culture, progress requires not only reducing but also eliminating failures while optimizing and educating workers to perform their tasks effectively.
These efforts could require significant changes in work practices,processes, and organization structure. Eventually, these changes become part of people’s daily work habits in the organization and lead to a positive reliability culture. But for these changes to truly become part of a reliability culture, an effective change management process must be executed.
Change Management
The process of bringing planned change to an organization. Change management usually means leading an organization through a series of steps to meet a defined goal. It requires the involvement of key players and stakeholders in order to minimize resistance to change. Synonymous with management of change (MOC).
Cultural Change
A major shift in the attitudes, norms, sentiments, beliefs, values, operating principles, and behavior of an organization.
Culture
A common set of values, beliefs, attitudes, perceptions, and accepted behaviors shared by individuals within an organization.
Leader
A person who guides others or whom other people follow. A leader holds a dominant position within a particular field and can exercise a high degree of influence over others.
Leadership
The act of inspiring a group of people or an organization to perform and engage in achieving a common goal. Leaders of the organization must establish a clear vision, communicate that vision to those in the organization, and provide the direction, resources, and knowledge necessary to achieve goals and accomplish the vision. Leadership may require coordinating and balancing the conflicting interests of all members or stakeholders.
Mission
An organization’s purpose and scope of operations that distinguishes the organization from others of its type. A mission is something to be accomplished, whereas a vision is something to be pursued for that accomplishment.
Organizational Culture
The beliefs and values that define how people interpret experiences and how they behave, both individually and in groups within an organization.
Strategy
An action plan that sets the direction for the coordinated use of resources through programs, projects, policies, and procedures, as well as organizational design and the establishment of performance standards.
Vision
The achievable dream of what an organization or a person wants to do and where it wants to go.
Leadership and Organizational Culture:Leadership Styles and Frameworks
What Is Leadership?
Leadership is not a position or a title; it is action and example.
— UNKNOWN
The great leader Nelson Mandela once said,“A leader is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along that they are being directed from behind.”
Leadership is polymorphic in nature; it takes on different meanings in different instances. Many times we confuse leadership and management. They have different roles. Many times we have to perform both roles, but they are often independent of each other. Managers are concerned about today; they often deal with budgets, schedules, etc. In contrast, leaders are concerned about tomorrow.
Contrary to popular belief, leadership has little to do with a person’s stature or placement in the organization’s hierarchy. It’s more about developing a positive attitude and transmitting it to others, encouraging them to reach a common goal. No matter what a person’s job responsibilities are, employees are expected to show their leadership skills at some point in the workplace.
Leadership Styles and Framework
Leadership style refers to a leader’s characteristic behaviors when directing, motivating, guiding, and managing groups of people. Great leaders can inspire a change movement and can also motivate others to perform, create, and innovate.
When we consider great leaders, we often see vast differences in how each person leads. Researchers have developed various theories and frameworks that allow us to better identify and understand these different leadership styles.
Lewin’s Leadership Styles
In 1939, a group of researchers led by psychologist Kurt Lewin identified different styles of leadership: authoritarian (autocratic), participative (democratic), and delegative (laissez-faire). Further research has since identified more distinct types of leadership. Nevertheless, this early study was very influential and provided a springboard for more defined leadership theories.
Authoritarian Leadership (Autocratic) Authoritarian leaders, also known as autocratic leaders, provide clear expectations for what needs to be done, when it should be done, and how it should be done. This style of leadership is focused strongly on both commands by the leader and control of the followers. There is also a clear division between the leader of the group and the members. Authoritarian leaders make decisions independently, with little or no input from the rest of the group.
An autocratic leadership style is a strong one-dimensional leadership style that gives full power or authority to the leader (boss/manager). The leader is the ultimate decision maker.
Participative Leadership (Democratic) The democratic leadership style is more participative in nature: The leader involves team members while making critical decisions. This style works well for an organization where team members are highly skilled and experienced. The best part of this kind of leadership style is that communication is active from top to bottom. Participative leaders encourage group members to be actively engaged in the process. As a result, the members are more motivated and creative. Democratic leaders tend to make followers feel like they are an important part of the team, which helps foster commitment to the team’s goals.
Delegative Leadership (Laissez-Faire) Delegative leaders offer little or no guidance to group members and leave the decision making up to the group members. Although this style can be useful in situations involving highly qualified experts, it often leads to poorly defined roles and a lack of motivation. Lewin noted that laissez-faire leadership tended to result in groups that lacked direction—where members blamed each other for mistakes, refused to accept personal responsibility, and produced a lack of progress and work.
Lewin’s study found that participative leadership, also known as democratic leadership, is typically the most effective leadership style.
Additional Styles of Leadership
In addition to the three styles identified by Lewin and his colleagues,researchers in this field have described numerous other characteristic patterns of leadership. Here are just a few of the best-known leadership styles:
Transformational Leadership Transformational leadership is often identified as the single most effective style. This style was first described during the late 1970s and later expanded upon by researcher Bernard M. Bass. Some of its key characteristics are the ability to motivate and inspire followers and to direct positive changes in groups.
Transformational leaders tend to be emotionally intelligent, energetic, and passionate. They are committed not only to helping the organization achieve its goals but also to helping group members fulfill their potential. Research has revealed that this style of leadership results in higher performance and more improved group satisfaction than other leadership styles.
Situational Leadership Situational leadership stresses the