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Dashboard Spring Semester 2017 SP2017-LEAD-644-999 February 6 - February 12 Week 5 Post
Leveraging for His service

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Leveraging for His service
General
by Peterson, Dawn - Wednesday, February 15, 2017, 8:37 PM
January 9 -
January 15 Organizational success vs. empowering people

January 16 -
January 22
The person who figures out how to harness the collective genius of the
January 23 -
people in his or her organization is going to blow the competition away
January 29
former Citibank CEO Walter Wriston (cited by Senge, 2011, p. 97). That is
January 30 -
the goal of todays leaders as they shift their focus from organizational
February 5
success to empowering people to bring about corporate success. If
February 6 - people are the capital to the organization, then it is in the organizations
February 12 best interest to find ways to empower them to reach their own potential.
Week 5
Post
Leadership in years past was about leaders who learned for the
Lever organization like Henry Ford (Senge, 2011, p. 96), and authoritative my
aging way or the highway to name just a few examples. Todays leaders are
for tasked with helping the employees learn for themselves and thereby
allowing a deeper buy-in to the organization. Organizations that are
His willing to learn and adapt to this new focus will have a greater chance
servic of flourishing in the future. To be effective, organizations must excel in
e organizing and managing their people. In the twenty-first century,
February 13 treating people right [focusing on empowerment] is not an option; it is a
- February necessity (Lawler III, 2011, p. 571).
19
Role of values
February 20
- February
26 How does this work in practical manners? Leaders take on different
February 27 roles in this new focus. They become designers of the organization,
- March 5 teachers and stewards (Senge, 2011, pp. 99-103). Determining the
March 6 - culture and values that shape the organization become very important.
March 12 Senge says that few acts of leadership have a more enduring impact on
March 13 - an organization than building a foundation of purpose and core values
March 19 (p. 100). What are core values? Lencioni states that core values are
deeply ingrained principles that guide all of a companys actions; they
March 20 -
serve as its cultural cornerstones(Lencioni, 2001). When a companys
March 26
espoused values are congruent with the underlying assumptions, then
March 27 -
they are in a better position to articulate those values to the entire
April 2
organization and it becomes their philosophy of operations (Schein,
April 3 - 2011, p. 478). This philosophy then permeates every decision made and
April 9 influences the people in the organization to develop a sense of
April 10 - corporate identity and mission making it more likely for people to buy-in
April 16 to the organizations purpose.
April 17 -
April 23
April 24 - When the organization or leader builds a shared vision with its people it
April 30 becomes more real and they can then say this is my vision or our

May 1 - May vision (Senge, 2011, p. 104). The organization is helped when its people

7 have a strong sense of corporate identity because it allows them to


communicate and collaborate efficientlybecause they have a strong
My courses
sense of business purpose (Kanter, 2011, p. 695). What happens when
Learner Dashboard
employees share the values of the corporation? They are more inclined
to be creative when their companys values stress innovation[s] (p. 699)
that are in line with their own values. Where do these employees learn
$ these values? By the example given by good leadership who practice
ADMINISTRATION what they preach. Not only are they practicing the core values, they are
committed to a servant style leadership in how they appreciate the value
Forum each person has to the organization as well as the mission of the
administration organization (Senge, 2011, p. 103). Christ is the ultimate example of
Optional servant leadership and he demonstrated that by his first concern being
subscription the people around him. He taught His disciples to be part of a greater
Subscribe to purpose that was beyond them and their needs.
this forum
Subscribe to Leveraging learning
this discussion

Course
Being new to business terms, I needed to look up what it meant to
administration
leverage something. One definition of leverage is the ability to
influence a system, or an environment in a way that multiplies the
outcome of ones effort without a corresponding increase in the
COURSE consumption of resources ("leverage,"). Senge explains it this way,
SEARCH well-focused actions can produce significant, enduring
improvements, if they are in the right place. Systems thinkers
refer to this idea as the principle of leverage. Tackling a
difficult problem is often a matter of seeing where the high
Go . leverage lies, where a changewith a minimum of effort
would lead to lasting, significant improvement (Senge, 2011,
p. 107).

With that definition in mind, the Leader as teacher takes on the role of
defining the reality of the current state of the organization. He helps
the people to see more accurately their placement in the organization
and thereby empowering them to participate in the growth and culture
of the organization. The leader becomes a coach, effectively teaching
people to look at the whole of the organization. According to Senge,
everyone participates in producing the whole picture (mental models)
for the organization (p. 104). This helps people restructure their views of
reality to see beyond the superficial conditions and events into the
underlying causes of problems- and there to see new possibilities for
shaping the future (p. 102). Smart leaders use this as a way to
encourage true change rather than a band aid to fix problems. If leaders
leverage their peoples commitment to the core values, then they are
more likely to see the need for change when one strays from the values.
Change is painfully hard especially in the corporate setting (Rock &
Schwartz, 2006, p. 3) but when people see the truth in the need for
change and principally discover it on their own, it can then influence
their feelings. According to Kotter, the heart of [true] change is in the
emotions (Kotter & Cohen, 2011, p. 682).

Personal experience and thoughts

Do leaders understand the effect leveraging human potential can have


on organizational goals? My experience says that most leaders are of
the put a band aid frame of mind. They dont spend enough time
encouraging their people to buy into the corporate culture and values
and even if they do, they dont recognize when their espoused values and
actual actions tell another story. In many organizations, people are a
means to an end, not valued assets. Unfortunately, I see this in not only
business, but in the actions of our school boards and conference
administration. Many times as Lawler (2011) states about organizations
they [school boards and conference officials] do not behave like their
people [educational personnel] are their number one priority. All too
often, they treat them as replaceable parts that add little value (p. 571).
Until we learn that people are the valued assets (children of the King)
and treat them with kindness and respect, I fear that we will not grow as
we could.

References

Kanter, R. M. (2011). Transforming giants. In J. S. Osland & M. E. Turner


(Eds.), The organizational behavior reader (pp. 694-703). New Jersey:
Prentice Hall.

Kotter, J. P., & Cohen, D. S. (2011). The heart of change. In J. S. Osland & M.
E. Turner (Eds.), The organizational behavior reader (pp. 681-693). New
Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Lawler III, E. E. (2011). Why treating people right pays off. In J. S. Osland
& M. E. Turner (Eds.), The organizational behavior reader (pp. 571-582).
New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Lencioni, P. M. (2001). Make your values mean something. Harvard


Business Review, 9. Retrieved from
http://managementbuckets.com/Websites/managementbuckets/images/Urban_Impact

leverage. BusinessDictionary.com. Retrieved from


http://www.businessdictionary.com/defination/leverage.html

Rock, D., & Schwartz, J. (2006). The neuroscience of leadership [class


handout]. strategy+business, Summer 2006(43). Retrieved from
https://learninghub.andrews.edu/pluginfile.php/740598/mod_resource/content/1/Neu

Schein, E. H. (2011). Uncovering the levels of culture. In J. S. Osland & M.


E. Turner (Eds.), The organizational behavior reader (pp. 475-481). New
Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Senge, P. M. (2011). The leaders new work: Building learning


organizations. In J. S. Osland & M. E. Turner (Eds.), The organizational
behavior reader (pp. 96-115). New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Sum of ratings:5 (1) Permalink | Reply

Re: Leveraging for His service


by Brand, Jay - Friday, February 17, 2017, 4:49 PM

Dawn,

You have written yet another good post. Your passionate, relevant
appeal at the end, summarizing the importance of leveraging personal
values by relating these to servant leadership as exemplified by Jesus
Christ, was especially eloquent. However, compared to many of your
past posts, some of the paragraphs in this one, although featuring
great content, weren't as conceptually integrated as they could have
been (e.g., sentences being linked together so that they form a clear
sequence of conceptual development).

Nonetheless, you cited pertinent papers and chapters from our


textbook as well as additional references. Great post!

Speaking of aligning personal values with the corporate vision and


mission, while I was at Haworth, I encouraged them to try this
approach with their office seating products. Rather than sell chairs
(e.g., task chairs; conference chairs; boardroom chairs; side chairs), we
should sell the ability of retirees, after sitting in Haworth chairs
throughout their work lives, to pick up their grandchildren pain-free
(without back pain). Although making more money for the Haworth
family simply didn't motivate me very well, if I knew that I was
improving the quality of life for people who used Haworth chairs all
their lives, I would enjoy contributing to that goal and outcome.

Dr. Brand

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Re: Leveraging for His service


by Nanasi, Erwin - Tuesday, March 7, 2017, 9:56 PM

Dear Dawn,

Please permit me to add some supplementary research on your


great post.

Empowerment and Powerlessness


Empowerment is perhaps the most important element in regards to
the style of leadership I personally delight to submit to and also
delight to be a model for; focusing on activating people and give
them the freedom to make independent choices. Interestingly,
enough however, despite the commonsense appeal of empowering
employees, empowerment is not universally embraced for a number
of reasons such as (Brownell, August 2000, pp. 20-24; Ivancevich,
Konopaske, & Matteson, 2011, p. 346):

1. Managers fear the loss of power, control, and


authority.
2. Employees are not able to make responsible
decisions.
3. Empowering employees was attempted before
and it failed.
4. Sharing proprietary information means leaking
ideas, plans, and knowledge to competitors.
5. Not everyone wants to be empowered. Those
restating empowerment become isolates, misfits,
and not team players in the minds and
perceptions of advocates of empowerment.

It helped me to understand the concept of empowerment/


powerlessness more when breaking it down to what power is in
the first place. So, as it relates to the concept of power, there needs
to be a clear distinction made between influence (transaction in
which person B is induced by person A to behave in a certain way) and
power (the capability to get someone to do something); so influence is
the exercise of that capability. Another way of stating the
distinction is to say that power is the potential to influence, while
influence is power in action. It could be interpersonal power
(legitimate power, reward power, coercive power, expert power,
referent power) or structural power (resources, decision-making,
information). (Ivancevich et al., 2011, pp. 339-348)

Empowerment has been described as a process of enhancing


feelings of self-efficacy among organizational members through the
identification of conditions that foster powerlessness and through
their removal by both formal organizational practices and informal
techniques of providing efficacy information (Conger & Kanungo,
July 1988, p. 474; Ivancevich et al., 2011, p. 346).

Following the logic, if empowerment does not describe the work


environment of an organization, its is likely powerlessness that
does, Powerlessness occurs when an individual has little or no
access both bases of interpersonal or structural power.
Empowerment refers to a process whereby conditions that
contribute to powerlessness are identified and removed. Two
important factors in empowerment are helping organizational
members feel confident about their ability to perform well and
increasing the linkages between effort and performance
(Ivancevich et al., 2011, p. 361).

For obvious reasons, the statement you already highlighted is true,


treating people right is not an option; it is a necessity (Osland &
Turner, 2011, p. 371). It is also particularly interesting to notice, that
the influence of treating people right may create an ethical,
virtuous spiral. Osland and Turner bring out Seven Principles for
Treating People Right and Creating a Virtuous Spiral (Osland & Turner,
2011, p. 581):

1. Attraction and Retention

The organization must create a value proposition that


defines the type of workplace they want to be so that
they can attract and retain the right people.

2. Hiring Practices

Organizations must hire people who fit with their values,


core competencies, and strategic goals.

3. Training and Development

Organizations must continuously train employees to do


their jobs and offer them opportunities to grow and
develop.

4. Work design

Organizations must design work so that it is meaningful


for people and provides them with feedback,
responsibility, and autonomy.

5. Mission, Strategies, and Goals

Organizations must develop and adhere to a specific


organizational mission, with strategies, goals, and values
that employees can understand, support, and believe in.

6. Reward Systems

Organizations must devise and implement reward


systems that reinforce their design, core values, and
strategy.

7. Leadership
Organizations must hire and develop leaders who can
create commitment, trust, success, and a motivating work
environment.

Personal Values

In regards to values, how can I not come back to my favorite book


on the topic by Kahneman, Thinking fast and slow (2011). The
reading of decision value versus experience value besides the
concept of being either frame bound or reality bound, has impacted
my life significantly. In the Appendix B Kahneman basically
provided a brief summary of the concept of wantability"
(Kahneman, 2011, p. 446). Wantability is the synthesized label for
decision value (the contribution of an anticipated outcome to the
overall attractiveness or aversiveness of an opinion in a choice;
desired outcome) and experience value (The degree of pleasure or
pain, satisfaction or anguish in the actual experience of an
outcome"; enjoyed outcome)(p. 446). Thus, making the decision of
going to watch a football game, buying a car, or choosing a life-
partner has begotten much more manageable what do I want
versus what will I really enjoy (if I am honest with myself). A friend
of mine, Tim Ellis actually expounded on the aspect of value with
the following four substages:

(1) short term enjoyment, but negative long term value


(e.g. ice cream that tastes great but makes you gain
weight, something you later regret);

(2) short term enjoyment, no lasting value (going to an


amusement park);

(3) short term enjoyment + short term value (e.g., going


to a movie where you learn something);

(4) short term enjoyment + long term value (.e.g., getting


your doctorate, working to break bad habits and develop
a more disciplined approach to life; starting a new
exercise routine; improving your diet; choosing to make
new friends that have a strong lasting influence for good
on you, etc.).

Corporate Values

Shared values such as flexibility, creativity, and entrepreneurial


initiative can facilitate innovation and organizational learning (Baer
& Frese, 2003). Shared values about reliability, meeting deadlines,
error-free performance, controlling costs, and responsible use of
resources, and adherence to best practices and standard procedures
can enhance efficiency (Miron et al., 2004; Yukl, 2013, p. 287).

A Leaders Leverage

The essence of effective leadership is well summarized by Bass &


Burger (1979), who identified seven factors linked to leadership
effectiveness:

1. Preferred awareness (willingness to be aware of


others feelings).
2. Actual awareness (actual understanding of
oneself and others).
3. Submissiveness (to rules and authority).
4. Reliance on others (in problem-solving).
5. Favoring of group decision making.
6. Concern for human relations.
7. Cooperative peer relations.

This type of leadership, although rather rare, would likely


accomplish to reach personal and collective organizational goals. To
me it seems to come back to awareness (by implication really
mindfulness) and the decision making processes in order to
facilitate a smooth transition of establishing corporate
understanding.

Awareness

Problem Identification and Definition (Ivancevich et al.,


2011, pp. 411-412)

1. Perceptual problems
2. Defining problems in terms of solutions
3. Identifying symptoms as problems

Decision Making

Evaluation of Alternative Solutions (Ivancevich et al.,


2011, p. 414)

1. Certainty. The decision maker has complete knowledge


of the probability of the outcome of each alternative.
2. Uncertainty. The decision maker has absolutely no
knowledge of the probability of the outcome of each
alternative.
3. Risk. The decisions maker has some probable estimate
of the outcomes of each alternative.

Clearly problems within an organization affect not only the


managers but all other levels also, The emotional shock of
discovering a serious problem and anxiety about choosing among
unattractive alternatives may result in denial of negative evidence,
wishful thinking, procrastination, vacillation between choices, and
panic reactions by individual managers or by decision groups (Janis
& Mann, 1977). The greater the job demands and stress for a
manager, the less likely it is that a prolonged search or careful
analysis of potential costs and benefits will be made (Hambrick,
Finkelstein, & Mooney, 2005)(Yukl, 2013, p. 26).

Spiritual Insight

Jesus Himself, our master leader, modeled the concept of


empowerment, But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit
has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem,
and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth (Acts 1:8).
Likewise, how often would Jesus refer to parables that likened
things unto the kingdom of God representing the indescribable
value of salvation, or how all of us ought to work together as a body
(organism) to follow the head (master manager) and finish the task
although working under suboptimal, problematic work conditions.

Heavenly intelligences are waiting to co-operate with human


instrumentalities, that they may reveal to the world what human
beings may become, and what, through union with the Divine, may
be accomplished for the saving of souls that are ready to perish.
There is no limit to the usefulness of one who, putting self aside,
makes room for the working of the Holy Spirit upon his heart and
lives a life wholly consecrated to God. All who consecrate body, soul,
and spirit to His service will be constantly receiving a new
endowment of physical, mental, and spiritual power. The
inexhaustible supplies of heaven are at their command. Christ gives
them the breath of His own Spirit, the life of His own life. The Holy
Spirit puts forth its highest energies to work in mind and heart.
Through the grace given us we may achieve victories that because
of our own erroneous and preconceived opinions, our defects of
character, our smallness of faith, have seemed impossible (White,
1905, p. 159).

Sorry, I was inspired to write a little more than initially anticipated.


Be blessed!

References

Baer, M. & Frese, M. (2002). Innovation is not enough: climates for


initiative and psychological safety, process innovations, and firm
performance. Journal Of Organizational Behavior, 24(1), 45-
68. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/job.179

Bass, R. M., & Burger, P. C. (1979). Assessment of Managers: An


International Comparison: New York: Free Press.

Brownell, E. (August 2000). Empowerment, the Key to Exceptional


Service. American Salesman, 45(8), 20-24.

Conger, J. A., & Kanungo, R. N. (July 1988). The Empowerment


Process: Integrating Theory and Practice. 13(3), 471-482.

Hambrick, D., Finkelstein, S., & Mooney, A. (2005). Executive Job


Demands: New Insights for Explaining Strategic Decisions and
Leader Behaviors. Academy Of Management Review, 30(3), 472-
491. http://dx.doi.org/10.5465/amr.2005.17293355

Ivancevich, J. M., Konopaske, R., & Matteson, M. T. (2011).


Organizational behavior and management (9th ed.). New York, NY:
McGraw-Hill Irwin.

Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow (1st ed.). New York:
Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Miron, E., Erez, M., & Naveh, E. (2004). Do personal characteristics


and cultural values that promote innovation, quality, and efficiency
compete or complement each other?. Journal Of Organizational
Behavior, 25(2), 175-199. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/job.237

Osland, J., & Turner, M. E. (2011). The organizational behavior reader


(9th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

White, E. G. H. (1905). The ministry of healing. Mountain View, Cal.,


Washington, D.C.,: Pacific press publishing company; Review and
herald; etc., etc.

Yukl, G. A. (2013). Leadership in organizations (8th ed.). Boston:


Pearson.
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