Tool For Leaders Research Articles

A narrative approach to delivering bad news in organizations: effective or not?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present empirical evidence for the use of narrative to deliver bad news within an organization, specifically bad news about layoffs. The attempt is to extend previous empirical work, using narrative by senior leadership to convey corporate strategy, to a different leadership challenge and further explicate a model for understanding the effectiveness of narrative as a leadership communication tool. Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents further original research on the effectiveness of narrative as a leadership tool. And theoretical implications for leaders seeking effective communication tools are explored. Findings – Data presented to substantiate that narrative use, as opposed to a PowerPoint style, bulleted list approach, for delivering bad news, an impending layoff, is not effective at producing a clear understanding of the reasons for the layoff, confidence in subjects understanding of these reasons, or the belief in the honesty and integrity of the leader delivering this narrative. However, narrative presentation of an impending layoff is more effective at limiting the negative behavior impact of the message, by decreasing the subjects’ reported likelihood that they would be seeking another job and increasing the subjects’ reported likelihood that they believe the company can be righted after the layoff. Originality/value – Compared to the limited previous research on the effectiveness of narrative as opposed to a traditional PowerPoint style, bulleted list, as a leadership communication tool, the present research indicates that narrative use may be more nuanced and complicated than previously thought. Implications for the practical use of narrative and PowerPoint style, bulleted lists of information as leadership communications tools are considered.

Book Review: The Innovation Equation: Building Creativity and Risk-Taking in Your Organization

The Innovation Equation: Building Creativity and Risk-Taking in Your Organization. Jacqueline Byrd and Paul Lockwood Brown. San Francisco: Jossey Bass, 2003, 195 pages, $36.40.What is your equation for innovation? In this book, the authors make the case that creativity and risk-taking are the essential variables in the innovation equation (Innovation 5 Creativity 3 Risk-Taking). The authors define creativity as "the ability to develop new ideas" and risk-taking as "the ability to drive new ideas forward in the face of adversity."This book is one title in the Practicing Organization Development series published by Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer. The series is intended to provide practical, stateof- the-art, innovative approaches to organization change and development. Key contributions of the book include perspectives on innovation and how to assess innovation capacity at the individual, team, and organizational levels. There is an excellent discussion of the drivers of creativity and risk-taking, and how the stop signs to innovation relate to these two factors. Finally, there are several innovation leadership tips, tools, and resources that managers and consultants can use to accelerate the development of innovation cultures.Not everyone perceives themselves as creative, and some people are riskaverse. So how do we assess people's innovation orientation? Of particular value in this book is a short innovation orientation assessment. A more detailed innovation assessment called The Creatrix® (n.d.), based on several years of research, generates an Innovation Orientation profile (http://creatrix.com/rix /servlet/creatrix).An innovation orientation score is calculated based on the cross-impact of creativity and risk-taking, resulting in one of eight innovation orientation profile types. For example, challengers are high risk-takers who are low in creativity. Sustainers are practical, reality-oriented people who value control and standardization. Innovators are self-motivated and on the lookout for breakthrough creations. Dreamers are high in creativity and low in risk-taking. Modifiers make things better, and are moderate in creativity and risk-taking. Practicalizers are moderately creative and high risk-takers. Synthesizers can blend ideas together and are quite creative and moderately high in risk-taking. Planners want creative ideas to be doable, and thus are low-risk, moderately creative types. As you can imagine, each of these types can create value as well as restraints for an organization.Knowing one's innovation orientation is the first step in realizing how to develop skills and strategies to master the polarities associated with what the authors identify as the seven drivers of creativity and risk-taking. …

Honoring complexity

PurposeMost micro‐oriented research has assumed that leaders operate within a formally designed, pre‐specified and stable structural hierarchy. In the emerging knowledge economy, however, the watchwords have become flexibility and speed. Today's business practices feature temporary task forces, project teams, joint ventures, and alliances. The authors aim to draw from the political science literature, presenting methodology for examining team leadership in context that augments and enhances the analyses that can be obtained with commonly used correlational/regression models.Design/methodology/approachMore specifically, the authors will develop a detailed analysis of the potential applicability of the set‐theoretic approach for elucidating a configural analysis of team leadership, demonstrating that this method provides insight into the data that complements that provided by regression analysis.FindingsThe authors examine the findings from more traditional approaches to analysis, and set‐theoretic analysis, and demonstrate that set‐theoretic analysis provides additional insights into the phenomena in question.Research limitations/implicationsThe possibilities for future research in the organizational leadership literature using set‐theoretic analysis are endless. The method is appropriate for theory development, theory confirmation, exploration, and more. Our current theoretical models are lacking in complexity, partly due to the limitations of existing methodology, and our advice to organizations would be significantly enriched were we able to establish that there are alternate means to the desired outcome, based on the context. Set‐theoretic methodology promises to enrich and enhance our field, particularly if we use it iteratively with the currently common methodologies, to develop richer and more contextually based theories.Originality/valueSet‐theoretic methods may well provide an additional set of tools for better understanding leadership in the context in which it occurs.

Not by money alone: the emotional wallet and talent management

PurposeThe conventional talent management approach views human relationships as transactional, akin to the commodities that traverse through the supply chain maze. In short, there is a quid pro quo relationship between wage and services, depriving any role for other non‐monetary influences on this relationship. This naïve view of human behavior has distracted the fundamental purpose of talent management – to unlock the value of talent to organizations. Two fundamental drivers that have challenged this transactional view espoused by HR include technology and advances in neuroscience. The technological advancements have created a demand for highly skilled professionals who value autonomy and meaningful engagement. This has brought employee engagement within the focus of managers – a topic that had less significance in earlier decades. The transactional view of workplace relationships has been challenged by discoveries of human behavior by neuroscience. Human beings are wired to have emotions and perceptions, and a workplace is no exception. Reframing the issue through a simple‐yet‐powerful framework, fundamentals of talent management can be restored, paving the way for a meaningful design of organizations. This paper seeks to address these issues.Design/methodology/approachUsing rigorous in‐depth secondary research about current talent practices, the report offers a novel framework to unlock the drivers of employee's motivation and performance. The framework serves as a diagnostic leadership tool to identify breakdowns and foster a meaningful conversation to restore the organization back to equilibrium. A holistic alternative that is agnostic to the rank of the employee, job role, and geography offers promise over the current practice of dealing with employee issues in fragmented manner.FindingsThe proposed framework helps identify the sweet‐spot that lies at the intersection of three fundamental drivers; employee's preferences on the type of work, employee's core competency and activities that are value‐adding to the organization. The sweet‐spot is the employee's emotional wallet that the organizations must proactively capture to unlock the true drivers of motivation and performance. The proposed framework serves as a diagnostic tool to meaningfully tackle breakdowns and restore organizations to equilibrium. The sweet‐spot provides the clue to design an effective organizational structure, identify the enablers and catalyst that can unlock employee motivation and performance.Practical implicationsThere is a compelling need for today's organizations to refocus their energies to unlock the value of their talent to drive higher performance and motivation. Deploying the proposed framework will empower organizations to capture the “share of emotional wallet” that is critical to drive higher levels of employee engagement and motivation. Smarter organizational structures and job role can be meaningfully designed.Social implicationsThe proposed framework challenges conventional talent management views of human relationships as transactional akin to the commodities that traverse through the supply chain maze. This blind spot has deprived the organizations in unlocking the drivers of employee motivation and performance. Overcoming this blind spot empowers talent management to capture the emotional share of wallet instead of trying to perfect the delivery supply chain.Originality/valueDespite new organizational complexities, the fundamental focus for talent management is to unlock the value of its resource. Despite the pristine appeal of this fundamental tenet of talent management, it is ironic that HR has drifted its focus from its core. Reframing the issue through a simple‐yet‐powerful framework, fundamentals of talent management can be restored, paving the way for a meaningful design of organizations. This is a paradigm shift for talent management to get back to basics of what really matters to the organizations.

Your company’s history as a leadership tool: take your organization forward by drawing on the past

Your company’s history as a leadership tool: take your organization forward by drawing on the past

Why negotiate a legally binding mercury convention?

The purpose of this paper is to explain how and why consensus was reached on a legally binding approach given the opposition of powerful actors. Why did the United States and key emerging economies change their positions? We apply tools from the regime formation literature—classical perspectives on power, interests and knowledge—and the use of different leadership tools to shed light on the issue. Knowledge-based intellectual leadership was exercised by the UNEP Secretariat, providing new information on the seriousness and scope of the problem. Power-based leadership through unilateral action was provided by the United States. When the United States changed position after change in domestic leadership, political costs increased for other opponents. Finally, interest-based instrumental leadership was provided by many proponents, with UNEP and among others the EU in the lead. Still, conflicts remain on control measures and the form of financial mechanism.

How to fulfill residents' training needs and public service missions in outpatient general internal medicine?

QUESTION UNDER STUDY/PRINCIPLES: Ambulatory care is a mandatory component of post-graduate training in general internal medicine. Academic outpatient clinics face challenges in training residents in terms of exposure to sufficient patient case-mix, diversity of clinical activities and continuity of care while fulfilling their mission to provide care to vulnerable populations. We report the development and evaluation of a new postgraduate curriculum in ambulatory care in Geneva, Switzerland, designed to overcome such challenges. The content of learning activities was adapted to core competencies and learning objectives. In the new 2-year curriculum, residents had their working week divided into 2½ days of continuity clinic over two years, and 2½ days of 6 to 12 months rotations (e.g., walk-in clinics). Team work was consolidated through the creation of subunits including an attending physician, 1-2 senior residents during one year and 6- to 8 residents, who met in bi-monthly meetings with other health professionals. In both local and national surveys, residents and senior residents expressed an overall global satisfaction with the new curriculum. Nursing and administrative staff were less satisfied, because of reduced residents' time in each unit. Interprofessional meetings were highly appreciated for both patient care and team building. Management of residents' absences became more complex. The new curriculum met its goals in gaining residents' satisfaction and in reinforcing interprofessional collaboration although management of human resources became more complex. It also gave insights into challenges to be addressed when disseminating a new curriculum, such as strong leadership, educational expertise and management skills and tools.

Enfoque Cluster: Una Herramienta de Emergencia y Vínculo para el Desarrollo

El artículo se centra en el impacto de los mecanismos de coordinación de la acción humanitaria, a partir de la Reforma Humanitaria (2005); teniendo como centro de análisis el Enfoque de Clusters, como una herramienta de liderazgo y coordinación. Tiene la finalidad de analizar el estado de la cuestión, estudiar el desajuste entre los mecanismos de coordinación, y elaborar una propuesta de reajuste a través de la conexión entre el Enfoque de Cluster y el Enfoque VARD. Se enmarca bajo la actual Reforma Humanitaria, y tiene como centro de análisis los enfoques mencionados anteriormente y una propuesta basada en la necesidad de alinear el Enfoque VARD con el Enfoque Cluster; con la finalidad de convertir a este último, en una herramienta que facilita la transición de la fase de emergencia a la de desarrollo y mejora de la acción humanitaria en su aportación al desarrollo de la comunidad.

Mind Maps: A Leadership Tool for Department and Practice Model Change

The Director's Forum series is designed to guide pharmacy leaders in establishing patient-centered services in hospitals and health systems. This month's article is a primer in using the technique of mind mapping to clarify and simplify complex pharmacy department issues. Mind mapping uses a diagram to represent concepts, words, tasks, or other items related to a key central word or idea. Mind maps form, visualize, generate, categorize, and classify ideas and facilitate problem solving, writing, and decision making. Mind mapping helps to keep focus in an organization undergoing operational changes/interruptions. Mind maps may be used by pharmacy directors for strategic planning, project management, performance feedback, coaching or mentoring, teaching, presentations, systems analysis, priority setting, note taking, meeting preparation, and problem solving. Mind maps are a way pharmacy directors can solve problems, organize, and optimize their patient-centered pharmacy services. Articles in upcoming issues of the Director's Forum will demonstrate using mind mapping in fostering leadership development skills necessary to grow effective pharmacy practice models.

An evaluation of management training and coaching

PurposeThe focus of this paper is on management training and development. The purpose has been to address how coaching can be applied to learn about leadership tools and what effect this has on management behaviour and development.Design/methodology/approachThis is a qualitative case study of a management development program. The empirical data were obtained using in‐depth interviews, surveys, and observations. In addition to investigating the 14 participants, data were also collected from their superiors and subordinates.FindingsOne of the main findings is that coaching is a helpful training process to learn about the manager's toolbox and to develop new management behavior. Furthermore, data revealed that the management training should be based on the specific work challenges that the participants experience at their workplace. Based on a variety of work challenges, the participants highlighted the following tools as most important: emotional intelligence, empowerment, self‐management, signature‐strengths, and positive emotions.Research limitations/implicationsFuture research should apply a more comprehensive research design, for example, using a control group.Practical implicationsData analysis shows that coaching is a management training process where the participants can learn to solve real work challenges. By trial and testing at their own workplace, managers learn how to use appropriate tools and change their behaviour. As part of the learning process the authors recommend debriefing where the managers can get feedback and inspiration for self‐reflection. Furthermore, through team and peer coaching, the managers can help each other learn. The authors also recommend that the participant's superiors and subordinates should be involved in the training process.Originality/valueIn this research the authors have studied coaching as a learning and training method applying leadership tools.

Strategic Management as Leadership Tool

This article explores the development of strategic planning and management in the state institutions of Lithuania. The issues of correlation between strategic management and leadership as well as goals set for strategic management from positions of leadership lying within the focus of recent theoretical studies have been taken as the essential dimension to this research. The analysis of formal strategic planning methodology, in particular, its requirements for the content of plans and the planning process, and its change has been carried out based on this approach. The horizontal cross-section of the analysis is the analysis of the methodology from the point of view of regulation centralisation-decentralisation. On the ground of the performed analysis, classification of stages in the development of strategic management is provided. Strategic management prospects are linked to the wider issue of political leadership and democratic strategy communication processes. With respect to this aspect, areas of cooperation for science and public administration practice are sought.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ppaa.11.1.1405

Storytelling…A Tool for Education, Leadership, and Team Building

Storytelling…A Tool for Education, Leadership, and Team Building

Influence of Emotional Intelligence on Employees’ Leadership Skills –Strategic Approach towards Organizational Stability

The purpose of the study aims to investigate employees' perceptions regarding their Leaders, managers and supervisor's emotional intelligence as well as transformational leadership and the possible relationships among emotional intelligence (EI), leadership, and desirable outcomes that impact the elements of emotional intelligence (EI) in organizations Design/Methodology - The study empirically analyzed the influence of EI, as measured by Mayer Salovey Caruso emotional understanding test (MSCEIT), for organizational outcomes; the well recognized expertise of a leader to forecast those results, and the relationship among EI and transformational leadership. Further the Data were assembled via questionnaires in a sequence of personally organized meetings considering, subordinates' insights for the following: supervisors' emotional intelligence; and transformational leadership. Observation methods were also used. Findings - The results confirm previous investigations of the exceptional effectiveness of transformational leadership in forecasting organizational productivity and performance and support the model which proposes that supervisors' emotional intelligence following components for example social abilities, motivation, empathy and cognition are positively associated with leadership. However, the connection among emotional intelligence and transformational leadership assessed to find the leveled outcomes to enhance organizational stability. Practical implications - The finding enables the researchers and practitioners to better understand the leadership capabilities at organizational level and assets the organization towards leadership development and individual perception. Furthermore, it offers the managers to utilize EI as tool for Transformational leadership to enhance manager's capabilities manifold for more effective and efficient outcomes (i.e. productivity and performance) Originality/value - The study encompasses a diverse variety of efficient senior leaders and their followers from many associations to validate measures of EI and illuminate the environment of the connection between EI and related factors as mentioned in findings and deliver a potential assortment and development tool for the enhancement of leadership performance and organizational competitiveness. Keywords - Comparative tests, Emotional Intelligence (EI), Leadership, Organizational Performance

Deep Leadership Coaching Effectiveness

Abstract The effectiveness of a coaching process called Deep Lead, deriving from the leadership training of the Finnish Defence Forces, has not been studied efficiently in different civil organisations. This article presents an insight into the effectiveness of this coaching method in two different work communities (PVO-Vesivoima and TAC Finland Inc. Service). The main research question in this article is how to ensure the effectiveness of this particular type of leadership coaching / training. To achieve the best possible results, methodological triangulation was needed in this survey. In this article, two contributing models were introduced (figures 2 and 3) for examining coaching or training effectiveness. By means of these, it can hopefully be examined in the future whether the coaching / training process remains to be a cost, or whether it is an essential investment for the work communities. According to the leadership coaching effectiveness research results of the study at PVO-Vesivoima, such areas as co-operation, interaction and feedback culture were strengthened. As a conclusion, it can be stated that this leadership coaching process works as a practical leadership tool for management in developing the work community both internally and externally. Another example was a work community (TAC Finland Inc Service) that aimed to improve customer satisfaction, evoke know-how, and improve profits by using the deep lead -coaching method. According to the research results, remarkable improvements were accomplished in every field mentioned compared to the time preceding the leadership coaching process or the beginning of the leadership coaching process. In both examples, results were studied using different indicators, different time spans, different methods, and by different reports done by different people. As an outcome of these researches, the leadership coaching process was considered to be effective in PVO-Vesivoima and in TAC, and in the conclusion a practical description of leadership coaching / training or other educational intervention verified on an individual level is introduced.

More than political tools

This paper examines how the Kenyan police responded to the 2007/08 crisis of post-election violence. It provides a critical re-evaluation of the well-known argument of the police being political instruments of the regime of the day. In addition, it develops the argument that the view of the police as mere tools of the political leadership is too limited an explanation of police conduct in responding to ethnic and election violence. It suggests that even with the limited available knowledge of the operations of African police organisations there is room to introduce more variables and complexity in explanations of their conduct.

Patient-Reported Adverse Events: What Are We Waiting For?

Currently available tools for the management of safety in health care are largely based on quantitative management information. Executive WalkRounds (WalkRounds [WR]) seems useful as a leadership tool to detect “soft signals”—alerts of unsafe situations or practices—and to enhance the mutual trust between frontline staff and the board of directors. The majority of the research on WR has been performed in hospitals. Therefore, a study was conducted to assess how the boards of directors of long term care organizations value WR as a leadership tool to perceive soft signals, and whether soft signals are of added value to enhance patient safety.WRs were introduced in a convenience sample of six organizations—two mental health care institutions, two nursing homes and home care organizations, and two institutions for the physically and intellectually disabled—between July 2012 and December 2013. Data were gathered from observation and reporting forms. Feasibility was evaluated by open-group interviews. A mixed-method analysis was performed using descriptive statistics and content analysis.WRs were considered feasible, and the added value for the boards of directors consisted of an increased sense of urgency and safety awareness. The dialogue between the board of directors and frontline staff in each organization was essential for a collective patient safety culture. In total, WRs were used 68 times, and 298 soft signals were identified; most addressed care delivery and communication. Overall, 245 improvement activities were reported, of which 109 related to work environment.WRs were considered useful and feasible for detecting soft signals in long term care organizations. These signals are valuable for enhancing patient safety and can be used by the board of directors in addition to the current quality management systems.

The International Institutionalization of Sport Ethics

The institutionalization of sport ethics was kept on the fringes where sports organizations were concerned until the 60’s when it became an important issue and a powerful tool for international sport leadership. Initiated by the French and the International Council of Sport and Physical Education, an organization linked to United Nations for education, science and culture (UNESCO), the International Fair Play Committee (IFPC), created on September 7, 1963, initially kept on the sidelines by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) under the presidency of Avery Brundage. With the election of Lord Killanin then of Juan Antonio Samaranch, new relations spawned between the IOC and UNESCO by way of the IFPC. In 1988, Fair play and more generally sporting education became an integral part of the Olympic ideal, accepted by intergovernmental organizations.

Introducing the Leadership in Enabling Occupation (LEO) Model

Occupational therapy is a broad profession yet access to services remains restricted and uneven across Canada. Access to the potential breadth of occupational therapy is severely restrained by complex supply, retention, and funding challenges. To improve access to occupational therapy, widespread leadership is needed by all practitioners. This brief report introduces the Leadership in Enabling Occupation (LEO) Model, which displays the inter-relationship of four elements of everyday leadership as described in "Positioning Occupational Therapy for Leadership," Section IV, of Enabling Occupation II: Advancing a Vision of Health, Well-being and Justice through Occupation (Townsend & Polatajko, 2007). All occupational therapists have the power to develop leadership capacity within and beyond designated leadership positions. LEO is a leadership tool to extend all occupational therapists' strategic use of scholarship, new accountability approaches, existing and new funding, and workforce planning to improve access to occupational therapy.

Safety Leadership from the Top: Identifying the Key Behaviors

Clear commitment to safety from senior management is consistently cited as a cornerstone of safe organizations by industry regulators, accident investigators and safety experts. To date most research on senior managers explores their influence on key financial and business outcomes, while little empirical work investigates their influence on safety. This appears to be a major gap in the safety and management literatures in light of the major human, environmental and economic implications associated with leading safe operations. This paper presents findings from the first stages of a project which aims to develop an evidencebased safety leadership tool for senior managers. Results from a systematic literature review and interviews with subject matter experts (senior managers, health and safety professionals) indicate that key safety leadership functions of senior managers include: (1) Emphasizing safety as an organizational priority, (2) Establishing clear communication for safety, (3) Participating in safety activities, (4) Setting and maintaining safety standards, (5) Maintaining risk awareness and, (6) Motivating and supporting the workforce. Language: en

The impact of TQM implementation on the organizational performance of Iranian manufacturing SMEs

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to provide reliable and valid constructs of total quality management (TQM) and a measurement instrument in the context of Iranian manufacturing small to medium‐ sized enterprises (SMEs) and to examine the effects of these seven TQM criteria, namely: leadership, process management, supplier, customer focus, employee management, communication and quality information system (QIS) and tools and techniques on the organizational performance of the Iranian manufacturing SMEs.Design/methodology/approachIn order to search the impact of TQM practices on Iranian manufacturing SMEs a questionnaire was developed and distributed to quality managers of 65 Iranian manufacturing SMEs, resulting in a response rate of 81.5 percent. In particular, hypotheses were developed to evaluate the impact of TQM implementation on the organizational performance of the manufacturing SMEs.FindingsStatistical analysis revealed that a number of significant relationships between TQM practices and organizational performance of the manufacturing SMEs. The result found that leadership plays an important role in enhancing organizational performance of the Iranian manufacturing SMEs; however, these organizations encounter some obstacles in fully utilizing some TQM criteria, namely tools and techniques and suppliers.Research limitations/implicationsThe sample is restricted to only a single region and manufacturing, so it would be strongly recommended that data be gathered from various parts of Iran including both manufacturing and service industries. As the data in this study were collected from top managers of organizations on the basis of their subjective evaluations, objective performance indicators should also be employed in the analysis.Originality/valueThis study has the potential to enhance the understanding of TQM practices impact on organizational performance of the Iranian manufacturing SMEs amongst researches and practitioners. Also the research adds knowledge in the field of quality management within the context of developing countries and gives a particular focus on the Iran manufacturing SMEs; as a review of literature, has identified no studies that have undertaken a comprehensive analysis of TQM practices and organizational performance of manufacturing SMEs in the Iranian context.