The Whole Vision Thing

I keep being confronted by the whole epiphany  thing while studying the whole vision thing and how to implement a successful outcome when given a project. Examining structural features can impact upon a leader’s effectiveness. It is obviously true, however, that leadership is contingent upon what a leader actually does. In this regard, a major implication of our analysis is that leaders’ capacity to marshal support for their plans will be enhanced to the extent that they are able to advance the collective interests and aspirations of the group they lead. Moreover, because much of the demand for leadership emerges in competitive contexts it also follows that this will often involve promotion of the in group at the expense of an out group.

Again, the key to leadership lies not in getting followers to say that they agree with a vision, but being the inspiration as a leader that works along followers helps make that vision a reality. Many a leader’s grand designs have been left in tatters because the support that they initially elicited was never translated into anything concrete. What counts  is their sweat and toil (and sometimes their blood and tears). Accordingly, these are more dearly sought, and less easily bought.

Haslam and Platow found that students only generated arguments and ideas that backed up a leader’s plans for improving their campus, if that leader had a record of making decisions that supported positions that were normative for the group. This is one reason why party followers scrutinize Senate voting records so closely when deciding who to back (and work for) through the Presidential nomination process. By the same token, candidates routinely point to their rivals’ voting records in order to strategically undermine their support base.

This same point also emerges from the carefully observed ethnographic field studies of Clifford Stott and John Drury (2000). These examine the evolution of riots during public events (e.g., protest rallies, soccer tournaments) and show that individuals who seek to engage in conflict with police only assume a position of leadership (whereby they are able to influence others to participate in violent acts) once relations between police and those they are policing (e.g., protestors, football fans) have become antagonistic and violence is seen to define an appropriate response to the intergroup situation at hand. Critically too, at apractical level, it is the leader’s possession of particular skills that the group needs in these contexts (e.g., to resist, to fight) that make others turn to them. However, in the absence of such dynamics, those who promote violence are typically dismissed as dangerous thugs and rarely gain influence. Moreover, it is worth noting that sensitivity to such dynamics on the part of police in Europe has played a major role in reducing the incidence of major disturbances at public events in recent years. Indeed, this line of research gives powerful testimony to the practical advantages of a theory that accounts for the ongoing interplay between leadership and group dynamics (see Stott et al., 2007).
Source

Such is the case of The Big Changes in the Small Hospital a case study from BUS660 Master's level Contingency Theory of Leadership.
Story is rounded around F .NICHOLAS JACOBS. He started work for small hospital named as Windber Medical center facility as a president. Firstly he was dread when he entered in new environment. Then he started to work under their culture.  He discussed issues with employees and community. Taken idea about people who are directly and indirectly involved with hospital. Then he provides authority to seniors of hospital for improvement. He created a community center that would allow members of community to ask health related question with professionals. Under Jacobs’s leadership Windber has established an affiliation with the Planetree treatment system, which integrates meditation, massage, music and other holistic methods in to traditional health care. Now Windber’s wellness center which offers fitness training, yoga and acupuncture. Very soon they stated to generate profit. Infrastructure are renewed, no of employees are increased. Finally the winder research institute, Windber’s heart disease reversal program has treated about 250 patients.
When considering the factors from the situational leadership theory First and foremost, Jacobs came into a situation where the hospital he was hired to turn around was in a very bad financial situation. The building was deteriorating, and employees had taken a 30 percent pay cut. There was a high turn over in staff and morale was very low because of lack of security on the job.

Jacobs did in house focus groups and interviews polling the employees asking what they expected from their jobs in regard to wants and needs. He reached out to the community leaders bringing them into the organization as consultants for needs evaluations. After evaluating the problems faced by the hospital he began to assess the issues needing to be dealt with.

He realized there was a lack of communication between employees and management and began opening avenues for productive communication. He evaluated the vision/mission of the hospital and reformed it so that he could produce successful outcomes. He incorporated a learning organizational culture where two way communication was accessible to employees and implemented a delegating style to increase emotional buy in by employees.

Taken from the Situational Leadership Theory model, Jacob incorporated the selling factor component by engaging those affected internally and externally. He took that information he gathered, as a high task before him.  His goal was not only to keep the doors open even though other hospitals had not survived. It was a large task and involved a high relationship from everyone involved.

Another component of the Situational Leadership Theory used was the telling approach. Windber was high task with little employee emotional buy in. Many employees left for employment elsewhere. They were not emotionally attached to a “sinking ship” and had very little relationship in building it back up. With a 30 percent pay cut and the dismal environment of the hospital, there was a lack of willingness to participate in the turn around process that could have been from untrustworthiness of the management from the past.

How did Jacobs score on the least-preferred-coworker scale? Why?

I would consider Jacobs a high LPC leader. High-LPC leaders thrive in situations where motivation and relationship building skills are used. People like Jacob love creating and building relationships. His first step was to connect with and build working relationships with everyone from the top to the bottom. His goal was to meet the needs of those involved by how the hospital was run. He took ownership of the problems and made them his own to resolve. As all visionaries, he identified problems, set in motion specific changes, and made his vision a reality.

Based on the success of Windber the range of overall situational favorability Jacobs fell on the continuum illustrated

When the turn around was in beginning stages, it appeared the situational favorability was low. According to the model, the situation to reverse would need a high-LPC leader. Jacob dove straight into the problem and made quick progress by turning to those most effected by the hospitals downfall. A low-LPC leader would have been effective which as the text indicates, there are short comings and criticism of this theory.