A511.6.3.RB _Manglona, Matthew-Napu_ Meaning

A511.6.3.RB _Manglona, Matthew-Napu_ Meaning

When I reflect on why leaders need to create a “cause” or “meaning” in the aspect to leading change I immediately think to “purpose”. Me as a leader when I try to influence change (for the good) in my subordinates lives whether at home or at the work place I always look for that purpose. “Cause” to me, is something that gives individuals influence, motivation, and a sense of vision to a goal or what I call an external factor. “Meaning” on the other hand, is the more spiritual, the individual person aspect, or the Internal factor to change. As I read the quotes and HRB blog to combine them and relate them to each other I would have to say that leadership needs “meaning” in its direction to accomplish goals and objectives.

The HBR Blog was quite interesting. Giving subordinates meaning in their work or simply to inspire them is the main concept of this article from what I got. “Programs that encouraged employees to take initiative and contribute to change have a five times higher success rate than those with a purely top-down thrust” (Nieuwoudt, M., & Rudman, R.2015) Subordinates necessarily just need direction and the why when leading change. Pat Zingarmi stated that “People don’t resist change, they resist being controlled” with just simply knowing the why change is occurring can get subordinates involved and feeling apart of the team (The Ken Blanchard Companies 2009).

When I transfer from one unit to the other and in front of new soldiers I generally try to establish ground with them individually. I know their previous platoon leader had his leadership style and philosophies however I have to ensure that they understand mine and are willing to accept the change I bring to the team. I notify them of my commander’s intentions and philosophies so that they too understand during training why we do what we do. Information, Personal, Implementation, Collaboration, Impact, and Refinement concerns (The Ken Blanchard Companies 2009) as Pat ZIngarmi explained, I can safely say that I have used three of the six in my line of work. I am able to give them (subordinates) the information they need when I come in with change, I can explain to them at a personal level of why the change is good for them, and implementation on how I would disseminate and approach this change with my subordinates.

Dave and Wendy Ulrich, co-authors of The Why of Work have said, “In organizations, meaning and abundance are more about what we do with what we have than about what we have to begin with.” I interpret this quote with being able to create meaning even with little to no resources and being able to push forward with the vision by thinking critically on how to accomplish it.  

In his famous book Man's Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl posits that it "is a peculiarity of man that he must have something significant yet to do in his life, for that is what gives meaning to life" (2004, p. 56). I interpret this quote as having passion towards an objective or goal, having a purpose to do what one desires especially in a leadership role and all that does is become contagious to his subordinates.

Kouzes and Posner write in The Leadership Challenge: "The executive must find a way to communicate the vision in a way that attracts and excites members of the organization" (1987, p. 106). With this quote I interpret this must find a way to enthusiastically provide vision for an organization when going through change. “For any team to work in the same direction, the team must know the direction that the company is moving into and feel a connection to this common vision or theme” (Nieuwoudt, M., & Rudman, R. 2015).

References:

The Ken Blanchard Companies. (2009, May 20). Pat Zigarmi - Leading change. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTZEnSvZPqc&feature (Links to an external site.)

Nieuwoudt, M., & Rudman, R. (2015). LEADING CHANGE WHILE CREATING VALUE. Accountancy SA, , 40-41. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/docview/1660935915?accountid=27203

A511.5.3.RB - Remote Transformational Leadership

A511.5.3.RB - Remote Transformational Leadership

The article “Remote Transformational Leadership” talks about how organizations traditionally have face to face contact when applying transformational leadership, however wanted to conduct a study if leadership styles such as transformational, laissez-faire, and management-by-exception both through an electronic technological means (Email) and laboratory means could actually be identified by the test subjects who were part of the study and see if they can pin point exactly what type of leadership style was being presented through the experiments (Kelloway, E. K., Barling, J., Kelley, E., Comtois, J., & Gatien, B.2003). In today’s world email is the new form of communication as well as teleconferences, Skype, Facetime, and other sources of technological advances that face to face contact is near irrelevant with businesses and organizations expand and are in multiple locations when trying to move an organization and their subordinates in the views of the leader.

  

The authors’ hypotheses were described in the two different studies, the first being “that individuals exposed to e-mail messages containing a charismatic or intellectually stimulating message would express higher levels of task motivation, and demonstrate higher levels of performance on a laboratory task than individuals who received e-mail instructions that did not contain these aspects of transformational leadership”,  however lacking the realm of no significance of intellectual stimulation or charisma from the leader  (Kelloway, E. K., Barling, J., Kelley, E., Comtois, J., & Gatien, B.2003). Whereas the second hypothesized and found problem-solving performance tasks would be more suitable when groups were given an e-mail from a remote leader that pertains specifically on intellectual stimulation or charismatic leadership traits.

The type of research they used was a Quantitative approach with using surveys, mathematical equations, graphs and tables to their empirical research. They took over 200 students and use them to gather the data needed.  The results from the first study although through the vignette approach was not efficient enough the overall assessment was minimal in effectiveness, and in an addition to a charismatic leadership message on individual motivation needing further research. The overall assessment however “findings suggest that electronically mediated communication channels may be used to convey the same leadership "message" as in face-to-face interaction, which questions the suggestion that leader-follower distance has a negative effect on performance and followers' perceptions of their leader”  (Kelloway, E. K., Barling, J., Kelley, E., Comtois, J., & Gatien, B.2003) which means that remote leadership can still have the same effects compared to those who have face-to-face interactions which is more positive than most.

The value of this research was to have awareness of the forever changing world we are experiencing today. With leadership and management spaced out for example, a headquarters for an organization might be based out of Seattle, Washington and the production ware house may be based out of Texas. In the Army we experience that and a smaller scale. When I was deployed my platoon was separated from my company and my commander still had maintain command and control of us through video teleconference, emails, and radio transmission. He gave me the encouragement and guidance needed to conduct the day to day missions as well with me giving him situational reports of how my guys were doing. In addition to coordinating logistics, personnel, and operation issues by providing individualized consideration (Yukl, 2013).

References:

Kelloway, E. K., Barling, J., Kelley, E., Comtois, J., & Gatien, B. (2003). Remote transformational leadership. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 24(3), 163. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/docview/226926653?accountid=27203

Yukl, G. (2012). Leadership in organizations (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. ISBN 13: 978-0132771863.

A511.4.3.RB - Leadership Traits

A511.4.3.RB_Manglona, Matthew-Napu_Leadership Traits

To discuss the managerial types when it comes to motivation, traits, and effectiveness I have to discuss the traits portion first because I feel that is most important. The reason I feel that it is most important is because it is a tool that an individual can use and be effective in the workplace. Energy level and stress tolerance to be an effective leader or problem solver requires the ability to remain calm and stay focused at the issue at hand (Yukl, 2013). Self-confidence is also another trait I see as a key point for this discussion because having self-confidence allows leaders to take the initiative to delegate tasks, to resolve issues, and to present desirable and wanted change. Self-confidence is a strong asset to achieving influence within an organization. (Yukl, 2013).

Another attribute would be Emotional Stability and Maturity. These traits allow an individual to have self-awareness and the ability to work at self-improvement for themselves and acknowledging their weaknesses. Individuals possessing emotional stability portray self-control and the ability to check or stabilize their emotions.

Personal integrity is when an individual holds themselves accountable for their actions. To have the trait of being “honest and truthful rather than deceptive” (Yukl, 2013). This trait can be easily seen in the workplace amongst subordinates, peers, and leadership. Manager’s and leaders who demonstrate Personal integrity will be highly regarded by subordinates and will build trust among the employees to do the right thing.

In addition to Personal Integrity, there are also technical skills, interpersonal skills, and conceptual skills. Technical skills consist of knowledge about methods, procedures, and techniques. Interpersonal Skills have knowledge of human behavior and interpersonal processes, ability to understand feelings and attitudes of personnel and people. Lastly, there are Conceptual skills which is the ability to have logical thinking, have creativity in coming up with ideas, and problem solving. (Yukl, 2013).

If I assess my leadership traits and competencies, I would have to say that I strongly possess stress tolerance and energy level. When I was deployed to Afghanistan, I experienced situations where I had to remain calm and level headed to ensure the safety of my soldiers were met. They needed a leader with high energy because the situations were highly stressful and the soldiers needed to keep focused on the mission because lives were at stake.

At times, Emotional resilience as another trait I demonstrate at work. “Emotional resilience represents an individual’s flexibility in response to changing situational demands, or the ability to bounce back from negative emotional experiences”( Li, Y., Chun, H., Ashkanasy, N. M., & Ahlstrom, D.2012). In my line of work, I am continuously challenged with stressful situations that do not always have a pleasant outcome. However, I am constantly working at these traits to better myself as a leader. Because of these traits, I am considered an asset in my organization because I am always looking for ways to help improve the organization and ensuring that that team stays focused and grounded.

One difference I have observed with the management style of some of my peers is that they micro-manage their employees and fail to delegate appropriately. This impacts them negatively because when things do not go as planned, they easily stress and lash out at their employees, which demonstrates a lack of emotional stability on their part. Keeping level headed and dealing with stressful situations appropriately will aid in resolving situations, resulting in positive outcomes.

From the contingency theory aspect the Path-Goal Theory of my task oriented behavior and relations oriented behavior (Yukl,2013) go hand in hand. I always set standards for myself and I expect my subordinates to do the same. Whether it be physical, task oriented, technical, or the emotional aspect from my soldiers to emulate my leadership style, I ensure I give them clear guidance to the tasks needed to be done. I still incorporate my emotional and stress tolerance as an example for them to follow. I expect them to carry themselves in a proper manner both in and out of the uniform from taking care of their families, being good employees in their civilian occupations, and overall take care of themselves encouraging them in everything they do through my traits. “Subordinates will perform better when they have clear and accurate role expectations, they perceive that a high level of effort is necessary to attain task objectives, they are optimistic that it is possible to achieve the task objectives…” (Yukl, 2013).

The situational variables that assist will be task commitment. In the Army, we reward our soldiers through promotions, awards, training opportunities, and other forms of rewarding efforts because of their hard work, dedication, and commitment. I have seen the task commitment surge during deployment because everyone was focused on the same mission, to stay alive and return to their loved ones. There were incentives as well, such as re-enlistment bonuses and leave, which relates back to the path goal theory and task commitment, because it gave all of us the incentive to get our mission done and keep the organizations vision of evolving our soldiers for the Army’s future needs.

References:

Li, Y., Chun, H., Ashkanasy, N. M., & Ahlstrom, D. (2012). A multi-level study of emergent group 

leadership: Effects of emotional stability and group conflict. Asia Pacific Journal of Management,

29(2), 351-366. doi:10.1007/s10490-012-9298-4

Yukl, G. (2013). Leadership in organizations (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall