Walden University Week 3 Leadership Social Work Discussion

Respond to at least two colleagues by addressing an example in each colleague’s post in at least one of the following ways:

Suggest a strategy for addressing a situation that your colleague described in one of his or her examples.

Offer additional thoughts regarding the impact of the interaction described in the example.

Be sure to use reference.

DB 1

Emilio—

Post how a social work administrator’s personal leadership philosophy and style may influence a human services organization’s culture.

There are many ways a person’s philosophy could affect the human service’s internal organizational culture. Northhouse describes some of these philosophies but first states that identifying the category a person can fall under is essential to realize what type of supervisor one will be and what one can expect from individuals. By understanding one’s category, one can understand how to relate to their subordinates better. Furthermore, these philosophies break down two general theories called Theory X and Theory Y (Northouse, 2021).

Using the theories, one can further understand that the leader’s philosophy affects how they view their subordinates and can subconsciously dictate how they produce their work. The outcome could be more productive and happier employees assisting individuals in the human service organization. In contrast, it could produce unhappy employees, provide terrible service to the clients they serve, and produce unsatisfied and unserved clients.

Also, explain how the organization’s culture might influence a social work administrator’s personal leadership style.

The organization’s general direction by its administrators will direct and ultimately dictate the general influence the organization will produce unto its employees and members of the organization. This would also depend on the administrators’ style of leadership. This may include if the person has a dictatorship style or allows their subordinates to participate in the way they are supervised by allowing them to vote on decisions and having a supervisor with a carefree attitude (Northouse, 2021).

Depending on the manner the individual decides to supervise may be the way the organization responds to them. As an example, if the administrator has an authoritarian style or micro-manager style, the organization’s culture could feel thwarted in their work and become cynical (Jiang et al., 2017). While having a supervisor that is too relaxed could also lower the organization’s productivity (Martin, 2021).

Finally, explain how interactions with stakeholders may ultimately impact the organization’s treatment of clients. Be sure to provide specific examples in your explanations.

One has to remember that an organization is formed to create services that people are in need of, and members of the organizations, including administrators and subordinates, provide those said services. However, it is the organizations’ stakeholders that may ultimately decide what services could be provided by the organization (Carroll, 1991). As such, as is in any business, a service organization’s success will rely on the stakeholder’s ideology and how well they decide to follow through with the stakeholder’s decisions in the organization’s mission.

If specific stakeholders disagree with how the other stakeholders uphold the organization’s mission statements, then the results may be disastrous. However, if all the stakeholders carry the same vision and believe in the organization’s betterment, the organization will most likely be successful.

Reference

Carroll, Archie B. (1991). The Pyramids of Corporate Social Responsibility: Toward the Moral Management of Organizational Stakeholders. Business Horizons

Jiang, Hongyan, Yang, Chen, Sun, Peizhen, and Yang, Jun. (05/2017). The Relationship between Authoritarian Leadership and Employees’ Deviant Workplace Behaviors: The Mediating Effects of Psychological Contract Violation and Organizational Cynicism. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00732

Martin, Melanie, J. (2021). Do Relaxed Working Environments Lower Productivity? Retrieved from https://smallbusiness.chron.com/relaxed-working-en…

Northouse, P. G. (2021). Introduction to leadership: Concepts and practice (5th ed.). Washington, DC: Sage

DB 2

Jacqui—

A social work administrator’s personal leadership philosophy and style would influence a human services organization’s culture greatly. People naturally feed off of one another and if someone is negative or has a negative work ethic then that will rub off on other people. Also, if the staff sees the manager not doing their work, they will start to not do their work as well. “Each of us approaches leadership with a unique set of beliefs and attitudes about the nature of people and the nature of work” according to Northouse (Northouse, 2021, p. 57). This best describes our philosophy of leadership. These beliefs about the people and work relationship have a very important impact on a person’s leadership style. They also most likely come into play in every aspect of a person’s leadership.

The culture of an organization might influence a social work administrator’s personal leadership style because people adapt to their surroundings. If the organization is laid back, or run by laid back people, the employees will most likely be laid back as well. On the other hand, if the organization is uptight and frigid, the employees will most likely behave that way as well. The vibe or a place is definitely felt by its employees and clients. I strongly believe that to be a good manager or leader you need to have a balance of being friendly and being stern. You need to recognize that you are there to be people’s leaders, not their friends or family or buddy. They need direction, support, and to be led in the organization and that is what you are there to do.

I think that I would be much more of a theory Y person than a theory X person. I tend to agree that people can like their work, are self-motivated, and accept and seek responsibility. At least the good employees are this way. Who would want to even hire a theory X person who does not like work, needs to be directed and controlled, and want security and not responsibility? That just sounds like a miserable work environment.

I truly believe that an organizations employees and leaders speak for the organization and represent that organization. Even the stakeholders represent their company. Look at big organizations that a stakeholder gets caught doing something inappropriate. The entire organization then suffers because people then do not want to be associated with that organization. Especially in the social administration organizations, we have a reputation to uphold. When in doubt, lead by example.

References

Northouse, P. G. (2021). Introduction to leadership: Concepts and practice (5th ed.). Washington, DC: Sage.