Brandy A. Lee
ORGL 500 Organizational Leadership & Development
Dr. “Buck” Rogers
June 6, 2009
I have spent some time contemplating about what I would write regarding Organizational Health and Dysfunction. One day I even posted on my facebook that I needed to write this paper and promptly received to “comments” with suggestions and some reminders about what I had done in the past as a manager. Honestly I was a little embarrassed about what I had done and it was something I had completely forgotten about. So, while I was going to write about how dysfunctional the organizations were, I have instead taken a look inside of me as a manager and leader. It has been quite insightful for me and I believe more people need to step back and take a personal evaluation.
In my working life I have almost always held some kind of managerial position or a leadership role. I have also experienced what Yukl calls a “widespread fascination with leadership… because it is such a mysterious process, as well as one that touches everyone’s life” (1). Frankly I have always looked at leadership in the terms of power, authority, management, administration, control, and supervision (2). Because of this view, many times I have exercised what Yukl calls an “unethical use of power” (4).
One of the responses to my status update on facebook said:
Brady A: “Your experience about dysfunction can be about your involvement with me in student government.... remeber that time you let me have it?”
Brandy A. Lee: “Brady, did I really let you have it once? I'm so sorry :/ Forgive me?
It is interesting that a lot of opinion leaders in Organizational Leadership say that dysfunction in leaders normally comes from personal issues. I believe this to be true to a degree. In college were are seeking to establish our place (to a degree in this world) and become ... oppressors of the liberation we seek.”
Brady A: “I deserved it. It was when I didn't go the the Ogden City Council declaring something officially weber state (official homecoming week or something).... anyways I was the external relations director and I was supposed to be the liason with local gov and I opted to do homework instead of attend. Well you ever so kindly informed me of my job duties ... and if I couldn't hack it I shouldn't have applied for the position. It was one of those times I wanted so badly to fight back but I had nothing....you were right and I was wrong! No need to forgive - I was in the wrong and you corrected me. For real, the world needs people who aren't afraid to stand up! Job well done!”
Stacy Olsen Parker: “Brandy is amazing...she let me have it once too, but I won't ever accept an apology from her. She was right--I was wrong and it really taught me something. Glad I'm not the only one she made an impression on! :D”
At the first response I was mortified! I let someone have it? This was three years ago when I worked with him. There is so much I have learned about leadership and management since, and I realized I had become the oppressor Frier talked about. During my time of seeking liberation through a college education and involvement, I was oppressing those around me. Was I right most often? Yes. Was it the best way to go about being a leader? No.
In the Mentor Gallery Raymond Reyes talks about how leadership is “learning how to love… and once you learn how to love, and it’s a process… that we are then called into service and do something with that love.” Looking back on myself as a leader I had not yet learned how to love, and I am still working on it. So often leaders are looking to be validated for what they are doing and I was one of them. I was right, but I did not approach the challenge with compassion but went guns blazing into the people who stood in the way of my perceived success.
Another Mentor Gallery guest stated:
“A lot of people are more selfish than others. So, it’s up to the leaders of the organization to promote collective interest. You rarely have to promote self-interest. People have a natural resonance with their self-interest. So, leadership has to remind and model what collective interest is, and how collective interest and self-interest are not in competition but can be collaborative in terms of a rising tide lifts all boats.”
I was the selfish leader who hadn’t learned how to promote collective interests. Yukl states, “Leaders inspire followers to willingly sacrifice their selfish interests for a higher cause” (5). When I read this quote, I understood what I hadn’t before realized. Leaders inspire people to give up themselves for the good of those around them. Effective leaders are born when they learn to love and then step into service.
Yukl classifies the Four Primary Processes in Managing as: (1) developing and maintaining relationships, (2) obtaining and providing information, (3) making decisions, and (4) influencing people. “These processes are interwoven among a manager’s activities, and any specific activity may involve more than one process” (45). These four items all need a certain degree of love, service, and sacrifice. They also require time management, delegation, and planning. The following figure shows how all these activities overlap and create a necessity for self-management:
Figure 1-1 Four Primary Processes in Managing
Perhaps self-management and delegation is where my greatest dysfunction as a leader/manager was, and perhaps still is. Delegation is perhaps one of my biggest weaknesses. I recognized that I fail to delegate because I know that if I do it, it will be done the way I want and in my timeframe. If I handed a task over to someone else, there was a potential for perceived leadership failure on my part if it was not completed. The selfish, needy person inside of me was wanton for recognition.
I failed to recognize the benefits of being a true leader and of delegation. Yukl states, “One potential advantage of delegation, like other forms of participation and power sharing, is the improvement of decision quality… Another potential advantage of delegation is greater subordinate commitment to implement decisions effectively” (105). Buy-in on a project and decisions becomes key to effective team work.
In a study done by Yukl & Fu (1999) 97% of managers said delegation was important because it helped develop subordinate skill and confidence. Another 89% said it helped to increase subordinate commitment to a task. If the show is about “me” then others will wonder why they are even involved. However, if the how is about “us” we can all rejoice together at the end of a project well done and the tide of success lifts all the boats in the harbor.
Reyes stated, “It is in this thing we call life that we reveal our dysfunction.” What I have written is only a brief insight on what I feel to be my own personal dysfunctions. I have worked in many organizations that have struggles and I believe that each of them bring out something new for us to work on as leaders and managers. Yukl states, “Acts of leadership often have multiple motives, and it is seldom possible to determine the extent to which they are selfless rather than selfish. The outcomes of leader actions usually include a mix of costs and benefits, some of which are unintended, making if difficult to infer purpose” (5).
My intention was never to rake a person over the coals and have it be the experience they remember me for four years later. But as Yukle stated, there are costs and benefits. This self-evaluation has helped me identify places where I need further improvements so as to be a more effective leader in the things I am doing now, and in my future opportunities that will shortly be before me. It has also helped me identify ways I can better work with other leaders around me.
REFERENCES
Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York, NY: The Continuum International Publishing Group Inc.
Online conversation. (n.d.). Retrieved June 6, 2009, from facebook: http://www.facebook.com.
Yukl, G. (2001). Leadership in organizations. Paramus, NJ: Prentice Hall.
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