- Introduction
Leadership and management differ in many ways (Bobinski, 2006; Fiorina, 2007). Leadership involves the setting up of a vision, that is, where a group of people or organization has to go. On the other hand, management involves finding the most efficient way of getting things done. In a sense, leadership is concerned on doing the right things, whereas management is concerned with doing things right. Essentially, leaders are driven by vision and strategies to effectively achieve set goals. To the contrary, managers are guided by an organization’s mission and tactics, which are used to efficiently perform tasks. From a leader’s perspective, this paper will work on, not about solving problems, but on how to work towards the development of an environment in which problems will be resolved.
- Ted as an Individual, Social Architect, and Change Agent
- Ted as an individual leader and the things he can do to enhance his role as leader
Ted as an individual can enhance his role as a leader by improving on his leadership traits, abilities, competencies, and skills using whole-minded leadership (Sakai, n.d.). He can further strengthen his positive traits (e.g., implicit personality such as achievement motive, social and emotional intelligence) in various ways (Georgia Tech College of Sciences, 2012; Harvard Business Review, 2008). He can attend training specifically intended for leaders about leadership styles. In terms of competencies, he can further his education so that he can have certification, diploma, or post-graduate degree. In terms of personal and professional skills development, Ted can enhance more himself as an individual through the application of leadership skills (such as genuine interaction with his followers) to boost continuously their morale. Having the necessary leadership capabilities, Ted, as an individual, will have the enhanced role as a leader by also being democratic for his members to demonstrate less tension and hostility and more of a cohesion and cooperation towards others and towards him (College of St. Scholastica, n.d.).
- Ted as a social architect and a discussion of Ted’s vision for the organization
Ted’s vision for his organization as a social architect is anchored on timeless and quantum principles of enduring great organizational culture or values that serve as the driving force behind most, if not all, of the decisions and actions of the people in the organization (Collins, n.d.). Ted’s vision, as the social architect of the organization, is to be the number one social media consultancy provider worldwide. Because social media technology is evolving, Ted will provide the blueprint on how to hire the best information technology specialists and experts. His purpose for doing so is to attract more customers worldwide to outsource from them consultancy services related to getting more unique and valid traffic (that is, visitors) from the customers’ websites. Ted’s vision is where he and his staff are good at. Ted’s organization has been in existence for more than a decade now and is known globally for giving expert advice in the field of social media evolution.
- Ted as a change agent for the corporate environment
Ted, as a change agent for the corporate environment, aims at achieving sterling results. Ted is known for his change agent savvy. He can easily discern when change does happen, when it has to be embraced, and what to do with it as it affects his organization. He has the special insights and foresights as a leader that has been developed early in life because of his upbringing, creativity, education, habits, etc. (Matthew, 2009). His father is the CEO of a well-known company in Saudi Arabia and Ted learns a lot from his father. For short-term change, Ted can call for an urgent meeting and discuss with his board of trustees his plans for the organization. He can ask them to present their own views about the matter of hiring IT specialists and experts so that their company will continue to satisfy their previous, present, and prospective customers. For long-term change, Ted’s company can put up a breakthrough research and development center housed within the organization. They will outsource people around the world, via the Internet, to become part of their new center. The center will be established for generating novel ideas and products related to information technology use.
- Creation of a vision statement and a mission statement for the organization
As mentioned above, the vision statement of Ted’s organization is to be the number one social media consultancy provider worldwide, which is a realistic one considering that online technology (e.g., cloud, big data, technology as a service) is evolving. The company and its people, especially, Ted, is a world-renowned expert practitioner in IT. On the other hand, the organization’s mission statement is to make the world even smaller. The mission tells what the organization and the people in it intend to accomplish to get where they want to be. The organization will deliver top-of-the-line consultancy services, specifically on social media adaptation, use, and evolution. Because social media are free to use, people connect to their loved ones, friends, other people, and business partners, whether for personal or business reasons. With the right mix of social media experts in the consultancy section and breakthrough center of the organization, there is a greater chance of generating ideas that will have the global competitive advantage. More and more companies and industries will seek for advice from Ted’s company on how to get more customers for their business.
- Ted’s creation of an organizational culture that supports his vision
For Ted to create an organizational culture or values that supports his vision, he has to start with himself. He has to show leadership traits, such as dynamism, enthusiasm, higher emotional proficiency, etc. so that people will look up to him as the exemplar of the people whom he leads. He has to use situational leadership’s telling, selling, participating, and/or delegating styles based on his individual employees’ maturity levels (Blanchard, Zigarmi, & Zigarmi, 2013). He can tell to his executive staff the task to be performed. Likewise, he can sell (that is, offer information and direction) for an employee to get the message across depending on the specifics of a situation. Alternatively, Ted can relate to other employees rather than just tell them what to do, again depending on their individual roles, motivations, skills, knowledge, initiatives, etc.. Then, for the fourth situation leadership style, Ted can simply delegate works to employees with outstanding performance and whom he has relied to in the past. He will have less of a problem supervising them even under pressure or constraints.
- Ted’s integration of the role the managers have to strengthen his vision
Based on the leadership plan, Ted might integrate the role the managers have to strengthen his vision through genuine interaction with them (Collins, n.d.). Ted must ensure that the standards he set in the attainment of organizational goals and objectives are met. He has to stick with the organizational or project plans, budgets, job structures and staffing, performance measures, problem solving, monitoring, and evaluation to predict subsequently what people in the organization do best. Moreover, Ted has to manage proactively the planned details of the situation and respond necessarily to unexpected occurrences that may arise during the conduct of their businesses. In terms of Ted’s situational leadership, it would strengthen his vision for his personalized type of leadership. Ted, as a situational leader, can use his people management skill as he adapts to employees’ individual differences (that is, using telling, selling, participating, or delegating styles). Having said such things, Ted can improve on employees’ participation, achievement of organizational targets, and increase team productivity resulting from customized management and better communication for greater employees’ productivity.
- Leadership theories, assessment tools, and an understanding of the role of ethics, values, and attitudes to evaluate and enhance Ted’s personal leadership skills
Each of the abovementioned leadership theories has their own strengths and weaknesses. Some assessment tools that can be used to find out whether a leader is more of a trait, servant, transformation, and/or situational leader include, but are not limited to the following: Parker Team Player (PTP); Dominance, influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness (DiSC); Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI); etc. (Hendrickson, n.d.; Kouzes, & Posner, 2003). PTP can be used to assess Ted’s most often used team playing communication style. Using PTP, Ted can increase his leadership effectiveness. For instance, he can have all of the styles’ strengths, but Ted could be predominantly a collaborator, caring and fostering positive team environment through conflict resolution. As goal-oriented leader, it is because Ted communicates long-term outcomes and their organization’s vision. On the other hand, using the assessment tool called DiSC, Ted can have a profile of his leadership personality, behavior, and temperament. He can assess himself using DiSC on how he thinks and interacts with his followers. When he shows dominance in the behavioral areas of productivity, problem-solving, outspokenness, and result-orientation, he can also show influential traits such as enthusiasm, optimism, and positive relationship. Further, LPI can give results as to how Ted evaluates the effectiveness of his practice. As a leader, he may be inspiring shared vision. If Ted inspires his followers to do their best, then they (Ted and its followers) may ultimately easily attain their organization’s targets.
When it comes to an understanding of the role of ethics, values, and attitudes, Ted’s personal leadership skills can be enhanced if he use his positive personality and valuing strengths to the advantage of his own organization and those of his subordinates. He has to reflect the core values of the organization that are aligned with his own personal and professional values (Collins, n.d.). He can serve as the proper reflection for his followers to perceive in him what is good, right and desirable. His main leadership values can consists, but not necessarily limited to: selfless service, team-spiritedness, trustworthiness, and courage. He has to consistently perform well or to the best interest of the organization without expecting anything for his personal gain that comes from followers. He has to build up others in the name of team growth and development. Likewise, Ted has to consistently demonstrate deserved confidence or trust by acting in good faith, positive attitude, suchlike so that his followers do the same. Concisely stated, Ted has to be the number one exemplar of virtues as the leader and manager of his organization.
- Recommendation and implementation of improvements that support an Ted’s organizational vision, success, and sustainability based on its culture and policies
Ted needs both leadership and managerial skills in order for him to translate organizational goals and objectives into success and sustainability based on the organization’s culture or values, as well as, policies. Vision always begins with culture, values, and policies (planned actions). Ted has to continue working on developing an environment that is democratically conducive to the growth of each member in the organization. A leader like Ted, or just anyone for that matter, cannot lead a company alone without his competent subordinates. Because Ted is the leading driving force in motivating employees to achieve its vision and mission that are in the forms of specific or detailed goals and objectives, it has always to begin with employees’ common vision, values, attitudes, etc. Ted has to use situational leadership skills coupled with transformational skills like charisma, creativity, and achievement motives. Moreover, Ted’s leadership traits should positively influence his followers using whole-minded leadership. Like Ted who has to update continually himself through professional education and training, so are his employees. Additionally, Ted can use his change agent savvy to propel the company to greater heights by hiring other more highly competent individuals in the his consultancy company. There are other things worth recommending so that improvements are implemented in no time to support the vision, success, and sustainability of Ted’s organization. General and specific may have been the statements presented in this paper, it nevertheless work toward the development of an environment in which problems are most likely to be resolved.
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