Analysis of Leadership and Management Issues

Executive summary:

Through effective workforce’s management, managers not only can meet all the employee’s needs but also improve individual productivity, professional skill and expertise of each employee in the workplace thereby improving the workforce's productivity. This report will also demonstrate the issues that are identified in the leadership and management process in the case studies thereby determining the flaws in skills and competencies of organisational managers in overcoming all these issues in the right way. This report will evaluate managerial competencies and skills to promote effective workplace development and employee management and formulate effective strategies to solve any issues regarding workplace management in terms of improving organisational operations. This report will also present the employee development theory thereby determining the employee needs in the given case study. In this context, this report will discuss how the managers will assist and determine the employee's developmental needs and propose an effective tailored solution to meet all these needs to improve the organisational productivity

Introduction:

For developing a highly productive and well-organised workforce, organisational leaders need to apply the highly appropriate and effective workplace management and employee development process (Osborne and Hammoud, 2017). Through effective workforce management, managers not only can meet employee needs but also improve individual productivity, professional skill and expertise of each employee in the workplace thereby improving workforce productivity. This report will first demonstrate the issues that are identified in the given case studies regarding workplace management and the training of employees. Then it will evaluate managerial competencies and skills to promote effective workplace development and employee management and formulate effective strategies to solve any issue regarding workplace management in terms of improving the organisational operations. This report will also present suitable employee development theories thereby determining the employee- needs in the given case studies. In this context, this report will discuss how managers will assist and determine the employee’s developmental needs and propose an effective tailored solution to meet all these needs to improve organisational productivity.

Skills of managers in workplace management and employee development:

While it comes to develop effective workplace management and employee development, managers of an organisation need to need to be enough competent to formulate and apply effective strategies as well as theories into the organisational framework to improves employee productivity and develop a healthy and highly creative workplace (Morgan and Rayner, 2019). By analysing the issues regarding workplace management and employee development in the three given case study it can be stated that managers of these case studies must have the following competencies and skills in terms of improving the entire workforce.

Good leadership and management skills:

Democratic and transformational leadership: ( 1st case study)

Managers must have strong leadership and management skill which will not only assists the mangers to direct the entire workforces towards the right direction to achieve the common organisational goals but also promote good continuous professional and personal development in employees (Wojtczuk-Turek, 2020). Managers must have the skills on leading the enter workplace in such as effective manner that will enable them to determine, evaluate and analyse all the workplace issues and thus apply their critical thinking as well as analysing skills to formulate the right strategies to solve all these issues to maintain a creative, supportive and synergistic workforce (Khari and Sinha, 2018). In the first case study, Johan Mikovich, the VP of Complete Financial Returns Ltd. (CFR) can better use the democratic and transformational leadership approach to solve the conflict and arguments between Sharma and Cooper. Although Oja et al. (2020) argued in this context that in case of unhealthy competition, fights and conflict among staff cannot be solved through repeated conferences and meetings and that can interfere with the common organisational goals. Organisational leaders must be strict to pose legal and regulatory pressures on the stubborn employees to maintain organisational discipline. However, in the first case study, autocratic and transactional leadership can worsen the level of conflict between the two staff, rather by using democratic and transformational leadership Mikovich can develop a compromising and collaborative approach in Copper and Sharma by listening and analysing the issues both ends (Khari and Sinha, 2018). These leadership approaches will enable Mikovich to make a transparent discussion on the issues with Cooper and Sharma thereby making them realise that how their ugly fights interfere with not only their professional accountability towards their organisation but also with the organisational reputation.

Autocratic and transactional leadership: (2nd case study):”

In the second case study, the higher management unit of the hospital must use autocratic and transactional leadership approaches (Rivera et al. 2021). The autocratic leadership style is highly applicable in this case study as it will assist the higher management of the hospital to pose strong obligations of all hierarchical staffs to follow the pathways and strategies that are ethically and morally right (Glazer et al. 2019). The hospital authority must ensure that nurse A.Z and her co-workers would be protected from any kind of abuse, harassment and threats from doctors, seniors nursing professionals, care managers and patients. On the other hand, transactional leadership apparat will enable the higher management unit of this hospital to check that all the nurses incusing the nurse AZ and her co-workers are provided with the proper respect and support in terms of complying with all the organisation regulations.

Democratic and supportive leadership: (third case study)

In the third case study, the higher management team of Penn University can use the democratic and reformation leadership styles (Jena and Memon, 2018). As the issue regarding the embarrassing behaviour and attitude of Gasman towards her student is the university is high sensitives matter and Gasman is a respectable professor in the university, the autocratic, transactional and authoritarian leadership styles cannot be relevant in this case (Kuntz et al. 2017). Rather, the management team must use the democratic, transformational and supportive leadership approaches through which they can maintain healthy and transparent communication with both Gasman and her student to make the easy solution of the matter.

Listening skill:

For conducting effective workplace management and employee development, managers must have the good listening skill, which will enable them to listen to the entire matter or issue that is going on in the workplace. Therefore, analysing these issues to develop and formulates effective strategic solutions for them (Zafar et al. 2017). In all the three given case studies, organisational leaders must have good listening skills through they can not only obtain a clear understanding of the organisational issues but also can analyse and evaluate the root cause of these issues that will enable them to apply the right decision to solve them (Collin et al. 2021). In the first case study, Mikovich must have the good listening skill to listen to and consider the viewpoint and opinion of both Copper and Sharma and also the opinion of their co-workers regarding the issue. This effective and strong listening skill will enable Mikovich, to make a clear picture of the issues thereby assisting him to formulate an effective strategic solution for solving this conflict (Johnson et al. 2020). In the second case study, the higher authority of the hospital must listen to both the views of nurse A Z, her colleague, care managers and the patient. In this way, the higher management team of the hospital can easily determine that who is guilty thereby taking the ethically correct decision to resolve the issues thus promoting a productive environment in the hospital. In the third case study, the higher authority of Penn university must listen to both the opinion of Gasman and the student group before taking any decision. By listening to the views from both sides, the higher authority can make a deep sense of the issues thereby taking effective leadership and management process to solve the workplace issue.

Patience:

Patience level is important for managers and organisation leaders that can assist them to assess and evaluate the entire cause and possible outcomes of the works place issues before taking any prompt decision (Petermann and Zacher, 2021). While it comes to employee development and effective workplace management, higher authority or management team in the three given case studies must have a high level of patience to obtain clear information regarding the issues that are going on in the workplace, communicate transparently with employees or professionals who are involved in the workplace issue and then critically analyse the issue.

Good communication skills:

For effective workplace management and employee, development managers need to determine the needs of the entire workforce as well as of individual staff which can only be possible by conducting effective communication with each staff (Vasconcelos, 2018). In this context, in the given case studies the higher management authority must conduct clear and transparent communication with the organisational personals to detect their professional needs that need to be met to maintain the continuous professional development (CPD) of staff. Effective communication in the given case studies will enable the management team to promote positive transformation of the behaviour, attitude and performance of the workforce which will not only improve the organisation productivity but as improve the organisational culture.

Critical thinking skills:

The organisational leaders in the given case study must have good critical thinking skills, which will enable them to critically analyse the issues in their workplace thereby detecting which type of workplace management approach needs to be applied to promote effective employee development (Singh et al. 2019).

Employee development theory:

In the given case studies, managers can use the following employee development theory:

Holland’s Theory of Career choice:

This theory highlights the six-personality and workplace behaviour of employees. These behaviours are, realistic, investigative, social, artistic, enterprising and conventional (Cooke et al. 2019). In the first case study, Johan Mikovich must emphasize developing a social, realistic and investigative personality in Cooper and Sharma. Through promoting the social personality, Johan Mikovich can develop a helping nature in Cooper and Sharma which can improve the team working ability and develop and synergistic and collaborative approach thereby improving the workplace environment (Chillakuri and Vanka, 2020). On the other hand, through developing investigating personality, Johan Mikovich can develop effective problem solving and critical thinking skills in Cooper and Sharma that will enable them to solve any conflict and issues between them by themselves and not let their personal and professional issues hamper the organisational operation and work process (Djurdjevic et al. 2017). Additionally, through developing a realistic approach in Cooper and Sharma, Johan Mikovich can encourage them to undertake continuous professional development *(CPD) in terms of developing innovative and highly effective professional skills that can enable them to easily meet all the organisational objectives.

In the second case study, the higher authority must develop investigative and realistic skills in nurses. The higher authority must conduct training and professional development program for all the nursing staff in which nurses can develop not only good nursing skills but also wide ranges of professional and personal skills that are needed to assist the nurses to deal with a kind of healthcare situation (Ghosh, 2017). In the case of the nurse AZ and her co-workers, the higher authority of the hospital must promote the investigative and realistic personality in them by developing their problem-solving. Decision making, critical thinking and analysing skill, which will enable them to cope up with any kind of issues in the hospital environment.

The RIASEC Hexagon model:

This model also represents the six above-mentioned workforce personalities in a hexagonal format (Harter, 2017). This model highlights the comparative discussion on all the six personalities of employees in a workplace. In the third case study, the higher authority of Penn university can focus on the artistic personality trait in terms of determining the behaviour, attitude and perspectives of Gasman. By analysing her personality, the higher authority can take effective initiatives in promoting realistic and social personality in Gasman by conducting a thorough and clear communication with her (Osborne and Hammoud, 2017). Through transforming Gasman’s personality into a realistic and social form, it is possible to improve her decision-making behaviour towards students, problem-solving skills, helping nature and synergistic working approach which will improve the workplace environment of the university.

Career theory model:

Based on this theory, the higher authority or higher management in each case study must follow five distinct processes for promoting effective employee development. These processes are assessment, exploration, preparation implementation and review (Wojtczuk-Turek, 2020). In the first stages, the higher management team in the given case studies can assess the employee’s development needs such as professional training, development program, professional support, positive workplace and assistance from higher officials. In the exploration stage, the higher authority or management team can formulate effective strategies based on the identified needs to meet all these employee’s needs (Oja et al. 2020). In the third stage, the management team would conduct a pilot study in which they will determine whether all the resources that are needed to implement the strategies for meeting the employee development needs are available in the workplace. In the fourth stage, the strategies are implemented into the organisational framework to improve the employee’s professional development (Khari and Sinha, 2018). For example, In the first case study, the management team can conduct the weekly training and self-assessment program for all the staff to improves staff’s professional skills and compatibility. In the review stage, the management team in the given case studies can conduct the performance appraisal, to evaluate the performance standard of each staff.

Recommendations:

Following recommendations can be made for the higher authority in the three given case studies:

Managers must develop an effective and transparent information delivery system and effective communication system in the workplace to manage and solve all the workplace issues thereby maintaining effective workplace management.

The higher management team must conduct an effective leadership and management framework, under which the workplace issues can easily be detected asap and an effective solution would be created to maintain a healthy, creative and highly supportive workplace.

A continuous professional development (CPD) program needs to de conducted for all the staff which will enable the staff to not only develop their professional skill but also improve their skill such as decision-making skills, coping ability, resilience, high patience level and critical thinking skill. all these skills will promote the positive professional development of staff,

Conclusion:

From the above-mentioned discussion, it can be concluded that workplace management and employee development are crucial for any successful and highly productive workplace. Managers or organisational leaders of any organisation need to formulate effective strategies in terms of improving the professional development of employees thereby improving their productivity as well as organisational productivity. Moreover, effective workplace management is crucial to solve any kind of organisational issues thereby maintain a highly organised, disciplined and productive work culture.

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