Leadership
Leading and managing change
Change management and leadership have been displayed in various ways in Client and mostly in regard to introduction and adoption of innovation in the organization. The creation of urgency in the company has helped in inculcate the sense of urgency especially around the need for continuous innovation (Gupta, 2011). Urgency has been created though the adoption of the idea that innovation as very essential, especially in bridging the various functional groups in the organization. This concept has constantly been renewed through continued iterations and time so that the company has become synonymous with innovation. Another element of change leadership is the formation of a team through which the innovation process would be introduced, maintained and sustained. Change leadership requires the formation of a powerful coalition, which includes bringing together a team of individuals from different fields and expertise and then continued building of a momentum around change requirement (Gupta, 2011). Client’s sought an innovation task force that comprised of various innovators, the employees and the 200 leaders in the company.
In addition, Client went to a great deal to eliminate any obstacles that would prevent the process of continuous innovation from succeeding. This is seen in the thorough analysis of the past failures associated with every successes and innovations and bench marking company’s best practices and highlighting the lessons learnt. The communication on the need for change is an important aspect that has been addressed by the client and this has been intertwined with the overall vision that is to drive innovation. This includes the focus on satisfying the customer needs. Communication needs to be continuously and powerfully embedded within all the activities of an organization so as to achieve a common goal (Gupta, 2011). Through ensuring the presence of common understanding and language between various teams, Elon Musk has been able to achieve change leadership. One area in which change leadership is not clearly displayed is lack of clear communication on what is expected on every person in the team driving innovation. Change management should involve a clear explanation on what is expected of the cross-functional teams and the rewards that results from their achievements.
Problem management and decision making, and Consensus Building and Negotiation
The 1986 Challenger accident comprises of various ways in which the problem management and decision making skills were not displayed. The lack of effective problem management in this case can be related to the limitation of group-thinking which tends to discourage independent thinking. In this case, even after there were clear concerns related to launching of the Space Craft under 53 degrees and the possibility of the O-ring malfunctioning, the managers went ahead to give their approval. In group-thinking, members are swayed to automatically assume that the decision made unanimously is the right course and thus cannot raise their objections due fear of causing dissent among the members (Janis, 2008). The decision making was not made based on rational thinking but shielded Jesses Moore from taking firm decision based on the concerns raised by engineers. In addition, while reaching a consensus, there was a disregard of the various alternative solutions that would have prevented the accident and at the same time, protect NASA from being viewed by the public as inept (Janis, 2008). The communication process during the decision making process in this project failed to uphold the need for clear communication especially on the concerns raised by the engineers concerning the risks of the launch.
Consensus building and negotiation
Building consensus during the negotiation process requires each side to ultimately choose between accepting the deal offered or the best no-deal option available. Building consensus should be done after understanding that the negotiation process is an emotional process before it becomes an economic process. It involves understanding the perspectives of the other party which can be accomplished by overcoming the tendency to be self-centered (Sebenius, 2001). At the very least, the negotiation skills should be founded on understanding the underlying problem from the view of the other party. Dismissing the concerns of the other parry as their problem as a display of being inept at the negotiation table. Moreover, when price is allowed to overshadow other interests, it is possible to spoil a potential deal. The negotiation process is as important as dealing making and its related content. Sustainable results in the negotiation process will be achieved if all the parties view it as personal, respectful and founded on fairness (Sebenius, 2001).
Even where the negotiations are purely price deals, the negotiator should not focus on their richer interests so that he or she puts those of the other party at stake. The negotiation skills can also rightly be displayed by looking past the common ground to discover difference from which value can be created. The differences can show the elements of negotiation that are most valued by each party and break any deadlocked deals (Sebenius, 2001). Best negotiators adopt a wider technique that identifies the interest of the other party and then finding a solution for the right problem. This involves understanding and then shaping the choice of the other party and meeting their interests by allowing others to choose what they need. In some instances it is important to prolonging a stale-mate or even walking away and seeking a deal from another buyer instead of engaging in fruitless negotiations (Sebenius, 2001). However, all these will be possible if one has a clear view or understanding of a wring vision and then correcting it so as to have a successful negotiation.
Application
Change management and leadership are important aspects for successful implementation of change in an organization. Leading change in my organization would require having clear vision of the change needed while creation of urgency means that the need is understood throughout the organization. Having a coalition of team members to drive the change will ensure that the all aspects of change are allocated to specific individuals. Problem management and decision making in an organization requires that at times, I move away from group thinking and rely on independent thinking. This is because group thinking may prevent the members of the organization from making the right decisions or from evaluating the different alternatives to a problem while trying to conform to the group. Decision making requires that a manager make the right decisions even if they will antagonize the other members of the group. Negotiation skills are important in making deals in an organization. When trying to make deals with other parties, I would focus on their interests and let them make decisions on the basis of their choices but through which the organization interests will be catered for.
References
Janis, I. L. (2008). Groupthink. IEEE Engineering Management Review, 36(1), 36.
Sebenius, J. K. (2001). Six habits of merely effective negotiators. Harvard Business Review, 79(4), 87-97.
Gupta, P. (2011). Leading innovation change-The Kotter way. International Journal of Innovation Science, 3(3), 141-150.
Leading innovation and change : Best practice case study
Groupthink of Irving Janis
