Leadership and Organizational Change Models

Introduction

Leadership, in healthcare, is defined as the ability of a healthcare facility’s management to set and realise goals, make wise decisions, outdo competitors, and inspire employees to perform well (Gillam, Yates, and Badrinath, 2013). It is not always easy to put a value on leadership. Most firms and organisations undergo a transformation, known as organisational change. The transformation occurs when the organisational strategies or main sections of the business are changed. There exist various leadership and organisational models. These models are helpful in driving any institution to success by assessing both leadership and change at a broader level; these are the levels that many institutional leaders view their firms. For healthcare dissertation help, understanding these models can provide valuable insights into effective management strategies within healthcare settings.

Organisational change models can reveal how and why change occurs. Over the years different scholars have come up with different sets of organisational models. However, the most common ones are the evolutionary and the teleological models (Burke, 2013). These two models have the longest histories and have been highly rated by most scholars. Leadership models and theories can show how to be a good leader and explain why some people are good leaders while others are not. Several leadership theories and models have been developed over time. There exist some differences between the new models and the old models of leadership. While old models view leadership as a process that occurs within a group context, involves influencing other and attainment of goals, the new models perceive the role of a leader to be defining the reality of the organisation. A good example of the old leadership models is the transactional leadership. Transformational leadership has been highlighted as the most enduring in recent times. This paper critically discusses the theories and models of leadership and organisational change and how they apply to community-based public health interventions. The paper will compare and contrast transformational and transactional models of leadership, and evolutionary and teleological models of organisational change will emphasising on the implementation of the community-based intervention.

Critical Analysis of transactional and transformational models of leadership

Transformational Leadership is a leadership model that focusses on maintaining the normal flow of organisational operations. These types of leaders use disciplinary power as well as sets of incentives to motivate workers to perform at their best (Healey, and Lesneski, 2011). These types of leaders are not concerned with strategically leading the firm to a position of market leadership. Instead, they are only focused on making sure every operation flows perfectly, at that moment.

Transformational leadership covers more than just the daily operations and strategies for taking the firm to the next level of success. The leadership model emphasises on team-building, motivation as well a collaboration with workers at various levels of the organisation so as achieve change for the better (Healey, and Lesneski, 2011). These type of leaders can set goals and incentives that motivates staff to improve their levels of performance while offering opportunities for both personal and professional growth of each employee.

The only similarity between these two models is that they both emphasise on improving performance within the organisation. Below is a table showing the differences.

Application to community-based interventions

When dealing with the community, it is important that the health care practitioners or stakeholders treat the community as workers in an organisation (Gillam, Yates, and Badrinath, 2013). This is because no change or improvement would happen if the community is not involved. The health care practitioners can decide to be the leaders of the intervention, or they can identify certain people in the community (Gillam, Yates, and Badrinath, 2013). The teleological model of change can apply in a community setting when some members of the community or the healthcare providers decide to improve the living conditions of the community. In such a model, there would be specific department set out to implement the interventions. In the evolutionary model, the intervention comes to play naturally without being planned, as a result of external or environmental factors. For instance, rising mortality rates or recent outbreak of diseases may result in an unforeseen intervention. The intervention will happen as a response to change that has happened in the society.

Every intervention requires a leader so as to ensure attainment of the set goals. Transcriptional leadership can be applied in implementing interventions when the flow and execution of activities are to be smoothened. In this leadership model, a lot of emphases will be put on delivering the necessary services. The supervision will only be possible through effective communication. For this model to work, the leader must be able to be in close touch with the team members including those from the community. The effective communication will ensure that the activities set out are performed. In this context, the leader of the department, charged with the responsibility of implementing the intervention, may decide to reward those community health workers who are hardworking. The reward may be in the form of recognition, and its main purpose would be to motivate them to perform at their best (Rowitz, 2014). The leader will not be concerned with strategically outdo other healthcare providers performing a similar or slightly similar intervention. Instead, he/she will be focusing on making sure every operation flows perfectly, at that moment.

When using transformational leadership to provide community-based interventions, the leader would be the one come up with the idea initial without waiting for an eventuality first to happen. The leadership will set out future goals and a roadmap of how the intervention will progress (Rowitz, 2014). The leader will collaborate with the various stakeholders when implementing the intervention (Healey & Lesneski, 2011). To achieve this collaboration, there must be effective communication. The leader will communicate the set goals as well as the scheme of work to the community or community representatives (Gillam, Yates, and Badrinath, 2013). This way, the leader will be able to obtain the input of the community. To improve the quality of the services, the leader may decide to motivate the staff to improve their levels of performance. This type of leadership will be offering opportunities to the members of the society to grow at both personal and professional level.

Conclusion

When implementing any community-based intervention, it is necessary to apply certain skills of management and leadership. There are several models that are in existence today. However, each model has its strengths and weaknesses. When choosing a model, it is necessary that one determines a model that can work best. For instance, when an intervention is expected to occur for a short period, transcriptional leadership model would be more appropriate compared to translational leadership. However, when the intervention is supposed to cover a wider area translational leadership would be recommended. The change models also vary depending on the environment. An intervention may bring about change in the society. Similarly, a change in the community may bring about an intervention.

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Reference

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