Introduction
Jeanne Lewis while at Staples, made important career moves. With her good behavior, she remained as a role model and a leader who inspired most of the people who interacted with her. Lewis in her leadership managed to influence the behavior of the employees and made them have a positive attitude and determination to succeed and achieve high standards in their responsibilities. To achieve this she must have employed certain tactics that influenced the employees to change their behavior.
Respect
Getting hold of the community and enhancing the respect for the individual is one tactic she must have adopted. This is because once an individual feels respected by the management his /her efforts to work consequently improve. These results were revealed in Jean Lewis work in the operations department. She managed to create a functional community as a leader and the fruits of her efforts were seen in the way the teams she worked with were achieving. As a leader, she was able to have control, organize and help the members of these teams to work towards achievement of the set goals. She was able to organize these groups which were all working towards achieving the same goals and hence they formed what can be called the community. It was her responsibility to mold the groups motivate the members, and create the uniformity that led to establishment of the community. Therefore it is actually through the community phenomenon that she was able to make the employees have desire and commitment to work hard and grow professionally as they benefited from the organization.
Strong Personality
Secondly Jeanne Lewis was able to impact on the behavior of the employees by using the individual approach to behavior change. By this tactic the influence came on an individual because of his/her interaction with Jeanne Lewis. Interactions were made possible by the open door policy which she adopted combined with her natural personality which made her approachable to the employees. Her personality contributed a lot towards the interactions with the employees hence leading to influence of behavior at personal level. She was able to study the attitudes of individual employees through the interactions and especially the one–on–one setting she resorted to after noticing that the bimonthly meetings were not yielding the desirable results. In the course of her interactions with the employees she challenged them and also encouraged them to challenge one another. All this was aimed at personal development of the individual so as to improve his/her contribution to the organization. By this therefore I can conclude that the tactic she adopted her was the respect of an individual. By respecting the employees who she worked with it was a better chance to discover that the individuals were in possession of inner abilities and worthiness. She therefore treated them with respect, courtesy and understanding. By being showed this respect the employees would respond in a positive way and hence their behavior influenced positively towards personal development and organizations growth. Her charm and supportive personality proved to be very useful towards behavior change in the employees and hence improved their work output leading to higher achievements.
Selflessness
Jeanne Lewis made a decision to work with her employees until she was sure in the strength of her team. She was willing to put her self interests aside for the sake of the team. This was a clear demonstration of her concerned behavior and attitude towards whatever she worked for in the organization. Working together with the team was meant to be a demonstration of her commitment towards the success of the team. Ethically she believed in the respect of individuals was key in promoting a conducive work environment that was necessary for the achievement of her groups objectives. She believed that through respecting individuals it was easy for the inside potential to come out and be exploited for the benefit of the organization. Through working with the employees as a leader it was easy to have control of the employees without necessarily being a dictator in her approach. The open door policy she adopted was fundamental in creating an approachable attitude that was necessary for good work relationships. Working with the employees signified her willingness to listen to each and every one so as to incorporate the views of the employees in decision making. Without working together she would have been pretending to listen to the employees which would not have been ethical. There is no way she could have achieved the confidence she was seeking in the group while she was working in isolation just because she was their leader. It is only by the physical presence that she was able to find out what affected the employees and therefore tried to find solutions to their problems if they existed. With the employees getting satisfaction the confidence was easy to come hence success and increased productivity of members of her group.
Self improvement
In her leadership the reason why she chose to work with the employees is that she was interested into getting an insight into the heart of issues that related to the performance of the employees. Getting into the deep understanding of problems that affected the employees could only be achieved through close working with them. The situation other managers adopt whereby they are most of the time in isolation in their offices could not take Lewis to the heights and moves she managed to make as a leader. It is important to note that the behavior of Jeanne Lewis towards the employees was ethical in the sense that she did not look down upon individuals no matter the state of that particular individual. Her concern was a move towards improvement of individuals in the performance of their duties. Therefore one can say that her style of leadership led to personal growth of most of the employees who interacted with her.
Consultative approach
She was not a selfish leader because she was focused on the overall good of everybody. She paid attention to the people who stood above her in authority and that are why she managed to create harmony and came up with wise decisions. She was tactful in detail knowledge of operations within the organization to establish where the challenges and opportunities lied before acting. This shows how her ethical behavior was not just meant to satisfy the needs of employees on a short term basis because she new that this would cause problems in future. She recognized the role that each stakeholder played in the organization.
In conclusion I can mention that Jeanne Lewis behavior was ethical and was geared towards better leadership that promoted growth from the individual employees to the organization as a whole.
References
Leadership: Research Findings, Practice and Skills ( Fifth edition, Dubrin) ISBN-13: 978-0-618-62328-0 Chapters 6-8 Jeanne Lewis at Staples ,Inc (A)(Abridged)