Author: georgeena alphine (Page 2 of 5)

First, the moderately positive meta-analytic relationships of transformational leadership with various performance criteria across follower individual-, team, and organizational levels and various situations (e.g., study setting, leader level, geographic region) indicate that transformational leadership tends to be a robust predictor of desirable performance outcomes across situations (Bass, 1997). Thus, organizations need to pay particular attention to intervention programs that enhance their managers’ leadership style. Fortunately, prior research shows that transformational leadership style is trainable, with the results of such training being quite substantial (Barling, Weber, & Kelloway, 1996). However, even with the benefits of training, transformational leadership can also be predicted from some individual differences such as extraversion and emotional stability (Bono & Judge, 2004). Hence, we suggest that organizations should focus on selecting and promoting individuals on such traits for upper-level managerial positions as such individuals are more likely to become transformational leaders

Transformational Leadership and Performance Across Criteria and Levels: A Meta-Analytic Review of 25 Years of Research. [pg. 253].

Principles of ethical leadership;

• Respects Others: Leaders who respect others also allow them to be themselves, with creative wants and desires. Respect includes giving credence to others’ ideas and confirming them as human beings, respect means that a leader listens closely to followers, is empathic, and is tolerant of opposing points of view. It means treating followers in ways that confirm their beliefs, attitudes, and values. (Northouse pg. 342).
• Serves Others: Ethical leaders have a responsibility to attend to others, be of service to them, and make decisions pertaining to them that are beneficial and not harmful to their welfare (Northouse pg. 343)
• Shows Justice: When individuals are treated differently, the grounds for different treatment must be clear and reasonable, and must be based on moral values, no one should receive special treatment or special consideration except when his or her situation demands it. It is important for leaders to clearly establish the rules for distributing rewards. (Northouse pg. 344)
• Manifests Honesty: To be a good leader, one must be honest. Being honest is not just about telling the truth, it has to do with being open with others and representing reality as fully and completely as possible (Northouse pg. 346).
• Builds Community: An ethical leader takes into interpretation the purposes of everyone involved in the group and is attentive to the interests of the community and the culture (Northouse pg.347).

All the above-mentioned principles of ethical leadership are equally important in my point of view. Eve, I suggest the first two shall have prime importance because those two among five can make the relationship in healthcare industry more fruitful. Also considering the service and commitment to the society as a healthcare professional it’s necessary to have the qualities of ‘respect to others’ and ‘serve others’ to become an ethical leader.

Reference

Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice, Seventh Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Wang, G., Oh, I. S., Courtright, S. H & Colbert, A. E. (2011). Transformational leadership and performance across criteria and levels: A meta-analytic review of 25 years of research. Group & Organization Management, 36(2), 223-27

Moral implications of leadership behavior

Ethical Leadership is concerned with what leaders do and who leaders are. It must be with the nature of leaders’ behaviour, and with their virtuousness (Northouse, 2019). The leader is responsible to set the tone of the organization (Building capacity, 2013).  One is influential or famous doesn’t mean he is or isn’t ethical. So, leadership always had challenges in steering these ethical platforms of moral judgment and analyzing the issues. Leaders set the moral tone for the entire organization (Van Buren, 2013). An individual’s conduct towards a desired outcome, or goal is directly influenced by the moral and ethical aspects a leader develops in his leadership role. Authentic leadership and its development encompass an inherent ethical/moral component (Avolio & Gardner, 2005). Great leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Mother Theresa, Malala Yousufzai and many others are remembered as great leaders who inculcated moral and ethical leadership to accomplish their goal. Thus, one can say that, to be an authentic and great leader one must understand the moral implications that their leadership behaviour will have on individuals and the organization.

The way to grow and flourish the organisation

Organizations signal their behavior through several ways – ethical standards, how you hire, how you promote, fairness and respect of your staff. This is where we set the culture for us to start the process of flourishing (BuildingCapacity, 2013). There are several areas that an organization should have its focus as per Van Buren (2013. Firstly, by being a visible role model for staff members who observes appropriate behaviour of the leader. Communicating the ethical prospects to the staff as per the organizational code of ethics where it would state the values and ethical rules and even if there aren’t any set ethical code for the organisation, effective communication can help develop ethical conduct. Moreover, the leaders must encourage effective financial management by using the resources cost-effectively without affecting the organization in the long-term. Encourage active participation in ethical training seminars and workshops that elucidate suitable practice that includes the organization’s code of ethics. In addition, focusing on the means and ends against the organization’s code by institutionalization of an ethical culture through measuring performance of ethics. Finally, the organization must provide protective mechanisms which can happen through a whistleblower policy, ethical counselors, and a proper grievance procedure.

Well, the readings look easy and organised, but how many of us as leaders could focus on all these aspects to flourish and grow the organisation as explained by the scholars. Is it followed or will be followed?

Resources:

Avolio, B. & Gardner, W. (2005). Authentic leadership development: Getting to the root of positive forms of leadership. Leadership Quarterly, 16, 315-338.

Northouse, P. G. (2019). Leadership: Theory and practice, Eighth Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Hi Daneen,

I loved reading your blog !!Technology use in hospitality field is variedly established as the advancement of technology is rapidly practiced up to date in all fields of consumer production, export and utilization. Likewise, it’s been implemented in the health care field and it’s very well explained by you in your blog. I was impressed the way you have described about the various sections of practice that is central to the unit you work, that is Hospice care and to the training of each new employee at that unit. Care of the person and family; pain management, management of other symptoms; end of life planning/dying and death management; loss, grief and bereavement support; interdisciplinary collaborative practice and professional issues and advocacy (“Orientation Hospice Residence Nurses”, 2017) as listed by you in your blog gives a clear idea on how to plan ahead in training the employees on specific areas within a set of time wherein they acquire the ability to focus  and gain experience in dealing with various situations thereby developing skills with knowledge based practice. Implementing online modules, online training course, training videos, hands on practice and one on one session or interviews as practiced in your work place will surely benefit the employee throughout. Among these points, the best way to gain quality training is one on one session compared to online learning as it helps to deepen the learning skills with supervision that enhances the ability of an employee as well identifies the drawbacks in an employee directly. This is a traditional way of practice and if this is incorporated with use of technology using video conferences, video chats and video surveillance, it will be of great help to the management. Though there are disadvantages in any technology, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

Georgeena

Firms in all industries depend vitally on technology (Peppard & Ward, 2004). Hospitality companies attempt to understand how technologies can grant them competitive advantages through enhanced productivity and value maximization (Buhalis, 1998). But not all firms enjoy competitive advantages through technology. Instead, the impacts of technology depend on a plethora of factors.

Technology, including information technology, online platforms, and social media, has revolutionized the global market and, perhaps even more important, provided new opportunities to engage and harness resources from customers and employees, such that firms can more readily gain valuable ideas, feedback, and other useful information (Bilgihan, Okumus, Khal Nusair, & Joon-Wuk Kwun, 2011; Chahal & Kumar, 2014; Hammedi et al., 2015; Zhang, Kandampully, & Bilgihan, 2015).

Firms such as Marriott, Hilton, Starbucks, Disney, and Starwood have transformed themselves into “people technology hybrid organizations”. The newly adopted strategies enable organizations to use technology to engage with and reap the creativity of their employees and customers, to co-innovate new products and services. Such hybrid firms recognize the role of technology as an enabler, but they also understand that trust and emotional engagement with people (Akroush, Abu-ElSamen, Samawi, & Odetallah, 2013), both within and outside the organization (Harrison-Walker, 2001), are essential to the transformation of the firm through creativity and innovation.

In the past, firms often viewed each customer as a single entity. But today, customers are gradually considered as “social customers” who are always into Word-of-Mouth activities on online and offline contexts (Gligorijevic & Luck, 2012). Social customers represent the voices and thoughts of hundreds or thousands of like-minded individuals (Bugshan, 2014; Zhang et al., 2015). Firms thus recognize that engaging and enabling social customers is an effective strategy.

Customer behaviours are shaped by providers, while employee performance and commitment are shaped by the organizations they are embedded within (Wong, 2015). Affectively committed customers exhibit a strong motivation to help a firm improve its business and show a great need to maintain positive relationships with the firm’s frontline employees (Salanova, Sonia, & Jose, 2005). Therefore, organizational citizenship behaviour is another key factor that could influence the performance of people for the organizational success. Citizenship behaviour aimed at the organization includes activities such as promoting a hotel’s products and making favourable comments about the property outside of work (Gracia, Bakker, & Grau, 2011; Liu & Mattila, 2015; Wu, Sturman, and Wang 2013, Wu, Tse, Fu, Kwan, & Liu, 2013). Citizenship behaviour in support of co-workers includes assisting them as needed and taking time to listen to co-workers’ concerns (Ma, Qu, Wilson, & Eastman, 2013; Wu, Sturman et al., 2013, Wu, Tse et al., 2013). Customer-focused citizenship behaviour includes activities such as maintaining a positive attitude at work and performing duties carefully and accurately (Ma et al., 2013; Wu, Sturman et al., 2013, Wu, Tse et al., 2013). Furthermore, employee empowerment is widely viewed as a promising approach to improve operating efficiency and customer service (Zoghbi-Manrique-de-Lara, Suarez- Acosta, & Aguiar-Quintana, 2014).

Similarly, many firms acknowledge the importance of engaging and nurturing the creativity of their employees. Such firms offer initiatives to ensure the people within the organization have appropriate environments and support, to nurture their creativity and innovation (Kim, Im, & Slater, 2013; O’Reilly & Pfeffer, 2000). The creativity of employees and customers must be harnessed, through technology, to enable the organization to undertake ongoing innovation. As an enabler, technology provides customers direct access to the internal workings of the firm, because the two entities partner in creative innovations, in which technology and people interact dynamically (Barile & Saviano, 2014). The role of organizations to engage in activities to encourage, value and reward innovation and creativity efforts is becoming more relevant in contemporary organizations.

Innovation is one of the key factors to firm success (Ngo & O’Cass, 2013), and the main driver of innovation is the creative minds of the people who make up organizations (Prahalad & Ramaswamy, 2003). Technology provides an exciting sense of innovation for many customers, even if the feelings may be short lived if the technology is emulated by competitors. Still, this capability helps hospitality firms capture the imagination of many customers. Creating a mechanism to allow firms to tap into people’s creative minds thus has become a strategic priority of many leading hospitality organizations. Early research associated innovation with activities within the organization, with the assumption that innovations reside inside the firm. But more recent studies instead claim that individual users who ‘‘set the trend” for others and have certain technical knowledge are increasingly important to organizations (Chandra & Leenders, 2012). Customers are very valuable sources of innovation (Chesbrough, 2006; Kandampully et al., 2015), and their ideas and knowledge become more accessible online. Effectively bringing together both employees and customers to establish relationships with the firm can assist in and advance creative innovation. In this competitive hospitality market, gaining market leadership is a challenging task. The need for dramatic changes in the way hospitality firms operate today is due to the extensive changes in hotel guests’ adoption and use of mobile and self-service technology.

The role of organizations to engage in activities to encourage, value and reward innovation and creativity efforts is becoming more relevant in contemporary organizations. Further, the adoption of innovation is easier when organizations have organic rather than mechanistic characteristics (Damanpour, 1991). Such organic organizations have a greater variety of specialists that would provide a broader knowledge base.

Being an adult learner, I could learn exhaustively about my subject as well as topics associated with it. Though at times keeping in view my schedule, it becomes tough to practically sit in a classroom and grasp all that is being said or taught to me, the projects assigned to me helps me to build up my knowledge qualitatively as well as quantitatively. As a practicing nurse I get the opportunity to put into practice all that I learn as well as assimilate the information around me.

First Principle: There is a huge difference in my learning and understanding capacity if as to when I was a young learner as a child and the adult learner as I am now. In the former case I literally took in everything I studied in the four walls of a classroom as the ultimate fact whereas in the latter case I can scrutinize and evaluate what I am learning, so also question whenever needed the authenticity and practicality of a given notion. I am able to move from being a dependent learner to an independent and self-reliant learner. From an early age, children are conditioned to recognize educators as authority figures who have broad-based power to tell them what to do, when and how. By contrast, adults expect that even the most credentialed expert will behave as a partner to them in a participative learning journey. (https://online.rutgers.edu/blog/principles-of-adult-learning-theory/) There is a need to explain the reasons specific things are being taught. (https://elearningindustry.com/the-adult-learning-theory-andragogy-of-malcolm-knowles)

Second Principle: As mentioned earlier, being a practicing nurse, I can accumulate the information that I come across in my profession and otherwise which experience is in fact best source for learning. Adult learners are a valuable resource because they bring the richness and diversity of their lives with them. They should be given the opportunity to use their existing knowledge and experience, which they can apply to new learning experiences.

Third Principle: Being an adult learner on one side and a professional on the other, it keeps me motivated and hankering for a knowledgeable life: They become ready to learn things to cope effectively with real-life situations. (https://ala.asn.au/adult-learning/the-principles-of-adult-learning/).  As a practicing nurse I am to be well aware of my role in the society and the knowledge I acquire helps me to develop into a better professional as well as a better socially responsible being.For the most part, adults have little time to learn new content for its own sake. Instead, they are interested in approaching tasks directly related to their occupation. To thrive in most learning environments, they must be clear on how each lesson fits into their goals for self-advancement. (https://online.rutgers.edu/blog/principles-of-adult-learning-theory/)

Fourth Principle: As I grow in my profession I face situations that need immediate application of knowledge as well as situations in which future application of knowledge is required. I tend to learn focusing on problems that I may come across rather. It is but natural that the focus is on how to tackle problems rather than just gaining knowledge in the learning process.As a general rule, adults need to be involved in planning their instruction and evaluating their results. They should be provided with an environment in which mistakes are safe, expected and a basis for continued learning, in keeping with a problem-centered approach to new ideas. (https://online.rutgers.edu/blog/principles-of-adult-learning-theory/)

Fifth Principle: More than satisfying or making other’s content, it is my own urge to be content in what I do. It is my intrinsic urge to work for the best results and hence my keenness in learning also increases as a result of it. Adults are responsive to external motivators such as a better job or increased salary. However, the best motivators are internal; for example, increased job satisfaction, heightened self-esteem, better quality of life and personal growth and development. (https://ala.asn.au/adult-learning/the-principles-of-adult-learning/)

Sixth Principle: As an individual matures or grows, they stop being dependent on others to gain knowledge. Personally, I prefer to evaluate upon the need to learn something. In doing so we can frame our own perspective and opinions about life and the challenges it offers. Knowles recognized that adults cannot simply act as passive receptacles of others’ expertise as children often do. (https://online.rutgers.edu/blog/principles-of-adult-learning-theory/) Since adults are self-directed, instruction should allow learners to discover things and knowledge for themselves without depending on people. (https://elearningindustry.com/the-adult-learning-theory-andragogy-of-malcolm-knowles).

The concept of servant leadership is well described by Spears, Larry C. (2010) in Character and Servant Leadership: Ten Characteristics of Effective, Caring Leaders . In this concept the leader is a servant first and it is totally different from the traditional leadership. It starts with someone’s interest to serve others and the involvement of others are invited in decision making in servant leadership. Ten characteristics of servant leadership are Listening, Empathy, Healing, Awareness, Persuasion, Conceptualization, Foresight, Stewardship, Commitment to the growth of people, Building Community Spears (2010). Actions to be taken by a leader while coordinating a group project in an organisation based on some of the above-mentioned characteristics are described below.

Traditionally followed concept in speaking- listening ratio is 70-30. That is 70% speak and 30% listen but it has been changed over a period and it’s now become 70% listen and 30% speak. The listening quality to be enhanced by leader while serving his team in a project. Leaders must have many qualities and decision making plays a major role to be successive leader. Timely decisions in difficult situations are necessary to bring the best solutions. As per the concept of servant leadership the leader shall have to listen to his team members so that the choice of the team can become the decision and it empowers the team members to work hard for it. This can be accomplished by implementing periodical evaluation sessions and feedback sessions and thereby can bring better results efficiently.

Another characteristic a leader must have while doing a project is foresight. This is apparently linked with experience. A well experienced person can anticipate the future problems while taking decisions. Even though a servant leader seeks the choice of his team members, a clarity can be given to them about the future consequences of their opinion up to an extent by his experience and the quality of foresight.  Foresight remains a largely unexplored area in leadership studies, but one most deserving of careful attention Spears (2010). Experience is really important to a leader so that he can foresee the problems while taking decisions and the systems can be modified accordingly or necessary alterations can be made in the planning, otherwise entire project can be distorted sometimes. If the leader feels that he is inexperienced at any corner of the project execution, he can look for the advice of well experienced person in the organization.

Commitment to growth of people is a characteristic of servant leadership and this is important to a project leader so that the confidence and perfection can be developed in team members which helps in building the team credibility. The growth of the team members can be in any means like personal betterment and knowledge or technology enhancement. For that leader shall pressurise the management and assuredly this would have positive impact at working atmosphere. And of course, contribution from experienced and knowledgeable team members can boost up the total outcome of the team and thereby the leader can be successful. The actions required to achieve this characteristic shall have interactive motivational training sessions, knowledge enhancement programs, and periodical appraisal.

We are experiencing a rapid shift in many businesses and not-for-profit organizations away from the more traditional autocratic and hierarchical models of leadership and toward servant leadership as a way of being in relationship with other Spears (2010). Is this change visible in your organization? If not, then what is the way to make the organization to think about the change from typical hierarchical model of leadership to servant leadership?

Reference

Northouse, P. G. (2018). Leadership: Theory and Practice, Eighth Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Spears, Larry C. (2010). Character and Servant Leadership: Ten Characteristics of Effective, Caring Leaders. The Journal of Virtues & Leadership. Retrieved from https://www.regent.edu/acad/global/publications/jvl/vol1_iss1/Spears_Final.pdf

Several people work for a common goal in team leadership. Their activities and responsibilities may be different however the outcome shall be common desired goal. As per the flow chart Figure 14.1 (page 367), the last stage in ‘The Hill Model for Team Leadership’ contains two components that are, Performance and Development. These are considered as he two critical functions of team effectiveness. Performance is the measurement of task accomplishment whereas Development is for team maintenance considering the quality improvement of the team and its actions.

Six enabling conditions that results in effective team functioning suggested by Hackman, 2012 (page 369) are;

1. Compelling purpose
2. Right people
3. Real team
4. Clear norms of conduct
5. Supportive organizational context
6. Team-focused coaching

As per the studies done on successful teams by Larsen and LaFasto, 1989; their finding is, irrespective the type of the teams eight characteristics was consistently associated with team excellence (Page 368). That are given below;

1. Clear elevating goal
2. Results-driven structure
3. Competent team members
4. Unified commitment
5. Collaborative climate
6. Standards of excellence
7. External support and recognition
8. Principled leadership

Collectively they can be described as;

‘A compelling purpose energizes team members, orients them toward their collective objective ad fully engages their talents’ (Hackman, 2012, p. 7). Goals set to the team must be clear and elevating so that no other objectives can interfere. Each team has a structure to achieve their goals based on their activities i.e. Results-driven structure. Right people or Competent team members mean that every team must have enough well trained and qualified members. A real team is not just happening its well designed and developed to have a unified commitment. And in such team, each player knows their role and they act timely in a collaborative climate. Clear norms of conduct or standards of excellence is all about the behavior of team members. It is really important and to be regulated. Recognition and consideration are required for the hard work by teams and that is Supportive organizational context or External support and recognition. And finally Team-focused coaching or Principle leadership is about the leadership of the team and the coaching given to team to travel towards the destiny through stressful situations.

Being a young Nurse, I could work with very few teams in my professional career. However, I have been part of many teams in extracurricular activities in social community. And that are not well-organized team with professionalism. Even though many of the above points are visible in such teams also. In those teams, people are driven by their passion and interest towards the activity they are involved, and they love to work for their desired target. And we can co-relate the terms, Compelling purpose, Right people, Real team in them. In my professional career I could work with the teams which have got the components or characteristics like Clear elevating goal, Results-driven structure, Competent team members, Unified commitment, Collaborative climate, Standards of excellence, External support and recognition, Principled leadership because it’s a Causality/Emergency team in the hospital.

Principe leadership is related to team effectiveness. Leadership has been described as the central driver of team effectiveness, influencing the team through four sets of processes: cognitive, motivational, effective and coordination (Zaccaro et al., 2001). It’s about the leader who helps his team member to do his/her job more efficiently and perfectly by means of tools alike cognition, motivation, affection and coordination. Out of these four processes, motivation has affected more in my short experience of life. It was really required for a youngster like me to be more confident and learn new things and must be more perfectionist. A nurse must be pro-active because it’s all about life and any demotivational incidents can have bad impact on the career and on peoples’ life as well. In that way I am happy that I have got good support from my leader and team and now I am much experienced in my profession to handle emergency situations. Everyone undergoes all the above said components/characteristics in their professional career but it’s all about people how they are adaptive to the circumstances and it is directly related to team’s success and professional growth.

Reference

Northouse, P. G. (2018). Leadership: Theory and Practice, Eighth Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.