Leadership effectiveness and staff turnover at XYZ College

Leadership and Change Management

History and experience suggest that effective leadership is integral to organizational success, as well as the success of individual members within the organization. Well, studies have given different perspectives as to what exactly constitutes effective leadership; however, what they all agree on is that effective leadership aids in the effective and efficient management of organizational resources and relationships as well as in the building of power and strength in the organization. Employees need leadership to inspire and motivate them to align their personal goals with those of the organization, and to give their all in the conduction of their duties. In the same way, clients and customers need leadership to inspire confidence and trust in an organization's output. Investors too need leadership to inspire confidence in the organization's stocks and assets. Good leadership, therefore, invariably produces greater benefits for the organization in terms of motivated employees, satisfied customers, confident investors, and properly-achieved strategic goals. Based on this background, this report examines the leadership capabilities and leadership resources of XYZ College with the aim of determining how effective they are in helping the organization realize its strategic goals and objectives. It begins with a brief overview of the organization and its operations.

Overview of XYZ College

The organization selected for analysis is a 7-12 religious college in the outback of Australia, for which the researcher currently works. It commits itself to fostering spirituality and faith among students, and instilling a sense of justice, fairness, compassion, responsibility and inner direction to enable them develop the physical, social, emotional, and spiritual potential needed to succeed in a complex and dynamic society. The organization's mission is to bring parents, staff and students to journey together in faith, with a focus on providing holistic education within a welcoming and caring environment. Through this mission statement, the organization affirms its commitment to work collaboratively with all factions of the community to make it a better place for everyone. Christ, the Good Shepherd, stands at the center of this mission -- the organization relies on Him for strength and guidance to be able to make a difference in the community and the world over.

The Problem

XYZ College's strategic objective is to keep staff turnover to a minimum thus creating stability in the college and good academic results for students. This strategic vision, together with the organizational mission, form the basis around which the college operates. However, the organization has been falling short of its strategic vision. The rate of staff turnover at the institution is significantly high, making it difficult for students to establish effective, long-lasting relationships with their teachers. At times, a student could have over four teachers in the same subject over a span of one year. This causes chaos and brings about a lack of continuity in the teaching and learning realm. The situation is worsened by the fact that the college is forced to recruit teaching staff at the beginning of the year, and this increases the risk of recruiting teachers who either have no experience or who are unable to get jobs elsewhere due to incompetence. The reasons for the high turnover rates include high rent, low pay, airfares to go away on holiday and job isolation given that the college is located in a desert-mining town. Experience has, however, led me to believe that ineffective leadership could also be a factor in staff turnover at the college. The subsequent sections are focused on evaluating this argument. The paper concludes with a set of recommendations on how the leadership aspect as well as those other aspects could be addressed to reduce the extent of the problem in future.

Leadership at XYZ College

Engagement of the Human Side of the Organization

The engagement of the human resources of an organization is best explained using McGregor's theory, which categorizes the degree of engagement as either X or Y. The theory suggests that the management style adopted by a leader is influenced by the assumptions and beliefs they hold about their employees. The X degree of engagement (referred to as Theory X) assumes that employees do not like to work, and have to be threatened forced or controlled in order to do what is expected of them (Griffin, 2012). This is the engagement theory to which the deputy principal subscribes -- it forms the basis of her autocratic and authoritative leadership approach. Generally, however, the organization follows Theory Y, which assumes that employees enjoy their work, and are internally-motivated to achieve the performance levels expected of them (Griffin, 2012). The theory postulates that as long as conditions are favorable, employees will seek and accept responsibility, and will be more inclined to innovate for the sake of achieving the organization's goals. Incentives are one way through which organizations can make the conditions favorable, and hence, increase the motivation levels of employees.

Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory provides an effective model for designing incentives, which could take any form from monetary incentives to social acceptance (Maslow, 2013). It suggests that individuals are motivated through a set of basic needs that are arranged in the form of a hierarchy, with the lowest-order needs at the bottom. These needs range from i) physiological needs -- the needs of the human body including the need for sensory gratification, sleep, and food; ii) safety needs -- the need to be safe (free from environmental threats and danger); iii) affiliation needs -- the need to belong and to feel loved; iv) esteem needs -- the need to feel a sense of accomplishment and achievement; and v) self-actualization needs -- the need to achieve one's maximum potential. The first two are referred to as lower-order needs, and the higher-order needs can only be satisfied if these (lower-level needs) have been met. In the organizational context, Maslow's hierarchy of needs can be interpreted as shown in table 1 below.

Table 1: Maslow's Needs Theory in the Organizational Context

Need Level Need Satisfaction

Level 1: Physiological providing a living wage that can allow one to purchase food, clothing comfortably

Level 2: Safety needs providing working conditions that are physically safe

Level 3: Affiliation creating an environment for socialization, democratic decision-making

Level 4: Self-esteem providing rewarding work and bonus pay

Level 5: Self-actualization establishing an environment that favors creativity and innovation

(Source: Miller, 2008, p. 39)

Social acceptance comes to play when a leader engages their human resources in the leadership and decision-making processes through participative leadership (affiliation needs). When employees feel like their views are being appreciated and taken into consideration, they feel like part of the organization, and are motivated to give their best to see it succeed. XYZ College affirms its commitment to engaging its human factor in its mission statement, where it commits to bringing parents, staff and students to journey together in faith. This implies that it recognizes its staff as important members, just like the students and the parents are. In other words, employees are not just tools to be used in the realization of goals. Junior leaders at all levels of management are required to observe this aspect in their decision-making and administrative functions. The same is the standard adopted by the two assistant principals. How committed the organization is to observing this standard in the decision-making process, however, is a matter of debate given that its top-level management seems to negate the very principles that govern its operations.

Communication of Strategic Goals and Objectives

One of the primary roles of a leader is to communicate the organization's strategic vision to the people below them in the organizational hierarchy (Office of Personnel Management, 1998). Effective and clear communication of the strategic vision helps to ensure that employees understand exactly what is expected of them, and what their specific roles in the achievement of the same are (Daft, 2014; Mullan and Lypson, 2011). Effective communication of the strategic vision, therefore, helps in the effective alignment of employees' personal goals with those of the organization (Rothwell, 2009; Hitt, Ireland and Hoskisson, 2006). Some of the key things that ought to be communicated to employees in this regard include the strategic plan, the specific objectives to be met, and timelines and deadlines for completion (Office of Personnel Management, 1998). Daft (2014) further suggests that the said communication be a continuous process to ensure that the vision 'sticks' and becomes an integral part of the organizational culture.

A personal investigation into the operations of the college for the years that I have worked there reveals that the strategic plan and organizational mission are not clearly communicated to staff and other stakeholders. Most members of staff are actually not familiar with the strategic vision -- the mission is better-known since it is displayed publicly on the institution's notice boards. Apart from the Monday and Friday briefings, there are no other forums where staff interact physically with their managers to be briefed on what their specific roles in the achievement of the strategic plan are, what the organization is doing to achieve the strategic objectives, or what progress has been made so far. This creates a real instability when it comes to staff understanding their exact roles in the organization's strategic plan, notwithstanding the fact that the strategic plan is not very clear in itself and is very much open to interpretation.

In as much as other factors such as high rent, low pay, airfares to go away on holiday and job isolation have a role in the organization's failure to achieve its strategic goals, it is evident now that gaps in leadership are also an issue of concern. The perfect model for improvement, therefore, would need to address the common lifestyle issues as well as those created by the imminent gaps in leadership. Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory provides an effective framework for addressing the issues contributing to high staff turnover.

In relation to the satisfaction of the lower-level needs, I recommend that the college:

i) provide significant subsidies to flights and rent to discourage staff from leaving

ii) increase salary options to measure up to the cost of living in such a remote area

In relation to the higher-order, needs, I recommend that the college leadership:

iii) provide numerous PD opportunities interstate and in other schools to make staff feel like they belong to the community

iv) devise a mentorship program where new staff are allocated mentors to facilitate not only the conduction of their jobs, but also their settling down in the town

v) allocate bonus payments for every year worked to encourage staff to stay longer

vi) have all staff involved in the big picture view so there is a sense of belonging and ownership

vii) organize more social/community events for staff to feel like part of the local community

viii) perform more delegation of duties to enable staff realize their maximum potential

ix) devise strategies for making the process of communication of strategic goals a more continuous and regular process