Leadership and Effecting Change in Public Health - Report Example

PUBH 6004 Leadership and effecting change in Public Health PART 1: LEADERS VERSUS MANAGERS a. Comparison between the roles and responsibility of a leader and a manager MANAGER SUBJECT LEADER Provide rules and procedures to be used for aligning but expects workers to conform to the alignment process without consideration to individual abilities and qualifications Aligning Communicating goals and aligning people within the scope of the gaols. Seek commitments and builds teams, coalitions and alliances Implement the vision Delegates authority Delegates responsibility Maintains structure Organises staff Displays low emotions Establishes policy and procedures to implement vision Human development and networking Align organisations with the available resources to get the best of workers Increase choices Displays driven, high emotion Communicates the vision, mission and direction Impacts and influences creation of teams, coalitions and partnerships that makes it possible to understand and accept the vision Make decisions on tasks to be undertaken within limited time. They plan detail around constraints. Decision making Provides structure for the implementation of the decisions. Ensures that the decision making processes are allocated the needed resources for implementation He asks for actions within a given time without justifying the requests and overall goal to the organisation Actions Enjoys to engage workers explaining the need and making them understand the connectedness of the actions and the goal of the company Oversees vision order and predictability Provides expected results consistently to leadership and other stakeholders Vision outcome Improves and promotes the needed and dramatic changes, such as new products and in some instances, approaches for improving labour relations Establishes agenda and programmes to be accomplished within a time frame but without clear vision statement Vision Creates a vision, clarifies the big picture of the vision and sets strategies that are aligned to the vision Control processes in the organisation Identifies problems Solves the problems Monitors the outcome Takes low-risk strategies to problem solving Execution of goals Motivates and enquires about the goals and goal execution Energises employees to overcome challenges in the execution of the goals Satisfies basic human needs Takes high risk approaches to problem solving Rowitz, 2014; Burke & Friedman, 2011; DuBrin, 2013; Zheltoukhova, 2014; Keay & Lloyd, 2011; Hunt et al. 2013; Chakravarti, 2015; Kotter International, 2012. The table above suggest one trend in the understanding of managers and leaders. That is, there seems to be significant aspect regarding the debate surrounding the difference between managers and leaders and these differences are focussed on the theory of management and management issues in an organisation. Just like TED (2013) notes, there is clear distinction between the two dimensions; leaders are individuals with outward looking as well as inspirational in driving the organisation and change (Shortell & Kaluzny, 2006). To that extent, managers are oriented towards stability and profit maximisation for the company. On the other hand, leaders focus their attention towards innovation which in turn maximises productivity in an organisation beyond what managers can do given the same resources and environment. These arguments are unidirectional; managers have the ability to make people do what is needed efficiently while leaders have the ability to make people agree to do things the way they should be done. There has been debate on whether management process consist of the implementation of the strategy and vision as captured in the table above (Chakravarti, 2015; Hunt et al., 2013). The point of agreement regarding this debate is that the core activities of a leader and a manager are simply different but leaders can become managers and vice and versa by virtue of their approach and behaviour. The table above affirms that the difference is one of focus, while one is outwardly focussed, the other is internally. Ways in which the role and responsibility of a leader and a manager differ in the Public Health Industry from any other industry While this study shows that by standard of any industry managers and leaders have distinct roles and responsibility, studies have attempted to evaluate if these roles and responsibilities are different when it comes to public health industry (DuBrin, 2013; Burke & Friedman, 2011). The need to establish this difference is to separate public health industry with business related industries where the objective has been profit maximisation while public health industry is about quality service provision. This is the same case in public health industry. The sector looks for good a mix of leadership and management so as to provide services to the community in an efficient, appropriate, equitable and sustainable way. Burke & Friedman (2011) note that in most public health systems, health facilities are connected to the national health systems. Managers and leaders at lower levels therefore need qualities of both managers and leaders so as to hasten process of service delivery. For instance, distribution of workers, coordination, procurement, infrastructure developments will need visionary leader and also a manager who effectively communicate his or her agenda to the national government. In addition, what public health industry needs stretches beyond other industries since managers and leaders must inculcate workers and patient relationship. Therefore it means they not only satisfy the interests of the national government but workers and patients. Public health industry therefore needs an integration of leaders and managers to influence creation of teams, coalitions and partnerships that makes it possible to understand and accept the vision (Zheltoukhova, 2014; Keay & Lloyd, 2011). PART 2: LEADERS IN THE PUBLIC HEALTH INDUSTRY For consistency of records leaders who were interviewed works in the same hospital but in different departments. The difference in departments was to ensure that different experiences are compared so that challenges facing different leaders are measured against public or workers’ expectations. The hospital is categorised as public health therefore qualifies as an industry. Leader A is the overall person in charge of Paediatrician Services. Leader B is in charge of Maternity Services coordinating the services in over three departments. a. Summary of Interview One: Leader A The leader is generally driven by desire to bring the best out of workers and working environment. In as much as she has pressure to implement some functions within a tight schedules, she balances the desires of patients, workers in the hospital her boss. At the end of the day, she is happier to satisfy needs of both parties rather than one. She adds, “We value interest of national government for universal medical care and almost 100% service delivery to patients but this patients cannot be happy if workers are not given the environment to execute their duties. We also need to influence people to work together for a common cause.” From the statement it was possible to conclude that she has the skills, knowledge, and understanding that balance the desires of people below and above her. She can manage basic support systems; clear set rules, staff administration, well planned and timely delivery of medical suppliers from the government transparent financial process. b. Summary of Interview TWO: Leader Leader B in the dispensation of his duty attempts to get things done in his department through balanced involvement of people. The questions the leader challenged the interviewing process was as follows: How do I balance my leadership duties with clinical duties? How free and independent am I to take some decisions such as moving staff around? He gave us these questions in an attempt to show how he approaches his leadership duties. He said he only make some decisions when he has clear and visioned answers to every question that challenges decisions made. This attribute qualifies him as a manager who foster working environment where people he manages are constantly learning. His approach to duties further indicated that he clearly and regularly identifies challenges from the environment and turn these challenges to opportunities. The end result of these attributes is a leader who creates full range of accessible and affordable health services to the public. Critique of the interviewees’ opinion and related leadership theories The first leader is a servant-leader. The activities she engages workers in shows that she begins with aspiration to serve and then she develops conscious aspire to lead (Torres, 2013). Fiedler’s Contingency Model supports what the first leader was attempting to do. According to this theory, there is no single best way for leaders to manage situations instead; they will create different leadership styles required to handle the situation (Keay & Lloyd, 2011). Contextualising this theory within the roles of leader A, she encouraged trust, collaboration, foresight, listening, and the ethical use of empowerment and power. She has the ability to enhance holistic style of leadership where teamwork, problem solving and innovation flourish with work performance. Still on leader A, she works in already complex and discontinuous environment. This in a wider perspective poses greater problems to her approach of leadership. She deals with wider range of resources and parties to satisfy that her “servant-leader” approach may not be effective in the already rapidly changing public health sector (Kotter International, 2012; World Health Organization, 2003). On the other hand, leader B follows tenets of contingency or situational theory (Torres, 2013). His leadership style shows that there is no single best strategy of leading in the hospital instead; the style he applies is contingent upon factors such as number of patients who need attention at a given time, total number of workers against patients, and the expectation of people (Zheltoukhova, 2014). When he was faced with a highly mechanistic or routine environment where repetitive tasks are required beyond the available workers he was able to diverse a different leadership style by creating a relatively directive leadership approach which enabled the hospital meet the targets. On the other hand, in a dynamic environment he advocates for a flexible as well as participative leadership style (Zheltoukhova, 2014). The challenge with his leadership is the reluctance to provide opportunities for others to lead him. According to Chakravarti (2015), this is a problem in any industry because this approach to leadership stretches beyond the traditional notion of looking for growth opportunities. Once leaders cannot position themselves as followers, the chances of maximising human resource input are minimal. PART 3: SELF ASSESSMENT OF LEADERSHIP STYLE Analysis of my results of the Leadership Skills Inventory in Northouse My self-assessment vis-à-vis leadership skills inventory in Northouse shows remarkable improvements. For decision-making approach and technical skills assessment results indicate that I score in the high range. On the other hand, skills that need conceptualisation of ideas and interpreting them within a given situation or context scored moderately but within acceptable range. In accordance with parameters set by Northouse (2013), I still need technical skills that will allow me to ask other people questions such as “how do you suggest we proceed?” or “what do you think is the right decision to take?” Lacking these skills is an indicator that am still afraid of taking steps behind other people. This result conforms to the test results I got when doing Dubrin’s leadership self-assessment quiz (Dubrin, 2013). These assessments and self-reflections portray the position I am presently thus giving me a spring balance to assess areas I need to improve on. Analysis of my assessment results against Rowitz’s Public Health Leadership Principles For deeper conceptualisation of Rowitz’s public health leadership principles, I related them with Three-Skills Approach as suggested by Northouse (2013). The table below shows Rowitz’s public health leadership principles against Three-Skills Approach as suggested by Northouse (2013). Three-Skills Approach as suggested by Northouse Rowitz’s Public Health Leadership Principles Technical skill 1. Facilitating strong community coalition Conceptual skill 2. Collaboration and partnership between internal and external bodies Human skill 3. Supporting lifelong learning and networking Human skill 4. Change advocacy through strong knowledge of core public health functions Technical skill 5. Teaching and mentoring Human skill 6. General advocacy Technical skill 7. Mentor promotion Human skill 8. Creating community awareness Technical skill 9. Good management skills Conceptual skill 10. Global awareness Conceptual skill 11. Practical visionary Human skill 12. Proactive action planning (Northouse, 2013) Identification of my strengths based on your analysis The assessment above position me as a visionary leader with ability to constantly shift my focus from traits such as shared identity and individual identity; if need be, I can shift from either option thus conforming to suggestions made by DuBrin (2013). These traits will definitely help understand how to integrate work different actors in an organisation accepting policies and guidelines provided they are geared towards general performance of the institution. Nevertheless, these qualities do not guarantee me a place among the ones I consider role models. I still lack the needed skills to manipulate different challenges especially where I have to make big decisions that will affect direction of an organisation. Rating this performance against Rowitz’s principles the table below provide my values: Personal values Rowitz’s principles Committed to growth (3) Supporting lifelong learning and networking Passionate (2) Collaboration and partnership between internal and external bodies Persistence (4) Change advocacy through strong knowledge of core public health functions Involved decision maker (12) Proactive action planning Areas to improve based on the analysis In need to take decisions that will help me roll my sleeves and contribute to sweat equity to the efforts as well as outcomes of other people within the organization. This will not only push me up the scales within the range of Rowitz’s principles such as (1), (3), (5), (9) but creates a room where people depend on my decision and trust in it regardless of the relative functional or hierarchical position I hold or as I practice as public health practitioner. Secondly, I need to improve in helping people follow each other rather than making them depend on me. This will require me to provide actions beyond considering myself the central switch through which major decisions flow. I need to explore a chance to help people find the best out of their collaboration. In today’s public health practice team leader is more appropriate compared to solo leadership. Solo leadership is becoming a leader but not involving others whereas team leadership engages everyone around. This is the area I will improve on so as to create the needed vision. References Burke, R. E., & Friedman, L. H. (2011). Essentials of management and leadership in public health. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning Chakravarti, P. (2015). Leadership Roles: Leaders Vs Managers: Theories. Leadership. Clifton Park, NY: Cengage Learning. DuBrin, A. J. (2013). Leadership: Research findings, practice, and skills (7th ed.). Independence, KY: Cengage Learning. Hunt, J. G., Hosking, D. M., & Schriesheim, C. A. (Eds.). (2013). Leaders and managers: International perspectives on managerial behavior and leadership. Elsevier. Keay, J. K., & Lloyd, C. M. (2011). Leaders and Managers. In Linking Children’s Learning With Professional Learning (pp. 119-131). SensePublishers. Kotter International. (2012). Change leadership. Retrieved from http://www.kotterinternational.com/our-principles/change-leadership Northouse, P. G. (2013). Leadership theory and practice (6th ed.). (pp. 43-72). Los Angeles, CA. Sage Publications [Vital Source e-reader]. Rowitz, L. (2014). Public health leadership: Putting principles into practice (3rd ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning. Shortell, S. M., & Kaluzny, A. D. (2006). (Eds) Health Care Management: Organization design and behaviour (5th ed.). (pp. 42-74). Clifton Park, NY: Cengage Learning. TED. (2013). Rosalinde Torres: What it takes to be a great leader [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/roselinde_torres_what_it_takes_to_be_a_great_leader Torres, R. (2013, October). Rosalinde Torres: What it takes to be a great leader [Video file]. http://www.ted.com/talks/roselinde_torres_what_it_takes_to_be_a_great_leader Retrieved from Torrens University Australia course readings list. World Health Organization. (2003). Social determinants of health: The solid facts (2nd ed.). Retrieved from the Torrens University Australia Library databases via the course readings list. Zheltoukhova, K. (2014). Leadership: Easier said than done. Retrieved from http://www.cipd.co.uk/hr-resources/research/leadership-easier-said-done.aspx Read More