Enhancing leadership and interpersonal skills in organizational change management

LEADERSHIP, INTERPERSONAL SKILLS, DECISION-MAKING research paper prepared for the staff of New Jersey Publishing Corporation

Improving Leaders and Interpersonal Relationship

Communication Skills

Written, Oral, Listening, Perception)

Organization and Planning

This research paper analyzes the effect of leadership skills providing direction, interpersonal skills in interacting with others and decision making.

It includes oral communication skills, written business communication, and perception skills important in analyzing problems and proposing solutions.

Final component deals with organizational change and self-designing change management.

The research paper will be the basis of a proposal for a seminar workshop to enhance staff knowledge of such qualities as leadership and ability to interact with others for the enhancement of the capabilities of the staff.

Executive Summary

To counteract dire predictions in the globalized world, leadership, interpersonal relationship and decision-making in the corporate world should undergo enhancement, strengthening and change in design

The process takes careful analysis, outlining of problems and needs of all organizations undergoing change.

The research includes observations of what happens when leadership resides in only one person. It advocates leadership reposing in all other members of the organization.

Also included are oral communication, written business communication (business letters, memoranda).

The last component of the Research is organization planning and change. This outlines the complex process design management must go through so that effective change will be achieved in the organization.

Statement of the Problem

This study deals with the environment in which present day organizations exist. It aims to prove how organization through decisive leadership and self-designing schemes can improve the organizational set up.

Leadership, Interpersonal Skills, Decision-Making

Introduction

We are going through dramatic changes in corporate life, with knowledge and information explosion brought about by forced technology operations, the industrial wheel is turning faster than ever. It seems Zbigniew Brzezinski, writer and great thinker, has reason to predict a global climate that is going out of control. (Brzezinski, Zbigniew. Out of Control. N.Y, Simon and Schuster. 1993).

John Naisbitt (Naisbitt, John. Megatrends. Ten New Directories Transforming our Lives. N.Y, Warver Communications, 1982) talks of ten new directions changing our lives. There are economy-based, industrially powered.

We believe we can reverse all such dire predictions by successful leadership, successful interpersonal relationship in human resource management and successful communication.

These are all big words - narrowing them down to the basics will help.

Improving Leadership and Interpersonal Relationship

What do we aim for in improving leadership and interpersonal relationship? Organizational development. The objective is to improve human effectiveness in organized settings.

Effectiveness means that the objectives are being achieved in a cost-effective and humanly sound way; organized settings mean that the effort is to increase effectiveness when more than one individual is involved. (Blake, Robert R., Jane Srygley Mouton, & Ann Adams McCause. Change by Design. Mass.: Addison Wesley Publication, 1991).

Corporate executives with similar (corporate) background, in terms of corporate culture normally display strong leadership qualities, showing confidence in the strength of their convictions. As a result, participative management has been ushered in, with a focus on synergistic teamwork. Executives must learn to merge their own ideas with those of others in order to get the job done in a way that spells productivity for the corporation as a whole. Obviously this cannot be achieved in a situation where everybody says "yes" to the boss or all are doing their own thing. Consider the following points:

When three or more people of equal rank meet with crisis, there is widespread reluctance for any members to exercise initiative. Reluctance increases with the size of the group.

When one person is in charge, that person tends to assume full responsibility and to step forward and exercise full initiative.

When the person in change exercises such initiatives, others adopt a passive, follow-the-leader orientation.

When the person in charge seeks to solve the crisis, he or she does so directly by telling others what to do.

Centralizing authority in himself or herself, the person in charge effectively shuts out input from others.

Those not in change are reluctant to speak up even when they disagree with the high risk behavior of the person in charge, thereby shutting themselves out of the problem-solving loop.

Points 4, 5 & 6 become stronger when the competence of the person in charge has been demonstrated previously.

These findings lead to strong conclusion. The issue is not merely that of lodging authority in the single person who is in charge and therefore in control.

The conventional manner of taking charge and directing action, without consulting others as to their diagnosis or recommendations, has the ill effect of shutting out potentially valuable input that they may be in a position to provide in line with points 2-6. If that input is needed but unavailable and the leader has the strong concept of the problem to be solved or of the best option for solving it, the results can lead to tragic consequences. (Blake, etc., p.25).

A strong leadership based on meaningful interpersonal relationship and a 2-way communication prove that involving the rest of the working force in decision-making lead to corporate success, greater productivity, a better bonding relationship and pride in a sense of belongingness.

Strong leaders are characterized by greatness, accomplishments, moral and intellectually sound causes. A dedicated person tends to be mature and healthy. A corporation would naturally desire its staff from the CEO down to the rank and file to be dedicated and committed to the firm's goals and objectives. Dedicated commitment results when the members feel a stake in the outcome of their efforts. They work hard to reach their goal and feel responsible for outcomes, realizing that their endeavors create an impact and make a difference. It is corporate culture that determines whether the members understand and effectively manage the environment that enhances involvement, commitment, and dedication.

Successful corporations strongly identify with organization performance objectives with its members. One sees this in the positive morals, strong commitment efforts aimed achieving corporate excellence. It is the basis of corporate health. It happens when everybody works toward corporate achievement. Members feel good about their business firm. It is because they feel secure about being a family member of that corporation. People feel they are treated well. Good relations exist.

Strong leadership provides the (Blake, etc. 73) directions toward sound change business movement and action toward achievement and success. A strong leadership emanate from the staff, the workforce, the members. It is the total, the entire corporation itself.

Communication Skills

Written, Oral, Listening, Perception)

Communication skills assume varied forms: let us consider written, oral, listening, perception skills component. They form an integral part of organization communication. Written communication may be in the form of memoranda, letters, speeches, news releases, proposals, reports, executive summaries, and others.

Before anything written is sent out: from one department to another, from one section to another, from the CEO to the staff, from the staff to the head, director, one prepares the memorandum. The memorandum is an internal communication and as in letters, rules should be observed in the preparation. The KISS principle (keep it short and simple) and the four major C's of a composition: (clear, complete, concise, correct) should be observed. Formats and how to's (procedure), should followed, while courtesy is never neglected. The you - attitude is adopted which means one writes from the point-of-view of the reader. There are rules and rules to follow, the first and foremost of which is to be grammatically correct - know how to address the pope, the archbishop, the president and other major officials of the government. But of course before you go to the computer to prepare your letter, know why you are writing the memo or the letter - what is your message; what do you want done.

Oral communication is inclusive of delivering speeches, oral business presentations. Of course, before writing, an outline is a must so that the message is very clear.

Audience analysis has been made, visuals have been prepared and the speaker has rehearsed and prepared himself/herself to face the audience.

If you are the listener yourself, proper behavior in the audience, due courtesy to the speaker, joining in the open forum are musts.

Conclusion

Organizations exist today in an environment that is changing in fundamental ways and is demanding changes beyond the status quo. New organizational forms are emerging and older organizational forms need to be able to transform themselves through time. Continuous improvement and design will be characteristic of successful organizations of the future.

Today's organizations are built on decisions made by the leadership. Decision are based on the results of the learning process. As mentioned, ours is well on its way to the emergence and stabilization of a knowledge or information society. The members will have to make their decisions to try new approaches - learning what works and forgetting what does not. The major decision to be made is whether to change the organization. Therefore they themselves should be adept at planning and designing change and in implementing and refining it.

Successful organizations should also deal at the same time with the need for integration and differentiation. They should decide on the common direction to take and consistency when appropriate and integration diverse parts when common action is needed.

Yet they must encourage local innovations and diversity in change as units seek to improve their performance, in most cases becoming self-contained.

Today's organization must be flexible -designs for changes must be temporary. It must be information rich, creating and maintaining multiple information channels that integrate the many diverse parts of the organizations. Yet it must work towards creating self-contained units that can maximize their own performance. The organization that can address today's challenges must find ways to involve many stakeholders in determining its future.

Leaders face a difficult time. There is a need for increased communication, risk taking, learning and changing. Organizations must be adept at involving, informing and winning commitment from diverse stakeholders, empowering people to do what is necessary to achieve organizational goals and seeing to it that those who contribute in the scheme share in the rewards.

Proposal to Hold a Seminar Workshop on Leadership

Interpersonal Skills and Decision-Making

The New Jersey Publishing Corporation will hold a seminar workshop for all its staff on Leadership, Interpersonal Skills and Decision-Making at 9-5, Dec. 26-28, 2002 at its Conference Hall.

Invited to be resource persons are Ms. Susan Albers Mohrman who will discuss Interpersonal Skills; Mr. Thomas G. Cummings, the Dynamics of Leadership, and Mr. Robert P. Blake, Decision-Making.

Materials will be reproduced and distributed to the participants. Lunch and snacks will be served courtesy of the company.

Certificates of completion will be distributed at 5:00pm on the last day - to those who will complete the 24 hours of the seminar workshop.

Letter of Transmittal

THE CEO

New Jersey Publishing Corporation

Dear Sir:

We are hereby submitting a proposal to hold a seminar workshop on Leadership, Interpersonal Skills and Decision-Making on Dec. 26-28, 2002.

Attached is a research paper on the topics prepared by Ms. Ann Adam of our Research Department.

We should like to have further information on the subject so we are proposing to hold a seminar workshop.

We know that a workshop on the topics will enhance our knowledge of the subject. May we have your approval.

Susan Garadon

Chairman

Seminar-Workshop

Bibliography/References/Work Cited

Andrews, Deborah C. And William D. Andrew. Business Communication. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1988.

Blake, Robert R., Jane Srygley Mouton and Ann Adams McCause. Change by Design. Massachusetts: Addison Wesley Publishing Company, 1991.

Brzezinski, Zbignew. Out of Control. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993.

Ewald, Helen Rothschild and Rebecca E. Burnett. Business Communication. New York: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1997.

Hirschhorn, Larry. Managing in the New Team Environment. Massachusetts: Addison Wesley Publication Company, 1991.

Mohrman, Susan Albers and Thomas G. Cummings. Self-Designing Organization. Massachusetts: Addison Wesley Publishing Company, 1991.

Naisbitt, John. Megatrends. Ten New Directories Transforming our Lives. N.Y, Warver Communications, 1982