either be irrelevant or ambiguous to the situation. Instead of addressing this situation, the team leader would critique or turn down any such input without explanations, resulting in a lot of mistrust and conflict among members. In the end, we came to learn that having a shared goal acts as a reference point to which all members must refer, and this is exceedingly vital in team leadership.

According to Student #2, some of the key characteristics of an effective leader encompass “listening, coaching, delegating, mentoring, and conflict resolution” (Turaga, 2013). A leader who possesses these qualities recognizes the significance of having a strong team, and as such, does all he can to ensure the growth and development of each team member. An effective leader is one who knows his strengths and weaknesses and the limits to which he can operate. Effective leadership can be measured not by the successes of the leader, but by that of the followers. A good team leader also knows the people he leads. From time to time, he may need to employ different leadership styles when dealing with different team members.

Another vital resource for effective team leadership is open communication channels and feedback. Most teams comprise of members with different insights, perspectives, and backgrounds, which if not managed properly may result into conflict. According to studies on the subject, in a majority of cases, conflict among members stem from either inadequate information or lack of communication (Leanne E. Atwater, 2012). It is upon the team leader to ensure that open channels of communication exist, and all team members receive adequate feedback, whether positive or negative, for every input they present.

In summary, both students’ responses are quite insightful, but not exhaustive. They are several other factors that influence effective leadership, such as situation, environment, and communication that they have not addressed. With regard to the environment, it is imperative that the leader knows that the leadership style adopted varies with the environment within which the team operates (Stringer, 2002). In addition, there may be situations when some team members may fall behind or need to be motivated, and this may require a lot of diligence and patience on the part of the team leader. An effective team leader will use his judgment to determine the best course of action that guarantees effectively

References

Leanne E. Atwater, D. A. (2012). Leadership, Feedback and the Open Communication Gap. New York: Psychology Press.

Sadler, P. (2003). Leadership. London: Kogan Page Publishers.

Stringer, R. A. (2002). Leadership and Organizational Climate: The Cloud Chamber Effect. New York: Prentice Hall.

Turaga, R. (2013). Building Trust in Teams: A Leader’s Role. IUP Journal of Soft Skills, 7 (2), 13-31.

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Role of Leadership in Shaping Organizational Culture

Role of Leadership in Shaping Organizational Culture
Role of Leadership in Shaping                             Organizational Culture

Role of Leadership in Shaping Organizational Culture

Order Instructions:

Recent research stated that “[c]ompanies with an established organizational culture that includes strong capabilities for change, commitment to innovation and a high level of trust have a significant advantage” when attempting to adopt a strategy of broad-based corporate sustainability (Eccles, Perkins, & Serafeim, 2013). Yet an Ethics Resource Center (2012) survey found that 42% of respondents felt their organizations exhibited signs of a weak ethics culture with a low degree of trust and transparency. Organizational leaders should have a strong incentive to identify and address any disparities that exist between their organization’s current culture and a productive healthy one. They must understand the impact they can have as leaders in facilitating an organizational culture, determining the necessary steps to build that culture, and taking the necessary action to create a healthy organizational culture.

To prepare:

•Reflect on all you have learned about leadership and leadership theory throughout this course. Begin searching for scholarly references about the relationship between leadership and organizational culture. Reflect on the leadership characteristics and skills that are useful in promoting a healthy organizational culture. Also, consider the leadership styles that promote a healthy organizational culture. Think about the impact on organizational culture of how a leader responds to specific situations, such as crises. Reflect on how a leader might use power to promote a healthy organizational culture and how a leader can promote ethics in a healthy organization.
The “To prepare” is intended to aid in your reflection upon how the various leadership theories and other topics throughout the course relate to organizational culture. However, you are free to analyze other facets of the relationship between leadership and organizational culture.

By Day 7 of Week 7, submit an 8-page comprehensive scholarly analysis of the role leadership plays in shaping an organizational culture.

Your paper must contain ten scholarly resources. These can be a combination of the Learning Resources used throughout this course and new scholarly resources. Your paper should adhere to the APA Course Paper Template found in the Walden University Online Writing Center. The link is located in this Module’s Learning Resources.

SAMPLE ANSWER

Role of Leadership in Shaping Organizational Culture

Introduction

A very important role of an organization’s leadership team is to create and maintain an appropriate organizational culture. This process can take place at any organizational level, and variations in different departments are quite common in larger organizations. As much as this is necessary for the business to meet its demands, it is also important for the company to possess an overriding culture that has the capability of permeating and functioning in its various departments. Leaders are the main contributors towards the shaping of an organization culture. They have various roles, all of which contribute to the resulting culture. Organizational culture is a term used to describe the beliefs and values that have been in existence within an organization for a longer period. It also refers to the staff beliefs as well as foreseen values of their work, which influence their behavior and attitudes towards work. Leadership teams usually work toward adjusting their leadership behavior so as to accomplish the organization’s mission, a step that may end up influencing employees’ level of job satisfaction. Therefore, it is essential to clearly understand the relationship between leadership, organizational culture, and employee job satisfaction. This paper analyses the various roles of leadership in the shaping of organizational culture by looking at the arguments presented by different scholars at different times.

The Role of Leadership in Shaping Organizational Culture

The role leadership plays in shaping an organizational culture involves many activities. First, they shape the culture by how they react to critical issues. Organizational culture affects the performance of a business either negatively or positively. This depends on whether or not the culture is constructive or destructive. Stanislavov and Ivanov (2014) argue that leaders can shape organizational culture by changing to a more effective leadership orientation. The leadership style used within organizations shapes the culture as it determines how the employees will be reacting in the working environment. According to the study conducted, three casinos were used to identify the relationship between leadership style and the organizational culture adopted. In casino A, the previous manager showcased a predominantly commanding style. This type of leadership focuses on giving commands to employees without giving them room for having a say in the situation. As a result of this, the organizational culture was focused on control and competitiveness (Stanislavov & Ivanov, 2014). When such a leadership style is used, the working climate may be affected negatively since the engagement of employees is prohibited. Therefore, instead of employees feeling like they belong, they end up feeling as if they are being misused for the benefits of others. With such a leadership style, employees cannot effectively work in teams because each one of them is busy competing so as to get on the good side of their leader.

When another manager was employed, the situation changed drastically. The leader displayed an affiliate style, which gave room and enhanced collaboration. This resulted to an organizational culture that featured a ‘political system’ (Stanislavov & Ivanov, 2014). This type of culture was shaped because the employees were free to air their thoughts and arguments on certain topics. This triggered a positive climate that made the employees feel free and appreciated. Unfortunately, the employees also recorded a decrease in how they competed on tasks since the leadership was not as strict as before.

Hu, Dinev, Hart, and Cooke (2012) suggest that a one on one correspondence is present when aligning top management behaviors with organizational culture characteristics such as power sharing behavior and culture, participative behavior and decision making culture, transformative vision, and risk tolerance culture. They further argue that the management has a role of shaping organization culture by drafting policies that are acceptable to employees and using education to reinforce the policies and frame organizational culture (Hu, Dinev, Hart & Cooke, 2012). The paper studies an information security organization whose employees were not being strict on information confidence. Therefore, the only way to ensure that no such problems were experienced in the future, a new organizational culture, which would focus on two components, had to be created. The first was to create a shared assumption about information security, and the second featured the education of the employees about these assumptions.

The role of the management in shaping an organizational culture in this case is displayed by the fact that leaders are responsible for the implementation of the above mentioned components. The creation of policies to guide employees in their daily tasks is the duty of the leader. The policies created need to be designed in such a way that when employees follow them, they will behave just as they are expected to. The education of employees on the various policies is important as it shows them the importance of sticking to the policies. Therefore, instead of forcing them to follow the policies, the leader will be showing them the benefits of doing so. When employees realize these benefits, the result will be that they will end up sticking to the policies without being followed. Their beliefs and attitudes will be changed, and so will the organizational culture.

According to Lightle, Baker, and Castellano (2009), the leadership team of an organization are responsible for shaping the organizational culture by overseeing the organizational ethical values. In their journal, a case study of Washington Mutual has been used to describe cases where organization leaders are not playing their role of ensuring that their ethical values are upheld. Some of the unethical activities, which result to an unethical organizational culture, are frequently hidden from the leaders until when it is too late. However, this is not an excuse for the leaders to claim their purity. Lightle, Baker, and Castellano (2009) argue that leaders need to establish codes of conduct, create ethical guidelines, and make use of monitoring programs that will help prevent fraudulent acts or at least establish an organizational culture that punishes those who break the rules. Similarly, they state that the organization culture created should also encourage and reward integrity and responsibility.

When codes of conduct are established by a leader, the employees will get to believe that the ways stated are how they are supposed to act in the workplace. Ethical guidelines will show them what is acceptable and what is punishable. Since employees are always keen on keeping their jobs and avoiding punishments, the result will be that a majority will focus on doing what is acceptable and avoiding what is punishable. All these actions will result to the creation of an organizational culture, which the leader was hoping for as he or she was creating these guidelines. When the leader monitors the activities of employees, it will be easier to spot an area that causes concern, and which needs immediate attention. This is also part of an organizational culture once employees and leaders become accustomed to the rule of monitoring.

Latham (2013) stated that leaders have a role of shaping the organizational culture through their leadership behavior. Although setting the example is a common axiom of leadership, it is even more important when leading transformation that the leaders become the change they want to witness in their organization. This means that the leadership behavior needs to be consistent with the organizational vision and desired culture. Therefore, if the leader needs to create an organizational culture that focuses on respect for each other, he must first treat others with the same level of respect he expects them to use. If this leader shows that he does not tolerate any screaming and yelling, as he himself does not use that for communication, the employees will find it easier to follow his footsteps (Latham, 2013). The same goes for the ethical organizational culture whereby the leader must first show no tolerance for unethical behavior in the organization.

Symbolic managers spend most of their time thinking of the organizational values, and how they can transform the culture into an even stronger subject. These managers view their primary job as that of managing conflicts arising value, which result from the flow of daily events. Kane-Urrabazo (2006) believes that managers have a role in the development of a healthy organizational culture by displaying exemplification of trustworthiness and trust, empowerment and delegation, and also consistency and mentorship. These components decide how employees behave within the organization, and how they carry out their tasks. When employees know how they are expected to behave, they will behave in that way. However, if no guidelines are offered, each one will showcase behavior that they believe to be acceptable. In this case, when the employee is given a specific task, they will act accordingly to complete the task. However, when no task delegation takes place, employees may have trouble completing a task since some areas may be left untouched. Therefore, the leader has the role of shaping an organized organizational culture by ensuring that each individual is aware of his or her specific tasks.

George, Sleeth, and Siders (1999) state that leadership literature has emphasized the role of leaders in articulating a vision, and in establishing an organizational culture through setting objectives and then clearing any hurdles by smoothing out the path for attaining the objectives. They further argue that the leaders need to employ behaviors will create, communicate, and manage the organizational culture (George, Sleeth, & Siders, 1999). Thus, the mode through which leaders establish and communicate a set of shared values and beliefs of the organization to employees is very important. These authors believe that leaders play their role of shaping the organizational culture by articulating the vision. This implies that culture can be created when the leader clearly and effectively expresses his vision ideas to the employees.

The reason why creation of organizational culture commonly fails is because the leaders fail to articulate their vision. For this to be successful, employees need to have an understanding of the benefits associated with the vision, why that and not any other, and so on. By setting objectives and clearing hurdles, the leader is giving the employees a target to work towards. Then to ensure that they are successful, the process is monitored for factors, which may result to its failure. These hurdles may, therefore, include unethical behavior, unsatisfied employees, lack of employee engagement and so on.

The management shapes an organizational culture by understanding employee related variables such as organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and performance (Yafang, 2011). When these variables are clearly understood, the management can easily visualize a culture that will not affect these negatively. Instead, the articulated vision in this case will be formed on a basis that encourages the employees’ commitment to the organization, their job satisfaction, and improved performance. The leader will therefore shape the culture by encouraging activities that will make the employees feel satisfied as members of the organization. This may include treating them with respect, creation of compensation plans that will meet their needs, giving them room to take part in decision making and so on. Once they feel satisfied with their jobs, they will become committed to the organization, a step that will increase performance.

Heidrich and Alt (2009) also believe that the role of the leader influences the creation and change in the organizational culture. According to these authors, this is achieved when the leader defines behavioral norms and decision making methods, as well as when the leader makes decisions that eventually affects the organization’s value system. There are many ways through which a leader can have an impact on upon shaping the organizational culture (Heidrich & Alt, 2009). First, by being a role model; second, by making use of a reward system; third, through the selection and recruitment process; fourth, by using structure and strategy; and fifth, by considering the physical setting. Therefore, as the leader plays the role of shaping organizational culture, there are steps that must be taken. For instance, the leader needs to employ strategy, otherwise, the visualized culture will not be achieved. This is because a new mission cannot be completed with the use of old organization values and beliefs.

According to Veiseh, Mohammadi, Pirzadian and Sharafi (2014), organizational culture is shaped by the leadership role of transforming employees. This is because transformational leadership has been linked to how leaders encourage employees to perform better as well as to prepare reliable paths for new organizations. This is because this type of leadership is formed on a basis of four aspects: One, purposeful influence; two, intellectual encouragement; three, inspirational motivation; four, encouraging supports. By indulging in the above, the leader is influencing the organizational culture since the beliefs and values are also altered in the process.

Nguyen Huu, Yunshi, Ping-Fu, and Sheng-Hung (2014) also agree that transformational leadership shapes organizational culture. This is because such leaders are able to positively influence the followers to share their values and beliefs by promoting a higher level of intrinsic value associated with the accomplishment of a goal, emphasizing the important link between follower’s effort and goal achievement, and also by creating a very high level of commitment on both the part of the leader and follower towards a common organizational vision, mission, and goals.

Conclusion

            Leaders are the main individuals within an organization who can actively shape the organizational culture. The works of the scholars analyzed in this paper prove that leaders shape the culture through their behaviors, actions, and their chosen leadership styles. Leadership behavior will affect whether or not the visualized organizational culture is achieved since employees are usually keen on how the leader conducts him/herself. The actions need to go hand in hand with the words and expectations of the leader; otherwise, the formation of a culture will not be effective. Lastly, leadership styles also play a role as they define the organization’s climate, which directly impact employees.

References

George, G., Sleeth, R. G., & Siders, M. A. (1999). Organizing Culture: Leader Roles, Behaviors, And Reinforcement Mechanisms. Journal Of Business & Psychology, 13(4), 545-560.

Heidrich, B., & Alt, M. (2009). Godfather Management? The Role of Leaders in Changing Organizational Culture in Transition Economies: A Hungarian-Romanian Comparison. Management (18544223), 4(4), 309-327.

Hu, Q., Dinev, T., Hart, P., & Cooke, D. (2012). Managing Employee Compliance with Information Security Policies: The Critical Role of Top Management and Organizational Culture* Managing Employee Compliance with Information Security Policies: The Critical Role of Top Management and Organizational.. Decision Sciences, 43(4), 615-660. https://www.doi:10.1111/j.1540-5915.2012.00361.x

Kane-Urrabazo, C. (2006). Management’s role in shaping organizational culture. Journal Of Nursing Management, 14(3), 188 194.   https://www.doi:10.1111/j.1365-2934.2006.00590.x

Latham, J. R. (2013). A Framework for Leading the Transformation to Performance Excellence Part II: CEO Perspectives on Leadership Behaviors, Individual Leader Characteristics, and Organizational Culture. Quality Management Journal, 20(3), 19-40.

Lightle, S. S., Baker, B., & Castellano, J. F. (2009). The Role of Boards of Directors in Shaping Organizational Culture. CPA Journal, 79(11), 68-72.

Nguyen Huu, D., Yunshi, L., Ping-Fu, H., & Sheng-Hung, Y. (2014). An Empirical Study Of The Organizational Culture, Leadership And Firm Performance In A Vietnam Family Business. International Journal Of Organizational Innovation, 6(4), 109-121.

Stanislavov, I., & Ivanov, S. (2014). The role of leadership for shaping organizational culture and building employee engagement in the Bulgarian gaming industry. Tourism (13327461), 62(1), 19-40.

Veiseh, S., Mohammadi, E., Pirzadian, M., & Sharafi, V. (2014). The Relation between Transformational Leadership and Organizational Culture (Case study: Medical school of Ilam). Journal Of Business Studies Quarterly, 5(3), 113-124.

Yafang, T. (2011). Relationship between Organizational Culture, Leadership Behavior and Job Satisfaction. BMC Health Services Research, 11(1), 98-106. https://www.doi:10.1186/1472-6963-11-98

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Leadership taxonomy template Assignment

Leadership taxonomy
Leadership taxonomy

Leadership taxonomy Template

Order Instructions:

•Review this Module’s Learning Resources. Select four leadership theories for this Assignment. Search for additional peer-reviewed scholarly resources about your selected leadership theories. You should use both the articles in the Learning Resources and additional scholarly resources to develop your analysis. You must use proper paraphrasing techniques when completing your analysis. Avoid using direct quotes by paraphrasing as appropriate. Include proper APA citations. Submit your paper through Turnitin and Grammarly, and include your Grammarly results with your paper submission

•A 1-page taxonomy that follows the Leadership Theory Taxonomy Template available in this Module’s Learning Resources to the Assignment Part 1 – Module 2 link.
•A 4- to 6-page (not including cover page or references) Leadership Theory Taxonomy paper that explains in detail each theory listed in the taxonomy, by synthesizing multiple scholarly references and examples. This paper will be submitted to the Assignment Part 2 Turnitin – Module 2 link. Be sure to include the following in your paper:
•Five peer-reviewed scholarly resources in addition to those offered by the Learning Resources
•Specific examples of two of the four theories drawn from personal experiences or scholarly literature

SAMPLE ANSWER

Leadership taxonomy template

Trait theory (1930s-1940s)

Authors: Ralph Stogdill

Years: 1948

Description: It is based on the assumption that all good leaders have a specific set of personal characteristics or personality traits that make them good leaders. However, Stogdill concluded that the traits that one was born with were not the only requirement for good leadership, but rather that these traits must be relevant to the particular leadership situation for one to be an effective leader.

Behavioral theory (1940s-1950s)

Author: Kurt Levin

Years: 1939-1940s

Description: a framework for classification of leaders based on their actions, which divided leaders into three groups; these groups consisted of autocratic leaders, democratic leaders and laissez-faire leaders.

Contingency or situational theories (1960s)

Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership Theory

Author: Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard

Years: 1970s

Description: It is based on four leadership styles that correspond to the four maturity levels of those being led.

Power and influence theories

French and Raven’s five forms of power

Authors: John French, Bertram Raven

Year: 1959

Description: clearly articulates the five forms of power that leaders execute, which are legitimate, coercive, reward, referent and expert power.

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The Role of Leadership in Shaping Organizational Culture

The Role of Leadership in Shaping Organizational Culture
The Role of Leadership in Shaping                                    Organizational Culture

The Role of Leadership in Shaping Organizational Culture

Order Instructions:

The Role of Leadership in Shaping Organizational Culture
Recent research stated that “[c]companies with an established organizational culture that includes strong capabilities for change, commitment to innovation and a high level of trust have a significant advantage” when attempting to adopt a strategy of broad-based corporate sustainability (Eccles, Perkins, & Serafeim, 2013). Yet an Ethics Resource Center (2012) survey found that 42% of respondents felt their organizations exhibited signs of a weak ethics culture with a low degree of trust and transparency. Organizational leaders should have a strong incentive to identify and address any disparities that exist between their organization’s current culture and a productive healthy one. They must understand the impact they can have as leaders in facilitating an organizational culture, determining the necessary steps to build that culture, and taking the necessary action to create a healthy organizational culture.

To prepare:
Begin searching for scholarly references about the relationship between leadership and organizational culture. Reflect on the leadership characteristics and skills that are useful in promoting a healthy organizational culture. Also, consider the leadership styles that promote a healthy organizational culture. Think about the impact on organizational culture of how a leader responds to specific situations, such as crises. Reflect on how a leader might use power to promote a healthy organizational culture and how a leader can promote ethics in a healthy organization.
The “To prepare” is intended to aid in your reflection upon how the various leadership theories and other topics relate to organizational culture. However, you are free to analyze other facets of the relationship between leadership and organizational culture.
Compose an 8-page word document, comprehensive scholarly analysis of the role leadership plays in shaping an organizational culture.
Your paper must contain ten scholarly resources. Your paper should adhere to the APA Course Paper Template.

Learning resources.
• Northouse, P. G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and practice (6th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
o Chapter 12, “Team Leadership” (pp. 287–318)
Ayman, R., & Korabik, K. (2010). Leadership: Why gender and culture matter. American Psychologist, 65(3), 157–170.
Eagly, A. H., & Lau Chin, J. (2010). Diversity and leadership in a changing world. American Psychologist, 65(3), 216–224.
Ilies, R., Judge, T., & Wagner, D. (2006). Making sense of motivational leadership: The trail from transformational leaders to motivated followers. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 13(1), 1–22.
Van Velsor, E., & Leslie, J. B. (1995). Why executives derail: Perspectives across time and cultures. Academy of Management Executive, 9(4), 62–72.
Abrhiem, T. H. (2012). Ethical leadership: Keeping values in business culture. Business & Management Review, 2(7), 11–19.
Cuilla, J. B. (2011). Is business ethics getting better? A historical perspective. Business Ethics Quarterly, 21(2), 335–343.
Hartog, D., & Belschak, F. (2012). Work engagement and Machiavellianism in the ethical leadership process. Journal of Business Ethics, 107(1), 35–47.
Heifetz, R. A., & Laurie, D. L. (1997). The work of leadership. Harvard Business Review, 75(1), 124–134.
Avolio, B. J., Walumbwa, F. O., & Weber, T. J. (2009). Leadership: Current theories, research, and future directions. Annual Review of Psychology, 60(1), 421–449.
George, B., Sims, P., McLean, A. N., & Mayer, D. (2007). Discovering your authentic leadership. Harvard Business Review, 85(2), 129–138.
Maner, J. K., & Mead, N. L. (2010). The essential tension between leadership and power: When leaders sacrifice group goals for the sake of self-interest. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 99(3), 482–497.
Raven, B. H. (1993). The bases of power: Origins and recent developments. Journal of Social Issues, 49(4), 227–251.
Sandra:

SAMPLE ANSWER

The Role of Leadership in Shaping Organizational Culture

It is widely agreed that leadership forms, shapes, and embeds organizational culture, and in turn, contributes to the long-term effectiveness and productivity of an organization. Organizational culture sets the context within which the employees in a firm strive for excellence and work together in realizing the goals of the company (Yafang, 2011). An organization’s culture is characterized by the collective set of habits and values that condition actions of members within it. It is the written and unwritten rules of how a company’s employees work with each other, customers, and stakeholders (Belias & Koustelios, 2014). Culture becomes ingrained over a period as a response to the actions and style of an influential leader (DeRue & Ashford, 2010). There is also a common hypothesis postulating that culture plays a significant role in the ability of the firm to execute its own strategic plans successfully. Moreover, successful leaders shape the organizational culture instead of allowing it to shape the company. A strong culture which exhibits a well-targeted and effective set of behavior patterns and specified values, forms the basis for an organization to perform better.

The systems approach posits that organizations have an identity, the enduring distinctive character of the organization as reflected in the values, symbols, traditions, as well as in the way the organization translates and interprets its environment (DeRue & Ashford, 2010). Leaders, in this regard, are the architects of the identity of an entity, how an organization makes sense of its environment and work, relationships that matter, feedback that counts, and available information. At the same time, the views and behaviors of the organizational leadership are, in turn, shaped by the norms and boundaries of the organization (Belias & Koustelios, 2014). As such, the organization’s ability to manage identity confirmation in work groups is likely to achieve higher cooperation. Again, convergence around the collective identity enhances the organizational commitment, strengthens the organizational culture, and mobilizes cooperation.

Shaping the organizational culture is a comprehensive, methodical, and integrated approach to shifting the it from the top management and leadership to the bottom levels (Belias & Koustelios, 2014). Therefore, building a healthy, high-performance culture entails changing the behaviors of teams and individuals that constitute the organization. Personal transformation is the foundation of a cultural transformation. DeRue and Ashford (2010) posit that creating a thriving, high-performance culture that is aligned with the company’s values, goals, and vision is a vital strategy for success. Shaping the organizational culture is a journey that requires a well-coordinated and integrated approach. The process requires an integrated approach starting from the top and then embedded throughout the entire organization. A leader cannot, therefore, shape an organization’s culture in isolation. When done correctly, shaping of the organizational culture can be very successful, rewarding, and stimulating process.

Culture happens by design or default and is notably a critical aspect of the company’s business strategy and competitive advantage. Shaping the organizational culture requires a complete and comprehensive approach to change, with an awareness of and emphasizes on some key principles such as purposeful leadership, personal change, and focused sustainability (Aitken, 2008). The leadership must own and lead the process of shaping the culture. They need to have a clear, compelling purpose for the organization and for themselves coupled with a powerful business rationale to inspire a thriving organizational culture. Just like any other business strategy, the process requires to have resources and a systematic execution plan. Culture needs to be explicitly defined through values and behaviors and at the same time modeled by the senior team. There is a need for the company’s employees to unfreeze existing habits and to make personal behavior change on an emotional level through insight-based learning in natural work teams to shift thinking and in turn reinforce change (Belias & Koustelios, 2014). People must understand the need shaping their culture. The process requires momentum, energy, and critical mass in order to engage all employees, since cultures are likely to resist change. Institutional practices, performance capabilities and drivers, and systems need to drive towards the desired culture in terms of communication, measurement, training, rewards and reinforcement, HR practices, performance management, and physical layout.

Several studies have highlighted the correlation between leadership strategies, the effectiveness in leadership role, and the impact that leaders have on others (Yafang, 2011). Leadership has a role in shaping the organizational culture while the culture in turn shapes leadership. Both leadership and culture drive performance. Organization culture is very crucial in terms of creating a healthy working environment and in promoting and communicating the goals and vision of the organization to employees. This, to a great extent, influences employee’s job satisfaction and motivation (DeRue & Ashford, 2010). Effective leadership styles and culture form the basis for employees to make greater contribution to team collaboration and communication, and will be motivated to achieve the objectives of the organization.

Research has demonstrated the relationship between leadership behavior and work satisfaction of employees (Eagly & Lau Chin, 2010). Leadership behavior and job satisfaction depend on the organizational context. Culture is a socially learned and transmitted aspect by the members providing the rules for behavior within organizations.  Organizational culture is, therefore, supposed to guide employees in understanding what is expected of them including values, assumptions, and values about their work. The core values in a company begin with its leadership and then evolve into a leadership style. The other staff members are guided by the behavior of the leaders and the values. Once a strong, unified behavior, beliefs, and values have been developed, a strong organization culture then emerges (Ilies et al., 2006). When leaders are able to appreciate their function in maintaining the organizational culture, they are able to maintain a consistent behavior of the staff and to reduce conflicts thus creating a healthy working environment.

Research has revealed the close correlation between organizational culture and leadership, as well as between leadership styles and performance. Evidence demonstrates that the relationship between leadership effectiveness and leadership is mediated by cultural congruence (Belias & Koustelios, 2014). In describing organizational culture, it is important to highlight the various aspects in terms of the visible organizational actions and structures such as facilities, procedures, and actions. The other aspect is the one of expounding values manifest in public images of the organization such as goals, philosophies, and strategies. The third level consists of basic assumptions, perceptions, feelings, and thoughts. The visible elements created by a company act as the objective organization culture while the two other elements are related to subjective organizational culture. In order to function successfully, leaders need to balance between the different roles and competencies.

The rational goal model, which focuses on the director and producer roles, is a directive and goal oriented. The primary roles of this approach are those of the director and producer (Aitken, 2008). As a director, the manager provides direction and is expected to provide clarification of expectations through goal setting and planning. The leaders are supposed to be decisive initiators capable of defining problems, generating solutions, clarifying tasks, giving instructions, and establishing rules and procedures. The producer, on the other hand, is expected to increase production and to facilitate goal accomplishment. A producer has high motivation and energy and can accept responsibilities, maintain high productivity, and accomplish stated goals. The internal process model focusing on coordinating and monitoring roles as a leadership style is conservative and cautious (Aitken, 2008). The role of the manager is to keep track of the activities and to ensure that people follow the rules and procedures. A monitor is entrusted at analyzing all the facts and details. The human relations model of leadership styles concerns facilitator and mentor roles. This type of leadership is supportive and concerned. The roles of the facilitator are to build cohesion and teamwork (Aitken, 2008).

The transformational leadership theory emphasizes on the need for motivational leaders to articulate vision and direction, strengthening culture, and valuing and nurturing their staff, thereby enhancing performance. The transformational leadership approach strives to promote fellowship effectiveness (Jones, 2012). Distributed leadership identifies the need for the top leadership as part of a wider leadership capability. Although the distributed leadership approach recognizes the need for the top leadership, it champions for leadership in practice stretched over the situational and social contexts of the organization (Eagly & Lau Chin, 2010). In this model of leadership, the efforts of the leaders is a product the leaders thinking and behavior, the people, and the context. This model posits that strong leadership is characterized by the top leadership relinquishing power to others in the system, and recognizing interdependency. The systems approach identifies leadership as taking place in multiple systems whereby every organizational member is a member of that system. Leadership is practiced in different ways in these systems and is determined by the complexity of the work within that system. Leaders in complex systems that characterize today’s business environment are expected to provide clarity of purpose and expectations and to provide congruent and consistent decisions. The leaders also have a duty to guide on the system’s boundaries and expectations as well as to help the system make sense of the context within which it works (Jones, 2012).

Organization culture can be described as the framework that is used to guide decision-making and to resolve problems within the organization and in its external environment. Organizational culture depends on communication, shared interests and goals, collaborations, and social interactions among the employees (Eagly & Lau Chin, 2010). The main challenge for the leaders is, therefore, to influence and energize others to embrace a shared vision within the culture. They must be able to lead others into emulating and supporting the actions and behaviors that establish a strong, positive organizational culture that is capable of thriving and forging ahead into the future. According to Jones (2012), some of the effective leadership behaviors that would foster a healthy organizational culture include being a mover, empowering others, fostering good communication, building trust, managing conflict, and performance evaluation.

Leaders ought to apply several techniques geared towards molding a healthy organizational culture. These techniques involve adopting and integrating effective leadership behaviors and acting as a mentor by sharing knowledge and expertise gained from experience. Leaders as role models provide guidance in regard to value-based behaviors and standards of conduct (Latham, 2013). The leaders should also establish a shared vision, guide and motivate staff, and boost communication among the staff. By nurturing a sense of self-worth and commitment, leaders are able to develop an empowered organization.

Empowering others is a crucial recipe to realizing the great potential and creativity in them. Through empowerment, people feel significant and are willing to make a contribution to the company (Heifetz & Laurie, 1997). This is because they know that their contribution is important and valued by others in the workplace. Another important role of the leader is to unify. This entails creating a team of staff working towards a common shared vision. This can be achieved through a two-way communication between the leadership and the employees. When people feel empowered, in the workplace they take full responsibility of situations. They conduct themselves with a sense of personal power and control, flexibility, as well as trust from the leadership. In an organization where employees feel empowered, they take full control, responsibility, and charge of programs to achieve the organizational goals creating a culture of commitment and responsibility where everyone is committed to achieving the purpose.

Fostering good communication is a critical element of the organizational culture and acts to facilitate quality outcomes (Latham, 2013). For leadership to realize a healthy organizational culture, they must ensure that there is regular and comprehensive communication among the staff and the leadership. In addition, there is a need for timely and accurate flow of information among all the stakeholders of the company. Effective communication as such allows all those involved to express their opinions, receive constructive feedback, and resolve conflicts.

Leaders striving to create a healthy working culture ought to develop a culture that supports trusting connections with individuals and groups within the organization (Avolio et al., 2009).  Leaders can achieve this by being accessible, listening actively, and keeping in touch. By inviting others to contact them, leaders show their trust, availability, and willingness to focus on their concerns. Consequently, people know that they are valued and respected when they are listened to.

The authority and power of the leaders may be established in many ways, and the sources of power may either be positive or negative. A positive organizational culture focuses on the ability of the management to establish a positive authority (Eagly & Lau Chin, 2010). Leaders can achieve positive authority by establishing reward power and influencing others to follow their guidance in holding valued rewards. Consequently, they can establish referent power by socializing with employees and demonstrating various admirable traits that influence the followers to perform on the basis of a desire for approval or admiration. In addition, they can establish expert power by gaining expertise and knowledge and by encouraging the staff to learn and gain from their experience. Notably, to manage organizational culture so that it supports the core values and believes entails understanding and recognizing the conflicts and dynamics within the organization (Latham, 2013). This helps them to understand and effectively diagnose issues related to organizational culture. Conflict management is, therefore, a critical component of a healthy organizational culture. Conflict and differences are inherent aspects of an organization, and effective leaders view them as an important source of vitality.

In conclusion, it can be argued that managers and leaders play a very crucial role in influencing an organization’s culture. Culture serves as the foundation for all the systems, strategies, and processes in a company. Leaders have the central role in shaping the culture in an organization. Successful leaders are able to develop a positive and healthy corporate culture for their organization by motivating the employees to perform at a higher level, establishing positive authority, and promoting open communication.

References

Aitken, P. (2008). ‘Walking the talk’: the nature and role of leadership culture within organization culture/s. Journal Of General Management, 32(4), 17-37.

Avolio, B. J., Walumbwa, F. O., & Weber, T. J. (2009). Leadership: Current theories, research, and future directions. Annual Review of Psychology, 60(1), 421-449.

Belias, D., & Koustelios, A. (2014). The Impact of Leadership and Change Management Strategy on Organizational Culture.European Scientific Journal, (7), 451.

DeRue, D., & Ashford, S. J. (2010). Who Will Lead And Who Will Follow? A Social Process of Leadership Identity Construction In Organizations. Academy Of Management Review, 35(4), 627-647.

Eagly, A. H., & Lau Chin, J. (2010). Diversity and Leadership in a Changing World. American Psychologist, 65(3), 216-224.

Heifetz, R. A., & Laurie, D. L. (1997). The Work of Leadership. Harvard Business Review, 75(1), 124-134.

Ilies, R., Judge, T., & Wagner, D. (2006). Making Sense of Motivational Leadership: The Trail from Transformational Leaders to Motivated Followers. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 13(1), 1-22.

Jones, D. (2012). The Way We Do Things around Here: The Role of Leadership Teams in Shaping Progressive Organizational Cultures. Australian and Aotearoa New Zealand Psychodrama Association Journal, (21), 53.

Latham, J. R. (2013). A Framework for Leading the Transformation to Performance Excellence Part II: CEO Perspectives on Leadership Behaviors, Individual Leader Characteristics, and Organizational Culture. Quality Management Journal, 20(3), 19-40.

Yafang, T. (2011). Relationship between Organizational Culture, Leadership Behavior and Job Satisfaction. BMC Health Services Research, 11(1), 98-106.

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Organizational Leadership Assignment

Organizational Leadership
Organizational Leadership

Organizational Leadership

Order Instructions:

Applying French and Raven’s Bases of Social Power: A Powerful Solution

Throughout history, people have told stories of leaders who have been corrupted by their power. The very definition of leadership as “a process by which an individual influences the group to achieve a common goal” (Northouse, 2013, p. 5) implies the power to exert influence. Leaders must exert power in order to lead. But they must also strive to understand the complexities of power. Research by French and Raven and by others provides insight on the types, or bases, of power available to a leader, the process of choosing among those bases, and the motivations for leaders’ choices. Recent research also explores the effectiveness of using individual bases of power in particular situations and the effects the use of certain bases of powers have on leaders and those they lead. Armed with this information, leaders can avoid utilizing certain bases of power when the choice may lead to negative consequences. They can instead choose to wield power in ways that will foster organizational success. Understanding the bases also gives both leaders and followers insight into situations they observe and difficult interpersonal interactions they negotiate.
Use this format to complete the paper.

Essay Style of Writing
Start with an introduction with thesis statement, three supporting points, and a conclusion. All essays should include at least 5 paragraphs or sections.
Paragraph 1: Introduction with thesis statement that includes three supporting points.
Paragraph 2: Discussion of supporting point 1 includes support using cited reference.
Paragraph 3: Discussion of supporting point 2 includes support using cited reference.

Paragraph 4: Discussion of supporting point 3 includes support using cited reference.
Paragraph 5: Summary includes discussion of supporting points and conclusion statement of the main topic. This final paragraph should not include new information.

References

To prepare:

Read and analyze Case Study “Three Shifts, Three Supervisors”

In a 2 page word document Write an analysis of the case study. Identify two of French and Raven’s bases of power in the case study and explain how these bases of power can be used to exert influence. Also, explain how you might use your knowledge of French and Raven’s theory to resolve one of the problems presented in the case study. Justify your response.

Learning Resources:

Raven, B. H. (1993). The bases of power: Origins and recent developments. Journal of Social Issues, 49(4), 227–251.

Schriesheim, C. A., Podsakoff, P. M., & Hinkin, T. R. (1991). Can ipsative and single-item measures produce erroneous results in field studies of French and Raven’s (1959) five bases of power? An empirical investigation. Journal of Applied Psychology, 76(1), 106–114.

Northouse, P. G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and practice (6th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

SAMPLE ANSWER

Organizational Leadership

Leaders have the responsibility to act as role models in guiding their followers in the quest to achieve their goals. Various theories postulated illustrate how leaders act and should lead. One of the famous researchers is French and Raven’s who came up with various bases of power to depict how different leaders execute their leadership responsibilities. This paper delineates on the French and Ravens two bases of power; reward and legitimate power putting into perspective a case study, “Three shifts, Three supervisors.”

The case study “Three Shifts, Three Supervisors” is about three leaders that work in shifts. Every leader has his or her style of leadership and this affects the motivation and the performance of the workers.  A leader that adopts to rewards a source of power uses intangible as well as tangible rewards to influence the followers. Such a leader makes promise in exchange of   something (Raven, 1993). Therefore, followers are required to do or behave in a certain manner to get the reward promised.  On the other hand, legitimate power is where a leader is given power by a given body to execute certain responsibilities.  This form of powers comes from the higher position and there is a tendency for people to obey the position not individuals.

Based on the path-goal theory, it is evident that Carol is a more effective leader compared to the other two Art and Bob. Being a leader Carol behaviors enhances or contributes to motivated followers. She exemplifies directive leadership as she ensures that the followers understand what should be done and how to do it.  She holds trouble-shooting meetings and stresses the goals of the company to the employees and as well, the rewards that comes when the goals are achieved. She is also a supportive leader as she encourages her employees and spends time with them to build their morale.  Therefore, she is an effective supervisor in the company. She also to some extend uses legitimate power because, she has been given the position by the managers and is answerable to them. On the other hand, the other two supervisors, Art and Bob do not demonstrate directive leadership. Their group or followers are not motivated and this is attributed to the way they interact and execute their responsibilities as leaders.  Art leadership approach is more task- oriented and this makes the followers more bored.  Even though to some extend Bob exemplifies supportive leadership style, the followers lack direction on what they should do. They therefore lack focus and this affects their ability to achieve the goals set. Perhaps it is wise for Art and Bob to engage and interact with their followers and as well, use rewards to motivate their employees.

It is therefore, evident that these two bases of power; reward and legitimate can be used to exert influence on the followers.  A leader endowed with legitimate power is able to use the powers to trigger changes in an organization. For instance, a police officer is given legitimate power from his office and is required to execute his roles in line with the power given to him by the state.  Reward power is also used to influence followers especially to trigger positive results. Leaders can make promises to trigger hard work and as well to punish those that fail to achieve the set targets.  French and Raven theory can as well be used to solve some of the problems in the case. For instance, the problem of Bob of failure to motivate and offer direction to his followers can be corrected if he acquires more skills and information about various ways to motivate employees and as well to show them direction.

In summary, leaders can use different leadership bases to execute their responsibilities. French and Raven’s leadership bases; reward and legitimate power can be used to lead and influence followers. Carol is one of the supervisor and a leader that uses directive and supportive leadership styles. She is also able to aply her legitimate power well to motivate her followers. On the other hand, Art and Bob have failed when it comes to motivating and showing direction to their followers. They can apply reward power to motivate their followers to ensure achievement of the organizational goals.

References

Raven, B. H. (1993). The bases of power: Origins and recent developments. Journal of Social Issues, 49(4), 227–251.

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