Saint Vincent's Health Australia
Assignment 1
Introduction
I interviewed Mr X. He is a Group Product Evaluator at Saint Vincent’s Health Australia. He works within the group procurement team to provide a clinical perspective, expertise, experiences input to the procurement team.
Methodology
It was a wonderful experience to interview Mr X. He works as a Group product evaluator at Saint Vincent’s Health Australia. He works within a group procurement team and his role is very challenging. The role is so critical because Mr X has to provide critique and personal opinion on many new ideas of his and his employees. Mr X’s role also involves writing out policies, for instance, policy for any products evaluation. The organisation is privately owned. I went to Mr X’s office to …show more content…
conduct the interview. I had jotted a list of questions which I had to ask him and these were the main questions. The answers to these questions would define what approaches, techniques and style of leadership Mr X uses when dealing with his staff and higher officials. Following were the main questions: * How do you create a task and then define it? * How do you keep people focused on their task? * How do you keep your relations intact with the high officials and with your staff? * How do you keep an eye on every ones work? * How do you go about bringing a change? * What keeps you active all the times or what do you do to remain active and into the act? * How do you prefer to communicate with your staff? * How do your staffs collaborate with you when you are on a task?
* How do you make sure that people know what you want of them? * How do you challenge others ideas and create your own as well?
When Mr X started to answer my questions, it got very interesting and we chatted for almost 30-35 minutes. There were many small things that he accredited to experience which would allow Mr X to adjust to situations and take control. We also talked about the context perspective and Mr X told me that people often forget about the context of the situation that they are in because they feel overwhelmed with their qualifications and the degrees. This would be discussed in the findings section of this report.
Results/Findings
The interview gave me so many answers in regards to my questions that it became a challenge for me to cherry pick the points from the answers. However, I managed to pick on points which would define what traits Mr X possesses and how he uses them to the maximum effect. However, a pattern that came in the talks over and over again which impressed me a lot was as follows:
Mr X called these points ‘‘the basics not to be forgotten’’: * Communication on a regular basis (physical, group emails, tele-conferences etc.). * Seeking opportunity. * Accepting suggestions and recommendations. * Asking for help where required. * Prior research on the product or policy to be introduced. * Contacting every site for consultation (The organisation has other sites as well). * Encouraging staff. * Involving staff in decision making.
* Remaining in touch with the happenings around the organisation. * Anticipating in advance that something could happen in certain areas of the organisation in future.
However, these are very common points but Mr X told me that often leaders have the tendency to forget basic principles on which a human builds relations and keeps them uniform.
Mr X told me that he often uses his emotional intelligence (Mr X knows what EI is because he is one of my colleagues and studies this course as well) to involve people in any new project and that he uses EI in regards to approaching his staff and keeping them involved. EI (Emotional Intelligence) is something that the leaders use to deal with their staff and try to discover how successful they are in their working life (Goleman, Boyzatis & McKee 2005). Mr X said that it gives you a chance to consider the concerns of staff which could hinder their performance at work. Likewise, Goleman, Boyzatis & McKee (2005) noted that EI has many other elements to it and these effect how one uses EI in that the leader must be able to contain their emotions and should be able to read others emotions as well. A leader should also know how far leader’s emotions could affect his staff. Therefore, Emotional intelligence is a wise commodity to have but only then when its possessor knows how to control and use …show more content…
it.
Kirkpatrick & Locke (1991) found that people who use emotional intelligence are mature than other leaders who use personalised power motive. Likewise, Mr X tries to involve everyone at the organisation which shows that he socialises his power. Kirkpatrick & Locke (1991) Stated ‘‘Power is an ‘expandable pie’ not a fixed sum; effective leaders give power to others as a means of increasing their own power’’.
When talking about the relation between a leader and their staff, Mr X tries to communicate with his staff on every level and by all means. Leadership is not all about developing solutions, one have to find a way to communicate solutions and drive their staff towards the goal by communicating, supporting, guiding and motivation (Mumford et al 2000). You get to know the capabilities of your staff when you communicate with them as Mumford et al (2000) describes that if staff and subordinates are incapable to implement the solution, even the most experience leaders might fail. Therefore, Mr X revealed that it’s not that you just try and get to a solution of a task with help of your staff; instead you should follow up all the times and discover who did well and who lapsed so that next time they all can do better. This is how relations could be maintained all the times. Hence, Mr X totally contradicts this statement ‘‘As followers mature, a leader should move from high-relationships/low-task behaviour to low-task/low-relationships behaviour.’’ (Hersey & Blanchard 1996, p.46).
In regards to intelligence, Mr X told me that it is very important to know your stuff when leading a team. Hence, he always researches on the products that he wants to introduce to his organisation. A study conducted on 196 subjects of whom 173 revealed positive that intelligent subjects were good leaders as well (Mann 1959). Then Mr X would try and change the staffs that are least resistant to the proposed solution. He attributes this to his previously gained experience as Mumford et al. (2000) suggested that a leader must reform his previously gained experience and knowledge to develop new solutions.
The leadership skills might differ in regards to the task ahead and depends on the leader’s qualities and also on his status in the group, how members perceive him and what the environment of the group is like (Mann 1959). Therefore, in an emergency situation, it becomes very easy for the leader to communicate with his fellow members especially when they are alert of each other’s knowledge and capabilities. Mr X told me that you can only do this when you engage with your team members on a regular basis.
In regards to anticipating the future problems, Mr X revealed that he has developed his own operational plan as well in addition to the organisations plan. He said it is important to remain in touch with the current happenings. It is of even more importance to anticipate the future changes because Mumford et al (2000) projected that in real life, leaders have to be prepared well because they might not always get the privilege to analyse the situation bit by bit. Mumford et al. (2000), rather than applying a truly best solution every time, a workable solution to the situation should be found.
After all this discussion, I think Mr X uses: * Transformational leadership- which is a process in which leaders engage with followers to develop bonds which did not existed previously and these bonds would increase the morals and motivation of the followers and their leader (Avery, M 2013, Module 5, Transactional and Transformational Leadership). * LPC Human relations oriented Contingency leadership- According to which leaders concentrate on human relations as well when trying to accomplish a task (Avery, M 2013, Module 4, Behaviour and Contingency leadership). When Mr X tells me that ‘‘Mr X said that it gives you a chance to consider the concerns of staff which could hinder their performance at work’’.
Discussion
There is no person with a universal set of traits who can work everywhere; rather situational factors also shape how a person leads (Kirkpatrick & Locke 1991 and Hersey & Blanchard 1996) which is what I learnt from the interview. You cannot always take things in your own hand expecting that you can be successful every time Hersey & Blanchard (1996), p. 44 compliment this when they say that ‘‘Leadership is done with people, not to people’’. I think this is very true statement because from what I have been studying through in class as well the literature that I read, there is a big link missing which is that of the context.
Training could be given to an individual for the position that he/she has been selected for (Katz 2009). This is the way a leader should be chosen as from the interview; I came to the conclusion that Mr X uses 2 leadership styles. However, even then I could have included some other styles as well. For instance, He (Mr X) also revealed that sometimes you have lure your staff to work by telling them that they will be awarded by some gift. Hence, this means that Mr X uses a Transactional leadership style as well as Avery, M 2013 (Module 5, Transactional and Transformational leadership) states ‘‘The main idea is that the relations between leaders and followers are based on exchanges’’.
Further, the case study ‘‘An Englishman in Dushanbe’’ certainly compliments my thoughts. That gentleman no matter ‘‘had already worked in various missions and projects across Europe (Latvia, Sweden, Romania, Turkey, Kosovo)’’ (Mark Avery, Module 3 ‘‘An Englishman in Dushanbe’’). Even then, he had to back himself up and keep his cool for 2 months to build relationships with his group members, seniors and juniors. Likewise, when talking of the power that he could have used, no matter how experienced he is, he was not in the position to use any power according to my opinion. Likewise, the slide showing ‘‘7 OR 6+1’’ (Mark Avery, Module 3 ‘‘An Englishman in Dushanbe’’) clearly depicts that he had started to feel as a stranger. Or he might have started to think that those officials there might not like his presence in their project. Despite of the fact that he had understood what the problems were. He could not have used any of his powers for first 2 months and hence decides to build relationships with his subordinates and senior officials (Mark Avery, Module 3 ‘‘An Englishman in Dushanbe’’). As Hersey & Blanchard (1996) compliment this when they say that according to a leadership situation, a suitable style leader is needed. It becomes very clear that no matter what style of a leader one is, the context of the situation matters the most.
Further, some traits could be useful in a particular situation and in another situation; they could be totally worthless (Mark Avery, Module 3, Traits and Skills in Leadership). This also implies the same thing that traits are chosen in accordance to the environment of the place. Likewise, Trahair (1971) suggests that we select broad traits in regards to the other workers traits and there are no such specific traits to be picked every time. Likewise, Mr X treats his staff with respect and not as mere means to achieve his task and likewise Bass & Steidlmeier (1999) suggested that staff should be thought of as ends in themselves and not just products to achieve a task.
It is very hard to say what particular style of leadership a person uses in their job. It all evolves with the passing time and the experiences that they gain. As Kotter (1990), also mentions that leadership deals with the occurring change in form of technology, international competition and so on. With change, one needs to amend their style to tackle the change on a regular basis. For instance, if some staff form another department were to come to my department suddenly, I definitely would first have to show them positive attitude to them regardless of the fact that how rude I could be.
Hence, Mr X is a personality who cares for his relation with his staff and seniors. He tries to challenge every problem with the power of his and his group.
Conclusion
There are many sides to leadership which could not be explored all at once.
However, the context, how to involve people, how to work with people etc are some very important points to keep in mind for every leader. Likewise, it could also be concluded that a person could be using many leadership styles at one job without even knowing about it. However, I am surprised that the literatures that I looked at in regards to this assignment, not many refer to intelligence and its relationship to the leadership skills. Intelligence is such a vital part of anyone’s carrier because in any organisation you may go for any kind of job, the first thing that they will prefer to have a look at is your certificates and your percentage in the required fields. Likewise, there should be more study and research in regards to the context of the situation and I think if research could be done in regards to the leaders in different countries, this would give a great insight to the leadership skills and how they get moulded with time and place like what we learned from the case study at the end of module 3 in
class.
References-
Trahair, C S 1971, Explorations in managerial talent, Adminstrative science quarterly, vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 551-52, Retrieved 15th April 2013 From eLibrary ProQuest Central Database.
Mann, R D 1959, A review of the relationships between personality and performance in small groups, American Psychological association, vol. 56, no. 4, pp. 541-70, Retrieved 15th April 2013 From eLibrary ProQuest Central Database.
Mumford, M D, Zaxxaro, S J, Harding, F D, Jacobs, O T, Fleishman, E A 2000, Leadership skills for a changing world: solving complex social problems, The leadership quarterly, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 11-35, Retrived 15th April 2013 From eLibrary ProQuest Central Database.
Kirkpatrick, S A, Locke, E A 1991, Leadership: Do traits matter?, The executive, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 48-60, Retrived 15th April 2013 From eLibrary ProQuest Central Database.
Goleman, Boyzatis & McKee 2005, The New Leaders Transforming the Art of Leadership into the Science of Results, Leadership & Organization Development Journal, vol. 26, no. ¾, p. 245, Retrived 15th April 2013 From eLibrary ProQuest Central Database.
Katz , R L 1986, Skills of an effective administrator, Harvard Business Review, vol. 64, no. 2, p. 178, Retrived 15th April 2013 From eLibrary ProQuest Central Database.
Kotterm J P 1990, What leaders really do, Harvard business review, vol. 68, no. 3, pp. 103-111, Retrived 15th April 2013 From eLibrary ProQuest Central Database.
Hersey P, Blanchard H (1969) Life – cycle theory of leadership. Training and Development Journal, vol. 50, no. 1, pp. 42-47, Retrived 15th April 2013 From eLibrary ProQuest Central Database.
Bass, B M, Steidlmeier , P 1999, Ethics, character and authentic transformational leadership behaviour, The leadership quarterly, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 181-217, Retrived 15th April 2013 From eLibrary ProQuest Central Database.
Avery, M 2013, Module 4, Behaviour and Contingency Leadership : Personal leadership style -traits; development; reflection, 7411PBH Leadership in Management for Health Services, Viewed on 15th April 2013.
Avery, M 2013, Module 5, Transactional and Transformational Leadership: Developing strategy; governance; and structure Health Services Management Program 7411PBH Leadership in Management for Health Services, Viewed on 15th April 2013.
Introduction
I interviewed Mr X. He is a Group Product Evaluator at Saint Vincent’s Health Australia. He works within the group procurement team to provide a clinical perspective, expertise, experiences input to the procurement team.
Methodology
It was a wonderful experience to interview Mr X. He works as a Group product evaluator at Saint Vincent’s Health Australia. He works within a group procurement team and his role is very challenging. The role is so critical because Mr X has to provide critique and personal opinion on many new ideas of his and his employees. Mr X’s role also involves writing out policies, for instance, policy for any products evaluation. The organisation is privately owned. I went to Mr X’s office to …show more content…
conduct the interview. I had jotted a list of questions which I had to ask him and these were the main questions. The answers to these questions would define what approaches, techniques and style of leadership Mr X uses when dealing with his staff and higher officials. Following were the main questions: * How do you create a task and then define it? * How do you keep people focused on their task? * How do you keep your relations intact with the high officials and with your staff? * How do you keep an eye on every ones work? * How do you go about bringing a change? * What keeps you active all the times or what do you do to remain active and into the act? * How do you prefer to communicate with your staff? * How do your staffs collaborate with you when you are on a task?
* How do you make sure that people know what you want of them? * How do you challenge others ideas and create your own as well?
When Mr X started to answer my questions, it got very interesting and we chatted for almost 30-35 minutes. There were many small things that he accredited to experience which would allow Mr X to adjust to situations and take control. We also talked about the context perspective and Mr X told me that people often forget about the context of the situation that they are in because they feel overwhelmed with their qualifications and the degrees. This would be discussed in the findings section of this report.
Results/Findings
The interview gave me so many answers in regards to my questions that it became a challenge for me to cherry pick the points from the answers. However, I managed to pick on points which would define what traits Mr X possesses and how he uses them to the maximum effect. However, a pattern that came in the talks over and over again which impressed me a lot was as follows:
Mr X called these points ‘‘the basics not to be forgotten’’: * Communication on a regular basis (physical, group emails, tele-conferences etc.). * Seeking opportunity. * Accepting suggestions and recommendations. * Asking for help where required. * Prior research on the product or policy to be introduced. * Contacting every site for consultation (The organisation has other sites as well). * Encouraging staff. * Involving staff in decision making.
* Remaining in touch with the happenings around the organisation. * Anticipating in advance that something could happen in certain areas of the organisation in future.
However, these are very common points but Mr X told me that often leaders have the tendency to forget basic principles on which a human builds relations and keeps them uniform.
Mr X told me that he often uses his emotional intelligence (Mr X knows what EI is because he is one of my colleagues and studies this course as well) to involve people in any new project and that he uses EI in regards to approaching his staff and keeping them involved. EI (Emotional Intelligence) is something that the leaders use to deal with their staff and try to discover how successful they are in their working life (Goleman, Boyzatis & McKee 2005). Mr X said that it gives you a chance to consider the concerns of staff which could hinder their performance at work. Likewise, Goleman, Boyzatis & McKee (2005) noted that EI has many other elements to it and these effect how one uses EI in that the leader must be able to contain their emotions and should be able to read others emotions as well. A leader should also know how far leader’s emotions could affect his staff. Therefore, Emotional intelligence is a wise commodity to have but only then when its possessor knows how to control and use …show more content…
it.
Kirkpatrick & Locke (1991) found that people who use emotional intelligence are mature than other leaders who use personalised power motive. Likewise, Mr X tries to involve everyone at the organisation which shows that he socialises his power. Kirkpatrick & Locke (1991) Stated ‘‘Power is an ‘expandable pie’ not a fixed sum; effective leaders give power to others as a means of increasing their own power’’.
When talking about the relation between a leader and their staff, Mr X tries to communicate with his staff on every level and by all means. Leadership is not all about developing solutions, one have to find a way to communicate solutions and drive their staff towards the goal by communicating, supporting, guiding and motivation (Mumford et al 2000). You get to know the capabilities of your staff when you communicate with them as Mumford et al (2000) describes that if staff and subordinates are incapable to implement the solution, even the most experience leaders might fail. Therefore, Mr X revealed that it’s not that you just try and get to a solution of a task with help of your staff; instead you should follow up all the times and discover who did well and who lapsed so that next time they all can do better. This is how relations could be maintained all the times. Hence, Mr X totally contradicts this statement ‘‘As followers mature, a leader should move from high-relationships/low-task behaviour to low-task/low-relationships behaviour.’’ (Hersey & Blanchard 1996, p.46).
In regards to intelligence, Mr X told me that it is very important to know your stuff when leading a team. Hence, he always researches on the products that he wants to introduce to his organisation. A study conducted on 196 subjects of whom 173 revealed positive that intelligent subjects were good leaders as well (Mann 1959). Then Mr X would try and change the staffs that are least resistant to the proposed solution. He attributes this to his previously gained experience as Mumford et al. (2000) suggested that a leader must reform his previously gained experience and knowledge to develop new solutions.
The leadership skills might differ in regards to the task ahead and depends on the leader’s qualities and also on his status in the group, how members perceive him and what the environment of the group is like (Mann 1959). Therefore, in an emergency situation, it becomes very easy for the leader to communicate with his fellow members especially when they are alert of each other’s knowledge and capabilities. Mr X told me that you can only do this when you engage with your team members on a regular basis.
In regards to anticipating the future problems, Mr X revealed that he has developed his own operational plan as well in addition to the organisations plan. He said it is important to remain in touch with the current happenings. It is of even more importance to anticipate the future changes because Mumford et al (2000) projected that in real life, leaders have to be prepared well because they might not always get the privilege to analyse the situation bit by bit. Mumford et al. (2000), rather than applying a truly best solution every time, a workable solution to the situation should be found.
After all this discussion, I think Mr X uses: * Transformational leadership- which is a process in which leaders engage with followers to develop bonds which did not existed previously and these bonds would increase the morals and motivation of the followers and their leader (Avery, M 2013, Module 5, Transactional and Transformational Leadership). * LPC Human relations oriented Contingency leadership- According to which leaders concentrate on human relations as well when trying to accomplish a task (Avery, M 2013, Module 4, Behaviour and Contingency leadership). When Mr X tells me that ‘‘Mr X said that it gives you a chance to consider the concerns of staff which could hinder their performance at work’’.
Discussion
There is no person with a universal set of traits who can work everywhere; rather situational factors also shape how a person leads (Kirkpatrick & Locke 1991 and Hersey & Blanchard 1996) which is what I learnt from the interview. You cannot always take things in your own hand expecting that you can be successful every time Hersey & Blanchard (1996), p. 44 compliment this when they say that ‘‘Leadership is done with people, not to people’’. I think this is very true statement because from what I have been studying through in class as well the literature that I read, there is a big link missing which is that of the context.
Training could be given to an individual for the position that he/she has been selected for (Katz 2009). This is the way a leader should be chosen as from the interview; I came to the conclusion that Mr X uses 2 leadership styles. However, even then I could have included some other styles as well. For instance, He (Mr X) also revealed that sometimes you have lure your staff to work by telling them that they will be awarded by some gift. Hence, this means that Mr X uses a Transactional leadership style as well as Avery, M 2013 (Module 5, Transactional and Transformational leadership) states ‘‘The main idea is that the relations between leaders and followers are based on exchanges’’.
Further, the case study ‘‘An Englishman in Dushanbe’’ certainly compliments my thoughts. That gentleman no matter ‘‘had already worked in various missions and projects across Europe (Latvia, Sweden, Romania, Turkey, Kosovo)’’ (Mark Avery, Module 3 ‘‘An Englishman in Dushanbe’’). Even then, he had to back himself up and keep his cool for 2 months to build relationships with his group members, seniors and juniors. Likewise, when talking of the power that he could have used, no matter how experienced he is, he was not in the position to use any power according to my opinion. Likewise, the slide showing ‘‘7 OR 6+1’’ (Mark Avery, Module 3 ‘‘An Englishman in Dushanbe’’) clearly depicts that he had started to feel as a stranger. Or he might have started to think that those officials there might not like his presence in their project. Despite of the fact that he had understood what the problems were. He could not have used any of his powers for first 2 months and hence decides to build relationships with his subordinates and senior officials (Mark Avery, Module 3 ‘‘An Englishman in Dushanbe’’). As Hersey & Blanchard (1996) compliment this when they say that according to a leadership situation, a suitable style leader is needed. It becomes very clear that no matter what style of a leader one is, the context of the situation matters the most.
Further, some traits could be useful in a particular situation and in another situation; they could be totally worthless (Mark Avery, Module 3, Traits and Skills in Leadership). This also implies the same thing that traits are chosen in accordance to the environment of the place. Likewise, Trahair (1971) suggests that we select broad traits in regards to the other workers traits and there are no such specific traits to be picked every time. Likewise, Mr X treats his staff with respect and not as mere means to achieve his task and likewise Bass & Steidlmeier (1999) suggested that staff should be thought of as ends in themselves and not just products to achieve a task.
It is very hard to say what particular style of leadership a person uses in their job. It all evolves with the passing time and the experiences that they gain. As Kotter (1990), also mentions that leadership deals with the occurring change in form of technology, international competition and so on. With change, one needs to amend their style to tackle the change on a regular basis. For instance, if some staff form another department were to come to my department suddenly, I definitely would first have to show them positive attitude to them regardless of the fact that how rude I could be.
Hence, Mr X is a personality who cares for his relation with his staff and seniors. He tries to challenge every problem with the power of his and his group.
Conclusion
There are many sides to leadership which could not be explored all at once.
However, the context, how to involve people, how to work with people etc are some very important points to keep in mind for every leader. Likewise, it could also be concluded that a person could be using many leadership styles at one job without even knowing about it. However, I am surprised that the literatures that I looked at in regards to this assignment, not many refer to intelligence and its relationship to the leadership skills. Intelligence is such a vital part of anyone’s carrier because in any organisation you may go for any kind of job, the first thing that they will prefer to have a look at is your certificates and your percentage in the required fields. Likewise, there should be more study and research in regards to the context of the situation and I think if research could be done in regards to the leaders in different countries, this would give a great insight to the leadership skills and how they get moulded with time and place like what we learned from the case study at the end of module 3 in
class.
References-
Trahair, C S 1971, Explorations in managerial talent, Adminstrative science quarterly, vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 551-52, Retrieved 15th April 2013 From eLibrary ProQuest Central Database.
Mann, R D 1959, A review of the relationships between personality and performance in small groups, American Psychological association, vol. 56, no. 4, pp. 541-70, Retrieved 15th April 2013 From eLibrary ProQuest Central Database.
Mumford, M D, Zaxxaro, S J, Harding, F D, Jacobs, O T, Fleishman, E A 2000, Leadership skills for a changing world: solving complex social problems, The leadership quarterly, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 11-35, Retrived 15th April 2013 From eLibrary ProQuest Central Database.
Kirkpatrick, S A, Locke, E A 1991, Leadership: Do traits matter?, The executive, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 48-60, Retrived 15th April 2013 From eLibrary ProQuest Central Database.
Goleman, Boyzatis & McKee 2005, The New Leaders Transforming the Art of Leadership into the Science of Results, Leadership & Organization Development Journal, vol. 26, no. ¾, p. 245, Retrived 15th April 2013 From eLibrary ProQuest Central Database.
Katz , R L 1986, Skills of an effective administrator, Harvard Business Review, vol. 64, no. 2, p. 178, Retrived 15th April 2013 From eLibrary ProQuest Central Database.
Kotterm J P 1990, What leaders really do, Harvard business review, vol. 68, no. 3, pp. 103-111, Retrived 15th April 2013 From eLibrary ProQuest Central Database.
Hersey P, Blanchard H (1969) Life – cycle theory of leadership. Training and Development Journal, vol. 50, no. 1, pp. 42-47, Retrived 15th April 2013 From eLibrary ProQuest Central Database.
Bass, B M, Steidlmeier , P 1999, Ethics, character and authentic transformational leadership behaviour, The leadership quarterly, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 181-217, Retrived 15th April 2013 From eLibrary ProQuest Central Database.
Avery, M 2013, Module 4, Behaviour and Contingency Leadership : Personal leadership style -traits; development; reflection, 7411PBH Leadership in Management for Health Services, Viewed on 15th April 2013.
Avery, M 2013, Module 5, Transactional and Transformational Leadership: Developing strategy; governance; and structure Health Services Management Program 7411PBH Leadership in Management for Health Services, Viewed on 15th April 2013.