PGBM73 Business Management

The researcher will engage in literature reviews for developing insight into the effectiveness of leadership theories and approaches needed for the Royal United Bath Hospital to survive different stages of the organisation life cycles.Northouse (2015) stressed that leadership is the ability to influence a group toward the achievement of agreed goals and this research will focus on the examination of leadership effectiveness within the NHS as the organisation is going through different stages of its life cycle and fighting for survival.

According to Bolden and Gosling (2006) most of the successful leaders usually ignored such debate and focus of their personal and professional development on leadership qualities, because they recognised that organisation cannot remain the same forever due to the changing and dynamic business environment.According to Goleman (2002), the leader must be able to set the direction for others to follow and align people as well as motivating individual and inspiring the group to achieve business objectives.

Leadership is the process of encouraging and inspiring individual and a team to provide their effort in order to achieve agreed objectives, therefore, a leader may exist only to achieve the objective with help of his/her group.The critical issue is whether a leader can be born or made and to answer this question, it is important to understand the following three main leadership theories such as the traits theory, the style theory and the contingency theory.

The researcher will like to gain more knowledge about the leadership traits and styles which effective and efficient leader must display in their position and the approach for developing those qualities to guide and lead in the public sector for a better future.Another rationale is that the researcher will also like to develop some of the following leadership qualities according to Armstrong (2009): honesty, forward – looking, inspiring, competent, analytical and intelligent for leading in the public sector.

As the NHS is going through different stages of its life cycle and the future indicates privatisation which requires a new life cycle, the organisation would benefits from this research through the identification of the best fit leadership approach for effective management at different stage of the life cycle.

Therefore, the researcher will like to offer suggestion for leaders in the public sector (NHS) to engage and develop the different leadership approaches and practices for leading others through different life cycle of the organisation such as the birth, growth, mature and decline stages.

In Grint (2005), to achieve any agreed objectives the leader must have the ability to gain the commitment and cooperation of the team, get the group into effective actions and make the best of their skills, talent and energy.

The leader must always attempt to perform a special duty of initiating what to do and control the behaviour of the to achieve agreed objectives, but Goleman (2002) argued this process of leadership requires a person with the ability to influence and persuade individuals to become voluntarily willing and prepare to participate effectively in the overall team efforts.

Therefore, the leader must be comfortable and confidence to lead because he/she will the one who can be looked up to and whose judgement, personality and direction can be trusted to warm the heart of the team and communicate effectively in an event of challenges as in the case of the Royal United Bath Hospital.The organisation must have a system in place for coordinating and monitoring the activities and performances of different department at the Hospital. According to Mullins (2010), system is made up of a variety of parts that work together to achieve a goal and this enable the leader continue evaluating the patterns of activities at the hospital.

Such evaluation can become part of the monitoring system for ensuring that the organisation achieved the overall goal of the whole organisation instead of part of the organisation performing exceptional and others failing to achieve the expected outcomes.

1. Literature Review:

KEY WORDS: Public, Leadership, Effectiveness, Services

The researcher will engage in literature reviews for developing insight into the effectiveness of leadership theories and approaches needed for the Royal United Bath Hospital to survive different stages of the organisation life cycles.

Northouse (2015) stressed that leadership is the ability to influence a group toward the achievement of agreed goals and this research will focus on the examination of leadership effectiveness within the NHS as the organisation is going through different stages of its life cycle and fighting for survival.According to Bolden and Gosling (2006) most of the successful leaders usually ignored such debate and focus of their personal and professional development on leadership qualities, because they recognised that organisation cannot remain the same forever due to the changing and dynamic business environment.

According to Goleman (2002), the leader must be able to set the direction for others to follow and align people as well as motivating individual and inspiring the group to achieve business objectives.Leadership is the process of encouraging and inspiring individual and a team to provide their effort in order to achieve agreed objectives, therefore, a leader may exist only to achieve the objective with help of his/her group.

The critical issue is whether a leader can be born or made and to answer this question, it is important to understand the following three main leadership theories such as the traits theory, the style theory and the contingency theory.

As the result of the critical issue, the literature review will consider to business practices such as the leadership theories and different leadership approaches for effective leadership during different stages of the Royal United Bath Hospital life cycle.

During the birth stage, Mullins (2013) argued that the leader must be like a farmer that will sow the first seed in the organisation with self-motivation, high level of commitment and visionary approaches and other leadership qualities identifying with the trait theory.At the growth stage of the organisation, the leader must realised that the Royal United Bath Hospital as a public service organisation, requires a very strong culture and structure to prepare and sustain itself in the future due to the threat of the government reducing financial support.

The culture according to Armstrong (2009) is to become a grower with the ability to learn different leadership skills for evaluating the performance and behaviour of the employees because at this stage the number of staff will increase as the number of the service users increases.

At the matured stage, the leader must be going through a personal and professional development to combine the skills of leadership with managerial capabilities for effective, efficient and economic use of resources for achieving the organisation objectives at the Royal United Bath Hospital.This is a process of strong understanding and ability to plan and manage (Armstrong, 2009), the financial, human, physical and intellectual resources to gain the maximum outcomes for the Royal United Bath Hospital and the quality of service provisions for the health and well-being of the service users.

The absent of such leadership skills to combine with managerial ability led to the negative CQC report indicating ineffective leadership at the hospital for planning, organising, controlling and solving problems at the early stage.The leader at the Royal United Bath Hospital at this stage should be able to bring people work together and provide the encouragement for the culture of individual to be willing to learn and develop new skills about their job roles.

A strong leader at this stage will ensure that decision making and accountability represent the culture of behaviour at the Royal United Bath Hospital including monitoring system to ensure that different department of the hospital are working toward the same objectives of health and well-being of the service users and to achieve outstanding result from the CQC inspection.

At the decline stage, the NHS in general is going through one of the most difficult time in the history of the organisation as the continue government cutting of finance and possibility of privatisation indicates a new direction for the organisation.

This critical analysis shows that leadership and its effectiveness has a profound impact on the overall organization.  Leadership is essential for developing an appropriate organizational culture which will consist of the shared values of the management and employees. The changing nature of the organization requires flexibility and adaptability; leadership is a key component in this respect and a leader can transform the organization based on futuristic vision.  It has already been discussed about the different leadership and the contingency theory states that there is no appropriate style of leadership.

The leadership pattern has to be changed based on the situation in hand and most of the successful leaders adapt to different leadership styles based on the necessity. Therefore, the leader will have to resort to democratic style and autocratic style based on the current organizational situation. The effectiveness of the leadership is essential for improving the management of the employees. Leaders will have to understand the different styles of leadership but transformational leadership is best possible way to empower and bring about a change within the organization.

Effective leadership is also essential for improving the motivation level of the employees by improving the working environment. The modern organization culture are more focused on employee engagement and growth which shows that the basic driving factors of the employees are changing due to the change in the generation. Therefore, the leader will also have to make changes to the organization culture based on the change in workforce. Effective decision making is a crucial element of organizational success as it provides a guide to the strategies and measures the organization and the employees will have to take to manage their sustainability and competitive advantage.Bass and Riggio (2006) pointed out that it is obvious to consider that the leadership approach must change due to different obstructions pointing to future competition for the hospital that never face a competitor in the past.

Hence, the leadership approach should be like a housewife tidying up the disorganisation, disarrangement and prepare for the changes.

Unfortunately, most organisations in the private sector would be using this stage to plan an exit and re-enter the market again with the same services but different name and different approaches to the service provisions.

The Royal United Bath Hospital needs a new structure, new culture and new leadership approaches such as the contingency theory to survive in the new trend.

A transformational leadership theory according to Bass and Riggio (2006) should be applied together with the behavioural theory approach for leading the staff and the operations to be successful in achieving the goal of providing health and well-being for the service users and job satisfaction for the staff.

2. Sample of the some of the main sources for this research:

Books and Journals

References

The following published literature will be reviewed with the case study of CQC report on the inspection of the Royal United Bath Hospital for analysis, finding and final report of this research project:

Armstrong (2009) Handbook of Management and Leadership, 2nd ed. London: Kogan Page

Bass, B. and Riggio, R. (2006) Transformational Leadership. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Bell, J. (2010) Doing Your Research Project 5thedn. Maidenhead: Open University Press

Bolden, R. and Gosling, J. (2006) Leadership Competencies: Time to change the tune. London: Sage Publications

Bratton, J and Gold, J (2003), Human Resources Management (Theory and Practice) 3rd edition, UK and New York: Palgrave Macmillan

Castells, M. (2012) Networks of Outrage and Hope: Social Movements in the Internet Age. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Collins, H (2010) Creative research: The Theory and Practice of research for the creation industries, London: Thames and Hudson

Corbin, J. and Strauss, A. (2008) Basics of Qualitative Research 3rd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage

Dawson, C (2007) (3rd Edition) A practical guide to research methods: A user-friendly manual for mastering research techniques and projects.  Oxford: How to Books.

Dawson, C. (2009) Introduction to research methods. A practical guide for anyone undertaking a research project (4th ed). Oxford: How to Books

Denscombe, M. (1998) The good research guide for small-scale social research projects Buckingham: Open University Press.

Dubrin, A. (2000) Leadership: Research Findings, Practice and Skills. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin

Du Gay, P. (2000) In praise of Bureaucracy: Weber Organisation Ethics. London: Sage

Fairhurst, G. (2007) Discursive Leadership: In Conversation with Leadership Psychology. London: Sage Publications

Gill, J. and Johnson, P. (2010) Research methods for Managers 4th ed. London: Sage

Gold, J., Thorpe, R. and Mumford, A. (2010) Leadership and Management Development. 5th edn. London: CIPD.