Leadership Challenge
Leaders are often met with many challenges day-to-day. Some examples are differentiating the three financial statements to make the best financial decision for their team and company; motivating problematic employees; proper performance appraisal tactics; understanding which process methodology to deploy in an organization or team to have the best impact; or even the challenges in understanding organizational behavior, which entails understanding the moods and emotions of employees and how these impact team and company performance. This page has some of the leadership challenge artifacts that I’ve created throughout my journey of gaining knowledge in organizational leadership.
Ethics in leadership
If recent history is any indication, ethics in leadership has been lacking in many of the top corporations in the world. Enron, Worldcom, Toyota, Martha Stewart, and BP are just some of the few big named companies that have been in the news for various ethical, if not legal, issues (Christina & Fort, 2017). My ethics in leadership class taught me many lessons that I have implemented immediately in my professional and private life. This video to the right is a snippet of some of the concepts I have picked up.
Diversity and Inclusion
There is a myriad of reasons for a company to want a diverse workplace. For instance, having a diverse decision-making team will enable the team to explore various options and ideas; having a diverse workforce opens the company to niche markets otherwise closed to non-diverse companies (Carr-Ruffino, 2012). Corporate diversity programs help executives understand the needs of the employees, whether it be the baby boomer’s upcoming retirement, the issues revolving around Generation X’s need for work-life balance, or the potential disruption Millennials may cause due to their sheer size and attitudes towards their career (Carr-Ruffino, 2012). Bottom line companies need to focus on diversity and inclusion; if not, they risk falling behind their competitors. The video to the left explains some of the diversity issues to avoid, be cautious, and to implement.
Conflict Resolution
When we are in conflict with others and we want something, we often state what we want as a demand or as a position. For example, we might state that we want a higher salary, or that we want a 5-year contract, or that we want to change the invoicing process. These demands and positions are not really flexible and can make negotiating difficult. Underlying our demands or positions are interests. We are often not even aware of these interests. A key skill in managing conflicts is exploring these underlying interests (or needs) and determining how to meet these interests (Cloke & Goldsmith, 2011). Getting at the interests behind demands or positions helps us find common ground with those we are in conflict with and come up with a solution that meets both sides' interests. To the right are other concepts that I have learned while studying conflict resolution.
References
Brown, E. (2017, September 29). 8 Steps to Building a Culture of Diversity. Business in Greater Gainesville. Retrieved November 29, 2021, from https://businessmagazinegainesville.com/8-steps-to-building-a-culture-of-diversity/
Carr-Ruffino, N. (2012). Managing diversity (9th ed.). Pearson Learning Solutions.
Christina, A., & Fort, T. (2017). The sincerity edge: How ethical leaders build dynamic businesses. Stanford University Press.
Cloke, K., & Goldsmith, J. (2011). Resolving conflicts at work (3rd ed.). Jossey-Bass.
DeAngelis. T. (2009). Unmasking ‘racial micro aggressions’. American Psychological Association. Retrieved November 29, 2021, from https://www.apa.org/monitor/2009/02/microaggression
Deterline, B. (2012). Creating ethical cultures in business [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/wzicXbnmllc
Diversity in the Workplace | Workplace Diversity. (2021, November 16). PeopleScout. Retrieved November 29, 2021, from https://www.peoplescout.com/insights/managing-diversity-in-workplace/
Jauregui, L. (2017). Chad managing organizational ethics creating an ethical culture [Video] YouTube. https://youtu.be/KjsE7HjcOaw
Miranne, W. (2021, November 12). How to Prevent Discrimination in the Workplace. Bernie Portal. Retrieved November 29, 2021, from https://blog.bernieportal.com/how-to-address-stop-discrimination-workplace
Sheppard, D. (2018). Excellent leadership relies on ethical business practices. Leadership Excellence Essentials, 35(2), 45–46.
The Top Five Barriers to Inclusion and Why You Should Avoid Them. (n.d.). ASAE. Retrieved November 29, 2021, from https://www.asaecenter.org/resources/articles/an_plus/2017/january/the-top-five-barriers-to-inclusion-and-why-you-should-avoid-them
Trevino, L., & Nelson, K. (2017). Managing business ethics: Straight talk about how to do it right (7th ed.). Wiley.