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“People will not follow a leader with moral incongruities for long. Everytime you compromise your character, you compromise your leadership. The foundation of firm leadership is character.” (Bill Hybels)

Leaders have many important responsibilities and great moral implications. Being ethical and moral is an integral part of leadership, and it should never be compromised. Jane Van Buren in the video “What is Ethical Leadership” (March 29, 2013) defined ethics as principles, values, beliefs that define what is right, and what is the wrong behavior. Leaders set the moral tone for the entire organization. Leaders are the ones who uphold the shared values of the organization and see the cultural tone. Jane Van Buren in the video “What is Ethical Leadership” (March 29, 2013) talked about various moral implications of an active leader, their importance, and application in the growth of an organization are enlisted below:

Being a visible role model: Leaders have to act as role models for the organization. It can start with something as small as washing your coffee mug to encourage others to do so as well (Jane Van Buren, 2013). My boss is an excellent example of this. I started working at this job just a month ago, and I’m amazed by the leadership and ethical standards. I have seen the boss do the most basic stuff like cleaning or just handling customers first hand while the rush hour and this way he is a great role model for everyone else. This enhances teamwork behavior and also makes everyone work even harder.

Communicate ethical expectations: Communicating clear ethical expectations is very important for an organization. Creating an organizational code of ethics is the first step. Talking about and conveying clear ethical values and central ideas of a company goes a long way.

Promote ethical training: Ethical training should be a part of company’s schedule. Seminar, workshops and group discussions should be encouraged. Sitting with the whole team and talking about various moral or ethical dilemmas and their answers should be encouraged. This also promotes the feeling of trust and safety among teammates.

Other methods like institutionalization of ethical culture and providing protective mechanism can also help enhance ethical values of an organization. Above all, it is important to talk about and understand the necessity of high moral standards and practicing leadership ethically as it is indeed a great responsibility.

References

Van Buren, J. (2013, March 29). What is Ethical Leadership? Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks2QGoIq5nA

“Transformational leadership is defined as the process whereby a person engages with others and creates a connection that raises the level of motivation and morality in both the leader and the follower”. (Northouse,2016)

In the article, ‘Transformational leadership and performance across criteria and levels,’ some hypotheses are stated about the various implications of managers. According to Wang, Oh, Courtright and Colbert, these are as follows:

• Transformational leaders affect followers performance at the individual level: This is achieved by any of the four behaviors exhibited by a transformational leader. A leader can show the behavior of inspirational motivation by developing and articulating a shared vision and high expectations. This motivates the followers to do better. Another option is by practicing the behavior of idealized influence by serving as a role model by acting in ways that are consistent with the clear vision. Transformational leaders can also interculturally stimulate the followers or exhibit individualized consideration by attending to the needs of every follower.
• Transformational leaders motivate followers to perform beyond expectations: This is a fantastic implication if leaders. They push the followers to do better than what they think they are capable of by constant motivation and faith in them.
• Not only individual performance but transformation leaders enhance group/team performance as well: Leaders communicate the vision to the group and motivate team members to work collectively. They encourage team cohesion and motivation.

The word ethics has its roots in the Greek word ethos, which translates to “customs”, “conduct” or “character”. In regards to leadership, ethics is concerned with what leaders do and who leaders are (Northouse,2016,p.330).

Acc to Johnson (2015), ethical leadership enhances organizational trust levels, fostering the perception that the organization is competent, open, concerned for employees and reliable (Unit 7 notes). There are 5 principles of ethical leadership and they are enlisted below:

1. Respecting others
2. Serving others
3. Justice
4. Manifests honesty
5. Builds Community

All five of them are like fingers of a hand, one can not be considered more important than other. All of these principles together make an ethical leader but if I had two picks any two out of these five, they will be respect and building community. Respecting others is very important and if you don’t respect others you cannot command respect for yourself either. As you sow, so you reap fits perfectly in this situation. As Beauchamp and Bowie (1988) pointed out, ” Persons must be treated as having their own autonomously established goals and must never be treated purely as a means to another’s personal goals” (Northouse,2016,p.342). Leaders who respect others also allow them to be themselves, with creative wats and desires. They approach other people with a sense of their unconditional worth and value individual differences (Northouse,2016,p.342). By respecting others a leader is also practicing justice. The second most important principle to me is Building communities. Ethical leadership demands attention to a civic virtue. This means leaders and followers need to attend to more than their own mutually determined goals. They need to attend to the community’s goals and purpose (Northouse,2016,p.347). Greenleaf (1970) argued that building community was a primary characteristic of servant leadership. All of our individual and group goals are bound up in the common good and public interest. We need to pay attention to how the changes proposed by a leader and followers will affect the larger organization, the community, and society. An ethical leader is concerned with the common good, in the broadest sense (Northouse,2016,p.347). This principle covers other principles as well as it is about serving others and manifesting honesty.

 

The ultimate goal of a servant/transformational/ethical leader is to serve and grow others.

References

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

Wang, G., Oh, I.S., Courtright, S.H., & Colbert, A.E. (2011). Transformational leadership and performance across criteria and levels: A meta-analytical review of 25 years of research. Group & Organization Management, 36 (2), 223-270.

The roles of technology and employees in service theory and practice are evolving together. Now, employees are filling new roles as “Innovators”, “Differentiators”, “Enablers”, “Coordinators” (Bowen, 2016), and “Co-Creators” (Kandampully, J., Bilgihan, A., Tingting, C, 2016). On the other hand, technological advancement and the incorporation of the internet and social media within business models have revolutionized the way firms operate and conduct business. The extensive adoption and use of information technology, and social media in particular, by both customers and firms have led to new roles for customers, not only in the market but also in the firm’s perceptions. Technology thus can help organizations combat competition through innovation, by harnessing creative ideas from both internal and external people (Kandampully, J., Bilgihan, A., Tingting, C, 2016). This is a perfect hybrid of people and technology. I immigrated from India about two months ago and I was a dentist back there. Now as I’m pursuing my post graduation I get to work part-time here at a car rental cooperate company. It is very new to me and I have learned many things working in this organization. Various employee development plans used by my organization involving technology are:

1 Clear company policies and group activities: The first thing I was told to do by my boss was to read and remember the company policies from the official website. They were bright and customer friendly. This is one of the ways that technology is helping in employee development as I had full access to all the information and so do the customers. This helps them make an informed decision of whether they want to choose our plans and this saves the employees and customers from disputes later on.

2 Customer service and reviews: Customer service is the main agenda of most organizations these days with increasing awareness among people. I remember reading Starbucks agenda and it was; to inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time. Their customer service is remarkable and sets an example for other company’s as well. Taking customer reviews and continuous assessment is another important factor in employee development. Nowadays it is even more accessible for people to post reviews online on google or company website.

3 Developing a platform for sharing ideas among all employees is essential. Sometimes some employees may feel neglected, and this will affect their dedication and performance. Everyone’s views and opinions should be heard and considered. In the same way, feedbacks should be encouraged as well. This will give a better outlook on everyone’s performance.

4 Using cashless payments is another technological tool that enhances employee development. It is also employed in my workplace and it not just reduces the stress of keeping cash count on employees but also avoids problems like theft. On the top of this my workplace does not print out the bills but sends email invoices and this helps keep a better record, and both customers and employees don’t have to worry about taking care of a lot of paper.

To conclude, Information technology also has revolutionized all industry sectors by providing new ways to operate. However, human capital is still a nonsubstitutable source of creativity and innovation. Technology has allowed firms to “think” beyond their knowledge and resource borders, to transform themselves into perpetual innovators and firms recognize the importance of harnessing employees’ creativity and capturing the imaginations of engaged customers (Kandampully, J., Bilgihan, A., Tingting, C, 2016). Firms like Marriot, Hilton, Starbucks, and Disney are a testimony to the success of this human-technology hybrid. Undoubtedly, this hybrid can transcend all limits if used wisely and result in immense growth.

Reference

Kandampully, J., Bilghihan, A., Tingting, C. (2016). Developing a People-Technology Hybrids Model to Unleash Innovation and Creativity: The New Hospitality Frontier.

Andragogy is defined as the art and science of helping adults learn (Unit 6 notes). I always thought that as you grow older your ability to learn decreases but the incident I’m about to share changed that belief for me. I want to draw on a very personal but not a conventional experience.  Last summer my mother got a tennis elbow, and that stopped her from doing a lot of activities. My mother is a registered nurse in India and is the pillar of our family. This was when I realized that she might not look old but she is getting old, and I need to make sure she takes good care of herself as well. So, I took it upon me to teach her some exercises and review her diet plans. She was excited about this as well because she knew she needs it to keep working efficiently. As we discussed her diet plan, it was evident that it had a lot of shortcomings and we together decided to start a new more nourishing diet plan. We both work in healthcare so it was easier to understand the importance of what we are doing and it made the process a bit easier as well. I was amazed by my mother’s immense wide knowledge that she gained not just from books but 27 years of practice as a nurse.

Her readiness to learn was high because she realized the importance of health as well as how much the family needs her at her best. We started exercising together as well but it was a bit tricky for her to do some of those but her willpower was strong. She learned her ways around different yoga poses and was very consistent, more so than me. Her internal motivating factor was more significant than external factors. With time her elbow got better, but sadly there is not a definite cure for tennis elbow. She can perform all tasks usually but has to shy away from lifting anything with that specific arm. She has been working out and eating right ever since.

Honestly, I ended up learning more from her than she learned from me. Her grit, self-awareness, consistency, and motivation were remarkable. She is one of the strongest, kindest and determined person I know and above all, she is a constant and active learner.

For this activity, I was paired with a fantastic coursemate, Lewa Ahmed and it was an absolute pleasure to interview and connect with her. Lewa is a not just an inspirational person but also a true servant leader. She is a mother of five, entrepreneur, runs an NGO called The LEAH Foundation for the upliftment of women and children and mankind in general and last but not the least her organization is building a hospital. While talking to her, I was utterly mesmerized and inspired. She is everything I would like to grow up to be. When I asked her to define herself in three words, she picked, passionate, determined and patient and our conversation and her actions are a proof of this as well. I asked her about what her driving force is because it cannot be easy to manage so much and her answer was as beautiful as her thoughts; she replied that God is her driving force. Although she is doing great already, she is a constant learner, and she is looking forward to enhancing her ventures and run the hospital that she is building and serve as many people as she can.

I’m blessed to have come across such amazing people with this course, and she is a great human being as well. We connected well, and I believe we share a lot in common. She is humble and sweet, and even though she has achieved so much, she is kind and generous and not intimidating at all. I strongly think the world needs more servant leaders as she and I will surely look up to her at various times in my life.

“Team Effectiveness focuses on team excellence or the desired outcomes of teamwork” (Northouse,p.67).

As mentioned in Northouse (2016), critical functions of effective team leadership are performance and development. Performance or task accomplishment refers to the quality of the outcomes of the team’s work. Development or team maintenance refers to the cohesiveness of the team and the ability of team members to satisfy their own needs while working effectively with other team members (Nadler, 1998). Team leadership involves a set of people who have excellent interpersonal skills. As per Northouse,p. 368, Hackman (2012) has posited six enabling conditions that lead to effective team functioning, and they are as follows:

• Is this a real team?
• Does it have a compelling purpose?
• Does it have the right people?
• Are the norms of conduct clear?
• Is there support from organizational context?
• Is there team focused coaching?

Northouse (2016) also stated Larson & LaFasto’s (1989)  8 characteristics of team excellence and they are enlisted below:

1 Clear, Elevating Goal: “A compelling purpose energizes team members, orients them towards their collective objective, and fully engages their talents” (Northouse,p.369). Clearing the primary motive behind any project is utterly essential. It is a human instinct to work harder when the job is purposeful. When going to free dental awareness camps in rural areas with my fellow dentists and my juniors, I made it a point to gather all the junior volunteers and talk to them about the reason for the camp and also about the goals. Knowing that it was to directly serve the people who have lesser than most was a significant driving factor.

2 Result Driven Structure: Teams need to find the best structure for
accomplishing their goals. Structural features that lead to effective teamwork include task design, team composition, and core norms of conduct. Appropriate arrangements enable teams to meet their needs while still accomplishing team goals (Northouse,p.369).

3 Competent Team Members: Teams should be composed of the right number and mix of members to accomplish all the tasks of the team. A common mistake in forming groups is to assume that people who have all the technical skills necessary to solve a problem also have the interpersonal skills necessary to collaborate effectively. Just because someone is a good engineer or doctor does not mean he or she has the interpersonal skills to function on a team (Northouse,p.370).

4 Unified Commitment: Excellent teams are those that have developed a sense of unity or identification. (Northouse,p.370)

5 Collaborative Environment: A collaborative climate is one in which members can stay problem focused, listen to and understand one another, feel free to take risks, and be willing to compensate for one another. To build an atmosphere that fosters collaboration, we need to develop trusting relationships based on honesty, openness, consistency, and respect (Northouse,p. 370).

6 Standards of Excellence: It is especially important that the organizational context or the team itself set up standards of excellence so that members will feel pressure to perform at their highest levels (Northouse,p.371). Back in India when I was interning as a dentist, I had the great opportunity to address some freshmen students and talk to them about the field. The first thing that I taught them was precisely the first thing that I was taught when I started my Bachelors in Dental Surgery.  It was that there is an excellent value to the white coat that you get to wear as a doctor. It commands respect and dignity and now on anything you do will affect that. This made me and those juniors feel a sense of responsibility. This also set high standards for the rest of my career.

7 External Support and Recognition: A supportive organizational context includes material sources, rewards for excellent performance, the educational system to develop necessary team skills, and information system to provide needed data to accomplish the task (Northouse,p.371). Positive reinforcement goes a long way in any organization. If a person’s work is rewarded, it inspires him/her to keep doing good as it sets a standard, but if it is not rewarded, the person will lose interest. As with patients, especially children, while performing any dental procedure, it is important to keep saying how great they are doing and after the appointment giving a piece of candy works great and encourages them to be more cooperative.

8 Principled Leadership: It is an effective way of team leadership and is further divided into cognitive, motivational, affective and coordinational leadership (Northouse,p.371). Cognitive leaders help the team understand the problems confronting the group. A motivational leader helps the team become capable by setting standards and helping them achieve them. An active leader helps team handle stressful times by providing clear goals. A coordinational leader helps integrate team activities by matching skills to roles (Northouse,p.371).

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

The servant-leader is servant first. It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. The best test is: do those served grow as persons: do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And, what is the effect on the least privileged in society; will they benefit, or, at least, not be further deprived? (Greenleaf, 1977/2002, p. 27)

In the article, “Character and Servant Leadership: Ten Characteristics
of Effective, Caring Leaders,” Spears (2010), enlisted  10 important characteristics of an effective servant leader. Those 10 characteristics are as below,

1. Listening: It is essential for a leader to be a good listener. Being a good listener doesn’t mean only listening to others but also to one’s inner voices. It is about listening to whats said and unsaid. (Spears 2010,p.27).
2. Empathy:   People need to be accepted and recognized for their special and unique spirits (Spears 2010,p.27). A servant leader practices empathy.
3. Healing: One of the great strengths of servant leadership is the potential for healing one’s self and one’s relationship to others. Most of the people have broken spirits in some way or the other. An effective servant leader works towards healing oneself and others (Spears 2010,p.27).
4. Awareness: General awareness, and especially self-awareness, strengthens the servant-leader. Awareness helps one in understanding issues involving ethics, power, and values. Awareness is an awakener, and able leaders are usually sharp awake (Spears 2010, p.28).
5. Persuasion: Another characteristic of servant leaders is reliance on persuasion.  The servant leader seeks to convince others, rather than coerce compliance (Spears 2010, p.28).
6. Conceptualisation: One must be able to think beyond day to day realities. This is a characteristic that requires discipline and practice (Spears 2010, p.28).
7. Foresight: Foresight is a characteristic that enables the servant leader to understand the lessons from the past, the realities of the present, and the likely consequence of a decision for the future (Spears 2010, p.28).
8. Stewardship: Servant leadership assumes first and foremost a commitment to serving the needs of others. It also emphasizes the use of openness and persuasion, rather than control (Spears 2010, p.29).
9. Commitment to the growth of people:  Servant leader is deeply committed to the growth of every individual within his or her organization.
10. Building community: Servant leadership suggests that true community can be created among those who work in businesses and other institutions.

I have picked two central actions that I believe a leader should take when coordinating a group project in an organization. First one is awareness. Enlightenment is the first step to change. No growth or change can occur without being aware of the problem and its cause. While coordinating group projects leaders should be mindful of each employee’s skills so he/she can place them exactly where their potential can be 100% utilized.

Self-awareness is also a critical part of being a leader because if you are not aware of your shortcomings, you will not be open to change. Awareness awakens people and makes them uncomfortable. Most able leaders are aware and reasonably disturbed (Spears 2010, p.28).  As one of my favorite mentors, Robin Sharma quoted in one of his books, “Change is hard at first, messy in the middle and beautiful in the end.”

The second essential quality that a servant leader requires to be efficient in group activities is a commitment to the growth of people. To serve people is to commit yourself to help them grow. In group projects, his skill is undeniably vital as a leader.  The servant leader recognizes the tremendous responsibility to do everything in his or her power to nurture the personal
and professional growth of employees and colleagues. In practice, this can include (but is not limited to) concrete actions such as making funds available for personal and professional development, taking a personal interest in the ideas and suggestions from everyone, encouraging worker involvement in decision-making, and actively assisting laid-off employees to find other positions (Spears 2010,p.29).

It is true that the other eight qualities are indispensable as well. These two stood out to me the most.

Geenleaf defines servant leadership as a natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead (Northouse, p.226).

As Collen Barrett from Southwest Airlines, while being interviewed on the topic of Servant Leadership in a 2008 Youtube video said, that their airline has a passion of serving the people and this is what is their secret of success. She shared an intriguing concept of a priority pyramid in which at the top of the pyramid are colleagues. Serving their colleagues right is of utmost importance to them and this, in turn, leads the employees to serve the passengers better. This is a great example of servant leadership as the airline serves its employee and by doing so they are also leading by example. Another thing that stood out to me from her interview was when she said that when an employee or a passenger is in a problem, they adopt them and make something optimistic come out of it. This is also a trait of a servant leader. The fact that they started this airline because before it only 13% people were flying and most of them were men blew my mind. Southwest Airline is indeed more than just making money, they are connecting people and bringing a positive change, and this is exactly what servant leadership is about.

John Maxwell in his YouTube video “The 5 Levels of Leadership” (2013), stated that leadership is a verb and not a noun, it is an ongoing process. This video was very insightful and taught a lot about what a leader should be and what a leader should never be. The point about level 1- positional level leaders where he states that the employees start cleaning their desks at 4:30 if they do not like the leader struck me well, I could think of scenarios when I did the same too. Level 4- People development level is really aligned with servant leadership as it is about committing yourself to developing other people. This can only be done by serving them right and by guiding them into their right position where they can grow the best and reach their highest potential. As Maxwell said, Successful leaders, discover what others are best at, in this context, they are being mentors and leaders as well as serving others by helping them find their calling.

Servant Leadership differs from Emotional intelligence or self-awareness as Emotional intelligence and self-awareness are personal attributes whereas servant leadership transcends self-interest, it is about serving others and helping them grow. For me, one of the best examples of servant leadership apart from God is, Dalai Lama. Dalai Lama has made it the sole purpose of life to help others find peace and purpose in life. There are so many books written by Dalai Lama that has helped so many people. One of my favorite book written by him is The Art of Happiness. One of my mentors suggested me to read this while I was struggling in life and it helped me find peace and joy. I highly recommend it to everybody since then. I’ve followed his work for quite some time now and I find it very insightful and enlightening.

References:

Barrett, C. (2008). Southwest Airlines’ Colleen Barrett on Servant Leadership. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TgR95vnM0c

Maxwell, J. (2013). The 5 Levels of Leadership. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPwXeg8ThWI

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