LEADERSHIP, INTERPERSONAL SKILLS, DECISION-MAKING research paper prepared for the staff of New Jersey Publishing Corporation Improving Leaders and Interpersonal Relationship

Communication Skills

Written, Oral, Listening, Perception)

Organization and Planning

This research paper analyzes the effect of leadership skills providing direction, interpersonal skills in interacting with others and decision making.

It includes oral communication skills, written business communication, and perception skills important in analyzing problems and proposing solutions.

Final component deals with organizational change and self-designing change management.

The research paper will be the basis of a proposal for a seminar workshop to enhance staff knowledge of such qualities as leadership and ability to interact with others for the enhancement of the capabilities of the staff.

Executive Summary

To counteract dire predictions in the globalized world, leadership, interpersonal relationship and decision-making in the corporate world should undergo enhancement, strengthening and change in design

The process takes careful analysis, outlining of problems and needs of all organizations undergoing change.

The research includes observations of what happens when leadership resides in only one person. It advocates leadership reposing in all other members of the organization.

Also included are oral communication, written business communication (business letters, memoranda).

The last component of the Research is organization planning and change. This outlines the complex process design management must go through so that effective change will be achieved in the organization.

Statement of the Problem

This study deals with the environment in which present day organizations exist. It aims to prove how organization through decisive leadership and self-designing schemes can improve the organizational set up.

Leadership, Interpersonal Skills, Decision-Making

Introduction

We are going through dramatic changes in corporate life, with knowledge and information explosion brought about by forced technology operations, the industrial wheel is turning faster than ever. It seems Zbigniew Brzezinski, writer and great thinker, has reason to predict a global climate that is going out of control. (Brzezinski, Zbigniew. Out of Control. N.Y, Simon and Schuster. 1993).

John Naisbitt (Naisbitt, John. Megatrends. Ten New Directories Transforming our Lives. N.Y, Warver Communications, 1982) talks of ten new directions changing our lives. There are economy-based, industrially powered.

We believe we can reverse all such dire predictions by successful leadership, successful interpersonal relationship in human resource management and successful communication.

These are all big words - narrowing them down to the basics will help.

Improving Leadership and Interpersonal Relationship

What do we aim for in improving leadership and interpersonal relationship? Organizational development. The objective is to improve human effectiveness in organized settings.

Effectiveness means that the objectives are being achieved in a cost-effective and humanly sound way; organized settings mean that the effort is to increase effectiveness when more than one individual is involved. (Blake, Robert R., Jane Srygley Mouton, & Ann Adams McCause. Change by Design. Mass.: Addison Wesley Publication, 1991).

Corporate executives with similar (corporate) background, in terms of corporate culture normally display strong leadership qualities, showing confidence in the strength of their convictions. As a result, participative management has been ushered in, with a focus on synergistic teamwork. Executives must learn to merge their own ideas with those of others in order to get the job done in a way that spells productivity for the corporation as a whole. Obviously this cannot be achieved in a situation where everybody says "yes" to the boss or all are doing their own thing. Consider the following points:

When three or more people of equal rank meet with crisis, there is widespread reluctance for any members to exercise initiative. Reluctance increases with the size of the group.

When one person is in charge, that person tends to assume full responsibility and to step forward and exercise full initiative.

When the person in change exercises such initiatives, others adopt a passive, follow-the-leader orientation.

When the person in charge seeks to solve the crisis, he or she does so directly by telling others what to do.

Centralizing authority in himself or herself, the person in charge effectively shuts out input from others.

Those not in change are reluctant to speak up even when they disagree with the high risk behavior of the person in charge, thereby shutting themselves out of the problem-solving loop.

Points 4, 5 & 6 become stronger when the competence of the person in charge has been demonstrated previously.

These findings lead to strong conclusion. The issue is not merely that of lodging authority in the single person who is in charge and therefore in control.

The conventional...

If that input is needed but unavailable and the leader has the strong concept of the problem to be solved or of the best option for solving it, the results can lead to tragic consequences. (Blake, etc., p.25).
A strong leadership based on meaningful interpersonal relationship and a 2-way communication prove that involving the rest of the working force in decision-making lead to corporate success, greater productivity, a better bonding relationship and pride in a sense of belongingness.

Strong leaders are characterized by greatness, accomplishments, moral and intellectually sound causes. A dedicated person tends to be mature and healthy. A corporation would naturally desire its staff from the CEO down to the rank and file to be dedicated and committed to the firm's goals and objectives. Dedicated commitment results when the members feel a stake in the outcome of their efforts. They work hard to reach their goal and feel responsible for outcomes, realizing that their endeavors create an impact and make a difference. It is corporate culture that determines whether the members understand and effectively manage the environment that enhances involvement, commitment, and dedication.

Successful corporations strongly identify with organization performance objectives with its members. One sees this in the positive morals, strong commitment efforts aimed achieving corporate excellence. It is the basis of corporate health. It happens when everybody works toward corporate achievement. Members feel good about their business firm. It is because they feel secure about being a family member of that corporation. People feel they are treated well. Good relations exist.

Strong leadership provides the (Blake, etc. 73) directions toward sound change business movement and action toward achievement and success. A strong leadership emanate from the staff, the workforce, the members. It is the total, the entire corporation itself.

Communication Skills

Written, Oral, Listening, Perception)

Communication skills assume varied forms: let us consider written, oral, listening, perception skills component. They form an integral part of organization communication. Written communication may be in the form of memoranda, letters, speeches, news releases, proposals, reports, executive summaries, and others.

Before anything written is sent out: from one department to another, from one section to another, from the CEO to the staff, from the staff to the head, director, one prepares the memorandum. The memorandum is an internal communication and as in letters, rules should be observed in the preparation. The KISS principle (keep it short and simple) and the four major C's of a composition: (clear, complete, concise, correct) should be observed. Formats and how to's (procedure), should followed, while courtesy is never neglected. The you - attitude is adopted which means one writes from the point-of-view of the reader. There are rules and rules to follow, the first and foremost of which is to be grammatically correct - know how to address the pope, the archbishop, the president and other major officials of the government. But of course before you go to the computer to prepare your letter, know why you are writing the memo or the letter - what is your message; what do you want done.

Oral communication is inclusive of delivering speeches, oral business presentations. Of course, before writing, an outline is a must so that the message is very clear.

Audience analysis has been made, visuals have been prepared and the speaker has rehearsed and prepared himself/herself to face the audience.

If you are the listener yourself, proper behavior in the audience, due courtesy to the speaker, joining in the open forum are musts.

Organization and Planning

To discuss to another component - organization and planning - Mohrman and Cunning say that organizations can self-design themselves for high performance. Self-design is a dynamic activity of the organization involving perception and in-depth analysis of what needs to be done. It is an ongoing process of implementing, assessing and modifying activities. It helps the organization to create appropriate strategies, outline, practices, continually improve them and revise structures if needed. The assumption is that organizations must have the built-in-capacity to change and improve themselves if they are to succeed in today's more complex and uncertain environment. It avoids hiring external experts and encourages organizational members to acquire the expertise and knowledge necessary to design, implement and improve their own situations. The ability to self-design is fundamental to creating high performing organizations.

A component of the self-design activity is the ability to perceive unfolding phenomena, problems, critical situations and predicting consequences. The idea is to generate and implement high performing innovations. Members are helped to research information, diagnose organizational functioning and assess innovation success, guide implementation processes for plays and strategies, monitor the progress of the…