A633.1.2.RB_LarsonKurt, Leadership Gap

Chapter 1 of the Obolensky text begins with a reflective exercise. Create a reflection blog that responds to the questions asked in this exercise.

Additionally, while we live in a world with more information about leadership and leadership practices why is it that we have an apparent gap in the quality of our leaders and how do you think we can close this gap?

As described in Obolensky (2010,) the exercise contained three questions to reflect upon. I will answer those questions individually.

Has my own attitude toward leaders changed in my life, and if so how?

As I quickly reach the middle of the fifth decade of my life on this planet. I find that as a leader and parent for that matter, the margin for error is growing smaller and smaller. Much like I find myself looking for ways to be a better parent and to learn from my parents’ mistakes/misgivings if you will. I also look as a leader to learn from those same mistakes/misgivings that others and I have made in the past. Naturally I look better myself based upon those past discretion's and pray daily to be a better parent, leader and provider.

To answer the question fully and with the latter statement in mind, I would say that without a doubt, my attitude toward leaders has changed. I am no longer tolerant to take them at their word and have always questioned authority without reason. My use of critical thinking, trust but verify and general wariness of those whose use of rhetoric on a continual basis puts themselves and their motives in question.     

If we take as a starting point the attitude to those in authority/leaders as held by your grand parents, and then look at those attitudes held by your parents, and then by the younger generation, is there a changing trend? If so, what is it?

Remembering that my Grandparents grew-up and were products of the great depression and the industrial era and two world wars, I would say their position toward authority and leadership were like most during that time-frame to not question what was transmitted to them by the various forms of communication like movie theaters, radio, newspapers and eventually television.

I recall my parents being less lenient of authority and questioning it to the point of the on-set of conflict, yet still demanding answers from public and private officials. My supposition is simply communication was gaining momentum and the likelihood that any official public or private could hide behind the facade of ignorance on the part of their constituents were lessening as technology increased.

I am confident you can see the trend of the likelihood to take things at face value lessening as technology has increased making it more difficult for one to hide their skeletons in the closet as we advance into my era and now that of my eleven year old daughter. In-fact comparatively her critical thinking skills at eleven and mine at eleven were not even in the same ballpark, which is critical in today's fast paced world with predators on-line and in society.  

Why do you think that has occurred?

As the generation of BABY BOOMERS begin to come of age came of age, the '60s and '70s and the social movements brought forth from that era has brought new freedoms and complications from those new freedoms, individualism’s and responsibilities. Some of this has been taken for granted; it is most likely for that reason that more emphasis has been placed on leisure values vs. work ethics?

In today's multicultural and global work environment, the work force is comprised of at least three generations of individuals and groups such as “the Veterans (b. 1943-1960,) the BABY BOOMERS (b. 1943-1960,) GENERATION Xers) b. 1960-1980 and the NEXTERS (b. after 1980).

What does all this mean? For starters, the generation gap is alive and well and at work in the work place. Such a diverse and potentially volatile mixture of individuals and groups could spell a recipe for disaster in the work place, including age discrimination from several standpoints. When most here the words age discrimination, think about the more senior and aged workforce that is discriminated against. Not necessarily the case in all circumstances, of course it does occur, like the age discrimination discussed in Deyoe. Of the many strategies an organization might employ in addressing general conflict and the generation gap, would involve rewriting a job description as a measure to keep a Millennial from qualifying for a potential position. This method is implemented simply to avoid dealing with the potential conflict of hiring a Millennial (Deyoe, R. H., & Fox, T. L., 2012).

           

References:

Obolensky, N. (2010). Complex adaptive leadership. Burlington, VT: Gower Publishing Limited. DOI: www.gowerpublishing.com.

LaFollette, H. (2007). The practice of ethics. Malden, MA: Wiley- Blackwell.

Baute, N. (2010, Mar 20). Three generations, different values. Toronto Star. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.

Eckenrode, V. (2002, June 23). Work place feels generation gap. The Augusta Chronicle (Georgia). Retrieved from www.augustachronicle.com.

Deyoe, R. H., & Fox, T. L. (2012). Identifying strategies to minimize workplace conflict due to generational differences. Journal of Behavioral Studies, 5, 1-17.         

A632.9.3.RB_LarsonKurt, Role of Emotion in Decision Making

In this video, Prof. Baba Shiv of Stanford University talks about the importance of emotion in decision-making. After watching this video, reflect on two situations; one, in which you were extremely confident of the outcome and what your attitude was towards the subject; and second, a situation in which you would less confident or not so confident and how you felt about the situation. Based on this module's readings and this video write a reflection blog detailing the situations above and describing the role emotion plays in decision-making.  Identify three emotional reactions for each scenario. 

Professor Shiv discussed military leaders and displaying confidence of their decision making process and the ramification of decision confidence vs. a lack of confidence that is displayed toward other leaders and those charged with caring out the orders from that leader.

An example of an extremely confident scenario was while assigned to the C-17 program as the Lead Technician and Flight Mechanic. I among other fellow USAF aircraft mechanics would fly with our aircraft as a means of keeping it services, repaired and mission ready. The majority of us possessed our FAA and FCC licensure and coupled with our rank, stature and experience, emerged as service members with the decision confidence to apply our special skills globally and in all environments. This was a confidence builder for the operations side of the house, as well as units globally who lacked the confidence to accept the aircraft because of a lack of maintainability training and experience.

We as Flight Mechanics instilled the confidence in other units with the same airframe to develop a Flight Mechanic program based upon our recommendations and observation we experienced and were persuasive in creating a cadre of personnel ready, willing and able to answer the call to duty. 

Based upon my military career, I can attest to a leader who is not confident in their decision confidence will not be persuasive toward those under their command.

Once while deployed to an AOR (Area of Responsibility) a junior maintenance officer was quite disturbed because of a rash of aircraft malfunctions that were inhibiting the ability to complete our mission. I as the SNCO (Senior Non Commissioned Officer) was in charge of getting the aircraft repaired and mission ready. The young officer made it his quest to berate the mechanics working double shifts to repair a multitude of malfunctions.

I discussed his lack of confidence in my mechanics to fix the aircraft as his lack of field experience, and tactfully discussed the need for his powers of persuasion that he had indirectly displayed toward a very capable and dedicated cadre of airmen was out of check and balance.

I am a complete believer that leadership is something we display to our subordinates and superiors. As experienced and time tested SNCO’s it was our duty to get the work completed and instill confidence (and the occasional corrective action) in our young officer corps, so they may go on to be great leaders, followers with decision confidence.    

A632.8.3.RB_LarsonKurt, Reflections on the Cynefin Framework

Create a reflection blog based on critically thinking about how the Cynefin Framework can benefit your decision-making. Consider the chart on page 7 of the HBR article "A Leader's Framework for Decision Making" and discuss decision-making in multiple contexts; include two specific examples of decisions in multiple contexts that you have made. Detail the considerations from the various contexts that influenced your decision.  Critically assess the Cynefin Framework and describe 5 ways it can provide an improved context for decision-making.

As discussed in Snowden (2007) managers all too often rely solely upon the most common of leadership practices, which for the most part worked well as there was an expectation of predictability and order at the time. What worked well in times of good, are all to often be not applicable or fall short when there is chaos or unconventional situations that require dire decisions made on the fly.

Good and sound leadership as stated in the HBR article is not a one-size-fits-all application, which the situation should fit neatly around, conversely, good leadership practices are adaptable to a multitude of scenarios and situations. In many cases the response has been predetermined to remove the human emotional element, assuring complete and concise decision-making process such from directives that are detail oriented enough allowing those detailed into the process to function automatically. This would serve to address the particular situation at hand and avoid micromanaging by leaders and managers because the best practice for the situation is by definition, the best practice for the situation.

The Cynefin Framework has sorted the issues into five contexts that are defined between the natures of cause and affect. Four contexts are simple, complicated, complex and chaotic. The fifth context, disorder, only is applicable after it cannot be determined which of the four is predominant.

Simple contexts by definition allow for a properly assessed scenario, requiring straightforward management and monitoring. A good example of this would be when I was a Maintenance Production Superintendent in the Air Force. I was responsible for the overall repair, servicing and maintainability of aircraft, however, it was the expediters, crew chiefs, mechanics and avionics technicians who were truly responsible for troubleshooting, maintaining, servicing and getting aircraft mission ready. Although I have a vast background in aviation maintenance, it would have not been prudent or wise to micromanage the level or experience, expertise or dedication to duty those young airmen possessed.

Another example-complicated context can be equated to working in unfamiliar territory. Using my time in the military as example of deploying to unfamiliar regions for a period of time and often with service members of NATO countries was awkward, sometimes standoffish, however it did allow for opportunity to work hand-in-hand with service members of friendly countries and to learn new approaches to accomplishing the specific mission in settings that were unfamiliar and challenging.  Through collaboration we as service members learned how to work together and pass along specific and non-specific details and formulate some best commercial practices for use in real time contingencies.

Complex contexts are a product of attempting to understand how and why things happen in retrospect. Since we do not live in a vacuum the world is in constant flux, we often attempt to utilize hindsight as a way to see into the future. As example if while a Maintenance Production Superintendent in the Air Force, I allowed myself to succumb to what-if scenarios with aircraft maintenance delays and mission cancelations because of those delays. I would not have been as effective because I would not have already had in-place contingencies, spare parts, personnel available to fix faults or the ability to defer maintenance actions as a way to complete missions. I/we as discussed in Snowden (2007,) probed first, sensed and then responded appropriately.     

Chaotic Contexts and outcomes are not the byproduct of effective crisis management, but rather establishing order and ascertaining where stability is, and is not. For example, while in the Air Force I was a volunteer firefighter in my local community. As an Incident Commander often commanding multiple stations and departments with a mutual aid agreement, I was responsible for instilling a sense of calm through effective communication and leadership to those I was responsible for. The bottom line, their safety and well being was my top priority, assisting, rescuing and rendering aid to those caught in a conflagration was secondary. Although from the on-set that may seem like a callous manner, and in some ways it is. The reasoning is simply we were taught at the fire academy that it is NOT OUR EMERGENCY. We are there to simply render aid to those and save lives and property (if able). Those under my command needed and had a right to know that I had their back and would pull them out before the potential for more lost lives in something that simply was out of control.

Reference:     

      

Snowden, D.J., and Boone, M.E. (2007). A leaders framework for decision making. Havard Business Review. Retrieved from http://www.mpiweb.org