Category: Learning Activity 3

This research paper on hospitality was insightful because of the many references to creativity and innovation. Successful firms can only obtain “creativity and innovation” if they build “trust and emotional engagement with people, both within and outside the organization” (Akroush, Abu-ElSamen, Samawi, & Odetallah, as cited in Kandampully, Bilgihan and Tingting, 2016, pg. 154). Before reading this paper, I had not made the connection between trust leading to innovation. In another instance, researchers “found that an empowering service climate plays a key role in enhancing employees’ creativity” (Voon, Hamali, Lee, Abdullah & Kueh, as cited in Kandampully et al., 2016, pg. 155). In this instance “empowering” employees can lead to increased creativity. Another aspect regarding innovation in successful companies is the fact they “provide employees with . . . the collective experience in which employees enjoy working together with colleagues and the excel in creativity and innovation” (Kandampully et al., 2016, pg. 157).

I believe that a key part of “employees enjoy working together,” is the importance of interpersonal relationships (Kandampully et al., 2016, pg. 157). “Authentic leadership is an interpersonal process. This . . . outlines authentic leadership as relational created by leaders and followers together” (Eagly, as cited in Northouse, 2016, pg. 196). One of the results of employees enjoy working together, is creativity and innovation. Additionally, employees feel more motivated when they work within a management team and when their contributions are appreciated.

In my manufacturing company which is innovative and product driven, implementing the kinds of technology referred to in this article is not feasible or necessarily desirable. Never-the-less, our management team is analyzing the potential, costs and ramifications of customer contact, support and education through the internet and social media. Thus far, we have over two years of showing weekly product videos to 18,000 email addresses that can be subsequently viewed YouTube. We anticipate soon being able to Skype with all customers. Because we produce such a wide range of unusual and unique products, we are planning to be able to send customized product videos with each order quote we send out. This group team process will hopefully lead to improved employee satisfaction.

My employee development plans going forward is largely based on a simple online Myers-Briggs personality test. I am using this as a starting point to help team members more easily and accurately identify their ten most important behaviours and skills and give them more confidence to narrow the list to three. I feel that that the most important two steps of Rockwell’s (2017) The Anatomy of Performance Enhancing Coaching Conversations are the ninth and tenth steps. Without commitments, step one through eight will or might result in frustration, sense of failure and potential disillusionment with the team leader. The absence of the tenth step will result in far less than hoped for results.

References

Kandampully, J., Bilgihan, A., & Zhang, T. (2016). Developing a people-technology hybrids model to unleash innovation and creativity: The new hospitality frontier. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 29, 154–164.

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

Rockwell, D. (2017). The Anatomy of Performance Enhancing Coaching Conversations. Retrieved from https://leadershipfreak.blog/2017/03/05/the-anatomy-of-performance-enhancing-coaching-conversations/

Blog Post 1

I wholeheartedly agree with Christina’s opinion and experience that there is a huge difference between leaders and managers. I’ve read frequently that leaders know where to go and managers know how to get there. Also, that leaders know what needs to be done and managers know how to do it.

As for Christina’s question, “Have you personally experienced the stark differences between a leader and a manager?” I have 3 great examples in my personal experience of how managers failed as leaders. Each example is a pastor in a large church. The first case, the pastor was a famous preacher, author, speaker, etc. but under his “leadership” the church declined and almost closed because he wasn’t acting as a leader. The second example involved a pastor who was great at interpersonal relationships, an excellent counsellor and a better-than-average preacher. In one month, though, four key leaders all resigned because he was not acting as a leader. The third example, the “leader” who, in essence was a manager, saw an aggressively growing church plateau because he wasn’t acting as a good leader. I think these examples demonstrate what Christina pointed is that there is a major difference between leaders and managers.