Explain The Five Leadership Styles That A Safety Professional May Display
1. Explain the five leadership styles that a safety professional may exhibit
a) Legitimate power.
A good leader does not lead by fear, she/he is a person able to get employees to follow command naturally without abusing authority and constantly reminding others of her/his status. The leader inspire trust and respect among the employees by being open to recommendations and applying it when practicable. She/he will be able to be very diplomatic in conflictual situations and use her/his authority in a calm and respectful manner, this process will contribute to gain respect among others and de-escalate tensed situations. The leader will use his authority evenly among all the employees and will avoid favouritism, this will contribute to create a climate of respect where impartiality is endorsed.
b) Reward power
The safety leader will be able to use her/his power in a positive manner to help employees achieving safety objectives. Offering incentives such as extra days off , free lunches or bonus could be an avenue, but the most effective way is by offering positive feedback in the forms of compliments and symbolic gifts such as a plaque indicating that a person or a team are considered safety champions. The …show more content…
rewards or bonus should be obtained as a result of an activity performed by the employees instead of simply looking at statistics. By doing so, the safety leader will prevent employees of not reporting workplace hazards or injuries in order to maintain low ratef data injuries.
c) Coercive Power
The safety leader must sometimes use disciplinary actions in order to correct non compliance.
Although not a preferred method, there is instances where some employees will only comply if a disciplinary actions is imposed. The measures can include but not limited to a written notice, a suspension and/or termination depending on the gravity of the offence. When disciplinary actions must be used, the safety leader must insure that it is done in a calm and fair manner, that plenny of warnings and opportunites to achieve the desired behaviour were offered and that the discipline is progressive. Always insure that the employee is treated with respect and dignity during the whole process and conduct a review of the systems to ensure that it does not promote
disobedience.
d) Expert power
The safety leader will gain tremendous credibility and will be recognized as an expert in his field if it remains confident while making difficult decisions and explain the reason why a particular decision has been made. The safety leader will ensure that it remains at the current edge of the latest technology and information available in its field along with providing the best training and education available to its employees.
e) Referrend and charismatic power
The safety leader must be able to spark enthusiasm from employees, it is achieved by nurturing interpersonal relationships and not being seend as a figure of authority. A great leader will be able to establish a strong relationship with the employees and adjust his behaviour and communication skills to the targeted audience. The leader will be able to motivate the employees to achieve the goals established by the organization by displaying a positive attitude and being passionate.
2) Explain the methods that a safety manager can use to measure and track the changes in the safety program.
The first method would fell under management support. The safety manager must be able to demonstrate the financial benefits of the safety program by periodically tracking the reduction of workplace accidents and violations and demonstrate that a comprehensive safety program is cost effective.
Measuring the employees involvement by tracking the progress of the safety committee and the meetings, the number of hazards that have been identified during a pre determined period of time and the number of employees that have received safety training and to monitor safety behaviour in the workplace (Jizu, Yuejiao, & Xiaoguang 2015).
Analyzing data such as accident rate, lost time, gap analysis to reach the objectives, near misses and hazard identification and reduction are a crucial part to ensure that the safety program is reaching its objectives. Data analysis will monitor the performance of all aspects of the safety program (Jizu et al.,2015)
3) What are the techniques that serve to promote management support of the safety program? A number of techniques can be utilized to reach to different syles of management in order to obtain complete support into a proper safety program. Presenting the direct and indirect costs of workplace accidents to senior management can really help understanding the benefits of a good prevention system. The direct costs are generally associated with the worker’s medical treatment and lost work time. The indirect costs are associated with the repair and /or the replacement of the broken equipment, loss in production by replacing the worker, a bigger loss can be sustained if the injured worker had a particular set of skills that other workers are not able to performor is unable to return to work permanently due to the seriousness of the injuries (Zaeimdar et al., 2013).
Another technique that can be used to gain management support is the reduction of the worker’s compensation insurance premium. Every company is assigned a particular rating in relation to the category of business and the number of workplace acidents. Reducing the amount of workplace accidents will reflect directly on the cost of the premium for the next insured period.
A good safety program will also minimize the likeliness of fines and penalties resulting from non compliances. Presenting the most common infractions listed by OSHA along with a list of penalties associated with it and a strategy to avoid these will increase support.
The moral and ethical aspect of maintain a good safety program can have a tremendous effect on the employees motivation knowing that they are working in a safe environment, it also gives management a piece of mind that the workers can go back home safely after performing their duties and they will not have to wear the burden of a serious injury or workplace fatality. A safer work environment can also have a very positive impact in the smaller communities where industries often play a major role (Zaeimdar et al., 2013).
Offering incentives such as a bonus for good performance is an other avenue that could be considered to obtain support from management. The safety manager must be able to demonstrate that an efficient safety program will contribute to lower the amount of workplace accidents and therefore lead to the bonus or the incentive.
a) Legitimate power.
A good leader does not lead by fear, she/he is a person able to get employees to follow command naturally without abusing authority and constantly reminding others of her/his status. The leader inspire trust and respect among the employees by being open to recommendations and applying it when practicable. She/he will be able to be very diplomatic in conflictual situations and use her/his authority in a calm and respectful manner, this process will contribute to gain respect among others and de-escalate tensed situations. The leader will use his authority evenly among all the employees and will avoid favouritism, this will contribute to create a climate of respect where impartiality is endorsed.
b) Reward power
The safety leader will be able to use her/his power in a positive manner to help employees achieving safety objectives. Offering incentives such as extra days off , free lunches or bonus could be an avenue, but the most effective way is by offering positive feedback in the forms of compliments and symbolic gifts such as a plaque indicating that a person or a team are considered safety champions. The …show more content…
rewards or bonus should be obtained as a result of an activity performed by the employees instead of simply looking at statistics. By doing so, the safety leader will prevent employees of not reporting workplace hazards or injuries in order to maintain low ratef data injuries.
c) Coercive Power
The safety leader must sometimes use disciplinary actions in order to correct non compliance.
Although not a preferred method, there is instances where some employees will only comply if a disciplinary actions is imposed. The measures can include but not limited to a written notice, a suspension and/or termination depending on the gravity of the offence. When disciplinary actions must be used, the safety leader must insure that it is done in a calm and fair manner, that plenny of warnings and opportunites to achieve the desired behaviour were offered and that the discipline is progressive. Always insure that the employee is treated with respect and dignity during the whole process and conduct a review of the systems to ensure that it does not promote
disobedience.
d) Expert power
The safety leader will gain tremendous credibility and will be recognized as an expert in his field if it remains confident while making difficult decisions and explain the reason why a particular decision has been made. The safety leader will ensure that it remains at the current edge of the latest technology and information available in its field along with providing the best training and education available to its employees.
e) Referrend and charismatic power
The safety leader must be able to spark enthusiasm from employees, it is achieved by nurturing interpersonal relationships and not being seend as a figure of authority. A great leader will be able to establish a strong relationship with the employees and adjust his behaviour and communication skills to the targeted audience. The leader will be able to motivate the employees to achieve the goals established by the organization by displaying a positive attitude and being passionate.
2) Explain the methods that a safety manager can use to measure and track the changes in the safety program.
The first method would fell under management support. The safety manager must be able to demonstrate the financial benefits of the safety program by periodically tracking the reduction of workplace accidents and violations and demonstrate that a comprehensive safety program is cost effective.
Measuring the employees involvement by tracking the progress of the safety committee and the meetings, the number of hazards that have been identified during a pre determined period of time and the number of employees that have received safety training and to monitor safety behaviour in the workplace (Jizu, Yuejiao, & Xiaoguang 2015).
Analyzing data such as accident rate, lost time, gap analysis to reach the objectives, near misses and hazard identification and reduction are a crucial part to ensure that the safety program is reaching its objectives. Data analysis will monitor the performance of all aspects of the safety program (Jizu et al.,2015)
3) What are the techniques that serve to promote management support of the safety program? A number of techniques can be utilized to reach to different syles of management in order to obtain complete support into a proper safety program. Presenting the direct and indirect costs of workplace accidents to senior management can really help understanding the benefits of a good prevention system. The direct costs are generally associated with the worker’s medical treatment and lost work time. The indirect costs are associated with the repair and /or the replacement of the broken equipment, loss in production by replacing the worker, a bigger loss can be sustained if the injured worker had a particular set of skills that other workers are not able to performor is unable to return to work permanently due to the seriousness of the injuries (Zaeimdar et al., 2013).
Another technique that can be used to gain management support is the reduction of the worker’s compensation insurance premium. Every company is assigned a particular rating in relation to the category of business and the number of workplace acidents. Reducing the amount of workplace accidents will reflect directly on the cost of the premium for the next insured period.
A good safety program will also minimize the likeliness of fines and penalties resulting from non compliances. Presenting the most common infractions listed by OSHA along with a list of penalties associated with it and a strategy to avoid these will increase support.
The moral and ethical aspect of maintain a good safety program can have a tremendous effect on the employees motivation knowing that they are working in a safe environment, it also gives management a piece of mind that the workers can go back home safely after performing their duties and they will not have to wear the burden of a serious injury or workplace fatality. A safer work environment can also have a very positive impact in the smaller communities where industries often play a major role (Zaeimdar et al., 2013).
Offering incentives such as a bonus for good performance is an other avenue that could be considered to obtain support from management. The safety manager must be able to demonstrate that an efficient safety program will contribute to lower the amount of workplace accidents and therefore lead to the bonus or the incentive.