Day 6

17th March 2010 (Wednesday)

Today’s session started at 8:30 and the presenter engaged all the participants identify what they have learned so far and how they are going to implement what they have learned in terms of their leadership styles. Also participants were requested to identify what they intent to change in their working environment. During this session, we discussed the Performance Management System and how important it in an organization, all legislation that deals with employment rules and we even discussed how to deal with conflict in the organization and also training and skills development. Organizational culture was one of one topic which was discussed in detail as it may create or destroy an organization if it is not handled properly.

What have I learned for the day

During this session, I have learned about the different leadership style and how all the four of them might influence how a leader leads. The four leadership styles are as follows:
· Autocratic – the leader takes decisions and announces them, expecting subordinates to carry them out without question
· Persuasive – the leader takes all the decisions for the group without discussion or consultation but believes that people will be better motivated if they are persuaded that the decisions are good ones
· Consultative – the confers with the group members before taking any decision and in fact considers their advice and their feelings when framing decisions
· Democratic – the leader always lay the problem before his/her subordinates and invite discussion. The leader’s role is that of a chair, rather than of decision taker
It is clearly evident that practically in our working environments, a leader will by required to apply all this styles as some situations will dictate how one reacts and apply his/her leadership styles. I also learned that as a leader, if one needs to have an organization that is succeeding in everything they do, the organization need a measuring tool to measure the performance of its staff and be able to develop them where they are in short supply of skills. Performance management is the setting and measurement of all desired outcomes, behaviours and activities of an organization, its individual components units and its staff members that contribute to the achievement of the strategic vision of the organization. This tool if applied correctly, it can help the organization develop its staff to be excellent in their work as this system can also identify all the areas in which an employee is lacking and identify the training needs to improve his/her performance. Performance management involves:->
· The definition of the performance that is being managed (design),
· The process of performance management (implementation)
· The management of the consequences of the performance (integration
If this tool can be applied and managed effectively, it will make the life of the manager or leader simple as there will be a tool to be used to manage performance and not the manager managing people. In connection with Conflict Management, I have learned that as a manager or leader, you need to identify the sources of conflict in your organization and deal with them before they escalate into serious conflict among staff members. Also I have learned how to deal with racial conflict in an organization as this is a serious problem in our country we tend to avoid this problems and always pass the buck and not take a stand and talk about this issue so that we could harmonize the different races in the organization. In an organization, sources of conflict may be:->
· Scarcity
· Identity
· Structural imbalances
· Differing goals
· Coordination
· Ambiguity
· Information
· Interpersonal
As a leader you to have the skill to identify these sources of conflict before they emanate into a serious problems as you will be face with a conflict situation that needs attention this takes valuable time that could be utilized to provide service somewhere. In solving conflict, there are mechanism that could be followed to solve the problem. Some of the mechanism are:->
· Joint problem identification
· Joint problem solving
· Mediation
· Arbitration
I also learned about useful steps in solving conflict and the steps learned, will help me in my organization to be able solve problems efficiently and professionally.

What have I intend doing at my work place
To refine my management style and also apply the Performance Management System correctly in my workplace and also develop my staff to enhance their knowledge so that I could surround myself with knowledgeable staff who are winners