Leadership Development & Change Management Research Paper

Leadership Development & Change Management - Research Paper Example Change management represents a structured method that helps in the transitional process of individuals, teams and the organization on the whole, to a desired imminent state of competency. It is an organizational process that aims at providing empowerment to the employees for accepting and embracing the changes within the current environment of the organization (Ryerson University, 2011). In accordance with this notion of organizational leadership, Ford Motor Company has been focused on the advancement and effectiveness of its employees at all levels in an all-inclusive manner along with practicing effective stakeholder engagement strategies. The change observed within the internal business environment of Ford inculcates preparation for starting a new operation and simultaneously, planning for the execution of advance and latest innovative ideas for success. Additionally, the change management strategies practiced by Ford include the clear perspective that entails effective communicat ion of operations. The leadership practices of Ford also aim towards an effective transformation of the cultural change that fosters transparency. Nevertheless, due attention is also rendered towards consistency for framing new strategies and policies that can facilitate creativity and enthusiasm within the organization (SlideShare Inc, 2013). The problem statement of the research study indulges explaining the scope and nature of the leadership development and change management within Ford. Adaptation to change has become a vital framework for any organization today. With respect to all organizational changes, its effects are complex and critical, which requires the support of effective leadership (Paton & McCalman, 2000). Considering the prospects of organizational change, a major challenge often witnessed by organizations is the change resistance deciphered by employees, suppliers, customers, and stakeholders. The underneath reasons for resistance to change also inculcates organiz ational redesigning advocating changes of existing power structure and position of the employees, which might require them to come out of their comfort zone. Creation of advance and latest technological changes that can result in challenges related to procedures, techniques and the desired skills associated with the new technique initiated. Furthermore, it entails apathetic nature of the employees that result in their resistance to desired changes. Thus, for effective leadership development, the leader must mitigate the challenges related to change management for organization’s growth and development (Paton & McCalman, 2000). Critical Analysis Machiavellianism and Ethical Consideration Machiavellianism is a leadership trait that is often practiced to combat the influences of the interpersonal relationship of the employees on their acceptance or readiness to change being implemented in the organization.  Ã‚  

Five ways ethics have influenced organizational culture Term Paper

Five ways ethics have influenced organizational culture - Term Paper Example Definitely, the moral -rights view is another way of influencing organizational culture. Evidently, the employee can now resign from the organization if her request that she not report for work on Saturdays will not be granted. Ethical behavior can be defined as the the behavior that is morally good or right. This is the exact opposite of the bad or wrong behavior. Some ethical questions include: Is ti ethical to withhold information that might discourage a job candidate from joining your organization?, is it ethical to ask someone to take a job you know will not be good his or her career progress?. The list of ethical questions goes on. The bottom line here is that the American public is increasingly demanding that government office organizations, organizational managers, organizational workers, as well as the organizations they represent all act in accordance with high ethical and moral standards. And, â€Å"a clear picture of the ethical similarities and differences between women and men still eludes us here as well†(Ambrose & Schminke, 1999, p. 454). The following paragraphs will clearly explain five was ethics have influenced organizational culture. There are many ways that ethics have influenced organizational culture. First, the utilitarian view is one way of influencing organizational culture. Second, the individualism view is another way of influencing organizational culture. Third, the moral -rights view is another way of influencing organizational culture. Fourth, the procedural justice view is another way of influencing organizational culture. Lastly, the distributive justice view is another way of influencing organizational culture. First, the utilitarian view is one way of influencing organizational culture. This view states that an organization and the members of such organizations are inclined to thinking of the greater good when they decide to choose one of several alternative

Developing Countries’ Healthcare Systems

Developing Countries’ Healthcare Systems Question: Global Fund in the recent past suspended the funding to Uganda government citing gross financial misappropriation especially by Ministry of health officials. As a financial consultant, identify and discuss the practices and policies that could have led to this financial loss and suggest both internal and external controls that should be put in place to minimize the reoccurrence of such scenarios. Introduction Developing countries’ healthcare systems are often funded by the donors’ grants in addition to public funds from the governmental budgets. But in some cases, these funds may be mismanaged and this could lead to heavy financial losses hence depriving its beneficiaries. The mismanagement of those funds may take different forms: misspending, fraudulent misappropriation or embezzlement (The Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria). In this essay, we review the case of Uganda where The Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in 2005 suspended the country’s funding following a release of an audit report that showed gross mismanagement of funds that were supposed to support the government of Uganda in its efforts to tackle AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Kapiriri Martin, 2006). The practices and policies that could have led to this mismanagement and embezzlement are identified and discussed together with the control measures, both internal and external, that should be undertaken to prevent such financial diversion in the future. 2. Practices and policies that could have led to financial mismanagement The problem of financial resources mismanagement seems to be widespread not only in developing countries but also in developed ones (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 1997). Several inadequate practices and policies are reportedly involved in the occurrence of this problem. 2. a. Non-existing clear financial norms and regulations/none compliance to financial norms and regulations The lack of clear norms and regulations to provide guidance to those involved in the management of financial resources can create a way for them to mismanage the funds that they are supposed to manage. Taking into consideration the case of Uganda, the lack of clear norms and regulations on how funds would have been used possibly created a financial managerial chaos that facilitated those who were in the positions of funds management, at each level of administrative ladder, to misappropriate or misuse them. On the other hand, financial norms and regulations might have been in place but probably the management team, at different levels, was not compliant with them. 2. b. Lack of transparency in administrative hierarchy, roles and responsibilities Undefined organisational and reporting structure, unclear roles and responsibilities among members of various teams involved in funds management might also have created managerial disorder which led to lack of financial accountability. 2. c. Poor communication Poor communication among members of different teams might also have been a key factor in funds financial management failure. Possibly, teams did not share key project documents about funds management for reviews before being released as official documents. Further, they might not have coordination forums in which they should have discussed financial issues with key stakeholders in the implementation of the projects. 2. d. Managerial incompetence and unskilled financial/accountant officers Incompetence in the management of funds and implementing the planned activities might also have led to the above financial loss. Financial procedures might not have been observed, this might have been the results of incompetent managers coupled with unskilled financial officers and accountants. Further, according to Global Fund’s 2009 Office of the Inspector General report on Lessons learnt from the country audits and reviews undertaken, Uganda’s case, Principle Recipient’ management of Sub-Recipient was poor as was shown by evidences in the report and this was one of the issues that the grant was suspended. Stating the same source, there were poor internal controls at different levels either at Principle Recipient level or at Sub Recipient level as was evidenced by the report. For example, some amount of money estimated at 4,939,497 US dollars were not accounted for, adequate supporting documents for several transactions were missing, work plan and budgets were not abode by which resulted in several expenses not related to the programmatic budget and work plan. In addition, records related to the expenses like books of account were not properly kept. There were also cases of unsupported expenses and when supporting documents were found, they were actually counterfeit. It is reported that professional financial management necessitates impeccable financial and auditing tools. Deficiency in financial supervision and control mechanisms leads to financial mismanagement like diversion or misappropriation of funds (Mobegi et al, 2012). 2. e. Lack of active involvement of some key stakeholders According to Kapiriri and Martins (2006), one of the reported possible causes of mismanagement of Global Fund grants in Uganda was low levels of civil society participation. According to Global Fund’s requirements for grant eligibility, the participation of various stakeholders in the decision making is of paramount importance. But in Uganda, it was reported that part of key stakeholders, including civil society, who were supposed to be represented in Country Coordinating Mechanisms were not either involved or were lacking the capacity to provide meaningful inputs (Kapiriri Martins (2006). 3. Internal and external controls that should be put in place to minimize the reoccurrence of such scenarios It is stated that there is one common thing in all businesses either in public or private businesses: â€Å"To be successful, they must control their operations†. This means hiring the right people, pay them the right amount of salaries, order and receive the right products and services, etc (Libby et al, 2009). To achieve this, it is important to establish and comply with specific procedures and policies which describe how the business should be run. These specific procedures and policies are controls which can be either internal or external. This theory is applied to the case under discussion. 3.1. Internal controls Internal controls are defined as set of methods an organisation puts in place in order to protect the theft of its assets, ensure the accounting information is reliable, boost effective and efficient operations, and ascertain that applicable laws, regulations and codes of ethics are complied with (Libby et al, 2009). For the case of Uganda, given the shortcomings that were identified, internal control mechanisms should be enhanced and set to target them. The internal measures would include: Regular compliance audits: these audits would ascertain that the specific procedures, rules or regulations-set out by Global Fund and as described in grant agreement-to ensure the good management of grants are observed at every level of the management. Regular operational audits: these audits would study all operating procedures at all management levels in order to measure their performance in terms of effectiveness and efficiency. According to Hayes et al (2005), operational audits are not only limited to financial issues, they might also put more emphasis on other areas of the organisation ; structure, working approaches alike or other areas where evaluation is needed. Regular audits of financial statements: these audits would analyse the financial statements to ensure that they are accurate and in accordance with set criteria. Involving stakeholders in decision making process and enhanced communication: The involvement of stakeholders and improved decision making process concerning the implementation of Global Fund programmes could have been a cornerstone in the prevention of grants mismanagement. It is argued that if legitimate and fair decision making process were used, the suspension of grants could have been averted (Kapiriri Martins (2006). Given that the poor communication between members of Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM) was cited among the causes of grant mismanagement in Uganda, enhanced communication within CCM and with other stakeholders would be equally important in preventing such gross financial loss. 3.2. External controls To minimise opportunities for grants mismanagement in the future, external control mechanisms should also be enhanced. These include: Global Fund should conduct regular and timely audits and reviews to ensure that the set guidelines for the management of its grants are observed. Independent auditors should be appointed and conduct audits on different levels of grants management. It is recommended by the Global Fund’ Office of the inspector general that the external audit reports should be submitted to Global Fund not later than six months after the period to be audited ( Global Fund, 2009). Global Fund should update its guidelines regarding the management of grants to fill the gaps when they are identified. 4. Conclusion Proper Global Fund grants management is crucial in fighting against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria whose mortality and morbidity rates are still unacceptably high in developing countries. Government of Global Fund-supported countries have the mandate to ensure that the grants are used in accordance with the set guidelines and the agreements signed between them and the Global Fund. Thus, this will avoid grants mismanagement or embezzlement cases and consequently reduce mortality and morbidity rates due to the above mentioned diseases.

Will The Global Economy Help Or Hurt The Next Generation Of Americans?

Will the Global Economy Help or Hurt The Next Generation of Americans? Will the global economy help or hurt the next generation of Americans? This is the question I am going to investigate in this paper. The global economy is the system pertaining to the production, distribution and consumption of goods and services around the globe. It is important that we understand the global economy because it is and will be affecting the way we learn, work and live. How all of these factors are affected will be discussed in the following paper. I take the position that the global economy will hurt the next generation of Americans. One argument for this position is that our schools are not adequately preparing out students for the types of new work that will be required in the next generation. American schools are using teaching techniques that taught existed in the 1950's. Textbooks date back to the early 1970's. Requirements may have changed but our reaching techniques have not. Every year, students take the same courses with the same prerequisite: A good memory. True, they are teaching classes that are essential to get into a good college but are they teaching the skills that our future generation will need? Are students going to be able to problem solve? Are today's students going to be able to access tomorrow's information? Our schools teach American students to be good at memorization. To be able to spit out recorded information. "You do have the knowledge but you are basically robots with skin; machines, tape recorders that teachers use to record their information. At the end of a chapter, they rewind you and press the 'play' button to see if you can repeat everything they said."1 Also, our schools are not stressing the importance of math and science. Because of this fact, foreign born workers such as engineers are taking over the jobs American workers could have. Our students need to be truly smart because memorized skills can only go so far. Grades cannot always determine the real skills of the students. Anybody can receive a diploma but what do these grades really mean? Not much unless a student can apply their memorized skills for the new way of work. "Just possibly we have a surplus of graduates and a scarcity of real skills."2 The improvement of o... ...t as earnings plunge. Mothers are going to have to work longer hours if the family is going to have it's old standard of living."25 This means that people are going to have to work twice as hard for the same quality of living. This also means a constant upgrading of skills necessary for peak job performance. "Important efforts should be better education and a committed and constant upgrading of skills. Our future is a more educated one rather than a cheaper one. Technological revolutions in the past have consistently led to gains in production, commerce, employment and living standards."26 Yet if workers don't improve their skills and constantly upgrade them, shrinking the gap between man and machine, this revolution will be detrimental to the welfare of our workers, their families and most importantly the global economy. Despite all the information on how the global economy will hurt the next generation of Americans, there are also ways in which it will help the next generation. My objection to my original position; that is the global economy will hurt the next generation of Americans is that it will instead help them due to the new ag

Lesson Plan Essay

â€Å"In modern times there are opposing views about the practice of education. There is no general agreement about what the young should learn either in relation to virtue or in relation to the best life; nor is it clear whether their education ought to be directed more towards the intellect than towards the character of the soul†¦. And it is not certain whether training should be directed at things useful in life, or at those conducive to virtue, or at non-essentials†¦. And there is no agreement as to what in fact does tend towards virtue. Men do not all prize most highly the same virtue, so naturally they differ also about the proper training for it. † Aristotle wrote that passage more than 2,300 years ago, and today educators are still debating the issues he raised. Different approaches to resolving these and other fundamental issues have given rise to different schools of thought in the philosophy of education. We will examine five such schools of thought: Essentialism, Progressivism, Perennialism, Existentialism, and Behaviorism. Each has many supporters in American education today. Taken together, these five schools of thought do not exhaust the list of possible educational philosophies you may adopt, but they certainly present strong frameworks from which you can create your own educational philosophy. Essentialism â€Å"Gripping and enduring interests frequently grow out of initial learning efforts that are not appealing or attractive. † William Bagley Essentialism refers to the â€Å"traditional† or â€Å"Back to the Basics† approach to education. It is so named because it strives to instill students with the â€Å"essentials† of academic knowledge and character development. The term essentialism as an educational philosophy was originally popularized in the 1930s by the American educator William Bagley (1874A1946). The philosophy itself, however, had been the dominant approach to education in America from the beginnings of American history. Early in the twentieth century, essentialism was criticized as being too rigid to prepare students adequately for adult life. But with the launching of Sputnik in 1957, interest in essentialism revived. Among modern supporters of this position are members of the President’s Commission on Excellence in Education. Their 1983 report, A Nation at Risk, mirrors essentialist concerns today. Underlying Philosophical Basis (American) essentialism is grounded in a conservative philosophy that accepts the social, political, and economic structure of American society. It contends that schools should not try to radically reshape society. Rather, essentialists argue, American schools should transmit the traditional moral values and intellectual knowledge that students need to become model citizens. Essentialists believe that teachers should instill such traditional American virtues as respect for authority, perseverance, fidelity to duty, consideration for others, and practicality. Reflecting its conservative philosophy, essentialism ten(tends to accept the philosophical views associated with the traditional, conservative elements of American society. For example, American culture traditionally has l)placed tremendous emphasis on the central importance of tile physical world and of understanding the world through scientific experimentation. As a result, to convey important knowledge about our world, essentialist educators emphasize instruction in natural science rather than non-scientific disciplines such as philosophy or comparative religion. The Essentialist Classroom Essentialists urge that the most essential or basic academic skills and knowledge be taught to all students. Traditional disciplines such as math, natural science, history, foreign language, and literature form the foundation of the essentialist curriculum. Essentialists frown upon vocational, lift-adjustment, or other courses with â€Å"watered down† academic content. Elementary students receive instruction in skills such as writing, reading, measurement, and computers. Even while learning art and music, subjects most often associated with the development of creativity, the students are required to master a body of information and basic techniques, gradually moving from less to more complex skills and detailed knowledge. Only by mastering the required material for their grade level are students promote(l to the next higher grade. Essentialist programs are academically rigorous, for both slow and fast learners. The report A Nation at Risk reflects the essentialist emphasis on rigor. It calls for more core requirements, a longer school day, a longer academic year, and more challenging textbooks. Moreover, essentialists maintain that classrooms should be oriented around the teacher, who ideally serves as an intellectual and moral role model for the students. The teachers or administrators decide what is most important for the students to learn and place little emphasis on student interests, particularly when they divert time and attention from the academic curriculum. Essentialist teachers focus heavily on achievement test scores as a means of evaluating progress. In an essentialist classroom, students are taught to be â€Å"culturally literate,† that is, to possess a working knowledge about the people, events, ideas, and institutions that have shaped American society. Reflecting the essentialist emphasis on technological literacy, A Nation at Risk recommends that all high school students complete at least one semester of computer science. Essentialists hope that when students leave school, they will possess not only basic skills and an extensive body of knowledge, but also disciplined, practical minds, capable of applying schoolhouse lessons in the real world. Progressivism We may, I think, discover certain common principles amid the variety of progressive schools now existing. To imposition from above is opposed expression and cultivation of individuality; to external discipline is opposed free activity; to learning from texts and teachers, learning through experience; to acquisition of’ isolated skills and techniques by drill is opposed acquisition of them as means of attaining ends which make direct vital appeal; to preparation for a more or less remote future is opposed making the most of the opportunities of present life; to statistics and materials is opposed acquaintance with a changing world. John Dewey Progressivism’s respect for individuality, its high regard for science, and its receptivity to change harmonized well with the American environment in which it was created. The person most responsible for the success of progressivism was John Dewey (1859-1952). Dewey entered the field of education as a liberal social reformer with a background in philosophy and psychology. In 1896, while a professor at the University of Chicago, Dewey ounded the famous Laboratory School as a testing ground for his educational ideas. Dewey’s writings and his work with the Laboratory School set the stage for the progressive education movement, which, beginning in the 1920s, has produced major lasting innovations in American education. The progressivist movement stimulated schools to broaden their curricula, making education more relevant to the needs and interests of students. Its influence waned during the 1950s, particularly after the 1957 launching of Sputnik by the Soviets prompted schools to emphasize traditional instruction in math, science, foreign languages, and other defense-related subjects. In the late 1960s and 1970s, under the guise of citizenship education and educational relevance, many of Dewey’s ideas enjoyed a renewed popularity that decreased again during the education reform movement of the 1980s.

Leaders vs Managers Essay

According to many scholars, management is a basically the implementation of already established processes such as planning, staffing, measuring performance and budgeting thereby enabling an organization to do well. On the other hand, leadership is entirely different. It can be described as taking an organization to the future, exploring and successfully exploiting opportunities that come up. Leadership is about having vision, empowerment and most importantly providing useful change in the organization. The main differences between leaders and managers are: the relationship between the followers and managers and leaders, how leaders and managers solve problems, and the difference in emotional intelligence between leaders and managers. Leaders and managers have a difference in emotional intelligence. A leader is an individual who strategizes a visionary and most importantly someone who inspires other people to greatness. In order to achieve this, while leading one must share their vision with the staff or people brought together to solve a problem or create a strategy. Leaders serve as role models, motivate their staff, inspire cooperation and create a community both inside and outside of the organization. They mostly follow their intuition which in most cases benefits the company and in most cases they gain followers who become loyal to them and the organization. This is a direct contradiction to managers who carry out their instructions by the book and follow the organization’s policy to the letter and as a result the staff may or may not be loyal to them. Even when the idea of a divinely appointed leader prevailed, there existed a contrary view that the leader was actually empowered by followers, this theory was analyzed by Thomas Paine â€Å"Titles are but nicknames†¦it is common opinion only that makes them anything or nothing . . . . [A]body of men, holding themselves accountable to nobody, ought not to be trusted by anybody† (1944, pp. 59-60, 63). Another major difference between leaders and managers is how their duties and relationship with their followers differ. A leader creates or rather innovates whilst the manager administers , meaning that the leader is the individual who comes up with fresh ideas in order to move the bulk of the organization into a new direction that is more beneficial and profitable. He has to come up with new strategies and tactics by keeping his focus on the horizon constantly. It is important for him to be updated on the latest trends as well as studies and the skill sets. Contrary to this, a manager simply maintains a system that has already been established and is in use. It is his duty to maintain control and ensure that things run normally and everyone in the staff is pulling their weight and contributing fully and effectively. One of the distinguishing characteristics of a typical manager is how dependent he is on the activities of a variety of other people to perform his job effectively. (Kotter, 1983, p. 360). He is rigid and unable to be creative in carrying out his duties, thereby barring him from being considered a business leader. According to Richard Rosenberg, (1992) one of the most profound examples of the difference between leaders and managers is how computers create significant changes in any organization. He illustrates how information is able to travel from top to bottom effectively without the intervention of managers somewhere in between. This shows how the difference between leaders and managers which is that managers are easily replaceable and in some cases they are not required at all to some extent. Leaders inspire greatness and effectiveness unlike managers who more or less rely on control. In other words, leadership is not what one does but actually how they respond to you. If people do not choose to join your cause then you cannot really be considered as a leader since they have inspired no one. If people do indeed join your cause then it would mean that you have inspired them, thereby creating a bond with them and the company, which is very important particularly if the organization or business is changing rapidly and needs people who believe in it to support its mission. Leaders and managers handle and prepare for problems in a different ways. Managers prepare themselves for turbulent times and during these times the primary task is to make sure that the organization’s capacity to survive and to ensure that the it maintains its structural strength as well as is capacity to survive failure and adapt as quickly as possible in the shortest time period (Peter D., 1980). Business leaders instill a staff loyalty that a manager cannot be able to because of his rigid methods and lack of spontaneity. In the case of managers, their primary job is to control their staff by aiding them to develop their assets and discover their greatest talents. In order to do this they have to know the people working for them and understand their abilities and interests. G. Lumsden (1982) describes how middle managers model themselves on top managers in a form of hierarchical mimicry: what happens is that the behavior inheritance persists. As it is passed down deeper in the organization, sans power, such behavior begins not to work so well. And at lower levels it gets muddied even further because it’s being used on individuals who don’t understand it, aren’t impressed by it, or are downright opposed to it. (p. 8) A leader focuses on the reasons why to make certain decision whereas a manager considers how and at what times decisions are made. Managers prefer to execute plans accordingly and maintain the status quo without deviating even when failures are experienced. If the company experienced failures, then a leader would learn from it and use it as a clarification point in order to get better and avoid losses in future. Levine and M. Crom (1993) in their book â€Å"The leader in you† highlight an example of leadership changes and state that â€Å"Good human relation skills have the ability to transform people from managing others to leading them. People can learn how to move from directing to guiding, from competing to collaborating and from operating under secrecy to one of sharing all of the information required, from a mode of passivity to a mode of risk taking, from one of regarding people as an expense to one of viewing people as an asset,† (P.15) In conclusion, management and leadership are not necessarily mutually exclusive. They are however different in that leadership entails inspiration as well as steering an organization whereas management is simply overseeing and delegating.

Tuberculosous essays

Tuberculosous essays Tuberculosis also known as TB, has existed since at least 2000 BC. The term tuberculosis was first used in 1839, and it is derived from the Latin word tubercula. Tubercula means a small lump, referring to the small scars seen in the tissues of infected individuals. This potentially serious infection spread mainly through the air from one person to another. TB usually infects the lungs, but can also cause symptoms that affect the whole body. (Human Diseases and Conditions, p.875) The disease is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, a rod-shaped bacterium. Symptoms of TB include coughing, chest pain, shortness of breath, loss of appetite, weight loss, fever, chills, and fatigue. Children and people with weakened immune systems are the most susceptible; half of all untreated TB cases are fatal. In most cases, inhaling tiny droplets of moisture that contain the Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacterium infects a person. These droplets form when a person sick with TB coughs, sneezes, or speaks. Small particles carrying two to three bacteria surrounded by a layer of moisture are released into the air. A sneeze may release as many as forty million microscopic droplets. There can be hundreds of bacilli in a single drop. (Tuberculosis, p.38) When the other person inhales these particles, the bacteria may lodge into that persons lungs and multiply. The body expels many inhaled tubercle bacilli before they can do harm. Some bacilli settle into the layer of mucus that lines most of the respiratory system, including the nasal passages and the tracheobronchial tree. The bacilli trapped in the mucus layer are moved up the airways toward the throat mouth and nose. The bacilli may then be sneezed, spat, coughed or blown out. (World Book, p.477) There are two types of infections, Primary and Secondary TB. In Primary TB, a person has become infected with the TB bacteria but is often not ...