Acting on core values

"....think about yourself, and reflect on what differences distinguish you and would help you in living and acting on the basis of your core values."


Above is my task for this post and after some thought I narrowed my core values down to professionalism, honesty, ethical behavior, and kindness. Those are in no particular order and this will be a short post due to external stress. This has been an interesting question this week.


Professionalism, at its core, means that one does their job without prejudice, bias, malice, or to poor standards. I think that professionals have a duty to execute their responsibilities to the best of their abilities despite personal hardship or external situations. This is NOT to say that one has to "play hurt" or put aside their own lives for a job. Certain things such as divorce, death, child birth, health issues, and financial stressors are going to affect a person and that's to be expected and persons in those situations should be supported (kindness). However professionals don't let things such as a bad mood, or personal biases interfere with their work. This relates to emotional intelligence and that is something I've spoken on before. A leader must know his or her self first.


Honesty and ethical behavior are intertwined. Honesty is an ethical trait but I think it stands alone as it is the basis for all other ethical behaviors. If one isn't honest it their dealings with others than one cannot be operating in an ethical manner. One must also be honest with one's self. This will allow you achieve a certain level of emotional intelligence and from there you can become a more effective leader.


Kindness speaks for itself. Leaders do have to make choices that may cause injury, distress, or worse to followers and this is an unfortunate aspect of leadership. However, leaders should be kind where possible and I know I try to be kind to others as. Like most humans, I am not always successful but I strive for kindness in the hopes that it makes me a better person.


Living and acting on these values is important and becomes easier once they are internalized. When I am going through times of stress and anger I reflect on these things and see if I am acting consistently with these values and the answer isn't always yes.

Creating Meaning at Work

This week I have been asked to reflect on how leaders create meaning in a work place. I think this question is making a few assumptions. The biggest assumption is that the people within an organization are at point where they are able to meet their basic needs and are thus searching for new meaning. As Maslow's hierarchy of needs tells us there are several basic needs that must be met. A greater number of people are experiencing income insecurity as costs are outpacing wages. Additionally, the income gap is widening at an unprecedented pace. These economic indicators are meaning more and more people are increasingly worried about security and even physiological needs as they struggle to make ends meet. To ask how one creates meaning in this environment is a bit intellectually dishonest. I feel that as academics we too often postulate on how the world should be rather than how it is. So to answer the question, in order to create meaning we have to provide an environment where meaning can be an added value as opposed to environments where meaning is expected to replace living. When creating environments for meaning to be an added value a manager must see to it that workers are not worried about the first two levels of Maslow's hierarchy which are physiological and security. They do this by providing certain benefits such as health insurance, (in America at least, every other first world nation provides this to all the people not just the percentage of the population lucky enough to have coverage) fair wages, and other benefits designed to aid employees in meeting these needs. This isn't always the case as for many worker in service industry fields these benefits and wages are not available and the US is rapidly heading in that direction. So creating meaning becomes an academic exercise rather than a reality. No one cares if their ability to flip a burger or clean a hotel room has "meaning" if they can't afford food or housing. As studies have shown that raising the minimum wage has little effect on employment and a small affect on prices; to add to this meaning we have to change the way we view labor. This is a societal change that I am not sure the US will make and it is one of the reasons the nation is falling behind in quality of life for its citizens.

Be all that as it may and assuming we solve all of those problems, we move into step two. Managers create meaning by providing a vision, mission, or shared culture that employees can internally quantify. As noted in prior discussions, Southwest Airlines created a culture and vision where people believed in providing safe, friendly, affordable, and efficient air travel to their customers. In doing so they were able to attract and retain employees that were willing to work for below average industry wages until the company was able to attract enough market share to thrive. As I've mentioned, people need to have certain needs met before they are able to share in a vision and find meaning. However, once those needs ARE met people search for satisfaction within themselves and what they do. A great deal of a person's sense of self-worth and identity is tied into their job. Think about meeting new people, within the first few minutes someone will ask "What do you do?" People need to feel proud of their accomplishments and their contributions to society.

As we know, people are motivated by different things and I think the question assumes that all people are needing to find meaning. I respond negatively to charismatic leaders though I appreciate a transformational one. Others might be the opposite. A manager's approach to leadership is tied in with creating meaning. I chose charismatic and transformational leaders as I feel those are the two types of leaders that are able to best create meaning for their workers. Through their vision and efforts they allow others to believe in what they do. There is a caveat to this and it speaks to the second assumption; the target needs to be amenable to finding meaning. For some, work is a means to an end. They find meaning in giving, or nature, or any other activity not related to the work place. That doesn't mean that they don't appreciate a clear vision but that they don't attach personal meaning to their work. There is a difference in enjoying what you do and finding meaning in what you do.

To say that everyone needs to find meaning in their work to truly excel in their work is incorrect. Meaning has to come from within. If a manager can convince, through whatever means, a person welding in a water-filled ditch that their work will better society or have a meaning for others AND the target has a personality that desires to attach meaning to their work (or can be convinced) than the added value of meaning will enhance the person's work experience. Otherwise the attempt to create meaning may fail.

I do believe that managers, especially transformational ones, should attempt to create an added value of meaning to the work-place. It has positive repercussions for the employees and the organization as happy employees are productive employees. Even if the attempt to create meaning passes over a few the overall affect will be a net gain.

Go Go Transformers

Recent research into transformation leadership and how it relates to the remote work environment has been summarized in a recent article. It is an interesting new direction for leadership study and application. At its root, researchers are attempting to discover if transformational leadership can be executed via email. Previous studies focused on face-to-face interactions and in the modern workplace this isn't always possible.


Without going into a lengthy discussion of transformation leadership I will link its key definition here via Wikipedia: (bold print is mine)


"Transformational leadership enhances the motivation, morale, and performance of followers through a variety of mechanisms. These include connecting the follower's sense of identity and self to the project and the collective identity of the organization; being a role model for followers that inspires them and makes them interested; challenging followers to take greater ownership for their work, and understanding the strengths and weaknesses of followers, so the leader can align followers with tasks that enhance their performance.


The full range of leadership introduces four elements of transformational leadership:

Individualized Consideration – the degree to which the leader attends to each follower's needs, acts as a mentor or coach to the follower and listens to the follower's concerns and needs. The leader gives empathy and support, keeps communication open and places challenges before the followers. This also encompasses the need for respect and celebrates the individual contribution that each follower can make to the team. The followers have a will and aspirations for self development and have intrinsic motivation for their tasks.

Intellectual Stimulation – the degree to which the leader challenges assumptions, takes risks and solicits followers' ideas. Leaders with this style stimulate and encourage creativity in their followers. They nurture and develop people who think independently. For such a leader, learning is a value and unexpected situations are seen as opportunities to learn. The followers ask questions, think deeply about things and figure out better ways to execute their tasks.

Inspirational Motivation – the degree to which the leader articulates a vision that is appealing and inspiring to followers. Leaders with inspirational motivation challenge followers with high standards, communicate optimism about future goals, and provide meaning for the task at hand. Followers need to have a strong sense of purpose if they are to be motivated to act. Purpose and meaning provide the energy that drives a group forward. The visionary aspects of leadership are supported by communication skills that make the vision understandable, precise, powerful and engaging. The followers are willing to invest more effort in their tasks, they are encouraged and optimistic about the future and believe in their abilities.

Idealized Influence – Provides a role model for high ethical behavior, instills pride, gains respect and trust." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transformational_leadership)


I know Wikipedia isn't scholarly but I am only including the definition of transformational leadership for ease of discussion. Below is a series of links that also define this type of leadership if you would like more reading on that topic. Yes I know APA doesn't hyperlink but work with me here.


Cherry, K. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/od/leadership/a/transformational.htm


Hall, J., Johnson, S., Wysocki, A., & Kepner, K. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/hr020


Moving on


Research found here has hypothesized that transformational leadership (TL) can be executed via a remote method. The research team devised a series of tests using fabricated emails and gauged subject reaction to them via survey. This validated the hypothesis that job satisfaction could be increased with transformational methods. A second study found that transformational and intellectually stimulating messages embedded in email correspondence also increased job satisfaction. and motivation.


Initial Initial results are indicating that it is possible to utilize the proven potential of TL via electronic correspondence. However like many things leadership it is difficult to separate what individual motivators are used internally by the followers. Additionally, these were quantitative studies and as such only show if the hypothesis was proven or not proven. In this case it was, but it does not show why it was proven. I think a qualitative study would be most useful as a follow-up.

As the workplace becomes more geographical separated many team members may never have face-to-face interactions. It is vital that managers are able to motivate and inspire using electronic means. Managers may use different styles when communicating via email than they would in-person. A manager may appear cold via email but is actually quite the opposite. Managers need to be aware of how they are communicating via the written word. It will become imperative that managers become effective at the written word as well as the spoken word. 

And who said the internet killed grammar?
 

Asas

A511.4.4.RB-Contingency Theory

This week the discussion turns to contingency theory and managerial traits. Many of the early forays into the academic world of leadership focused on defining what traits make a good manager and how a manager behaved in certain situations and that behaviors effectiveness. It appears to me that early studies seemed to start with an idea and work towards validation of that idea. As in, there has to be something that makes a leader a leader and these traits must be present in order for a leader to come forth. According to Yukl this has been supported by multiple studies which begs the question that how many studies are needed to determine leaders need self-confidence? Snark aside there are traits that tend to come out when leaders are studied. Aside from the obvious ones such as self-confidence there are competencies such as emotional intelligence and internal loci of control that are also present. Other traits such energy level and stress tolerance and integrity are pretty self-explanatory. Short version: you need those things. Also, ambition (broken down by power motivation and achievement orientation) is important. Effective leaders tend to want to be leaders.  Surprisingly, narcissism can be of benefit to a leader but only if properly contained and applied. When a leader brings adoration upon his or her self by also empowering others narcissism can be positive. 

In my view emotional intelligence (EI) is critical for leaders. A leader needs to understand how his or her biases, emotional state, prejudices, and state of mind are affecting decision making. Leaders need to be able to work with many different people in many different capacities. In order to make sound decisions a leader needs to understand how these varying people and emotions are affecting the leader internally. It takes a great deal of self awareness to be highly emotionally intelligent and this is where I try to continually improve. I don't consider myself a master of EI by any stretch by any means but I'm getting there.

Where I am strong is self-confidence and ambition. I came through the crucible of homelessness to become an air traffic controller and a college graduate. That gives a person a bit of confidence. I made plenty of mistakes but I have tried to learn from them and move forward with my new knowledge. Some of my life lessons have been very painful but I moved forward and tried not to repeat them. Once again, not always successful but I have learned to trust myself. Ambition is good when one tries to rise those around him as well. I never want my ambition to come at the expense of others. I think leaders need to be ambitious but also need to develop and mentor subordinates. This was a lesson I also learned the hard way but that just means it stuck.