Running head: LEADERSHIP AND ORGANIZATIONAL DYNAMICS FOR HEALTH
Leadership and Organizational Dynamics for Health Professionals
Geraldine N. Urse, D.O., FACOFP
Michigan State University
1

LEADERSHIP AND ORGANIZATIONAL DYNAMICS FOR HEALTH 2
Leadership and Organizational Dynamics for Health Professionals
Challenges present themselves in many ways. They can present as people we meet, assignments we are given or in projects we choose for ourselves. Certainly winter semester presented itself as a challenge in several ways.
Leadership and Organizational Dynamics led us from exploring foundations and theories through the study of Dr. Jones and his new position at Duzimater University. We were challenged individually to review our own leadership style and as a team to formulate a consensus paper outlining the problems within Dr. Jones' new position and what we felt the correct action plan might be. The next challenge presented itself in the form of preparing a gap analysis for ourselves along with a personal leadership development plan. The story of Sparrow
Hospital was presented as it moved forward with a formal culture change and the appointment of a CEO who lead them to success. Dr. Jones reappeared later in the semester along with his first annual review on which we were asked to give input and provide some guidance to Dr. Jones for improving his leadership style. We were introduced to coaching, mentoring and succession of leadership late in the semester and finally asked to prepare an outline for our own leadership program. To say the least this was a fully challenging semester!
Leadership theory reveals that there are multiple styles of leadership from transitional to transformational, situational to participative. As the variety of leadership styles were presented in the readings realization became clear that a true leader does not utilize only one style but moves easily between styles as demanded by the situation at hand. The leader that realizes his team will require different styles as they progress through the challenges ahead of them will surely be the leader that succeeds. Dwight D. Eisenhower once said, "Leadership is the art of

LEADERSHIP AND ORGANIZATIONAL DYNAMICS FOR HEALTH 3 getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.” Applying the skills of leadership to the task at hand requires the utilization of skills and tools to problem solve.
Ledlow and Coppola stated that "Planning is the fundamental function of leadership from which all other outcomes are derived." (Ledlow & Coppola, 2011, p. 142) Certainly planning was a crucial part of this semester's work as the assigned teams completed a group paper outlining Dr. Jones' course and the needed actions to improve it. The problems were identified and examined individually by five health professionals and their suggestions posted to the discussion forum. One of the team then stepped forward to take the leadership position on the group paper. The leader was not pre-selected but rather rose to the position out of many difficulties that faced the group members. One of the group members was without power for most of three days thus curtailing ability to interact with the group; one had a new addition to their family and all the stress that goes with the blessed event; one was away from the computer for work-related training and the rest were caught in the pressures of everyday work. Just as there was no plan to select a leader there was also no defined manner to compile the information.
As the time remaining before posting grew short a leader emerged and organized the information, presented it to the group allowing for changes and finally placed it into a formalized paper on which they all agreed. The group was pleased with the final paper as presented and shared equally in it's ownership.
Leadership development was the next task addressed during the semester. The issue of ambiguity was also explored along with the problems it presents. Ledlow and Coppola suggest that ambiguity needs to be reduced by leaders to the "greatest extent possible".(Ledlow &
Coppola, 2011, p. 122) They also state that the "richer media forms",(Ledlow & Coppola, 2011, p. 122) such as face-to-face meetings, have the least ambiguity however they are also the most

LEADERSHIP AND ORGANIZATIONAL DYNAMICS FOR HEALTH 4 time and resource demanding. Even though communication during this course utilizes one of the leanest forms of communication, the ambiguity in what is produced seems to be minimal.
Perhaps the fact that communication is accomplished by this computer-mediated method it allows more discussion about the tasks and less about the relationships within the group.
Nonetheless, on a personal note, I have been privileged to meet several of the members of our class face-to-face during this semester and have developed some treasured friendships.
The final section of this semester focused on leadership dynamics. The differences between leaders, coaches and mentors were reviewed and examined. The differences between the three areas are well defined however a simplistic representation of the information contained in the readings is that leadership involves teamwork, mentoring happens on a face-to-face level and coaching is a more specific one-on-one interaction involving development of a skill or trait.
Leaders developed through coaching and mentor-mentee style relationships provide the organization a method for succession through the ranks.
The final project this semester was the development of a leadership program designed individually in an area of personal interest. This allowed for growth of our individual styles of presentation while being able to choose the area of personal interest insured that it would be addressed with passion and commitment. The integration of this final project into our individual capstone portfolios also provided us a method of summing up this semester's work.
It goes without saying that a three to five page paper can not begin to incorporate fully the work that went into this course on leadership dynamics. It can not fully showcase the strengths nor recognize the weaknesses encountered this semester either. But what it can do is provide a way to communicate with one another the subject matter we feel strongly about and the pride we take in the work we complete. General George S. Patton said, "Never tell people how

LEADERSHIP AND ORGANIZATIONAL DYNAMICS FOR HEALTH to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity". I think that quotation best sums up my reflection on this semester and my involvement with the class and course.
5

LEADERSHIP AND ORGANIZATIONAL DYNAMICS FOR HEALTH 6
References
Ancona, D., Malone, T. W., Orlikowski, W. J., & Senge, P. M. (2007, February). In Praise of the
Incomplete Leader. Harvard Business Review , 92 -100.
Clark, D. (2011). Leadership Styles [Online Forum]. Retrieved from www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/leadstl.html
Goleman, D. (2004, January). What Makes a Leader? Harvard Business Review , 2-10.
Infed. (2011, Jan 24). Classical Leadership [Online forum]. Retrieved from www.infed.org/leadership/traditional_leadereship.htm
Kirkpatrick, S. A., & Locke, E. A. (1991). Leadership: do traits matter? Academy of
Management Executives , 5 (2), 48- 60.
Klemp , G. (2011). Emotional Intelligence and leadership: What Really Matters [Cambria
Consulting Group]. Retrieved from www.cambriaconsulting.com
Leadership Styles. (2011, March 25). Based on Myers Briggs/Jung Typology [Online forum].
Retrieved from www.teamtechnology.co.uk/leadereship-styles.html
Ledlow, G., & Coppola, M. N. (2011). Leadership Competence II: Application of Skills, Tools and Abilities. Leadership for Health Professionals (pp. 139-158). Sudbury, MA: Jones &
Bartlett Learning.
Lynn, A.B. (2008) The EQ Interview – Finding Employees with High Emotional Intelligence.
(pp. 88 – 91) New York, American Management Association.