The Nature and Importance of Leadership - Essay Example

The Nature and Importance of Leadership Leaders abound in various fields of discipline, settings, and endeavors. One affirms that leaders are instrumental in influencing people to achieve explicitly defined goals. The current discourse aims to present various theoretical frameworks on leadership and how these are applied by a specific leader. In this regard, the leader I interviewed was the personal friend of my mother who currently heads two nursing units in a health care institution, as a unit manager. Her name is Susan Rodgers. She agreed to be interviewed; but requested that the name of the health institution should not be disclosed to retain confidentiality. Ms. Rodgers served as an Assistant Manager of a local state bank for more than 10 years before assuming the position of a Unit Manager for the health institution. She had been the Unit Manager for five years now. Through her educational background, having graduated with a master’s degree in business administration from a reputable university; in conjunction with years of experience in a managerial position, makes her the perfect candidate for the current project. Chapter 1 – The Nature and Importance of Leadership Leadership was deemed to be crucial in the organization Ms. Rodgers serve due to the relevance of according high quality in patient care. As such, she asserted that the subordinates who she governs should be regularly motivated, monitored, and evaluated to perform according to explicitly defined roles, responsibilities, and goals. Likewise, she believes that learning to lead is important for students like me so that we would imbibe the pertinent theories and discern how these should be applied in current and future settings. From the roles that leaders play in organizations, Ms. Rodgers relayed that she had assumed the following roles, to wit: As a figurehead: She is considered the role model through behavior and through using effective communication, in the units she governs; making her the perfect figurehead for these units. As a spokesperson: She constantly mediates crucial information between and among members of senior management and those of her subordinates. As a negotiator: When relevant concerns and issues need to be addressed, she assumes the role a negotiator to iron out differences and resolve conflicts, as needed. As a coach and motivator: She was asked to design strategies to motivate the followers into achieving identified goals; while taking into account the needs, drives, and professional growth of her followers. As a team builder: She recognizes the potentials of team members and delegates tasks according to qualifications and goals of the team. As a team player: She has assumed different roles as team leader and team member; and has undergone various phases of group development. As a technical problem solver: As a manager, she has addressed various problems in the work-setting which required evaluating various alternative courses of action and selecting the option which maximized the benefits and minimized costs. As an entrepreneur: She makes decisions after taking the perspectives of senior management, or the real entrepreneurs; and assumes a proactive role in capturing opportunities, as well as addressing threats in the external environment. As a strategic planner: Ms. Rodgers noted that she is consistently a strategic planner through acknowledgement of goals as her standards and designing strategies that facilitate the attainment of these goals. As disclosed by Ms. Rodgers, the greatest satisfactions from being a leader is being acknowledged for work well done. Likewise, she had been commended several times for her exemplary performance; and her subordinates make her feel truly appreciated, supported, and aptly rewarded through words of praise and warm camaraderie. On the other hand, there were frustrations in terms of inability to attain defined goals within specified time frames; especially when the factors were beyond her control. Chapter 2 – Traits, Motives and Characteristics of Leaders According to Ms. Rodgers, the traits that she has that make her an effective leader are: patience, honesty and integrity, adherence to ethical and moral standards, strong faith in God, and resilience to adversities. On the other hand, she disclosed that she wished she was more gregarious to enable her to improve networking abilities and not to be timid in communicating more with people from diverse backgrounds and status. Thereby, she said that to complement the missing traits, she slowly tried to be more sociable by attending various events, developmental trainings, and undertaking leadership seminars and programs to develop the noted trait. Ms. Rodgers also acknowledged that the motivating factor for her to be a leader is the sense of fulfillment that come with accomplishing defined goals. As such, she noted that by focusing more on the outcome, and not on the challenges or difficulties, she is able to assume a more optimistic perspective on the end result and helps her become a better leader. Finally, she asserted that traits are crucial in a leader’s success because these form the building blocks or the framework that needs to be constantly developed and honed towards perfection. Chapter 3 – Charismatic and Transformational Leadership Ms. Rodgers indicated that her subordinates and other managers view her as a charismatic person. She affirmed that charisma is important to being a successful leader through the appeal and ability exuded in influencing followers. As such, she acknowledged that when she had been around leaders, who she felt were charismatic, they exemplified genuine interests in serving the interests of others; and not solely in achieving the things that they are keen to attain. When asked what vision she has for her organization, she acknowledged that she plans to attain and be consistent with the vision statement, which is to become one of the top five health care organizations in the state within three years. Therefore, she enjoins her followers to manifest the same thrust by following standards of safety and high quality of patient care. She leads in big changes in her organization by empowering her subordinates to do tasks on their own, with limited direction and monitoring. As such, she remembered when she encouraged nurses to show more commitment in their respective work settings by suggesting areas of improvement, especially in committing lesser medication errors. Their respective inputs enabled higher management so see from their perspectives ways and techniques to improve medication errors, which worked towards the benefit of the whole organization. Chapter 4 – Leadership Behaviors, Attitudes, and Styles My leadership style is predominantly people-oriented. I frequently coordinate with my subordinates and solicit their inputs and concerns in their work setting. As such, I learned that this is more effective as I acknowledged that a satisfied personnel is more productive. Thus, I ensure that I design strategies which motivate them to work and to exhibit exemplary performance in their ability to accord direct patient care. Likewise, Ms. Rodgers disclosed that learning is a continuous process. Therefore, she looks forward to attending leadership training and development programs that would enhance current skills and address those that need to be improved. Chapter 5 – Contingency and Situational Leadership According to Ms. Rodgers, she believes that leadership style should be adjusted to fit different situations. As such, the following were the three examples of situations in her leadership style was adjusted: The first example is when she had to train a new nurse who manifested difficulty in following policies on medication administration. In this regard, rather than exhibiting a democratic or people-oriented style, she had to exemplify a task oriented style to ensure that the task is being strictly adhered to. Adjusting to this style ensured that the new nurse would focus on the needed tasks to prevent medication errors. The second example is when she had to undertake performance evaluation. She noted that she had to be as objective and unbiased as possible and not to focus on her being more of a people-oriented leader. Here, she said, she had to evaluate the ability of her followers to comply with the responsibilities in the most efficient and effective manner. The third example is when she had to fire an employee for violating defined policies. Again, she had to exhibit an autocratic or task-oriented style since she had to assume a professional role in emphasizing the need to abide by performance of responsibilities and adhere with the code of conduct, as required. Ms. Rodgers finally asserted that in situations where she had to fire employees is the most challenging in adjusting the preferred style because she noted that as much as possible, she would have wanted to give the employee a chance to change or improve for the better. However, she realizes that she need to adhere to policies and procedures and therefore, had to adjust her leadership style to assert compliance to tasks and to manifest professionalism and discipline in her work setting. Chapter 6 – Leadership Ethics and Social Responsibility Three (3) examples of difficult ethical decisions that Ms. Rodgers had to make are presented as follows: The first example is firing employees, which is always considered an ethical decision, because it would have a devastating effect on the employee and yet, if not done, would have a negative impact on the organization. Thus, the results of the performance evaluation were the source of the decision and, consistency in behavior or the inability of the employee to improve would generate the same decision, now or in the future. The second example is acceptance of gifts from clients. Company policy prohibits acceptance of gifts. Therefore, Ms. Rodgers noted that she had to explain to the patients or their relatives that she could not accept gifts, as she had to abide by the regulations. The same decision would be made today or in the future, or in another organization where there are explicit policies on gift giving. The third example is calling the attention of health care practitioners who discuss cases and divulge information about patients. Again, Ms. Rodgers noted that this is a violation of privacy and confidentiality. Appropriate warning and sanctions were provided, depending on the severity of the situation. As above noted, the same decision would be made today or in the future, or in another organization where there are explicit policies on privacy and confidentiality. Ms. Rodgers definitely agreed that leaders have a responsibility to make decisions not only for the good of their organization, but for the benefit of society as a whole. As noted, this is consistent with corporate social responsibility; of which, she stressed that their organization has explicit policies of abiding and confirming to policies that show commitment to the interests and well-being of society. A specific example in which a decision was motivated mostly by her view of social responsibility was the encouragement of communicating to various stakeholders the need for influenza vaccination. Even beyond her jurisdiction, she ensured that the health promotion campaign was disseminated to the public for their safety and welfare. Chapter 7 – Power, Politics and Leadership Ms. Rodgers affirmed that her leadership power comes from legitimate source and from her expertise in the endeavor. Her position of unit manager in the organization allegedly gives her the authority to undertake responsibilities that require providing guidance, directions, and strategies towards attainment of goals. Her expert power comes from the educational background, specifically having gained her MBA degree. As such, based on her experience, she could discern who among her followers could be entrusted with advanced responsibilities and who she can empower to make decisions at work. In terms of advice about organizational politics, Ms. Rodgers disclosed that depending on my future role, responsibilities, and sources of power, I should be able to discern the level of politics that need to be applied. She said it is on a situational basis and depends on the culture of the organization. Finally, in terms of creating a positive image, Ms. Rodgers advised me to just be myself and capitalize on my strengths and core competences to be noticed for the right reasons. Chapter 8 – Influence Tactics of Leaders Ms. Rodgers provided three (3) examples of areas of her leadership life in which he had been influential in the past: The first example is when she was an assistant manager of a local bank, she encouraged community members to avail of their micro-finance program to start small businesses and be entrepreneurs in their own simple ways. No resistance was met and the effort proved to be successful. The second example is when she was new as a unit manager, she observed nurses in the units as not committed to energy-saving endeavors. She encouraged them to turn-off the lights in the pantry or their staff room when no one is there; or to conserve water and office supplies (paper) by using the back portion of used correspondences for draft and other inter-memo notices. Again, no resistance was met and the endeavor was successful. The third example was serving the clients with a warm smile and sunny disposition; which she led by example. All the nurses were encouraged to do the same and it improved customer satisfaction. Thus, there was no resistance and the effort was successful in gathering positive satisfaction rating from the clientele. When asked if Ms. Rodgers witnessed unethical influence tactics in her leadership career, she said yes, she did. However, she wanted to retain confidentiality of the nature of the unethical tactics for legal reasons. As such, she noted that when confronted with unethical influence tactics, within her capacity as a leader, and if the unethical tactics or actions are within her jurisdiction, then, she would appropriately address them, according to the policies of the organization and the code of conduct and discipline, as required. To become more influential in my leadership career, Ms. Rodgers advised that I should focus on understanding all relevant leadership theories and apply those that would be deemed useful and beneficial in my future profession. Chapter 9 – Developing Teamwork The leadership methods that Ms. Rodgers use as a team leader to build a strong teamwork climate with her followers include making a comprehensive and accurate assessment of the skills and capabilities of members to enable the delegation of roles, more effectively. Also, Ms. Rodgers noted that there is a need to regularly monitor the progress of the team’s performance to discern any need to improve, to change, or to proceed towards goal accomplishment. In addition, she added that the key to making teams work well together is cohesiveness in spirit or the ability to manifest a unified thrust in achieving their defined goals. In handling inevitable conflicts within diverse teams, Ms. Rodgers disclosed that the manager needs to lay down and evaluate the issues or concerns, which are the causes of the conflicts and determine, from each party’s point of view, what their respective proposals for resolutions are. From then on, some negotiation techniques were noted to be applied. In terms of defining the most challenging aspect of leading a team, Ms. Rodgers revealed that the inability of team members to abide and comply with delegated roles and responsibilities are most challenging, since it requires some motivational techniques to be designed and applied. Finally, she recommended that to learn the skills needed to be a great team leader, I should possess the traits that she mentioned earlier and be able to assess the skills and abilities of the rest of the members of the team accurately. Chapter 10 – Motivation and Coaching Skills According to Ms. Rodgers, goal setting and motivational programs have been designed by the organization’s executive management team, in conjunction with members of the Human Resources Department. As such, based on experience and from the qualifications noted during the hiring process, those who were hired for specific positions should be able to accomplish the goals that were set. As a unit manager, Ms. Rodgers noted using coaching and mentoring skills to influence her subordinates in achieving defined goals. As such, she constantly meets her nurses to reiterate the importance of undertaking their respective responsibilities which, accordingly, would be instrumental and contributory to the mission, vision, and achievement of the organization’s goals. As acknowledged, those who perform well, as evidenced from the results of regular performance evaluation, would be rewarded through performance bonuses or promotions. As such, depending on the individuals’ needs and drives, Ms. Rodgers acknowledges that she is able to motivate each person, towards the attainment of explicitly defined goals. Read More