Leadership has gone through many changes over the years, but
has recently gone through a dramatic shift toward a bottom-up approach, where
companies are no longer led in a hierarchal manner. There are changes in the global environment,
as well as changes in the overall complexity of different organizations. With the rise of technology making a huge
boom in the past few decades, organizations are starting to shift the way they
lead. Leaders are starting to see that a
hierarchal approach to leading is just not effective anymore. There is now a trending shift toward a
bottom-up approach, where leaders are recognizing that they do not know
everything and are willing to ask more questions and share ideas with people
near the bottom who may have more valuable insight to certain areas of the
company.
While I believe this should be the shift that is taking
place in my current organization, it just is not what is happening. My current organization still holds tight to
the top-down approach and sees the idea of not knowing everything as a weakness
in the chain of command. My current
organization definitely leads by dictatorship.
We have several managers that form a hierarchy – one manager in training
who is at the bottom of the management hierarchy, 2 supervisors next on the
hierarchy, followed by 2 department managers, and then at the top are two 2
overall managers. In theory, this may
seem like a successful concept, however, there is constant conflict between
management styles. Many of the managers
feel a need to compete with one another, which ends up turning into a “who can
be more domineering” battle.
I believe that a change needs to happen within this
organization, so that the tenured staff at the bottom does not feel unheard or
disrespected. This is important because
in my current organization, the staff at the bottom tend to experience more of
the day-to-day issues that the company is facing; therefore, they have more of
a grasp and understanding of how to fix these solutions. I believe the upper management at the top has
a difficult time admitting they do not know because they have yet to recognize
that the shift in leadership style is happening. They still hold true to the idea that the
people on top need to know everything and then funnel the information that is
necessary down to the bottom. In
reality, the bottom knows and understands more of the issues at hand and should
be heard and respected.
For a change like this to occur in my current organization,
a shift in attitude needs to happen.
There are several approaches Obolensky discussed that can be beneficial
for aiding in this change. The first
approach is the recognizing you do not know and admitting it. It shows honesty and transparency, while also
allowing the other individual to add their own input. Asking what the other individual thinks, while
also admitting you do not know and are seeking advise shows that you respect
their ideas and are willing to listen to them and learn from them. Sharing ideas and utilizing a more dynamic
approach to question and answer dialogs can also be beneficial. Not only are you utilizing the previous
discussions, but you are developing a proactive conversation and dialog between
management and non-management. This is a
positive conversation because ideas can be shared and people can be heard
without feeling like they are in a defensive zone.
If all of these ideas where implemented in my current
organization, I feel that the moral and productivity would shift
dramatically. I feel that people would
feel more uplifted and empowered, instead of beaten down and neglected. The staff would want to stay, drama and
gossip would decrease, and the overall productivity would increase because the
moral would be higher and people would want to come to work to do their jobs
well.
Obolensky,
N. (2010). Complex adaptive leadership embracing paradox and
uncertainty. Farnham, Surrey: Gower.
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