Identifying and defining problems Essay

Leaders are at the forefront of every organization. They are looked upon by their subordinates in initiating the plans and goals of the organization. In essence, leaders are the guiding light of every organization whenever the latter is experiencing financial and economic woes, turmoil within the organization or disruption in the organization’s work processes. A leader has the power to lift an organization out from the ashes of ruins and into the world of success. But with great power comes great responsibility, hence a leader should have, within him, the element of skill in identifying and defining problems. Whenever an organization, say a company or a corporation, loses its edge in competing in the market wherein it is situated, there is a need for it to innovate and change. Therefore, it is the leader’s duty to instill discipline among the employees, so as to push the whole organization into motion. Although â€Å"it’s difficult to put together a group with enough power to guide the effort or to convince key individuals to spend the time necessary to create and communicate a change vision†, (Kotter, p.36) a leader should have a sense of empathy with the organization’s employees, so as to let him be aware of what the whole organization is feeling about the whole effort of innovating and changing the organization. For problems to be identified and defined there is a need for the cooperation of both the managerial leaders and the rank and file employees. In undertaking a change within an organization, people often â€Å"underestimate the enormity of the task; the work requires great cooperation, initiative, and willingness to make sacrifices from many people. † (Kotter, p. 35) Empathy comes into play here. When the people within the organization know that there leader is to be trusted, they would not hesitate to cooperate in the leader’s efforts. Innovation and change will come eventually. The absence of a major visible crisis, low overall performance standards or a lack of sufficient performance feedback contribute to complacency which, in turn, contributes to laxity in doing the work processes below quality standards. Leaders should be adept at noticing or recognizing these sources of complacency so as to remove any hindrance to an organization’s effort to innovate and change. Add to this, as requirement for a leader, the skill of good listening; for through this, misinformation within the organization would be greatly decreased. It is said that opportunity is problem turned inside out; hence organizational problems often open many windows for innovation and change. The first step in managerial problem solving is problem and opportunity identification. Tushman and O’Reilly (2002, p. 40) said that just as physicians first focus on their patients presenting symptoms, managers must identify their organization’s critical problems. This done, they can then diagnose the causes of these problems and, in turn, take action to address them—while avoiding unexpected side effects. Similarly, once opportunities are identified, managers can analyze those aspects of the current organization that will get in the way of achieving the unit’s aspirations. With the authors’ idea in mind, a leader should know the actual assessment of the organization so that he can properly implement the right strategy to a particular unit in an organization. In doing this, a leader or â€Å"manager (and his or her team) needs to be clear about the strategy, objectives and vision of the unit. Such clarity is the bedrock of managing innovation and change. Only when strategy, objectives, and vision are defined can managers move on to an honest appraisal of the current performance of their organization. † (Tushman & O’Reilly, p. 41) After the mission and goals have been set and are clear in the minds of the unit members within the organization, efforts should be made in determining how the proposed strategies will fare considering the current performance of the organization. This will provide a situation wherein the management can gauge whether the mission and goals of the organization are realistic or not. As Tushman and O’Reilly have stated, organizational performance gaps are the differences between desired and real performance. These performance gaps can be termed as opportunity gaps. When we arrive at knowing these gaps, we would really be able to clearly formulate a clear and definite strategy to use in a particular situation. But strategies won’t materialize on their own; it needs painstaking efforts to be able to arrive at these strategies. What can a leader do about this? A good leader knows that he cannot steer the whole organization, especially if it is a big one, towards its goals on his own. He needs the help of all his subordinates. It is needed for the leader to encourage the management and the rank and file employees to join him in formulating and implementing these strategies for innovation and change to be realized. It is a fact that â€Å"creative thinkers tap into their imaginations by combining and recombining ideas or concepts to make new connections. Creative thinking is really about discovering new connections through the use of the imagination, diverse stimuli, and ‘creative-connections power tools’. † (Dundon, p. 42) In addition to these approaches for identifying and defining problems and opportunities for innovation and change in an organization, Dundon stated (2002, p. 64) that a preferred method for idea generation is having an â€Å"Innovation Group† which, because of its comprehensiveness and rigorous design, goes beyond the more common brainstorming method. This allows discussing and formulating ideas at a higher level within the group. Once these approaches have been taken, what a leader should do now is to carefully evaluate how the organization reacts to these implemented strategies so as for him to make necessary corrections when the need arises. ABSTRACT There are many approaches to identify and define problems that confront a particular organization. These problems would not be addressed and be made visible without the guidance or skill of a good leader. Hence, it is needed that a leader is knowledgeable of the processes of an organization, empathic and, best of all, a great innovator himself who believes in positive results that innovation and change bring to an organization. Sources: 1) Dundon, Elaine (2002). The Seeds of Innovation. New York, American Management Association 2) Kotter, John P. (1996). Leading Change. Massachusetts, Harvard Business School Press 3) Tushman, Michael L. , & O’Reilly, Charles A. (2002). Winning Through Innovation. Massachusetts, Harvard Business School Press.