Leadership Vision Over the last several years, a wide variety of organizations have been addressing challenges associated with effective leadership. This is because most firms have traditionally created strategies behind closed doors and then introduced these ideas to everyone. The problem with this kind of approach is that no one is able to share the same kind of vision as the individuals in the planning group. The reason why is, most people were left out of the process (which makes it difficult to become excited about the new strategy). Once this takes place, is when a firm will waste time, money and resources in trying to implement an approach that has very little support.

Evidence of this can be seen with observations from Lussier (2009) he determined that vision and sharing is essential for any kind of organization to be successful. Commenting about these ideas Lussier observed, "Organizational leaders too often plunge into a long-term planning process without first deliberating on certain fundamental factors. Effective leaders must understand that creating a vision involves content, process and implementation. To be widely accepted, vision creation should be a shared exercise." (Lussier, 2009, pg. 424) This is illustrating how all good leaders will use the ideas of vision and sharing to motivate everyone around them. To fully understand how this occurs requires: examining the importance of vision / sharing, organizations that are facing challenges from these issues and assessing five failures of ineffective leadership. Together, these different elements will provide the greatest insights as to the role leaders are playing in conflict resolution and problem solving.

The Importance of Vision and Sharing

The significance of vision and sharing are that they help to bring different stakeholders into the planning process. This takes into account numerous viewpoints when creating any kind of strategy. At the same time, the ability to bring more individuals into the process will create a shared set of values. These ideas can be discussed with other employees to establish broad support for new programs that are being introduced. The combination of these factors will create a situation where everyone will do more for the firm. This is because they are: having their basic needs addressed and feel that the different viewpoints are taken into consideration.

Evidence of this can be seen with observations from Kantabutra (2010). She observed, "Effective visions are characterized by conciseness, clarity, abstractness, stability, future orientation, challenge and desirability or ability to inspire. Such visions are associated with higher performance outcomes." (Kantabutra, 2010, pg. 37) This is illustrating how all leaders will utilize a strategy that is bringing more people into the decision making process. In the future, this is increasing the ability of firms to take these ideas and create a shared vision that everyone is supporting. This is when organizations can adjust to different challenges (as they are more responsive to needs of stakeholders).

Identify organizations that may be facing economic, human capital, and ethical issues in which conflict between vision and stated missions

One of the best examples of an organization that is facing economic and ethical issues is the U.S. government. The way that this is occurring is most individuals in positions of power have sense of entitlement about their position. This means that they believe they have a right to continue to serve in public office for: their own benefits and what they can provide to their Congressional district. This is occurring through what is known as pork barrel spending (which wastes government resources on projects that benefit limited numbers of people). This problem has become so engrained that is contributing to record debt levels. These issues are a combination of ethical and economic difficulties, which are from a lack of leadership. This is taking place with no one standing up against these practices (inside Congress) and demanding some kind of change. Instead, when new individuals...

Over the course of time, this has been having an adverse impact on consumer and business confidence. Until these kinds of issues are addressed, by creating effective strategies for shared vision. There will be no improvement in dealing with these challenges. (Chait, 2007, pp. 155 -- 275)
Application of the Five Failure Factors

One of the keys that are used to help make any kind of organization successful is the ability to inspire others around them. However, when there is a breakdown in effective leadership most firms will begin to exhibit a number of characteristics. To include: failure to brainstorm, a lack of flexibility, the inability to use specific skill sets, wanting to abandon the strategy after some challenges and not valuing gender diversity. Any one or a combination of these factors can create situations where there is a lack of leadership. As a result, all entities must be prepared to effectively deal with these challenges over the long-term. (Goldsmith, 2012, pp. 224 -- 241)

In a conflict situation, these areas can create a number of issues that must be dealt with by executives. The way that a failure to brainstorm will have an effect on clashes is to create a sense of divisiveness inside the firm. This is because no one feels that the strategy is addressing the most important issues that are impacting stakeholders. During a conflict, this can cause many employees to become very frustrated with the process and seek out new opportunities elsewhere. This is when an organization can slowly lose its pool of talent. (Goldsmith, 2012, pp. 224 -- 241)

A lack of flexibility is when no one is willing to work with each other through negotiating solutions to different problems. This can intensify the conflict by failing to address the main challenges and not responding to pressing issues. When this takes place, it can create situations where there will be greater amounts of animosity inside an organization (leading to completed break down in organizational controls). (Goldsmith, 2012, pp. 224 -- 241)

The inability to use specific skill sets is when managers are placing employees in areas where they will be least effective. This will have an impact on the ability of the organization to achieve its objectives by: not focusing on utilizing the strengths of various staff members. In the future, this creates a situation where employees will feel that managers are ineffective (based upon the personnel choices they are making). Once this takes place, is when most staff members will refuse to respond to the requests of managers. This is the point that productivity will decline and the total liabilities will increase. (Goldsmith, 2012, pp. 224 -- 241)

Wanting to abandon the strategy after several challenges is illustrating how no one believes in the approach that is being utilized. This is because, employees think that these ideas are not working based upon some kind of short-term challenges they are facing. When this occurs, it creates a situation where everyone is willing to do just enough. This can cause divisions and more conflict from these viewpoints. In the future, this means that talented employees will go elsewhere because they are tired of the negative work environment (from this attitude). (Goldsmith, 2012, pp. 224 -- 241)

Not valuing gender diversity can create divisions inside a firm and it can invite possible discrimination lawsuits. This can create a poisonous work environment (which will increase the conflicts inside the organization). At the same time, this issue could destroy the image of the firm, by showing how there is a policy that discriminates against women. In the future, this increases the chances that these kinds of issues will boil over into some kind of conflict. (Goldsmith, 2012, pp. 224 -- 241)

Assessing the Role of Leaders in Conflict Resolution and Problem Solving

Leaders play a major role in dealing with conflicts and solving problems. The way that this is taking place, is they will serve as…