Leadership Dilemma in Performance Management - Essay Example

Case Study 1 Leadership Introduction The case study deals with the leadership dilemma related to performance management in specific criminal justice system. Performance management is a process of ensuring that the goals of the organization are achieved in an effective and efficient manner. It is a systematic way of involving the people of the organization in order to improve the effectiveness of the organization. It involves activities like planning, monitoring, developing, rating and rewarding. Performance management can help an organization to align their organizational goals along with their individual goals (Free Management Library, n.d.). Problem Definition A leader has the responsibility to converse, confer and also influence others to do things. Leader also has to be a role model for others to follow. A leader has to create a benchmark in order to inspire others to follow the footsteps and try and achieve the desired success. Leader also can be a guiding factor or mentor for the entire team to guide them towards a successful outcome which will benefit not only the leader but also the entire organization. Leader has to organize and collaboration and bring together other people in such a way that the goals of the organization are achieved in the best possible way. In the case of Performance Management in Policing, there has been a change in the performance management system as the desired police station was being operated by a centralized performance management system. Inspector Lonsdale is the district officer who is expected to provide the performance report of her district to commissioner twice in a year. The main problem as identified in this case study with regards to leadership is that the officers who are within the Lonsdale’s district have a doubt regarding the new performance system. They have a feeling that the new system is a conjure idea of senior management. This is a problem because officers are not finding the new performance management system as fruitful. They think that it won’t have any serious impact on the success of the organization. In the case of Performance Management in Corrections, Gary Hart leads a team of correctional officers. The main problem identified in this case is with regards to performance management. The leader of the team Gary finds that, one of his team member has been engaging himself in poor work performances. This is a problem because such poor performance will influence others if proper measures are not taken by the management. Theoretical Analysis of the Chosen Leadership Approach / Theory In performance management in policing case, participative style of leadership can be followed where as performance management in corrections with the bureaucratic leadership style. There are various leadership theories like Great man theory, Trait theory, Contingency theory, Situational theory, Behavioral theory, Participative theory, Management theory and Relational theory (About.Com, 2010). The theory that best suits this case study is the situational theory. Leadership is the ability to influence others in order to achieve a purpose or goals. In situational theory, it is assumed that there is no simple one right way for a solution and the main differences that arises with regards to situational theory is that it focuses on the behavior of the leaders which they should adopt. The effectiveness of the leader’s behavior depends upon the demand by a particular situation. Hershey Blanchard’s situational leadership model suggests that the leaders who are successful adjust their styles according to the requirement. Hershey and Blanchard’s argument is contingent on the level of follower’s readiness. Readiness is based on two important factors. The first factor being the follower’s ability and the second factor being the follower’s confidence. This model states that leaders change their emphasis on task and relational behavior so that they can deal with the different level of follower’s maturity. The various styles under this model are delegating style, participating style, telling style and selling style. This model believes that the leaders must change their styles and must be flexible enough to respond to the changing environment. This model would be best for the above leadership dilemma because in the case stated in Example 3, it can be seen that there has been a change in the decision making process with regards to performance management (Higheredbcs, n.d.). As it is not clear whether the new performance management module will play its part, especially when it is found to be more integrated and when the officers within the department are not sure about the success of the system. Situational leadership would allow the team members to check their system and work on their participation. The best thing about situational leadership is that the system provides the leader with enough time to devise strategies as per the need of the hours which was particularly evident in the police department. Types of Leadership There are various types of leadership which can be discussed in detail. The first type of leader is that of visionary leader. He is a leader who forms mission statement, values as well as vision of the organization. He is a person who is externally oriented and has long term perspectives. Transactional leaders basically offers need satisfaction in return for pay promotion which is valued by the employees. It is the process where the leaders involve the commitment of the employees in context of shared values. There is a mutual trust between the leader and the follower (National Institute of Open Schooling, n.d.). Bureaucratic style of leadership is specially used at situations where the work environment is very dangerous and there are certain ways to ensure that there is safety. On the other hand, participative leadership is a style where the leader functions as a facilitator rather than giving orders (WiseGeek, 2010). Application of Leadership Approach/Theory to Leadership Dilemma Many of the other organizations that employ leadership to manage the criminal justice system also uses leadership approaches to manage the hurdles that often occurs in such system. Leadership that is being practiced in criminal justice system makes use of leadership styles, command and span of control. The members of the organization need to understand the roles played by different system and they need to understand their functions in order to avoid any complication. Criminal justice system also has many rules and regulations which each member needs to abide by in order to have fair judgment. Leader must have the attitude of taking risks, and should also be dedicated towards a particular task (Example Essays, 2010). In the first case, it is found that the officers were rejecting the new performance regime. In this scenario, the task of Lonsdale was to explain his followers regarding the positive impact that such performance management will bring for the police department. He should communicate his views and ideas with a view that the followers can understand the impact of such changes. As the organization is dedicated towards achieving success towards crime fighting related responsibility, the followers must be communicated about the importance of centralized performance management in such system and also about the negative impact of not obeying the rules of the organization. In this case, Lonsdale needs to be a participative leader where his main task will be to involve his followers i.e. officers in decision making. The leadership approach that will be best suited is the Hershey Blanchard situational leadership model because the leader here has to change his leadership style according to the requirement. In the second case, it is observed that Gary’s followers were engaged in poor work performance. In this regard, the leader needs to know the reason for such work performance as it may seriously affect the working of the system. The leader must make his followers understand what is expected of them, what the correction department actually does. It is the duty of Gary to check if hiking the salary or promotion would improve the performance of the followers. Performance management of such followers can be done on a monthly basis. A performance standard must be established so there is a continuous improvement in the performance of the follower. This will also eradicate the flaws if any in the system. In this instance the style followed by Gary is bureaucratic as the task of correction officer involves huge amount of risk and danger. The leadership approach that can be applied is contingency theory as it is clear that one particular leadership style may not be suitable to solve the problem. Conclusion Performance management is an integral part at criminal justice system as the system involves huge amount of risk and insecurity. The responsibility of the people involved in this system relates to society. Thus, it is the duty of the leader to motivate the employees and monitor the performance of each and every employee. The rater must not be biased in rating the employees and must provide fair judgment. The followers must be trained in a better way and must be educated and aware about the importance of their duties in the particular organization. References Free Management Library, (No Date). Performance Management: Basic Concepts. Home. Retrieved Online on September 3, 2010 from http://managementhelp.org/perf_mng/perf_mng.htm National institute of Open Schooling. (No Date). What is Leadership? Approaches to Leadership. Retrieved Online on September 3, 2010 from http://www.nos.org/secpsycour/unit-17.pdf Example Essays. (2010). Leadership in Criminal Justice System. Home. Retrieved Online on September 3, 2010 from http://www.exampleessays.com/viewpaper/200075.html WiseGeek. (2010). What is Participative Leadership. Home. Retrieved Online on September 3, 2010 from http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-participative-leadership.htm About.com, (2010). Leadership Theories - 8 Major Leadership Theories. Home. Retrieved Online on September 3, 2010 from http://psychology.about.com/od/leadership/p/leadtheories.htm. Higheredbcs, (No Date). Leadership. Participating Style. . Retrieved Online on September 3, 2010 from http://higheredbcs.wiley.com/legacy/college/schermerhorn/0471734608/module16/module16.pdf Bibliography Tracy, B., (2008). The Role of Leader. Home. Retrieved Online on September 3, 2010 from http://www.entrepreneur.com/management/leadership/article189618.html Read More

 

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