Reframing Organizations Analysis the Primary

Reframing Organizations Analysis

The primary premise of the chapters is that a good leader takes stock of a situation and responds accordingly in the most appropriate way. According to the author, it is ideal to avoid responses that are too confrontational or too passive. Instead, a proper response is one that is well thought out and avoids becoming defensive. The example given the chapters was of a new manager being challenged by the old manager. Instead of responding in a defensive way, she acknowledged his concerns and kept her answer respectful, courteous, and positive.

The secondary premise of the chapters was that leaders need not already be in influential positions. It is just as important for a manager to show good leadership as it is for a CEO. Along this same line of thought, it is important that those in leadership positions strive to improve their overall integrative approaches and seek to one day become more influential leaders themselves.

Question 2: The evidence given for this premise in the chapters is the story of Mayor Rudy Julliani shortly before and immediately following the 9/11 attack. Regardless of Julliani's negative status in the city of New York and his drop in the polls and scant chance for re-election, Jilliani took stock of the situation and rose to the occasion. The result of his leadership response was hero status in the city.

Prior to 9/11, Rudy was not an influential leader. In fact, he was on the verge of losing his position. However, he stepped up and used an integrated approach to leadership, resulting in even more support from voters. He was not afraid to do tasks that were not in his specific role, such as giving tours to dignitaries or negotiating contracts to reopen the theater district.

Question 3: These chapters are in agreement with the two case studies covered in class. In the Hopkins study, Ann Hopkins was not a notable person within the company. In fact, it took her years to even be considered as a partner. However, she did not let her status as simply a manager effect her job performance. In fact, she used it as a reason to press harder and make even more improvements and complete jobs even more effectively at the firm. Regardless of her efforts, she still was denied partnership due to her confrontational nature. It is this point that the readings specifically bring up. Being too confrontational of a leader is a very bad thing and can effect one's overall image and perception within the company. If Ann had tried to improve her overall appearance and used a more positive tone when at work, she would have not had to struggle in order to move up in her company.

The second case study reveals, once again, how overall image is important. Scandinavian Airlines had two failed presidents in a row and the company was on the verge of bankruptcy when Carlzon stepped in. Carlzon had a prior reputation as being very creative and innovative in his approaches to improving businesses. In fact, he had a record of turning businesses around in just one year. This image was not built overnight. Carlzon had begun improving and acquiring the necessary skills even in college, where he was in charge of parties. He learned from his mistakes and made notes of where he could improve. By the time he reached Scandinavian Airlines, he had no problem turning around the business quickly with something as simple as lowering the off-peak fairs to sell all the seats.

Another case study, one of Jack Welch, points out yet another prominent point from the reading. Those in leadership must be prepared and know their role within a company and how to use it. Jack Welch became the CEO of General Electric and was tasked with bringing the company's profits up in a recession. In this case, he realized that it was an issue of the internal affairs of the business and not so much customer service issues. In response, Welch transformed the company through creating fresh action plans for each department, eliminating departments that were not making the market's best products, and creating an internal structure that encouraged employee growth and improvement, moving employees toward becoming leaders within the company. The purpose of the changes was to reform GE into a modern, growing company. The way that Welch was able to do all this was the key: he got rid of all the company's red tape and bureaucracy. Welch knew that in order for the company to thrive, there could only be one leader at the front of the company and one leaders of each respective department. Any red tape that slowed this process down harmed the company. Once he eliminated the red tape, the company thrived and grew.

In Bernard Bass's article "Leadership and Performance Beyond Expectations," his descriptions of inspiring leaders are directly in line with the course reading. The bottom line is that the best leaders do more than simply order workers around. Instead, the best leaders work as a team, pulling in people from various departments and "guide" the overall processes. Additionally, a good leader does not take all the credit, but instead gives due credit to all members of the team, further inspiring achievement. It is these characteristics that differentiate the good and bad leaders.

Finally, in Robert House's article, "Culture, Leadership, and Organizations, he found that the amount of force used in a leadership position does differ based on the culture of the business. Again, as emphasized in the reading, a good leader always takes time to carefully consider their words and actions and finds the most agreeable and positive way to make this happen.