Being a Leader and Leadership Styles - Essay Example

In a leader - follower situation, both are essential in the realization of goals and objectives. Leadership is necessary to build effective teams, and how each responds to every circumstance is significant. Teamwork should not only be a word of expression for any hidden personal agenda but should be a word by both parties with one mission and vision in the formation of a legacy functioning as a team and for the team. Different kinds of problems surround every individual at no specific time and place. Expectations of the unexpected should be given preparations in order to maintain a smooth working flow. As a Court Administrator, problems should be looked at as challenging opportunities having positive roles to play in the areas of responsibilities and in the organization. What matters, are the characters and attitudes toward any adjustments to be able to survive the tests of undesirable circumstances. Deciding how to respond to unrealistic expectations, and the problem people who so often plague the administrator's credibility and integrity has to have founded principles in doing so. According to James A. Davey and Warren Bird on "Handling Expectations", the following are suggested: 1. know yourself - Stripping away the accretions of the years - those layers of expectations others have laid upon us and we have willingly assumed. We should never underestimate the power of others to make us dishonest with ourselves. 2. be transparent - We can't do it all and shouldn't let problem people make us pretend we can. 3. be inner directed - The inner-directed person derives values, motivation, and purpose from within, not from the feedback of problem people. 4. be purposeful in pursuing your course - The loudest and most rancorous voice needn't sway us 5. be prepared ot absorb some misunderstandings - "Leadership is the ability to absorb pain." Change, which is dominant nowadays, is a part of the different strategies implemented to attain the peak of success of any kind of endeavor. However, it doesn't materialize completely until all the concerned people within its scope are prepared and ready most especially for its unexpected consequences. Though change without conflict is rarely possible, there is still much to do to limit conflict and overcome resistance to change. The potential influence of such technology on all aspects of communication is tremendous. As it is apparent in the advances of computer networks, communication satellites, data handling devices, electronic information exchange adapted to convey voice, vision, and graphics as distinct and separate types of communication. Communication, which is the building block of any relationship, plays a major role in the success of any organization aspiring to compete in this competing generation. It serves as a bridge to transport vast excellent inputs and highly competent outputs that marks an organization in gaining respect and prestige. Thus, the problem regarding communication tops the priority list to be addressed. Every individual communicates differently depending on a combination of personal and environmental factors. As such, a Court Administrator needs to learn to communicate at the level of the recipient, since communication is complete only when both parties understand what is being said, and as Peter Drucker puts it, "Enable performers to perform their way - not your way." Since communication plays such central roles in any organization, the key issue is not whether administrators engage in communication or not, but whether administrators communicate effectively or poorly. Communication is unavoidable to an organization's functioning. In other words, people must exchange information. However, to develop shared meaning requires positive efforts by administrator and other participants. Outputs should be made clear, understood, and agreed upon by all as goals and objectives should also be well-communicated and meet certain expectations. Highlighting priorities is equally important, and in the interest of clarity, a job description will need to grow as employees grow. New objectives may be assigned as situations change. In every group, office, or organization, conflicts abound and it has its every complainer and encourager in which both tends to see everything from their own perspectives. As the Court Administrator as well as the communicator, the job is to sort through the feedback, and come up with a fair and accurate assessment of how things are going. It is also helpful to remember, that opinions and feedback are best weighed and not counted. Analysis of the difficulties in the existing situation places the problem in the context of the organization and provides answers to what, where, why, when, and how. That establishing criteria for resolution of difficulties, decision makers compare the "musts" and 'wants". The central step of the process is developing a plan for action that necessarily involves specifying alternatives, predicting consequences of alternatives, deliberating, and selecting alternatives for action then, initiating the plan of action that includes programming, communicating, monitoring, and appraising. To communicate effectively with such generation - diverse groups often means breaking out of traditional management patterns. An ideal workplace should provide employees with empowerment and direction. That is because today's work force is no longer content with simply working from dawn 'til dusk. Instead, they feel the need to make a fulfilling life - motivated by the potential of contributing to the organization's meaningful goals in a significant way, and become a real part of the team. Lack of appreciation, lack of teamwork and the perception that the management doesn't care about employees are consistently the highest-rated reasons for low job satisfaction. People who quit do so because they feel they weren't appreciated for their contributions. Accordingly, the Court Administrator should fill their jobs with creativity and challenge making the workplace ideal, offering compensation and benefits that meet the needs of employees. Thus, if it becomes successful, staff longevity, their loyalty to the organization, and work stability increases. Works being piled up in corners such as the backlog of cases awaiting trials can only be given proper attention through a "formula" which may be tasking but challenging, and which will be looked at as opportunities for learning and growth. The art of delegation means more than giving orders or assigning someone for a job to be finished. Rather, it means involving someone in an endeavor by coordinating his efforts with the goals and objectives, bearing in mind that each individual is unique. Then supervision where co-workers are monitored on the details of plans, encouraged and supported through ongoing affirmation and critique, and through performance reviews. Building confidence through positive feedback and improving their performance through constructive criticism - practicing affirmation loudly but correcting quietly. Praise is public, and reprimand is private. With communication having a great effect on boosting employee morale, it is just wise to try to find out ahead of time how people will react should a particular change actually takes place. The level of employee morale identifies the work productivity. Thus, unhappy employees miss more work and produce inferior work. The nature of the relationships between employees and administrators and the quality of leadership correlates highly with employees' morale: The better the relationship and the better the quality of leadership, the higher employee morale tends to be. Enumerated below are some survey questions that reveal employee satisfactions that can lead an organization to greater heights. 1. Do you feel that management listens to your ideas on how to best accomplish tasks 2. Is there a recognizable tie between how well you perform your job and your monetary compensation 3. Do you often feel you could do a better job if management would only get out of the way 4. Do you feel, once assigned a task, that you are empowered to perform that task 5. Do you feel that innovative thinking or "outside the box" thinking is encouraged and rewarded 6. Are there enough recognition programs for recognizing outstanding accomplishments on the part of employees Results are to be compiled and converted into bar charts or others graphics which makes them easier to understand. After analyzing, feedback to employees of the survey result is crucial. Otherwise, they will likely conclude that what they have to say doesn't matter, resulting in an additional hit to morale. In addition, it serves as a guide to open a line of communication to improve management and administration in the organization between management style issues and organizational structure issues. Since employees tend not to tell management what's really going on, and so with administrators for the sake of survival issues don't tell employees what the real scenario is. BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Berkley, J. D. (1994). Leadership Handbook of Management and Administration. Grand Rapids, Michigan, 49516, U.S.A.: Baker Book House Company. 2. Hoy, W. K., & Miskel C. G. (1987). Educational Administration: Theory, Research, and Practice 3rd Edition. United States of America: McGraw-Hill, Inc. 3. Daniels, A. C. (April 7, 2003). How to Prevent Employee Turnover, from Entrepreneur.com Web site: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/0,4621,307637,00.html 4. Roche, B. (2005). Boosting Employee Morale With Employee Surveys, from HagePages.com Web site: http://hagepages.com/employeesurvey.html Read More