Lieutenant General David Morrison in the Australian Army - Case Study Example

Leadership Case Study Name Institution Date Leadership Case Study Basic Information Leaders Name: Lt. General David Morrison (Retired) Position: Chief of Army (2011 – 2015) Australian of the Year 2016 Chairman of the Diversity Council Australia Name of Organization: The Australian Army Abstract Lieutenant General David Morrison was an individual who demonstrated exquisite leadership skills all through his career. He was a leader who practiced and observed proper ethical behavior as well as social responsibility in most events in his military life. In addition, he addressed issues related to sexual scandals within his unit and made sure that the matter was followed up. This clearly showed how keen in observing moral values as well as ethics. Furthermore, various leadership issues were also focused on which includes ethics and social responsibility. These issues are fundamental in ensuring that leaders within organizations take part in maintaining effective leadership. Both technical and interpersonal skills are key to becoming an effective leader. Therefore, I ought to polish on my technical skills of competence and interpersonal skills of interaction in order to improve and sharpen my leadership skills in the future. Background Lieutenant General David Morrison was induced into the army in the year 1979. This was after he completed his studies in the Australian National University having achieved his Bachelor of Arts (Horner, 2008). Between the years 1987 and 1988, he has a position of being an Australian Instructor at the Royal Military Academy. In addition, during his time at Army Command and Staff College, he was appointed as a Major of the 3rd Brigade. He was then promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in the year 1994 where he served as a Director of Preparedness and Mobilization for a period of two years at Bougainville. In January 2006, he was appointed the Commander of the Australian Defense Colleges (Horner, 2008). He was later appointed as the Land Commander Australia in December of 2008. On 24th June, 2011, he owned the rank of Lieutenant General where he held the position till 27 June of the same year where he was later assumed his position as the Chief of the Army till 2015 when he retired (Horner, 2008). Theoretical Discussion Leadership refers to the act of running an organization following guidance, direction, exercising authority, control as well as management (Kort, 2008). Leadership therefore differs from one organization to another and is attributed to the different aspects that are contained within it. On the other hand, leadership within an organization are faced with various issues which when not appropriately addressed, may result to occurrence of poor management as well as an eventual fall of an organization (Crossan, Seijts, and Gandz, 2016). The leadership issue that is to be focused in this report is the issue of ethics and social responsibility. Ethics refers to the moral obligations of determining what is right and what is wrong and then separating the two. Various leaders of organizations demonstrate ethical behaviors whereas others don’t. Ethical leadership is characterized by leaders who are honest, trustworthy and demonstrate integrity when cooperating with either their associated or even their employees. In addition, they pay attention to all their stakeholders attending to their various needs (Greene and Burleson, 2003). They are also characterized by their ability to build a community that promotes respect of an every individual. Therefore, the factors that differentiate between ethical and non-ethical leaders includes their level of greed, gluttony as well as avarice (Fairholm and Fairholm, 2009). Some of them tend to maximize all their opportunities at the expense of others. Others have the sense of entitlement where they receive whatever they can get or steal due to their privileges. Some of the non-ethical leaders possess a motivated blindness that prompts them to see what they want to see which eventually leads to conflict of interests (Kort, 2008). All these characteristics cripple their ability to lead effectively which in turn cripples all the stakeholders and the organization in general. Therefore, in order to ensure ethical leadership within an organization, leaders ought to develop an ethical mind. They can be able to achieve this by: stating their various ethical beliefs and adhering them; taking regular self-test to ensure that they fully adhere to their values and morals; believing that keeping an ethical compass is fundamental to the development of an organization; putting aside some time to ponder on their beliefs so as to focus on ethics and finally, pointing out any unethical behaviours demonstrated by others (Greene and Burleson, 2003). On the other hand, corporate social responsibility refers to the process where leaders think about and discuss relationships with their employees within an organization and how they ensure the attainment of the common good amongst their stakeholders. It also entails the generation of values for their stakeholders together with their environment (Fairholm and Fairholm, 2009). Corporate social responsibility within an organization is very important since it is directly related to the financial performance of the organization. Therefore, leaders need to come up with strategic leadership which encourages ethical behaviours within the organization. So as to ensure that, they need to create a workplace that is pleasant and which considers the interests of all the stakeholders. In addition, they should take part in building a sustainable environment and at the same time engage in philanthropy such as promotions for their employees (Kort, 2008). Also, leaders should work hand in hand with suppliers in order to improve and maintain sustainable working conditions. Furthermore, leaders should come up with written codes of ethical conduct which will act as a guidance to every stakeholder with regard to ethical behaviours (Tuan, 2012). Analysis of Leadership There are a number of theories that can be used in the analysis of leadership. These theories include Situational Leadership Theory and Authoritarian Leadership Theory. Situational Leadership Theory entails the perception of contingency thinking and hence evaluates leadership depending on the present situation of the individual (Thompson and Glas, 2015). It consists of two pillars which includes the leadership style of an individual as well as the maturity of those that are being led. These leadership theories observe four basic behaviours in a leader which includes telling, selling, participating and delegating. Telling involves the flow of information between the leader and the group. Selling involves the ability of the leader to convince a group by offering socio-emotional support that will enable the group to buy the idea being preached. Participating is how the leader shares decision-making of how a certain task is being handled and at the same time offering less tasks behaviours as well as maintaining high relationship behaviours. Finally, delegating involves the inclusion of the group in handling responsibilities as the leader monitors progress (Thompson and Glas, 2015). This theory can be used to evaluate the superb leadership in which Lieutenant General David Morrison demonstrated during his service as a Chief of Army in the Australian Army (Osman, 2015). The retired Chief of Army demonstrated the leadership style of delegating since his speech of regarding women in the military was personally written by his transgender speech writer Lieutenant Colonel Cate McGregor. In addition, using this theory, we can see how the retired Chief of Army showed “participating” as a leadership style. This was clearly demonstrated when he gave his anti-misogyny speech. He mentioned, “The standard you walk past is the standard you accept.” He also refused to accept the resignation of his speech writer after she came out. This showed how his leadership style of participation towards his subordinates (Osman, 2015). With regard to the leadership skills mentioned above, Lieutenant General David Morrison followed the aspect of ethic and social responsibility (Osman, 2015). First, he ensured that an investigation was to be carried to those that participated in demeaning women. He did this within a three-year period by investigating email accounts of various members of the army about the matter. This shows how straight he observed his ethics. He made sure that despite his army was the one that participated in these demeaning actions, he didn’t close his eyes but made sure that proper investigations were conducted. In addition, he suspended three members of the army and also ordered the suspension of other five members of the army that were suspected to participate in the hateful act against women (Osman, 2015). Moreover, he recommended that nine more members of the army were to face disciplinary actions. Additionally, Lieutenant General David Morrison exhibits social responsibility by creating a safe and sustainable working environment for everyone (Osman, 2015). He ensured that this was so by arguing that those members of the army that separate themselves from civilization are the ones that promote and values men over women. This gesture showed his upmost concern of creating a working environment that was equal and sustainable to both men and women in the society (Tuan, 2012). Also, he launched a campaign that was aimed at recruiting more women into the army. This would create a working condition that is fair to all despite their gender differences. Reflection My experience of the concept of leadership has broadened after reading and understanding what leadership really entails together with a case study of a leader that proved that his leadership skills deserved recognition (Tuan, 2012). From the beginning of this study, I had no idea whatsoever on the true meaning of leadership. I thought leadership was a term used to describe the act performed by any individual who has been given the privilege to represent the larger group. After doing my research on this subject matter, I was able to derive the true meaning of leadership and what it really entails. I was able to learn the various traits that makes an excellent leader stand out from the average leader. I was able to learn the various characteristic poor leaders have which includes lack of ethics within an organization. I was able to single out the different traits a poor leader has which included; greed, glutton as well as avarice (Tuan, 2012). From my research, I recognized that I also shared one of these mentioned traits, particularly greed. On the other hand, I learned the various methods in which powerful and respected leaders utilized in order to ensure that ethics as well as social responsibilities can be maintained within an organization. I was able to come up with a list of actions which could help me as a future leader attend to every member of staff in my organization. First, I recognized that stating my various beliefs and sticking to them was very essential in molding an effective leader (Greene and Burleson, 2003). For instance, Lieutenant General David Morrison was a true mentor and an inspiration to me for he stuck to his ethical values and morals no matter what happened within his unit. He had the ability to effectively address to such issues such as sexual scandal that was demonstrated by his unit and ensured that the involved were heavily punished. In addition, I looked upon the retired Chief of Army since he had the leadership skill of convincing women to join the army. I saw this as a very special trait since he envisioned gender equality within the army and furthermore, he clearly demonstrated the leadership style of “selling”. From this topic. I was able to deduce both my strengths and weaknesses that I possess when it comes to leadership by using the Situational Leadership theory. This has really assisted my in optimizing on my strengths and focusing on changing my weaknesses so as to achieve great leadership skills in the coming future (Greene and Burleson, 2003). Action Plan Effective leadership involves the use of both technical and interpersonal skills. In the technical aspect, I was able to identify competence as the skill with which I needed to improve whereas in the interpersonal skills, I identified interactions as one skill that I needed to improve (Smith & Roebuck, 2010). In order to develop competence as a leadership skill, I ought to get involved either fully or partially in new projects. I am also required to read and study possibly through e-learning on my own. In addition, I ought to gain knowledge through networking and participating in discussions and forums either inside or outside my organization (Greene and Burleson, 2003). On the other hand, so as to enhance my interactions with other people, I should adapt welcoming body language such as leaning forward when talking to people. I also need to utilize efficient communication by using simple and direct messages which efficiently communicate your idea (Smith & Roebuck, 2010). Finally, I need to give other people a chance to communicate. This will enable them contribute to a conversation equally. References Crossan, M., Seijts, G. & Gandz, J. (2016). Developing leadership character. New York, NY: Routledge Fairholm, M. & Fairholm, G. (2009). Understanding leadership perspectives theoretical and practical approaches. New York: Springer. Greene, J. O., & Burleson, B. R. (Eds.). (2003). Handbook of communication and social interaction skills. Psychology Press. Horner, D. (2008). Writing History in the Australian Army. Australian Journal Of Politics & History, 40(1): 72-79. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8497.1994.tb00091.x Kort, E. (2008). What, after all, is leadership? ‘Leadership’ and plural action. The Leadership Quarterly, 19(4): 409-425. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2008.05.003 Osman, H. (2015). EDGE 2015 - Effective leadership requires many tools: Lieutenant General David Morrison. Retrieved 2nd May 2016 from http://www.arnnet.com.au/article/580101/edge-2015-effective-leadership-requires-many-tools-lieutenant-general-david-morrison/ Smith, D. N. & Roebuck, D. B. (2010). Interviews: Linking leadership theory to practice. Journal of Leadership Education, 9(2): 135-142. Thompson, G. & Glasø, L. (2015). Situational leadership theory: a test from three perspectives. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 36(5): 527-544. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/lodj-10-2013-0130 Trong Tuan, L. (2012). Corporate social responsibility, ethics, and corporate governance. Social Responsibility Journal, 8(4), 547-560. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/17471111211272110 Read More