Modern Leadership
Name of Student
Institutional Affiliation
Purpose of the Meeting
The meeting will be an “educational session” in which the main agenda will be the industry study results and the current state of diversity. The meeting is also intended to explore the current culture at ABC. The meeting’s audience is all the company’s leaders occupying positions that are likely to be affected by undesirable diversity and cultural rating. The Organizational development professional will facilitate the leadership team discussion. The meeting is a platform where the executives will better understand how the organization’s undesirable diversity and culture rating may negatively impact its reputation and market position. The industry data results indicated that ABC had undesirable diversity and culture rating. The meeting intends to create a stronger and more inclusive workplace. The industry rating may have come as a surprise to the organization because of its continuous efforts to build a diverse workplace. The meeting will chart a way of ensuring ABC has a desirable level of diversity and culture rating because diversity will ensure the company becomes more creative and innovative. The organization is likely to boost creativity and gain productivity if it brings together individuals from different backgrounds. ABC’s Board is currently composed of six men and one woman, all United States citizens residing in the country. The organization’s leadership team consists of four men and one woman. In the leadership team composition, only one is from a minority ethnic community, and all are residents and citizens of the United States.
ABC’s employee dynamics indicate that 60% of the employees are men, while 40% are women. The median age of the organization’s employees is 50. 80% of the management roles have been assigned to women, while only 20% has been assigned to women. Only 40% of ABC’s workforce are non-US citizens. These statistics will be important in the meeting as they will be the basis of evaluating a change in the organization’s diversity. These statistics are provided so that every stakeholder comes with a viable solution to the organization’s inclusivity and diversity issue. It is the organization’s expectation that being diverse as possible will accord the unique organization ways of improving their product. The organizational development profession will create suitable training programs to reach the goals set in the meeting by integrating behavioral components to make certain employees productive and satisfied. The organizational development profession will walk alongside ABC’s employees and staff to help them through the transition through the changes that may be made to make ABC a more inclusive workplace.
Attendees and Roles
Organizations Development Officer
The organization development (O D) professional will facilitate the meeting to the end. The O.D. will supervise the meeting to ensure contribution strengthens employee expertise and skills, improves leadership, and protects the organization’s wellbeing. O.D. will sit alongside the organization’s management in sifting through hard situations and setting goals for the organization throughout the meeting. In case the meeting decides to adopt a strategy that will involve a change in the organizational processes. The O.D. will build a capacity for change and ensures the organization achieves high efficiency in all its processes. The O.D. will be tasked with providing information regarding customer satisfaction, financial performance, and organizational member engagement. If ABC decides to create a corporate culture that embodies diversity, it will be O.D.’s duty to ensure the diversity team is effective and achieves a competitive advantage. It will be O.D.’s duty to reinforce processes and strategies decided in the meeting. If the Board decides to recruit a certain type of workers, the O.D. will be responsible for ensuring the Board’s expectations are met.
Chief Executive Officer
The CEO will extend leadership and direction to other board members and the entire organization. The CEO will highlight the milestones ABC has achieved in creating an inclusive and diverse workforce. The CEO will also highlight the pitfalls and the reason for the undesirable diversity and cultural rating. The CEO’s role is to assure the employees of ABC’s commitment to ensuring its workforce consists of people from different ethnic, social, religious, and racial backgrounds. It is the CEO’s duty to assure everyone that the organization is intolerant of discrimination in the hiring process. The organization will only look at a potential worker’s intellectual capability and the ability to effectively perform their roles with minimal supervision. The CEO will answer to the Board and stands in as the connection between the Board and the company’s management. The CEO will pass all the decisions that the Board will make regarding the state of diversity in the organization. The CEO will create other agendas for the meeting and may give his input regarding ABC’s current state.
Since the CEO is ABC’s highest-ranking Executive, his input will be highly valued. The CEO is the organization’s public face and responsible for most corporate decisions. Even though the meeting will be in the form of an “educational session,” the CEO will need to show how the possibility of a new and more diverse workforce will align with the company’s strategies and long-term financial outlook. The CEO’s position will be regarded as the Board’s position.
Chief Financial Officer
The Chief Financial Officer shall take care of all the financial aspects and resolves of the meeting. The Chief Financial Officer is entrusted with the task of making sure that all money that the company has is used appropriately by providing proof of documents for all money going out and coming into the company. If ABC Company decides to adopt another method of hiring the workforce to fulfill the diversity criterion, the CFO will be responsible for ensuring the hiring strategy aligns with the company’s financial resources. The CFO will provide both quarterly and yearly financial records to verify the operations of the company. The CFO role in the meeting will be to ensure all the company’s strategies to adopt align with its financial resources. The Chief Financial Officer will highlight the various investments made by the company and how they will be valuable to the company’s long term financial and public value.
Chief Operating Officer
The Chief Operating Officer (COO) is an important member of the Executive who reports only to the CEO. The COO is responsible for controlling ABC’s company’s diverse operations. The COO is an efficient and experienced leader whose input regarding the state of diversity in the company will be highly valued. The COO controls the organization’s operation and knows the kind of team needed in the various organizational departments. The COO will ensure that ABC only hires individuals with the requisite skills, exemplary work ethics, and business acumen. The COO’s role in the meeting will be to secure the discussion’s functionality as a means of driving sustainable and extensive growth.
Schedule, Location, and Setting
The meeting will take place at ABC’s boardroom in its headquarters in the United States. The meeting will be in the form of an educational session and deliberate on issues such as the market size, the company’s reputation, and position. The meeting location is the company’s boardroom because it is conducive, and there will be no interruptions.
Pre-reading Material
All the attendees will review the industrial report on diversity and cultural rating. This will be to familiarize them with the reasons ABC had scored so low on the topic. The attendees will be given a media relation topic that explains the meeting topics and agenda. There will be a booklet that shows ABC’s present regulations, policies, and laws on the issue of cultural inclusion. Reports and assessments regarding leadership composition and structure concerning cultural inclusion and diversity will be availed to the attendees. The attendees will also be briefed on the cultural and diversity implementation and its possible impact on ABC’s company performance.
Historical Overview
The history of the leadership field can be traced after Fredrick W. Taylor’s proposal on scientific management. The purpose of Taylor’s proposal was to lead to a leader-manager personal interaction in a company. Executives within the organizations usually coordinate work activity, which entails the division of labor and specialization. According to the great man theory, leaders are not made but born with the leader’s natural capabilities. The great man theory was postulated in the early 20th century when there existed a great debate about whether leaders are born or made. On the other hand, the trait theory posited that leaders should possess specific characteristics that will display their innate abilities to lead. Kurt Lewin, 1939, proposed different leadership styles which organizational leaders can use to lead (McCleskey, 2014). Kurt Lewin proposed the following types of leadership; laissez-faire, democratic, and autocratic. The findings of the leadership have been applied over the decades and are still applicable to date. Max Weber, a German sociologist, advanced a leadership theory which he called authoritative-charismatic. The theory states that a leader should have a social personality that enchants leadership traits in their life (Landis, Hill, & Harvey, 2014). A charismatic leader should embody qualities such as self-drive and confidence. Fred Fielder proposed the contingency leadership theory, which has been regarded as the best way of effectively approaching leadership situations and problems (Kirkpatick, & Locke, 1991). According to Fielder, the leadership style that best aligns with an organization’s issues and problems is the best leadership form. Fielder also asserted that the same way of aligning leadership traits to organizational problems apply to assignment and works. ABC needs to distribute duties to individuals from diverse backgrounds according to the best fitting strategies. Likert (1967) advanced the participative leadership theory that used a measurement scale to develop leadership styles such as authoritative, benevolent, consultative, and exploitative authoritative. Behavioral scientists promoted the leader-member exchange theory in 1975-76 to encourage the focus on the relationship between subordinates and their bosses.
Over the years, leadership has evolved as the original leadership theories are put in practice. The situational led to several types of configurations and directives, such as coaching, supporting, and directing (Gregory Stone, 2004). The situational leadership theory posited that leaders are often characterized by leadership styles based on the maturity level of the followers in an organization. The different configurations and directives attract leadership directory, support, and managing the subordinate’s duties. Situational leadership is a kind of leadership in which an institution is a motivating factor that enables employees to undertake tasks and achieve greater goals for the company. In the current years, the leadership style has moved to a servant-oriented style where a leader pays more attention to his subordinates and followers (Western & Garcia, 2018). The servant-oriented style is characterized by leaders showing care and concern for the individuals they serve. By 2011, several organizations had adopted the transformational leadership style. The emphasis of the transformational leadership is on the follower, and the leader is mandated to guide, lead, and boost the subordinate’s performance. Again in 2011, transactional leadership type and other types of leadership focused on transactions and the transactions that an individual undertakes in an entity (Western, 2013). Development in the leadership field that embodied authentic leadership style aimed at improving the subordinate’s authority and make them well placed to achieve organizational objectives and goals.
An important aspect of the authentic leadership style is its transparency on process balancing, relational issues, and self-awareness. The implicit leadership concepts are based on an individual’s thinking line and are informal. The distinction between a leader and a subordinate is illustrated through beliefs, assumptions, and personal convictions regarding certain attributes regarding certain behavior, and attributes (Mesee et al., 2014). The recent trends in the leadership filed have mostly incorporated Western’s Eco-leadership system. An organization is connected in the system, has a web-like system, and connected based on aspects such as interdependence and connectivity. The eco leadership qualities are the most important leadership framework that should be incorporated into ABC’s strategy. The eco leadership is the most suited to ABC because it advocates for cultural inclusion and diversity through interdependence and connectivity.
Modern Leadership
Relevant modern leadership should embrace organizational values, articulate visions, demonstrate objectivity, and nurture the followers and subordinates. ABC company should embrace effective modern leadership to achieve its vision, mission, objectives, and goals. Effective modern leadership embodies characteristics such as commitment, mission, values, vision, and consensus development. A leader lacking one of these qualities will be either ineffective or dysfunctional (Klatt & Hiebert, 2000). Visionary leaders usually seek to work with individuals from different social and cultural settings. ABC Company’s adoption of effective modern leadership will ensure it continuously endeavors to foster and nurture cultural inclusion and diversity.
Vision is an important quality that ABC leadership should adopt. Vision defines an innovative presentation of an organization’s mission in a visually attractive way to communicate an organization’s future strategy and perspective. For ABC Company, vision will ensure it adopts innovative leadership approaches and enlightens its strategic direction to enhance the undesirable cultural and diversity rating. ABC’s leaders should create a vision that is both inclusive and all round. ABC Company’s mission can be to promote cultural inclusion and diversity in the organization as a way of boosting its reputation and image. Inculcating cultural inclusion in the company will consequently boost its reputation and image as a company. (Grint, 2011). If ABC Company’s vision inculcates the spirit of inclusivity, a sense of belonging and membership will be promoted in the organization (Badshah, 2012). Mission statements are an effective modern leadership quality that defines several actions that ABC can do to restore its market position and reputation; the organization’s market position has been affected by the negative diversity and cultural inclusion rating. ABC should concentrate on creating a conducive and fair environment that embraced cultural inclusivity and diversity to improve its rating in the next industry reporting period. The mission statement’s significant parts include the organization’s value proposition and ABC’s mission and purpose. The company’s decision to adopt effective modern leadership will ensure the leaders become more focused as this system’s qualities will direct the leader to undertake several actions to attain organizational goals.
Critical Analysis
Analytical coaching is one of the critical inquiry frames that has emphasized organizational change and eco leadership. Analytical coaching by Simon Western is as a result of the evolution and development of leadership over the years. The critical analytical frame aligns with leadership skills that should align with the 21st-century requirement and facilitate the company’s effective management on several conditions. Eco leadership is a leadership paradigm based on the provision of a solution to an inclusive organizational challenges organizational culture. The 21st century has been characterized by the emergence of new technologies that influence an organization’s management and leadership systems (Western, & Garcia, 2018). Simon Western advocated for a new paradigm of leadership that addresses other challenges associated with modern leadership. Executive coaching entails an organization’s belief in the acquisition of new leadership.
There is a diverse basis that has necessitated the emergence of new leadership. Examples of approaches to leadership include the controller, eco leadership, and messiah. The controller is based on the 20th-century management concept that has been applied in leadership. The therapist discourse relates to the strategies similar to how a therapist treats a patient. The messiah defines a savior in various situations that lead other people in organizations. However, these approaches have shortcomings that trigger an eco leadership style’s creation to sole organizational challenges. ABC Company should utilize eco-leadership systems that deal with the issues of cultural imbalance and diversity. The important aspects of eco leadership entail distributive leadership, systematic ethics, and leadership spirit (Bass & Bass, 2009). An Eco leader has an understanding that in modern times, there is a need to recognize change and adapt to it. ABC Company should adopt a leadership model that embraces new approaches to leadership that conceptualizes how an organization’s ecosystem can adopt in a large ecosystem. A modern organization should be flexible, interconnected, and fluid in a way that does not affect the system’s functionality. ABC should have internal variables that influence the way an organization operates. According to Western, the eco leadership model should reflect a wider societal network, sustainability, and interdependence. The eco leadership values entail the value of diversity and cultural inclusivity in the organizations. The problems that relate to undesirable cultural and diversity ratings should be sorted out, and a form of balance should be created within the organization.
References
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Bass, B. M., & Bass, R. (2009). The Bass handbook of leadership: Theory, research, and managerial applications. Simon and Schuster.
Dennis, R. S., Kinzler-Norheim, L., & Bocarnea, M. (2010). Servant leadership theory. In Servant leadership (pp. 169-179). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Gregory Stone, A., Russell, R. F., & Patterson, K. (2004). Transformational versus servant leadership: A difference in leader focus. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 25(4), 349-361.
Grint, K. (2011). A history of leadership. The SAGE handbook of leadership, 14(1), 3-14.
Kirkpatick, S. A., & Locke, E. A. (1991). Leadership: do traits matter?. Academy of Management Perspectives, 5(2), 48-60.
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Meese, E., Ortmeier, P. J., & Baca, L. D. (2004). Leadership, ethics, and policing: Challenges for the 21st century. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
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Western, S. (2017). The key discourses of coaching. The Sage Handbook of Coaching, 42-61.
Western, S., & Garcia, É. J. (2018). Global Leadership Perspectives: Insights and Analysis. SAGE.