Managers, Leaders, and Change in an Organization.
January 7, Saturday is our 3rd meeting in our Org. Analysis subject, the first reporter who presented the topic was Dustine Ramirez, with his creative slide, he discussed about the difference between a manager and a leader. Our class is so very interactive that my classmates had given their opinions about a manager and a leader. Some of my classmates’ didn’t agree and some agree on each other’s opinion that is based on their experience in an organization. There were also some humors added on their explanation, some also were out of the main topic that they are on the other facet of argumentations. That’s why RSG reminds us that the discussion should be on well reformed manner as MIT students, that it should be related on the topic presented.
In my own learnings and reflections, manager is a person tasked with overseeing one or more employees or departments to ensure these employees or departments carry out assigned duties as required. It has more responsibility than a simple employee & generally pays a higher wage. A manager has to perform all five functions to achieve goals, planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling. In its simplest sense, a manager is a person who has control or direction of an institution or a business. On the other hand, leader has a vision, a drive and commitment to achieve that vision, and the skills to make it happen. Leaders see a problem that needs to be fixed or a goal that needs to be achieved. A leader encourages and rewards people and makes you want to do it and do it right. Manager have subordinates, a leader has a follower. The manager focuses on system and structure while the leader focuses on people. Management is a career, Leadership is a calling. Leadeship doesn’t require any managerial position to act as a leader. On the other hand, a manager can be a true manager only if he/she has got the traits of leader in him. Manager has to provide leadership to his group. Leadership as a general term is not related to managership. A person can be a leader by virtue of qualities in him. Therefore, it is true to say that, “All managers are leaders, but all leaders are not managers”. Well in my case as an Instructor, I can say that I am manager who oversees the learning of my students and as well as a leader who make possible the instructions that I deliver on them. I am concerned on the system structure of my academic institution and as well as leading my students to embrace the vision and mission of the school.
After Dustine Ramirez, successfully done his report, we the next reporters together with my collaborators namely; Kristine, Lynn Mae and Irish (Cristelyn was absent on that time) will present our assigned reports. We were tasked to discuss about Organizational Change Model. We all know that change is to become different or to make a difference. But how are you going to apply change in your organization? Nothing is permanent in this world except change, true as it is. But for the organization, change should be for the better, and not for the worst. So why change? Change in business conditions, change in managerial personnel, and deficiency in existing organizational patterns, technological and psychological reasons, government policies and the size of the organization. We also discussed on John P Kotter's “Eight Steps to Successful Change”. Step One: Increase Urgency, which is - inspire people to move, make objectives real and relevant. Step Two: Form a Powerful Coalition, so you have to get the right people in place with the right emotional commitment, and the right mix of skills and levels. Step Three: Create a Vision for Change; Get the team to establish a simple vision and strategy focus on emotional and creative aspects necessary to drive service and efficiency. Step Four: Communicating the Vision for Buy-in, so you have to involve as many people as possible, communicate the essentials, simply, and to appeal and respond to people's needs. Step Five: Empowering People & Removing Barriers, Remove obstacles, enable constructive feedback and lots of support from leaders - reward and recognize progress and achievements. Step Six: Create Short-Term Wins, which you have to set aims that are easy to achieve in a manageable numbers of initiatives. You have to finish current stages before starting new ones. Step Seven: Build on the Change which you have to foster and encourage determination and persistence - ongoing change – you have to encourage ongoing progress reporting – and highlight achieved and future milestones. Lastly, the Step Eight: Anchor the Changes in Corporate Culture – which you have to reinforce the value of successful change via recruitment, promotion, and new change leaders. You have to weave change into culture.
Well, in the academe that I belong, we already have the vision and as an employee I have to embrace it, a vision that we ventures into new paths of strengthening character and developing competence in leadership and corporate responsibility for transformation, for transformation of society. But speaking of change, we just really observed that every year or every semester, the format of the syllabus is always changing. Especially if there were changes in the administration. So it’s a very big adjustment for us to change again and again, and it’s a requirement for us to submit the UBD-like syllabus every semester or every year because we will not be cleared if we will not submit, or expect for the many corrections if we will not adapt to a change of a new format of the syllabus :(. The new Dean also demanded us that next school semester, we will be having our learning plan every week, (just like a lesson plan in High School?) for the innovation on our instructions, but this is a college, not anymore a high school. But the question is, how can we innovate on our teaching if the resources are limited? (I’m referring on the technology that we would like to have on the classroom), Well go back to the learning plan issue, Wow… how about 9 preparations, 9 learning plan that she/he will be going to make every week? (tsk.tsk). Managing this kind of change is not good enough so we have to lead it, we really voice out that if that would be implemented on us instructors in college, we will be focused on the document wise but on our preparations, teaching and instructions, we will not be wise anymore. I’m hoping that the new dean will consider our side and will not implement that anymore, because some or mostly we instructors will not really “always” make it in responding to change. Preparing documents is not just as easy as possible; it will really take time and effort.
Change is not bad if that would be for the better change and innovation in the academe but before implementing change in an organization, make sure that the employees will support and be positive for that change, that they will not be against. Because harmonious relationship is important in an organization rather than innovating to changes that will negatively affect the side of the employees. Every organization is a complex living organism, it made up of many interrelated parts that it’s difficult to analyze, understand or solve. So to make it a positive living organization, good communication and consideration must be important. :)
