Good Leadership in Company - How to Be a Good Manager - Coursework Example

 Good leadership in an organization is perhaps the most vital requirement to ensure the Company’s success. One of the common themes arising again and again in organizational literature is the need for effective communication with employees. For example, in the case of Harley Davidson, the leadership style in terms of communication was a dictate style, wherein management made decisions about what to communicate to employees and due to paucity of time, communicated everything to them. The manner in which the company solved the problem was to ask employees what information they needed and to communicate only that information to them (Teerlink and Ozley, 2000:195), so that they could ensure that everyone – managers and employees included – were all working towards one common goal/objective. This would potentially ensure huge savings in time for the Company as well as a more efficient informational process for the Company, through a much more efficient execution of the leadership process in so far as communication is concerned. I also discovered this when communication issues cropped up during the execution of our Power Point project. The problem here was the breakdown in communications, so that members of the team did not have the information that they needed to integrate their efforts harmoniously with the other members of the team. This illustrates how the objective of working towards a common goal could have been improved if one of us has assumed the leadership role at first and during the initial meeting, established what information each member of the group would communicate to the others, as well as the frequency of that communication. In the absence of a leader and a well developed policy on communication, we faced problems in coordinating our efforts. The four core aspects that a good manager must take into consideration in managing his team members effectively are as follows: (a) select a person (b) set expectations (c) motivate the person and (d) develop the person (Buckingham and Curt, 1999). Good leadership constitutes the modification and adaptation of these aspects, for instance by selecting someone for talent not just for experience, intelligence or determination; while setting expectations, focusing only on the outcome rather than the method, while motivating, focusing on strengths rather than weaknesses and when developing the person, finding the right fit rather than merely pushing up the rungs of the ladder. I found this to be true in the management of my program for teen mothers; for example this program has helped to identify and motivate youngsters who were previously uninterested in work. By focusing on outcomes, as I did during my visit to the hospital with Amber, I was able to demonstrate to her – without a word being said – the reality of being a mother and it may have also motivated her to work harder at her job because of the realisation that she needed to earn money for the huge investments that would be required in raising the child. It also produced a positive motivation because it focused upon identifying her strengths as a potential mother rather than seeing her pregnancy as a potential weakness that needed to be overcome. In the context of hiring employees, Lawler (2003) has pointed the example of Southwest Airlines, which bases its hiring decisions on a realistic preview, making its employees tell jokes and make announcements, thereby simulating the actual job environment that employees will encounter. When I took Amber with me into the wards, I was exposing her in a similar manner to what she would be exposed to after giving birth, thereby providing me with a good estimation of how she was likely to react. In a similar way, when I got the insurance company involved in dealing with Rick’s recovery after he was moved out of the ICU, I met Mrs McDonnel from the insurance company, who was the most professional, organized woman I had ever met. This woman was a typical example of good hiring by her employers, in accordance with the policy practiced by Southwest Airlines as well, which seeks to ensure that employees fit in with its culture and are able to respond appropriately even in unexpected situations. Another example of good hiring practice is also evident in the rejection of the candidate Cindy in the interview for the Florida Gaming Corporation, because she appeared at the casino in a suit, thereby ignoring the location context and gushed on about her forthcoming wedding. An essential part of good leadership in a corporation would thus, of necessity involve hiring the best employees that can enhance the stature and performance of the Company and conform to the company’s culture, which Cindy clearly demonstrated that she did not have the foresight and presence of mind to do. In my own company, the pregnant teen program was one of my best assets to capture bright young talent and assess how well they would be able to fit into what my company needs. Mrs McDonnel was also an example of a good leader, primarily because like me, she was able to effectively assess the bigger picture and take all the measures that were necessary to ensure that organizational efficiency was achieved. The manner in which she dealt with Rick’s needs involved a shrewd and quick needs assessment and she proceeded to complete what was needed without too much fuss. I believe she was a good example of a leader who was able to assess the value of human capital. If leaders are to make the most of an organization’s capital, then they must be able to make a clear and definitive assessment of the value of an individual to an organization which includes not just the capability of the individual but also the willingness of the individual to perform the desired tasks and his or her level of commitment (Ulrich et al,1999, p 55). Team work is also vital in ensuring organizational success and effective leadership plays a major role in this area as well. The manner in which Ms Mcdonnel was able to coordinate the work of different departments, school programs, faith denominations and the Laurel rehabilitation facility is a clear example of good team work between myself, her and the various organizations. As Morgan (1993) has pointed out, team work thrives and flourishes in a crisis or an emergency. When there is a cause around which peoples’ efforts can be galvanized, and where a leader is able to communicate to the relevant personnel that the job which needs to be done is worthy of their best efforts, it is then that team work would thrive (Morgan, 1993, p 202). This can be seen in the example where I called upon my two pregnant girls to answer phones for the weekend - one who did not have transportation and enjoyed the facility from the other, while simultaneously communicating her own enthusiasm and motivation to the other who was uninterested in work earlier. The common crisis of pregnancy afflicting both the teens bonded them and helped them complement each other and I demonstrated good leadership in this instance by not panicking because my regular girl Beth wouldn’t come in that weekend. References: * Buckingham, Marcus and Coffman, Curt.(1999). “First break all the rules: what the world’s greatest managers do differently”, New York: Simon and Schuster * Lawler III, Edward E. (2003). “Treat people right! How organizations and individuals can propel each other into a virtuous spiral of success”, Jossey Bass * Morgan, Gareth. (1993). “Imagin.i.zation: New mindsets for seeing, organizing and managing”, Barrett Koehler Publishers. *Teerlink, Rich and Ozley, Lee (2000). “More than a motorcycle: the leadership journey at Harley Davidson, Harvard Business School Press. *Ulrich, Dave, Zenger, Jack and Smallwood, Norm. (1999). “Results based leadership”, Harvard Business School Press. Read More