Leadership is more than theory; it is practical and authentic. There has been a shift from the traditional type of leadership from ‘control leadership’ to ‘business leadership’ (Grendstad & Strand, 1999). This has been brought about by the ever increasing organizational complexity. Businesses, non-governmental organizations and governments, have invested so much money on training leaders on good leadership to improve their output (Grendstad & Strand, 1999). However, leadership is so dynamic in some situations. For instance, a democratic leader may display autocratic leadership when a crisis happens in an organization.
He or she will not have time to ask for solutions from juniors because the crisis needs an urgent and decisive solution. In addition, different work environments ask for different leadership. Take, for example, leadership in the military. Leaders in the military are authoritative, and that is what the job demands. On the other hand, workers in a university display bureaucratic leadership in which things are expected to follow laid down channels. There is no room for being creative and innovative. This paper will discuss how to solve unwillingness to take up information technology among workers in a retail banking industry. It will describe the environment and various leadership models that can be used effectively solve the issue.
The work environment
I have assumed a new leadership role in a retail banking organization, call it XYZ bank, in California. There are 45 workers in different sections. In addition, cleaning and making snacks during working days is done by support staff. Sections include; accounts opening, mortgages, loans, savings, securities, investment and customer relations sections. Services offered include; customer deposits, customer withdrawals, accounts opening, customer loans, and savings.
It also offers investment advice, mortgage and buying and selling of shares and securities on behalf of customers. Workers are expected to work for 8 hours in a day, except on Saturdays, when they work until midday. However, if there is a backlog of work then they extend their working time until they complete the work. They do not work on Sundays and holidays.
The issue and its significance
Information technology applications designed for different sections have been introduced in the bank. Prior to their introduction, there were limited applications of information technology. These are hi-tech applications that are rare with banks in the states. The purpose of introducing the hi-tech programs was to keep in pace at which information technology is changing the retail banking globally. However, most workers are not willing to adopt the hi-tech programs.
They argue that they are too complicated, and it is not the right time to implement such changes. As a result, most of the workers have been using the old system to carry out transactions in the bank. This is a great issue in the retail banking industry because if customers do not receive quality services from the bank, then the organization might suffer losses or customer reduction in the future. This issue must be addressed now to ensure that workers appreciate the role of hi-tech technologies in the retail banking industry.
Solving the issue through servant leadership
Servant leadership is a great model in which the leader assumes the role of a servant (Smith, Montagno & Kuzmenko, 2004). Servant leaders do not see themselves as leaders but as servants ready to lead. They want to lead by example and illustrating to their juniors or the people they are leading. When followers are served by their leaders, they feel motivated and part of the organization (Smith et al., 2004). By being a servant leader, I will illustrate to my followers how to use the hi-tech programs on their sections. Practical illustrations will be important in demonstrating to workers how to use these programs.
There are many characteristics to display in servant leadership (Russell, 2001). Some of these are; listening, awareness, empathy, persuasiveness and conceptualization. Listening and empathy will help to understand why employees are not ready to adopt the hi-tech programs. Persuasiveness will aid in inspiring the workers to adopt the programs. Conceptualization is a great characteristic for understanding the issue from a holistic point of view (Russell, 2001).
Solving the issue through transformational leadership
It is evident that workers in this retail banking industry need to change their perception towards the adoption of hi-tech programs. This will redirect my followers’ thinking towards the hi-tech programs (Judge & Piccolo, 2004). I will redefine the importance of the I.T applications and communicate them to my followers. The goal of this leadership model will be to change or transform the workers (Judge & Piccolo, 2004).
Solving the issue through transactional leadership
This leadership model focuses on managing followers on the basis of group performance (Judge & Piccolo, 2004). I will review the performance of every employee to assess whether they conform to the laid down standards of using the hi-tech programs in the banking industry. The transactional leadership may reward or punish employees based on their performance.
This paper has aggressively addressed the issue in a retail banking industry, unwillingness to adopt hi-tech programs. It has described the work environment and discussed the three leadership models for solving the issue. The models are servant leadership, transformational leadership and transactional leadership.
References
Grendstad, G., & Strand, T. (1999). Organizational types and leadership roles. Scandinavian Journal of management, 15(4), 385-403.
Judge, T. A., & Piccolo, R. F. (2004). Transformational and transactional leadership: a meta-analytic test of their relative validity. Journal of applied psychology, 89(5), 755.
Russell, R. F. (2001). The role of values in servant leadership. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 22(2), 76-84.
Smith, B. N., Montagno, R. V., & Kuzmenko, T. N. (2004). Transformational and servant leadership: Content and contextual comparisons. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 10(4), 80-91.