Meaning

After reviewing these quotes and the Harvard Business review article Getting Beyond Engagement to Creating Meaning at Work there is a lot that can be said about change and leadership.  First off in my personal opinion change is inevitable.  Anyone who goes into any organization and does not expect change to occur at some point is greatly mistaken.  I agree 100% with the Harvard Business Review article as it pertains to finding meaning in your work.  This is a difficult thing for some people to understand in today’s day and age because everything revolves around money.  To many people it does not matter what the job is as long as they are making enough money to finance the style life they want they feel they can put up with it.  This situation is not always the case.  I can give a good example of this idea.  This is a personal example as it pertains to my wife.  When we arrived at my current duty station she got a government job working on the base where I am stationed.  It was quite a lucrative position for us financially however, the job was very boring and did not require much effort on her part.  There were many days were she had to go out and find things to do.  This was very boring to her.  She is a licensed clinical councilor with a master’s degree in counseling and had recently been serving as a family counselor and had enjoyed the interaction and helping people aspect of the job.  To many people the job she was filling would be perfect she got paid a lot of money to do very little work.  This was not the case for her.  So after spending a year doing it she quit and got a job making quite a bit less money however, it was in her field of counseling.  The new change and ability for her to utilize the training and education she had worked for was very rewarding and beneficial for her.  I think this is a perfect example of what this article is trying to convey.  If you as a worker can find meaning to you work you will work harder, be more creative, work tenaciously, and hopefully help your organization succeed at whatever it does (Ulrich, D, W., 2010).  In my example it was my wife who found the meaning in her work by herself.  As a leader if you can inspire meaning for those who you lead in your organization you are determined to have success.  As a leader if you shape a vision, help people make sense of past ideas you can engage them and have them want to work for you and not feel like they have to do it.  I believe the three quotes given for this assignment also go hand in hand with this.  All three quotes deal with finding a meaning or desire for personnel.  They talk about motivation and what keeps you going. 

            As previously stated change is inevitable.  Those who do not realize this are in for a hard time within their organization.  However, I believe there are ways to successfully implement change throughout an organization.  The Yukl text discusses vision and the power that it has to influence change.  In my opinion this is where a good leader makes his or her money when it comes to change.  The Yukl text discusses how a vision should be simple and idealistic (Yukl, 2013).  It states that it should discuss the desirable future goals and not contain complex goals or detailed action steps.  If you want to get people on board with change your vision should appeal to their hopes, values, as well as the organizational ideals.  This will help ensure members and others who can affect the change support your end goal.  People are normally against change for a variety of reasons.  Some feel the change is not needed, others feel the change may not be feasible, and some may argue that the change is not cost effective and quite possibly the biggest reason people fear or are against change is the fear of personal loss.  As a leader it is your job and the success of your change rests solely on if you can convey a vision that aims to squash these fears.  As a leader discuss the change with your work force and get there anxiety over the change.  Explain why the change is needed and be truthful with them.  While there are always going to be people who fear and are against change as a leader if you can convey a vision and explain to your personnel why the change is needed and get their buy in you have a much better chance at success than the leader who decides on change and then just implements no questions asked. 

 

Ulrich, D., & W. (2010). Getting Beyond Engagement to Creating Meaning at Work. Harvard

Business Review. Retrieved from:   https://hbr.org/2010/06/getting-beyond-engagement-to-c

Yukl, G. (2013). Leadership in Organization (8^th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ:

Prentice Hall.

Remote Transformational Leadership

In today’s ever changing atmosphere many organizations are faced with the challenge of large and co-located work environments.  Personnel are based in one state or region yet in charge of people in many other states or even in different countries.  Due to this there is the need for much more digital communications.  Telephone, and video conferencing is used on an almost daily basis.  This has caused a vast change in the way a leader communicates with personnel they are in charge of.  With this new change the authors of this paper were looking into whether or not leaders who must use these methods can convey transformational or charismatic leadership traits via these communication methods.  To establish his new idea the authors hypothesized that leaders who faced the challenge of remote leadership could convey charisma and transformational leadership without the face to face contact that most other research and studies have shown is required.  The authors set out to test and see is leaders who communicated remotely with the personnel they lead could be considered charismatic or transformational and that even though they may be thousands of miles away the followers would still follow as they would a leader who was in the same place and had face to face communication with daily.  To conduct this research the authors used a vignette approach of 175 students.  During this they asked questions about either laissez-faire, management by exception, contingent reward or transformational leadership approaches which were communicated through electronic mail (e-mail).  The authors also used a group problem solving task with 105 undergraduate students. This test consisted of the groups reading either an intellectually stimulating or charismatic message via e-mail.  The goal of this was to see if the groups could determine the differences in the messages.   After the first study was accomplished the results showed positive evidence that personnel could differentiate between the different styles of leadership tested based on e-mail communications only.  The results also showed that e-mails which contained transformational leadership messages had a greater association with interpersonal justice and satisfaction as opposed to messages based on a more laissez-faire style leadership.  So for an initial study into this area of leadership and remote located leaders there are some positive and promising results.  As for the second study the results were not as promising.  This study was more about charisma and mode of receiving the message.  The results did not support an effect of charismatic leadership message for individual motivations.  The authors concluded that more research would be needed to determine if the results were based on their questions or the way the message was composed.  They determined that more research and study would be needed to positively say that charisma could be transmitted through electronic means.  There were some positive things which came from the second study however.  The authors concluded that it is possible to manipulate separate components of transformational leadership.  It helped them realize that future studies can now focus on unique outcomes of idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and individualized considerations.   As stated in the beginning more and more personnel are faced with remote communication in the workplace.  I believe this research while in its infancy is quite beneficial to the study of leadership for this very reason.  Everyone is looking for the right balance of leadership and management traits.  These aspects are extremely difficult to balance and get right when you are located in the same area as the rest of your employees.  It is compounded even more when faced with different operating locations.  There has not been much research in this area any study of how to be a more effective and influential leader when dealing with this situation is promising.  There never has or never will be a one size fits all style of leadership due to group dynamics and the changing situations leaders face on a daily basis.  Add to that being a leader who is dealing with separation of the workforce and it is even more difficult.  The fact that in this initial study some of the results showed that leaders could have the same interactions with an individual remotely as they do in face to face interactions is promising.  The results showed that leader-follower distance had a negative effect on performance as well as the perception they have of the leader.  This is very positive research for those companies and organizations who operate in the global market place.   

 

Barling, J., Comtois, J., Gatien, B., Kelley, E., and Kelloway, E. (2002). Remote

Transformational Leadership. Leadership & Organizational Development Journal.  Received

from:    https://erau.instructure.com/courses/35753/assignments/498486

What is motivation?  Psychology today defines motivation as the literal desire to do things (Psychologytoday.com, 2016).  It goes on to give the example of getting up before dawn to pound the pavement as opposed to sitting around lazy doing nothing.  Furthermore motivation revolves around setting and working toward accomplishing goals.  The BusinessDictionary.com defines motivation as the internal and external factors that stimulate desires and energy in people to be continually interested in and committed to a job, role, or subject or to make an effort to attain a goal (BusinessDictionary.com, 2016).  The Yukl text goes into several different traits which influence leaders and their motivation.  Some of these traits include energy level and stress tolerance, locus of control, emotional maturity, power motivation, confidence and need for affiliation (Yukl, 2013).  All of these different traits work in different ways for the leader and can be effective or ineffective depending on the situation.  Some examples of this would be the leader who is not very confident in their abilities however, is in charge of a large number of personnel with a important task to complete.  If the rest of the team knows this leader lacks confidence and the ability to lead they are liable to not listen to this individual.  The text discusses leaders who are confident and says they are better suited to have more initiative, they are more apt to attempt difficult tasks, as well as set challenges for themselves as well as those they lead.  The text goes on to discuss how leaders who are confident are more likely to be effective at the current task.  Another example would be the narcissist.  This individual is reliant on the strong need for esteem.  This includes things such as prestige, status, attention, admiration, and adulation.  For me I fall into the need for affiliation.  This is when the leader receives great satisfaction from being liked or accepted by others.  Now in my situation I don’t necessarily care about going out and partying with my co-workers however I look at it like this, if I have to spend anywhere from 8 to 12 or even more hours with these people we might as well all get along.  It only helps with the production and effectiveness if you and your co-workers do not mind being in the same room with each other.  This obviously does not work with everyone because there are some people who will never be happy no matter the situation.  The Yukl text discusses how someone who has a low need for affiliation can be classified as the “loner” and that this person lacks confidence and may not be able to influence others.  As a leader it is your main goal to influence others so this low need for affiliation will hinder you effectiveness.  By creating a work environment which people enjoy being in you are definitely moving in the right direction toward establishing an effective organization. Contingency theories play a major role in a leader’s effectiveness.  These theories describe how aspects of leadership situations can alter a leaders influence and effectiveness.  There are a few different types of contingency theories which may factor into a leaders effectiveness.  Some of these theories are the path-goal theory, the leadership substitute theory, situational leadership theory, the least preferred coworker theory (LPC), and the cognitive resources theory.  These theories mainly focus on dyadic influences but more recently some have specialized in leader influence on group process.  These theories can help a leader who is having trouble motivating him/herself as well as those they are in charge of.  They factor into multiple different situations and can help the leader when dealing with motivation and group dynamics. 

 

Motivation. (2016). [Data file].  Retrieved from:

            http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/motivation.html

Motivation. (2016). How to Get Motivated. Retrieved from:

            https://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/motivation

Yukl, G. (2013). Leadership in Organization (8^th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ:

Prentice Hall.

 

Power and Influence

A511.3.3.RD – Power and Influence

Power and influence are very important and yet very misunderstood phenomenon’s.  Many people think that the more power you have the more you can get done and with that power comes much influence.    There is also a common misconception that power is automatic depending on the position you hold (I’m the boss do it my way because I have power).  There a several different types of power such as coercive, referent, expert, reward, legitimate, information, ecological, and position or personal power (Yukl, 2013).  These types are used and expressed in several different ways.  The example above is position power, coercive power is based on threats or punishments based on behavior.  One can have expert power if they are knowledgeable on a specific area or function.  Referent power refers to a person’s ability to be liked or have good personal relations with others.  As you can see there are many types and ways to have and use power.   I believe however, that you attain your power by mastering the art of influence.  John Maxwell said it best when he stated “leadership is influence-nothing more, nothing less.” (Maxwell, 1998 p. 17).  Those who have influence have power.  It is the person you catch yourself asking “why is everyone gravitating that way?” who have the power.  Yes a person who is placed in a higher position wields some power however, this will only be temporary.  Once the people he or she has power over get frustrated they will begin to go against the grain.  However, a true leader and one who has mastered the art of influence will have immense power.  Look at leaders like General Patton whose men would follow him into what seemed like an un-winnable battle.  Or leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who had followers who would risk life and limb for him.  These people are the ones who truly have power and it is only through their expert influence they achieve this power.

Within my work center power comes from rank and position.  In the military what we perceive as power comes from the rank you attain.  What I mean by this is that if someone who outranks you asks you to do something you have to do it (as long as it’s legal).  This however, in my opinion is not power.  Real power is possessed by those who have both the rank required to perform the specific job and they have that extra thing that makes people want to work for them not just have to work for them.  We have all had those types of bosses who no matter what we believed them and would follow them into any circumstances.   So the nature of power based on rank is your typical position power element.  This makes its way down through the ranks so no matter what situation you are in the ranking individual is the one who will be place in charge.  The United States Air Force has an actual governing document which explains this concept all the way down to the lowest enlisted level.  Air Force Instruction 36-2408 The Enlisted Force Structure defines the roles and responsibilities for personnel who are Airman Basic all the way to Chief Master Sergeant which is the highest enlisted rank.  This however, does not correlate to the individual’s ability to lead.  Just because a person attains a rank does not mean that they are either ready for the increase in responsibility or that they will be a good leader.  I have worked with countless higher ranking individuals who were terrible leaders and also been witness to some up and coming mid rank personnel who could be promoted to the highest rank immediately and be able to handle everything that comes their way.

Othman’s take on Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) is quite interesting.  He and his co-authors look at this from the perspective of a dysfunctional LMX point of view (Othman, 2009).  He bases this on the perception of favoritism and a leaders flawed assessment of members.  This perspective is quite true in my current work environment.  Promotions in the United States Air Force as well as any other work force are hard to come by.  However, within the USAF there is a factor which influences a person’s chance for promotion which fits this theory.  This factor influences both the officer and top two senior enlisted positions.  It is the stratification process.  This is where the wing or installation commander racks and stacks the top people who are eligible for promotion.  Other than a few minor items there is no set criteria for how this process is accomplished.  Therefore there is much room for people to perceive favoritism within the selection process.  If a person is not selected for a stratification and feels they were deserving they will begin to judge those who were selected.  There is a common perception that if you want to be included in this list of people selected you need to be a good politician and be out and about earning lots of “facetime” with the boss.  This perception tends to create groups of personnel who seek out this type of recognition and those who do not.  This creates tension among personnel who are all trying to be promoted within the same ranks.  I think the views of Othman and his co-authors demonstrate how this type of situation would form a dysfunctional leader-member exchange.  It also goes to show how perception plays an integral part in this LMX theory. 

 

Maxwell, J. (1998). The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership.  Nashville, TN: Thomas

Nelson Inc.

Ee. F., Othman, R., Shi, N. (2009). Understanding Dysfunctional Leader-Member Exchange: Antecedents and Outcomes. Leadership & Organization Development Journal. V. 3, N. 4. Retrieved from: https://erau.instructure.com/courses/35753/pages/a511-dot-3-1-dot-cr-readings-and-presentations?module_item_id=1616370

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

Prentice Hall.   

Supportive Leadership:

I agree that supportive leadership is very important in all aspects of leadership.  According to the Yukl text there are a few guidelines for being a supportive leader.  These include:

Showing acceptance and positive regard

Providing sympathy and support when someone is upset or anxious

Bolstering peoples self-esteem and confidence

Be willing to help with personal problems (Yukl, 2013 p. 66).

I do not think that these suggestions are applicable in all aspects of leadership however, when they are used appropriately your subordinates will be very grateful. During my Career in the United States Air Force I have been a supervisor of many.  One way I have embraced the supportive role is through development.  I love and enjoy training others.  It is my belief that everyone needs to know and understand what is going on.  I mentioned this before that I do not believe in telling people that they do not know the big picture.  I want the people I work with to be able to step in and take over for me if I had to leave or was not available.  This is accomplished by developing your subordinates and training them.  This is difficult for some personnel because it requires patience and the ability to want to help people.  Another thing needed for development is knowledge.  If you as the leader do not know what to do it is hard for you to pass on to others and help them develop.  In John Maxwell’s 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership he discusses the Law of Reproduction (Maxwell, 1998 p. 133).  This law discusses how good leaders make more good leaders by developing them.  It gives a very good example of the NFL and how head coaches hire assistant coaches and they in turn become head coaches.  These assistant head coaches did not become future head coaches without support from the person who hired them.  This same holds true for me as a USAF member.  The military is based on rank and authority however as a leader and supervisor I truly believe that a supportive leadership approach is productive and beneficial in the work center.

Maxwell, J. (1998). The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership.  Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.

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