Priya and Pinky are working in the finance wing. At one time, they were fast friends. But over a small matter they quarrelled and fell apart. Their relationship turned hostile. Arun was their immediate supervisor. He tried to patch things up but failed. Pinky and Priya did not hide their feelings even before customers. As they dealt with two vital finance areas, they could not be kept away from customer meetings. Arun met his boss and told him that the ‘daggers drawn’ situation between the two ladies was creating problems. His boss responded by saying that he had no stomach for mediating in a women’s quarrel.
From the standpoint of organisational behaviour and emotional intelligence what deficiencies do you notice in the conduct of Arun’s boss?
First and foremost, Arun’s boss (X in short) is ducking the issue. He cannot evade the issue, because the quarrel is creating an embarrassment to the organisation. When customers get different vibes or feel from different individuals in the organisation they lose trust and confidence in the organisation. The result can be only one: loss of business. Both the employees Priya and Pinky need to be firmly told about this organisational imperative. They should know that any such ugly show in future will invite disciplinary action against both.
Second, X needs to delve deeper to know the root cause of the problem. Such conflicts may rise from multiple reasons. The job description and duty assignment of two individuals may come in conflict. Partiality shown by the immediate boss to one employee may be another trigger and so forth. Talking to Priya, Pinky, Arun and others in confidence, X should be able to find the true reason for this conflict. Sometimes it may be easy to resolve such conflict by purely organisational measures such as defining job of individuals well so that no one treads into another’s work domain.
Third, his comment shows sexist bias. His language presumes that women are prone to fighting in this manner. That is an illicit generalisation. Sometimes men also fight in exactly the same way. Managers or officers should clear their mind of such prejudice and refrain from using such language.
Leadership in organisations involves inspiring and guiding individuals and groups. Leaders have to formulate a shared vision and mission for the organisation. In working out the vision, they have to involveothers to create a sense of participation.Otherwise,the visionwillfail to commandallegiance. Vision gives a sense of purpose which is a spur to human effort. People will not work if there is a feeling of drift or aimlessness. Visions do not have to be grandiose. Small organisations and groups can keep their sights lower. But some kind of vision gives direction to one’s efforts.
Leadership naturally implies taking lead in doing things. Journalists often advise politicians to assumeleadership andget a grip on things.Onecannot impose himself on othersintheorganization
in the name of leadership – nor would others countenance such moves. Leadership is not merely an attribute of one’s position in an organisation. No one becomes a leader only by virtue of occupying thetopslotintheorganisation.Onehas to showleadershipqualitiesparticularlyby acting in difficult times and by assuming responsibility for decisions that go wrong. Passing the buck to others in troubled times is indefensible in any leader. Leaders have to decide matters democratically, not in the sense of taking votes, but in the sense of consulting all concerned and examining all the relevant technical inputs.
Most positions in an organisation involve leadership in greater or lesser measure. Except at the lowest level, all positions involve supervision. Naturally, at the lower level, decisions will be simpler, andinvolvefewerindividuals.However,managershaveto takeinitiativeand be proactive in handling problems. At any level, leaders should not play favourites. They need to evaluate performance of everyone on the same criteria, avoiding subjectivity and personal likes and dislikes. They have to be accessible equally to all subordinates and avoid creating any charmed circle of intimates.
Leaders have to act as catalysts for change. This is particularly critical now when many new programmes and policies are being put on ground. New or innovative work methods change old procedures and settled routines. They create unease since people in organisations are used to the old ways. New processes involve what are known as learning curves which people have to traverse. The process requires learning, effort, and “getting used to”. Thus, computerising any office creates tensions.Unliketheyoungwho havelearnt how to operatecomputers,many middle-agedemployees find the process troublesome. This explains the inertia of organisations in adopting to change. For organisational leaders, this is a major challenge especially since the world and the workplaces are being swept by rapid changes.
Leaders can manage change in the following ways:
¤ They have to recognise the need for change and remove obstacles from its path.
¤ They have to explain to others why the status quo is no longer viable.
¤ They have to be vocal and open in pursuing change and form a group to drive the change.
¤ They should adopt the new processes in their working and set an example to others.