MSLD 633 Strategic Leadership

Changing Dynamics of Leadership      I feel like the shift in leadership to more of a bottom-up approach is related to leaders realizing the actual value in the knowledge and opinions of lower-level employees.   Obolensky stated, “So the fact is those at the top do not know the solutions to the problems faced by the organizations they lead. And generally speaking they know that they do not know (2014).”   Therefore, considering this leadership charade leaders have shifted their leadership approach from directing to guiding and leading.      This shift to a more bottom-up approach to leadership is not indicative of what is happening at my organization as the leadership approach at the school district as a whole is very much a top down approach.   However, I have seen a shift in the leadership strategies within various departments which correlates to the leadership tending shift and utilizes the bottom-up approach with ...

Complexity Science      The organization with which I am employed with is Miami-Dade County Public Schools District (M-DCPS), which the second largest employer in Miami-Dade County and the fourth largest school district in the nation.   I am a Director in the Procurement Management Services department which is a branch of the financial services bureau.   The operations for the entire school district falls underneath the direction of the Superintendent of Schools with the guidance and direction of the School Board which is comprised of elected community officials.   The M-DCPS district is a governmental organization which operates under the mandates and statues of the State of Florida and the State of Florida Department of Education.   The business strategy generally changes with the appointment of a new superintendent who directs his administration teams by way of petitions to the School Board according to the School Board Policies which ar...

Complex Adaptive Systems     The Complex Adaptive System (CAS) organization is intended to reflect an organization where teams are formed for specific purposes, perform and then are dismantled as the needed in order to successfully compete in the industry which it operates (Obolensky, 2014).     The organization does not operate by utilizing the traditional hierarchy of management however, employees at all levels have been given responsibility and more control over how they carry out the task for their position.   For this assigned task, I was required to find a company that reflects Morning Star and St Luke’s image of a Complex Adaptive System (CAS).  Morning Star’s CAS goal is to create a company which all team members will be self-managing professionals which will initiate communication and coordinate their activities with their colleagues, external stakeholders, and industry constituents (Hamel, 2011). Similar to the structure of MorningStar...

Butterfly Effect      The workplace is ever changing.   Oftentimes, a small change may have a big impact that could initially lead to chaos, but will ultimately lead to additional changes that generate balance and order.     Obolensky (2010), explains this when he stated that complex systems seem to be on the edge of chaos but they are able to balance order and chaos.   I can identify two examples where “small changes yielded large results” within our organization.                                        One such example transpired by the simple addition of a review form within my organization.  Procurement Analysts in my organization are required to create and sign off on a Procurement Review Form for every solicitation that will be released to the public...

     Over the course of my life I would say my attitude towards leaders has changed multiple times during the various stages in life.   As a young child and adolescent, I idolized the leaders in my life as they were my role models and I sought after their approval and everything they did was right.   However, as I matured I realized that leaders are human; not all leaders make good decisions nor have the best interest of the group in mind while operating in this capacity.   As a follower, I seek to support the leaders which I am working with by giving total support, accepting responsibility and completing the assigned tasks.   Nevertheless, I no longer go about this blindly.   I feel it is important to observe the actions of leaders in an effort to determine the strengths and weakness of their leadership ability.   This allows me the opportunity to internalize the good and bad behaviors of other leaders which provides me with attribu...