Leadership And Vision: Integrative Case Studies And Readings Of The Week

1. I have observed that the contract managers of Carillion company can only profess about safety procedures and rules, about the ‘target zero’ campaign designed to avoid accidents. Ultimately they appear to be more concerned with the safety practice and policies of the company rather than actually teach the workers how to work in risky situation without putting own lives into the risks (Iszatt-White & Saunders, 2017).
2. According to my opinion, it is necessary to make the distinction between ‘leadership and management’ here because both the roles are different from each other. Managers are the parts of the structural hierarchy while leadership is a process in which leaders influence their employees/followers to achieve organizational safety goals (Sharma, 1995). In the present case the leaders on the ground that are the contract managers are only seen to be relying on rule compliance and personal protective equipment.
3. The creation of a particular safety culture within the contract should be obviously be a company –wide initiative led from the top but it is also equally true that safety is not something to be taught in office. It should be taught practically on spot. Since the contract managers are the leaders in this context, it is their role only.
4. The unsophisticated use of mechanical diggers, pile drivers, excavators and cranes might cause health risks to the workers due to exposure to constant vibration. The hand tools such as the pneumatic drills and heled-held tools can result in strong heath issues. These risks are accentuated by the outcome –oriented approach of the management and replicates in a static approach to safety concerns. The traditional follow up of historical safety practices can increase the chances of insecure safety. The measures should depend on the situation and not on past scenarios.

1. As a leader at first I allow people to speak their minds out to find the root cause and solution to the problem. Next I try to perceive the bigger picture which people usually overlook in the course of their conflict. Lastly I identify the true impediment by asking my own judgement and bring peace. As a follower I try to forgive the offender and try to sanctify that person because Bible teaches us the language of love. I also try to resolve the conflict privately without humiliating the offender in public.
2. I believe that conflicts rise from the clash of different ideologies, values and beliefs. It arises from the desire to dominate the opposite person and place own rights and opinions which is sinful (Brown,2017). Conflict is destructive because it wages wars, fuels hatred, bloodshed and inhumane actions.
3. One of the major workplace conflicts that I have come across is cultural conflicts. The insensitivity towards other cultures cause hostile work environment. I will no longer ignore the problem as a leader and establish an environment of empathy and respect in the workplace. I will teach the members of the organization to keep a peaceful ambience everywhere.
4. I have learnt from Nehemiah’s response in the article that a true leader must not ignore a conflict and focus on bottom-line. They should grow a righteous anger within themselves to fix the problem. It should be gentle towards personal offense (Mitevska-Encheva,2015). The leaders must be self-controlled and patient and they must initiate a biblical way of confrontation of the offense.

1. It is true that a vision starts with a dream- a premonition or foresight of what a person wats to be. According to Gill, (2011) vision is transformed into reality by strategies and actions. In this respect it can be said that a vision without actions is just a dream- a random thought which can never come true.
2. In order to create a vision that all stakeholders will share the core ideologies must be used. It is a dynamic idea which changes and improves with the organization. The vision should be inspiring and creative envisioning a better and brighter future (Berson et al., 2015). The vision must be objectives oriented and fulfillment driven which will attract the stakeholders the most. The trust and transparency of communication with the stakeholders is a key to success.
3. There are few qualities in a particular organizational vision which bring the maximum employee engagement, loyalty and commitment. When there are motivating factors in the vision, satisfying to the employees, communicated through various channels to all the members, promises for innovation and improvement, leaders are honest and open, and finally the leader’s own words add the cherry on the top.
4. The vision should be attainable but challenging and the employees must be supported by a strong leadership (Carton, Murphy & Clark, 2014). Specific goals must be set but they should not be so hard to accomplish as it may resent the employees.
5. The Generics Group’s vision could have sustained if their vision statement would have been clear and simple. The customers, stakeholders, investors and other important people could have been thought of more as components of the vision of the group. The level of communication of the vision statement could have been more updated, fast and widespread.

1. As the proposed general manager I would advise the board of directors to gain knowledge about their work cultures first. It has been researched that their traditional culture may place problems regarding teamwork. The collective orientation of their culture on one hand supports core teamwork but on the other hand their rigid natured society makes people feel uncomfortable in the flexible and autonomous work environment desired by teams (Iszatt-White & Saunders, 2017). However, there are benefits of such idea too such as the company will come across versatile talents and high-technology and business advances.
2. As a proposed general manager of the company to introduce the company’s team work practices to the expatriates in the plant of China I would like to know the work culture and current team work practices in that country and then only I would try to initiate the change. I will investigate their cultural values, leadership strategies, their leniency to group orientation, task interdependence, traditional Chinese management system, employee orientation, HR practices and many others.
3. I have found out after the investigation that the workers are willing to work in a positive environment surrounded by co-operative colleagues. The team leadership in this context can be practiced by maintaining the cultural sensitivity issue, by building trust relationships to strengthen the mutual bond (Hon & Lu, 2015). The poor performance will be handled with a different approach carefully by the team leadership practices. This type of leadership can be applied to other cultures as well because it is nothing but respecting other cultures with accurate cultural intelligence and management.

1. According to my ow assessment of my own self as a leader I will have to develop on the righteous anger dimension as talked about in the article. As far as negation to ignorance, patient ad self-control is concerned I believe that I am not ignorant if any conflict raises within the organization and also I keep myself calm and patient as much as possible to deal with the situation properly. The biblical method of confrontation is still not adopted by me which needs to be done.
2. The term ‘servant leader ‘for e means the natural willingness to serve and serve first. Although the terms ‘servant’ and ‘leader’ are contrary to each other but when they are merged together, the focus on the well-being and growth of people and society is revealed. Servant leadership is different from usual leadership it keeps aside the personal gains and places the needs of others as the first priority (Liden et al., 2014).
3. As a leader it is necessary to get informal with the employees and admit the weaknesses which ultimately proves powerful. The confrontations are necessary because the people who are supposed to follow the leader come to know that he is real, authentic, genuine and they do not reject the leader.
4. Since humility is the foundation of a peaceful life. It is a virtue that can be practiced and developed by regular prayer and reading of the Bible, accepting humiliations happily, distrusting in the greatness of the self, acknowledging the nothingness and thinking better for other people first (Brown,2017). The leader is followed by the workers in an organizational context and if the leader is not humble enough to accept embarrassment in any situation, the follower cannot be expected to admit their follies and mitigate conflicts to establish a peaceful work environment.

References

Berson, Y., Halevy, N., Shamir, B., & Erez, M. (2015). Leading from different psychological distances: A construal-level perspective on vision communication, goal setting, and follower motivation. The Leadership Quarterly, 26(2), 143-155.

Brown, G. (2017). How Godly Leaders Resolve Conflict. [online] Available at: https://bible.org/seriespage/5-how-godly-leaders-resolve-conflict [Accessed 21 Sep. 2018].

Carton, A. M., Murphy, C., & Clark, J. R. (2014). A (blurry) vision of the future: How leader rhetoric about ultimate goals influences performance. Academy of Management Journal, 57(6), 1544-1570.

Gill, R. (2011). Theory and Practice of Leadership. Sage publications.

Hon, A. H., & Lu, L. (2015). Are we paid to be creative? The effect of compensation gap on creativity in an expatriate context. Journal of World Business, 50(1), 159-167.

Iszatt-White, M. & Saunders, C. (2017). LEADERSHIP. Oxford University Press,

Liden, R. C., Wayne, S. J., Liao, C., & Meuser, J. D. (2014). Servant leadership and serving culture: Influence on individual and unit performance. Academy of Management Journal, 57(5), 1434-1452.

Madanchian, M., Hussein, N., Noordin, F., & Taherdoost, H. (2016). The Relationship between Ethical Leadership, Leadership Effectiveness and Organizational Performance: A Review of Literature in SMEs Context. European Business & Management, 2(2), 17-21.

Mitevska-Encheva, M. (2015). FACTORS TO OVERCOME ORGANIZATIONAL CONFLICTS IN DIFFERENT CULTURAL ENVIROMENTS. International Journal of Arts & Sciences, 8(3), 211.

Sharma, S. (1995, June). Towards enlightened leadership: A framework of leadership & management. In Evolving Performing Organizations Through People: A Global Agenda’, Proceedings of the Asia Pacific Federation of Human Resource Management-95 Conference, ed by Prof. KB Akhilesh, Pub: New Age International Publishers, New Delhi(pp. 209-214).