Digital Age: Leadership and Organizational Management - Article Example

Digital Age: Leadership and Organizational ManagementThe interactive features of the blogosphere and the internet have caused them to become a staple in the modern day society. It is estimated that about two-thirds of the world’s internet population have visited a blogging or social networking site and the average amount of time that is spent on these sites is now growing at an average rate of three times the rate of the overall internet growth. It is this nature of the internet that has caused it to become a useful tool for all public relations practitioners.

The main business problem in this case study is identifying how social media can be used to deepen existing relationships and how individuals can be able to self-organize around causes via collaborating with each other (Briones et al., 2011).There are a number of critical issues identified in this case study these include:Identifying how the American Red Cross is able to use social media to strategically build online relationships with its primary public.Highlighting the barriers that the American Red Cross faces in tis use of social media so as to strategically build relationships with its primary publics.

Identifying the opportunities available for the American Red Cross to build suitable relationships with its primary public via the aid of social media (Briones et al., 2011).To tackle these critical issues, the Red Cross identifies two-way dialogues as being essential components for the building of relationships. Of note also is that the Red Cross mostly uses Facebook and Twitter to build relationships and the organization actually gets more responses from the postings it makes on Twitter and Facebook as compared to postings that it makes on its main website (Briones et al., 2011). These solutions can possibly be communicated to both the Red Cross and other organizations facing similar challenges via the use of a published report that would be made public.

To further enhance the use of social media by the American Red Cross, I would recommend that it either employs the services of a social media manager or it creates an in-house social media management team to help in controlling the posts that it makes on social media and on its website. This will help ensure that there is more control over what is posted online. This solution will be communicated to the organization’s management for consideration before it can be approved. IISchool Turnaround: Cristo Rey Boston High School The enactment of the federal No child Left Behind Laws has served to greatly improve the education system in the United States.

However, the mandate of this law includes the threat of a possible closure to a school in the event that it is noted to be consistently underperforming (Spring, 2014). This threat has resulted in a situation whereby numerous schools are currently engaged in turnaround attempts. The Cristo Rey Boston High School provides an example of a self-direct turnaround in which the school’s principal working together with a core group of a dedicated team of teachers worked to trigger a turnaround at the school.

The main business problem that is presented in this case study is the identification of how Cristo Rey Boston High School can be able to improve its performance (Thielman, 2012). In their attempts to improve the school’s performance, the principal and teachers identified a number of critical issues, these were:Strengthen the curriculum.Improve instructional practices.Change the school schedule.Address staffing issues (Thielman, 2012).To help the school to accomplish a turnaround and improve its performance, the school leaders at Cristo Rey Boston focused on student outcomes.

They looked into ways of adding value to the school’s students. It was also important that the everyone in Cristo Rey Boston school’s leadership be committed to change and understand the daunting work that bringing about change would entail. The teachers needed to realize that they were not delivering on their promises and commit themselves to change on their delivery methods. In addition to this, the school’s leaders needed to establish good faith and credibility in their attempts to affecta turn-around, this was achieved by ensuring that their current students who were due for graduation ended up getting to good colleges although the current focus was on the development of a new ninth grade curriculum.

Another measure that was taken by the school’s leadership is the leveraging of resources whereby Cristo Rey Boston’s educators went on a visit to some of the high performing charter schools, sought help from other successful educators and asked the College Board for guidance (Thielman, 2012).The solutions are valid as by implementing these solutions, the efforts by the principal and the dedicated core group of teachers enabled them to not only improve the student outcomes, but also lead the creation of a new teaching and learning culture at the school.

The most appropriate means for communicating these solutions it at a staff meeting as it will be possible to impress on all the teachers on the need for a turnaround at the school. I agree with this solution as it will provide an opportunity for the principal and other leaders to field questions from the other staff members.The benefits of case study research methodology as they related to leadership and organizational management is that they outline the importance of effective leadership and organizational management in the attainment of a company’s objectives.

As highlighted in the American Red Cross case study, these methodologies also help in identifying possible measures that can be taken by leaders and managers in an organization in the event that they happen to be facing similar challenges.ReferencesBriones, R. L., Kuch, B., Liu, B. F., & Jin, Y. (2011). Keeping up with the digital age: How the American Red Cross uses social media to build relationships.Public Relations Review, 37(1), 37-43.Thielman, J. (2012). School Turnaround: Cristo Rey Boston High School Case Study.

 Catholic Education: A Journal of Inquiry and Practice, 16(1), 115-147.Spring, J. (2014).Political Agendas for Education: We Believe in America, Moving America Forward: From Race to the Top to Saving the Planet. Routledge.