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Chapter 4. The leadership theories by French and Raven (2008) are very interesting and relevant to the corporate world of today. The theory speaks of five forms of power which a leader can possess. These are Coercive power, Reward power, Legitimate power, Referent power and Expert power. I feel that it gives leaders an opportunity to act as change agents and influence the attitudes and behavior of people. What I found interesting was that the theory assumes importance since leaders can effectively use different types of power, when faced with varied situations at work. Though Coercive power may be discouraged by many; other forms of power such as Reward power, Legitimate power, Referent power or Expert power can be used as needed by leaders to influence, motivate and train employees. I think these skills are particularly needed in the globalized and collaborative world that we live and work in today.
Reply to Post. Though I agree that Blake and Mouton’s managerial grid can be applied to many work places and situations, I feel that it lacks the completeness of the French and Raven model. As we all know, leaders do not face the same situations every day and are forced to act diligently on different aspects of management. I feel French and Raven’s theory gives leaders the scope to wield their power, depending on the situation. The five forms of power as defined by French and Raven are clearly more useful than the Blake and Mouton’s model – which is similar to the use of Reward power, but it does not hold well in all situations.
Chapter 5. It is a well known fact that leaders have to not only do the right things but do things in the right way. This is true especially in the health care sector. Health leaders face many dilemmas in their working life and must display a strong ethical and moral fiber. The best leaders have the ability to judge the right from wrong and arrive at the right ethical and moral decision quickly. These leaders generally exhibit qualities such as vision, empathy, consistency and integrity. Some of the leaders are self motivated and do not need to be forced to do the right thing. The health leader must show characteristics of sensitivity, values and moral behavior. Kohlberg theory speaks about moral reasoning and the way good leaders can achieve success. Truth and loyalty are more often than not experienced as challenges in the health sector. Giving the right advise to patients, being truthful to their families, are situations that health leaders face every day. The chapter does cover many of the issues on ethics, morality, loyalty and values but one aspect I found missing is the courage to make the tough decisions.
Reply to Post. I feel that a health leader needs to display many traits and competencies. More often than not, the leader will face tough situations and that is where moral courage with authority will help the leader make the right decisions. Diversity of course is an excellent competency, but it is more to do with helping subordinates handle diverse patients. From an administrative standpoint, the leader must have very good ethics and integrity. Many of the management competencies can be imparted through training in any organization, but a truly self-made leader who is ethical and displays high moral standards cannot be trained. Therefore the question of ethics is central to health care leadership, in my honest opinion.
Chapter 6. Planning, decision making and training are important aspects of organizational strategy. Developing these frameworks and processes, not only ensure that the whole health care organization is aligned to its goals, but it also adds value and direction to employee career paths. Effective methodologies in training, help employees stay ahead of the learning curve, imbibing new techniques in patient care. This influences the growth of the employee at the individual level and the organization too.
Reply to Post. I agree that planning, decision making and training have a huge impact. More importantly, the health care organization needs to assign clear roles and responsibilities to its leadership and managers on these aspects. Planning processes and training schedules must be established at the beginning of the year and then monitored month on month to assess its success.
Decision making and planning are very important for the sustained growth of health care organizations. The organizations face many challenges – financial, regulatory, customer satisfaction, service quality, technology and medical breakthroughs.
Leaders in health care organizations must be ready to face these challenges by developing strategic long term plans, active decision making and ensuring that staff are adequately trained to ensure that the success metrics are met. Strategic planning will help the health care organization set its goals and objectives and the operational plan will help in identifying ways to get to the goals.
For example, in a retail store it is important for the store to plan for inventory. At a strategic planning level, the store must plan for the yearly off take of inventory by keeping stock of all items sold and expected demand. The level of inventory of itemized stock determines the revenue of the store on a continual basis and customer satisfaction.
The store that I visit ensures that there are no stock outs, which would reflect negatively on the store. Store managers and staff are trained to help customers get the right products quickly and proceed to check out. Planning, decision making and training form the key pillars of any successful organization or business.
References
French, J.R.P and Raven, B.H. (2008). French and Raven’s Forms of Power. Changing minds.
Retrieved from: http://changingminds.org/explanations/power/french_and_raven.htm
