The Implication of the Personal Perspective of Leadership to Practice - Essay Example

Introduction The concept of leadership goes down to the fact that good leaders are made and never born. If one desires to be a leader, there is a big possibility of becoming one even without background. The concept of leadership also highlights the fact that leaders are developed in a process that in unending and it all starts with self study, education and training among many other ways. Leadership can be defined and the process in which a person influences other individuals to attain the goals and gives direction to an organization towards coherency as well as cohesiveness (Bass 1990). Leadership may be mistaken at times. For instance, a position as manager or supervisor gives one authority to perform certain duties in an organization. This leadership is called assigned leadership. This power dopes not necessarily give one the assurance that he/ or she is a leader because it only makes one a boss. Leadership simply makes the followers or those being led to achieve set goals and objectives. Therefore, leadership is strongly based ion the influence one has on other people in an organization. As a leader one always has to carry out the process of leadership through the application of skills as well as knowledge acquired through training as well as past experiences. This then brings forward the idea of the leadership process. Certain traits are said to affect the way we carry out our leadership roles. These traits exhibit trait leadership. In public health for instance, there are number of ways one is supposed to carry out leadership in specified dimensions of the profession. Public health then demands a lot more of cooperation rather than just delegation of duties. After a careful evaluation of the public health sector, I chose the position of a regional health officer. This is because of the duties as well as the implications of the position that go hand in hand with the expectation and general desired output. This paper therefore aims at highlighting they implications of leadership with relation to theories as and principles as well as experiences in a professional adventure of a regional public health officer in relation to activities and roles. Theoretical implication Several theories have been put down by many proponents to basically outline the various ways we ought to carry out leadership depending on the places of work as well as the kind of workforce involved among other factors that influence leadership. Early theories of leadership aimed at highlighting the qualities of leaders as well as followers while other theories that followed, focused on various variables like skill level among other situational factors. Many theories have emerged but in this particular paper, the trait theory shall be emphasized due to the leadership demands and structures available in public health. Trait theories basically assume that individuals inherit qualities that make them better in a given position of leadership. These theories often identify particular characters that certain leaders share. People may not be leaders but possess certain traits of leadership. This theory also suggests that the leadership traits describe people who have interacted in some way and are in one way or another related in terms of experiences. As a public health officer, one may have been in an organization for some time to an extent he or she has interacted with individuals in the same position and therefore, the position may be well understood. The area of public health which I really want to be a leader, a public health officer to be precise, is one role that basically relies of the traits of a person and partially the level of experience. These traits may be cardinal, central or secondary in relation to the roles of a public health officer. Principles of headship My future aspiration of becoming a public health officer is based on various principles that revolve around the concept of leadership in general. One has to know himself in terms of personal attributes. These attributes are improved through self improvement by interacting with others. A public health officer understands the nature of the position by interacting with those in position so as to fully improve and become the best among other benefits. One has to also be proficient technically. This means one has to understand the nature of the job. A public health officer coordinates activities in terms of medical administration in a given area. Another principle is seeking responsibility by searching for ways to lead an organization to better heights among other goals (Newstrom 1993). Decision making is very vital in public health. As public health officer, I believe, given the chance, solid decision can help eliminate doubt in the organization. Problem solving can be effective only if the decisions made are solid and are geared towards positive trend setting in the public health sector. The problems resulting from poor leadership in the public health sector are instrumental to difficulties in the implementation of policies in the public health sector. This means that the leaders cannot work to the capacity of professionalism for effectiveness of their roles in the sector. These principles then highlight the true character traits that a public health officer should possess in the ultimate delivery of services to those in need. Leadership role The public health officer, as a leader is crucial in both planning as well as preparation roles to the response to threats regarding health. This officer implements measures that help mitigate the challenges in the public health office. I believe that this post also involves regional as well as district level planning as well as crisis management. Some health systems such as the federal public health system have a structure similar to the political structure of a certain country. I therefore have the knowledge of the demands as well as the requirements of this job. Success in simulation depends on the measures laid down for planning. The health officer shall therefore carry out evaluation on various dimensions of public health administration. Ultimately, the public health office role is basically to plan and implement. Challenges and experiences Public health is a very diverse area in medicine due to its scope as a discipline. The numbers that are involved in the administration of public health are overwhelmingly large due to the local and regional demand of health services. Therefore, the greatest challenge in the leadership is the strategies that are employed. One has to be very careful in the administration of these strategies so as to be effective in service delivery. As a regional public health, I believe I should expect all sort of challenges such as staff development, outbreaks of diseases that add into the numerous challenges within the administrations and implementation dimensions (Lamb 2004). Economic factors, ideologies as well as social habits are among the various challenges expected in this sector. These factors frustrate administrators of public health and contribute to the slow process of service delivery leading to inefficiency (Jago 1982). Conclusion Leadership can be defined and the process in which a person influences other individuals to attain the goals and gives direction to an organization towards coherency as well as cohesiveness. Leadership, as clearly defined earlier is basic to the development of the public health sector due to the demands that are increasingly becoming very sophisticated. Therefore, effectiveness in the definition of leadership roles is instrumental to the development of the sector. Theories have been used to define leadership roles as well as the principles involved in this adventure. These roles are affected by as number challenges that stretch from the administrator to the people in need of the services. References Bass, B, 1990, From transactional to transformational leadership: learning to share the vision. Organizational Dynamics, 18, (3), Winter, 1990, 19-31. Ivancevich, J, Konopaske, R., Matteson, M, 2007, Organizational Behavior and Management. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin. Jago, A. G, 1982, Leadership: Perspectives in theory and research. Management Science, 28(3), 315-336. Kouzes, James M. & Posner, Barry Z, 1987, The Leadership Challenge. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Lamb, L. F., McKee, K. B, 2004, Applied Public Relations: Cases in Stakeholder Management. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Routledge. Newstrom, J. & Davis, K, 1993, Organization Behavior: Human Behavior at Work. New York: McGraw-Hill. Read More