Analysis of Leadership at Nordstrom
Polyarchy can be referred to as a system of government where power is not concentrated on one person but many people. It can be termed as a hybrid between dictatorship and democracy. For Nordstrom Company, it is not ready to adopt a polyarchy form of leadership according to some of the questionnaire results given. First, the firm has decided to stick to the traditional form of governance where the leadership is concentrated at one point. The organization’s management is centrally located and solely responsible for the critical decisions made. This makes it hard for other individuals to form different centres of power. Secondly, the workers in the organization have different personal objectives they plan to achieve, thus hard to place them in various groups. As each employee concentrates on certain personal goals, he/she might be unwilling to be placed under different management apart from the central one. Lastly, the organization rarely involves its workers in decision making. This leaves most of them in the dark unable to comprehend some of the policies implemented. This means that the organization favours dictatorial form of leadership in its operations.
To improve the overall scores of the organization, Nordstrom needs to develop certain strategies to help it achieve this objective. First, the organization needs to involve its workers more in decision making. This helps in creating a sense of belonging in them and steer them towards a common objective. To achieve this, the organization needs to create more departments thus breaking down the leadership hierarchy the worker has to pass in airing his/her views(McMaster, 2017). Secondly, the organization can communicate more to its employees about the objectives set. This will help workers concentrate on a common goal thus improving the overall performance of the firm. To achieve this, the organization can create a clearer outline of what is expected of each employee.
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According to Obolensky thinking about paradoxical principles, certain guidelines need to be followed in adopting adaptive leadership. First, he lists underlying organizational purpose vs. clear individual objective as a major principle in this practice. This can be applied by encouraging workers to work towards the objective. It will act as a driving force and a unifying factor among workers in an organization. The second principle is a person’s will and skills vs. a few simple rules(Obolensky, 2017). The self-motivation and knowledge one has encourages him/her to excellent work for the organization. It means that the organization needs to set a few regulations to guide such workers. Third, there is tolerance to ambiguity vs. unambiguous feedback which means that despite things looking chaotic, workers find a way of tolerating such chaos. Lastly, Obolensky lists the freedom to act vs. clear boundaries that an organization can use to allow workers to explore their various talents. This works only when one is given a free will and the number of rules reduced.
According to The Practice of Adaptive Leadership: Tools and Tactics of Changing your Organization and the World by Heifetz, Linsky, and Grashow, adaptive leadership contributes to increased capacity to succeed, dwells much on the past and allows change through practice. It also concentrates on diversity, restructuring the old form of leadership, and needs more time to happen(“The Practice of Adaptive Leadership: Tools and Tactics for Changing Your Organization and the World by Ronald Heifetz, Alexander Grashow, and Marty Linsky,” 2010). To get into this process, one needs to involve other members of the organization, reflect always and make tough choices. To apply those considerations, the management needs to allow workers to implement a change through experimentation with fewer limitations. This means that each employee will explore his/her talent efficiently without fear of reprisal from the administrators. The management also need to differentiate authority from leadership while directing other workers.
References
McMaster, H. R. (2017). Adaptive Leadership: In The Art of Command . https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1vw0s98.15
Obolensky, N. (2017). Complex Adaptive Leadership. In Complex Adaptive Leadership . https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315264929
The Practice of Adaptive Leadership: Tools and Tactics for Changing Your Organization and the World by Ronald Heifetz, Alexander Grashow, and Marty Linsky. (2010). Personnel Psychology . https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6570.2009.01168_4.x
