Leadership and Managment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Leadership and Managment - Essay Example ssion of poverty, school failure and social exclusion by enhancing the life chances for children less than four years of age growing up in disadvantaged neighbourhoods† (House of Commons, 2010:15). In order to achieve this, the institution strives to reach out to the most disadvantaged and or vulnerable families and children, engaging parents of these children and general community in the whole process as well as integrating and making services easily accessible to the community. Thus, the centre’s major goal is to put the vulnerable child and family at the heart of the program, providing them with essential day care and early education services necessary for their direct and easy entry into primary school. The non stop focus on the involvement of the parents and the community at large by the institution can be attributed to the roots in early childhood education and day care. Management Structure/Skills Centro Sure Start Children’s Centre operates under what can be described as an autocratic form of leadership where employees are to follow strict procedures, guidelines and policies. This form of leadership can largely be attributed to the government ownership or rather fund that the centre gets. The major issue with this leadership style is that decisions are made from the top with little or no consultation from the bottom of the leadership hierarchy. However, this little or no consultation makes such decision making processes rapid. In addition, it can result in some employees feeling devalued due to their inability to contribute their ideas. However, effective leaders can employ some of this style’s features in a sensible way, for instance in cases where the manager is the most qualified. Perhaps, one can term the leadership style used as heroic where the... This paper approves that leaders at Centro Sure Start Children’s Centre are capable of building relationships with their team members, the community as well as with other agencies playing a role in its activities. In addition, the delegation of duties to junior members of teams is seen as an important tool of empowering the staff and instigating a shared decision making model in the institution. Managers organize, plan, control and co-ordinate while leaders direct, inspire, advocate for and build teamwork, gain acceptance while at the same time setting an example to the junior staff. This essay makes a conclusion that different researches exist regarding educational leadership with almost all putting emphasis or rather focusing on the beliefs, values, skills and knowledge that many view to be the ideal for a good leader or leadership, rather than focus on actual practices of leadership. According to Leithwood, Day, Sammons, Harris and Hopkins, the existing literature spills out less regarding the specific requirements for successful leadership and more about effective practices of leadership. The overlaps between the different leadership forms like collaborative, shared, participative and democratic has resulted in the use of the term distributed leadership to refer to a form of leadership practice in Sure Start Centres that is devolved, dispersed or shared. However, it should be understood that distributed leadership does not mean everyone leads; rather, it means the practice is distributed beyond the manager.

Work place diversity Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Work place diversity - Research Paper Example Consequently, to become more open to change and innovative, all organizations require diversity. Capitalizing and maximizing on diversity in the workplace has become a significant subject for today’s management (Kelli, et al., 2012). This paper delves into workplace diversity, its importance in creating a productive and healthy work environment, as well as policies and actions for improving the situation. Introduction Workplace diversity is an issue concerning people, which concentrates on the similarities and variations that individuals bring to their place of work. Esty and co-authors (1995) define diversity as recognizing, appreciating, valuing, accepting, and celebrating disparities among individuals with regard to gender, ethnicity, age, mental and physical ability, class, sexual orientation, race, public assistance status, and spiritual practice. Apparently, the broad definition of workplace diversity goes beyond those aspects that are legally stated in affirmative actio n non-discrimination as well as equal opportunity bills. The interpretation of diversity normally incorporates aspects that affect the perspectives and identities that individuals bring for instance geographic location education, profession, and parental status. Diversity as a concept is deemed to include everybody. More often than not, diversity initiatives match non-discrimination conformity programs through the formation of the organizational culture and workplace environment for making disparities work. Diversity is all about the creation of workplace practices and environments that promote learning from other people and capturing the benefit of varied perspectives, it is about respect and dignity for all, and about learning from other individuals who are not the same (Woods, Bormann & Joseph, 2010). Benefits of Diversity in the Workplace Workplace diversity is not only beneficial to employers but it is also beneficial to associates. Even though workplace associates are co-depen dent, respecting differences among persons can boost productivity. Workplace diversity places an organization at a competitive advantage in several ways. To start with, it ensures the retention of business. Esty and co-authors (1995) explain that a good number of organizations tend to be keen on the demographics of institutions/companies with which they do business. Municipal governments and federal agencies particularly have taken the lead in declining prospective clients and suppliers who fail to demonstrate a clear commitment to diversity. A good example is one of the Midwestern cities that declined to purchase computer equipment from a high-tech company whose entire sales team was white. Workplace diversity also brings about increased productivity. As Mor (2006) explains, this is attributable to job satisfaction, which is true in the sense that in such a work place, people feel valued, respected and included, which helps them to stop acting like outsiders thus making productivit y go up. Another competitive advantage of well-managed workplace diversity is increased marketing capabilities. A group of diverse employees is capable of providing insight into the establishment of a wide range of customers. Attracting new customers makes a critical difference between going out of business and survival of a business. Moreover, as markets become more and more differentiated, smaller market segments are imperative (Esty, et al., 1995). A diverse workplace also builds the largest possible pool of talent for recruitment. This is more important especially with the present-time’s increased competition that calls for every organization to hire