The US and Iran Negotiations and Leadership Styles - Coursework Example

U.S and Iran Negotiations and Leadership Styles al affiliation: U.S and Iran Negotiations and leadership styles An ethical decision is both legally and morally acceptable to the larger community. In Lausanne, Switzerland, Iran agreed to the significant restrictions that were made on its nuclear weapons and other economic bases to end the production of nuclear weapons. However, a deal was announced in April 2015 after several months of debatable negotiations with the United States and other powerful nations which included Russia, France, China, Germany and the United Kingdom (Castillo et al, 2015). For the deal to be signed, US president Barrack Obama deployed various power bases and leadership tactics. The power bases include: i) Communication The framework agreement comprised a milestone in negotiations that began like 12 years ago. It created parameters for more than 3 months of negotiations over technical advances and unresolved matters. In Washington, Mr. Obama strongly defended the agreement with Iran as a rare lifetime opportunity to end the spread of dangerous nuclear weapons. He used his excellent communication power base to reassure his critics that he would keep all options available if at all Iran cheated ultimately (Alanazi, & Arnoldo, 2003). ii) Social sanctions/ coercive power Over a period, Iran has been subjected to various pressures and sanctions especially from the US. Under the Obama administration, the sanctions have become more international and far-reaching hence leading to sanctions on the sale of oil by Iran and international access to financial markets. Nonetheless, Obama used to assure Iran that all these sanctions that continued to batter its economy would be lifted in phases if the deal to end the production of nuclear weapons was signed (Castillo et al, 2015) iii) Authoritative power After negotiating the nuclear deal with Iran, President Obama faces two more steps to make it realistic. One is using his power as the US president to make the outline of the deal and its finality. The other step is ensuring that the congress does not interfere on the way. Since the beginning of the negotiations, the Congress has tried to block the deal but president Obama has used his authoritarian powers to prevent the Congress from blocking the deal. Most of the Republicans and some Democrats are skeptical about the recent agreement but in his speech, President Obama dared them to block the deal (Carson et al, 1995). Influence tactics used by Obama Influence can refer to the force that a person exerts on someone else to induce a certain change on the targeted person. Barrack Obama, the president of USA used the following influence tactics to force out the deal. 1. The Direction Tactic In this tactic, the leader just issues and instructs others on what to do. Actually, the leader must have strong powers in the situation than other members of the public. Obama is the president of a the most powerful nation on globe and this means that he used to direct his secretaries and the rest of the team on the orders to be issued to Iran during the negotiation meetings (Alanazi, & Arnoldo, 2003). 2. The negotiation Tactic Negotiation means that a leader tends to influence others by the way of conferring with others to arrive at a settlement that both the leader and public team find acceptable. For instance, on the day of signing the agreement, there were all night long discussions and negotiation on the deal. The US team with other teams used to hold very comprehensive talks, which later led to signing of the lifetime deal as President Obama puts it (Castillo et al, 2015) 3. The involvement tactic In this case, president Obama had the goal of ensuring that they come up with an agreement of ending the production of powerful firearms by Iran. Actually, all the supporters of Obama had to adopt that goal and gain the commitment to the attainment of the goal. This kind of tactic that involves all members of the team involved, has led to attainment of Obama goal. Leadership styles used by Obama There are three various styles of leadership identified by Kurt Lewin, which include authoritarian, democratic, and laissez-faire. In the deal, Obama deployed democracy style of leadership as he allowed member inputs from various diplomats. He facilitated group discussions among the diplomats in order to make decisions. He got involved by sharing his ideas and imposing flexibility of altering his options based on what other diplomats considered fit. He forfeited the other two styles as the first (authoritarian), does not act ethically as it ignores member contribution to the problem at hand. According to the diplomats, the step reached met their core objectives of the negotiation. The diplomats announced they would come up with the framework for an agreement that has been months in the making. President Obama acted ethically to effectively achieve the goal of keeping Iran nuclear plan peaceful (Castillo et al, 2015) Part 2 As an ethical leader, I must act and make decisions ethically and lead ethically in the way I treat people during daily interactions, in the ways we encourage one another, in their attitudes and in the directions in which they drive their organizations or institutions or initiatives. I should know what I value and recognize the importance of behaving ethically Some important personal values and beliefs that can influence my ethical leadership style include; the ability to put aside my ego and personal interests for the sake of the cause I support. The organization I lead, the needs of the people I serve, and the greater good of the community or the world at large. I will be willing to accepting serious feedback and opinions different from my own that challenges to my ideas and proposed actions. Considering and discussing ethics and ethical questions and issues that are part of the culture of my group, organization, or even initiative will be part of my leadership plan. Maintaining and intensifying the competence that I owe those who trust me to lead the organization in the right direction by the best and most effective methods are not to forget in my leadership plans. Accepting responsibility and being accountable to the community and society are some of the good virtues or components of leadership (Carson et al, 1995). Expectations of self and others Leaders are role models hence if I want my organization or initiative and that working in it to behave ethically, then it is up to me to model ethical behavior. Ethically behaved leader and organization provides a model for other organizations and the community as well except leadership that is gained and maintained through force and intimidation. leadership is based on trust and people will follow me if I’m an ethical leader because they have trust in me (Alanazi, & Arnoldo, 2003). If I have established myself as an ethical leader, groups and individuals both within and outside the organization will respect me for the integrity I hold. Other organizations will be much more willing to collaborate with me if they know that I will always deal with them ethically. A good climate is created in the organization if they know that power will be shared and not abused. Again, the partners must that they will handled respectfully and straightforwardly, and will have the power to do their jobs. They must also be assured that the organization will operate ethically in the community and this will make them to feel more secure, to work well as a team, and to be devoted to the work of the organization. Based on the three styles of leadership, I choose to leverage democracy as it welcomes input from the team members and facilitates group discussions before making decisions. I will be in a position to share my plans with the group members and offer multiple alternatives for the group to make a choice. This encourages members to work freely with each other and leaves a task division to the group. I will be objective in praise and criticism, and will join the group activities without actually over-participating (Alanazi, & Arnoldo, 2003). My influencing power will be based on the direction tactic where I just issue and instruct others on what to do. If my subjects have trust in my ethical leadership, they will cooperate and show devotion to work to meet targets. In addition, the negotiation tactic is also useful to influence others by the way of conferring with them to arrive a certain settlement, which we both find acceptable. The involvement tactic is also useful since it involves all members of the team (Alanazi, & Arnoldo, 2003). My leadership values and ethics should be visible because I live them in my actions every single day. Leadership is shaped much by the external world but the source of leadership always comes from within. My leadership should leave other people touched, moved, and inspired (Carson et al, 1995). References Alanazi, F.M., & Arnoldo R. (2003). "Power Bases and Attribution in Three Cultures." The Journal of Social Psychology 143, no. 3 p. 375–395. Carson, P., Kerry D. C., Leon Knight, Jr. E & ., William R. (1995). "Power in Organizations: A Look Through the TQM Lens." Quality Progress 28, no. 11 73–78. Castillo, M., Labott, E. & Shoichet, C. E. (2015). Optimism as Iran nuclear deal framework announced; more work ahead. http://edition.cnn.com/2015/04/02/world/iran-nuclear-talks/ retrieved on April 3, 2015. Read More