Leadership From a Biblical Perspective Term Paper
A sustained organizational crisis means any factor that contributes to the ruining of the well-being of a Company. Often such crises linger for a while, which leads to the dissolution of the organization. Organizations are doomed to fail continuously at times. This is as a result of several factors, and the changing global economy, technological advancements as well as globalization are some of the external and internal factors that will affect them. For a business to remain competitive and experience growth, its leaders, therefore, have to come up with effective strategies to prevent failure. However, not all initiatives are effective, and to this end, the organization needs a vision, commitment, and to demonstrate positive communication skills to regain successfully. This case study discusses a sustained Crisis that threatens the growth of a company and how leaders can help sustain it.
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Leadership behavior
It is usual for organizations to make continuous changes in how they do business to remain successful. Technological growth also compels workers to learn new skills to keep up with development in their respective fields. Nevertheless, when implementing a strategy, a Company will be forced to make changes, even though people who have different perspectives will criticize change processes. Many employees show resistance to change, and a successful manager must, therefore, cultivate emotional intelligence among employees to combat any resistance to a necessary change (Kuipers et al., 2014). While leadership behavior affects work outcomes, a skilled leader will motivate employees to aim higher by setting an example for them. For instance, he or she can work overtime. This will inspire employees towards more significant commitment, remain involved in teamwork, or provide rewards to workers for achieving specific goals as incentives.
How to bring order out of chaos
Employees will resist change for various reasons, as they tend to prefer stability and predictability in their working lives. Change often appears to pose a threat to self-interest, involve risks, and thus are the cause of numerous unwanted situations. A successful leader must, therefore, have exceptional skills to influence the team to achieve set company goals. He or she is thus responsible for causing changes in employee attitudes by preparing them adequately for any envisaged change (Van et al., 2009). Workers who consider their managers to be trustworthy and supportive are more likely to accept any change. Trust is a valuable tool that leaders can use to this effect. A competent leader will furthermore demonstrate a high level of respect for workers, who will thus be more inclined to support any change processes.
How to restore sustainability
Organizations could face failure as they resist change, which can lower employee morale, and they tend to become pessimistic and negative. At times employees will spend quality time resisting the change, becoming less focused on performing their tasks, which will ultimately harm the Company. Workers therefore need to understand that change can be to their benefit, despite any initial adverse effects (Li et al., 2016). Leaders must be true to their visions if they are to succeed. Therefore, need to communicate why the change is necessary and furthermore need to show the benefits of the envisaged change after it has been implemented. Companies, however, need to change over time, and employees need to understand that the process is necessary to compete effectively in the marketplace.
How to attain optimal performance
Employees may feel disappointed as a result of the change process as it interferes with their sense of stability, which causes stress. For a business to continue growing, however, worker productivity needs to be prioritized, and skilled leaders must, therefore, know how to combat demotivation among the workforce (Schaufeli & Salanova, 2007). This is done by assessing the state of the working environment to identify the problem areas that affect employee motivation. It includes the presence of toxic people who fail to consider any change whatsoever and spend their time driving negative reinforcement among their fellow employees. Besides, a skilled Manager should set clear, achievable goals with realistic and attainable targets. For any change strategy to work effectively, followers need to be encouraged to work as a team towards the desired outcome.
2. Introduction
From a Biblical perspective, leadership influences people to say, behave, and think in specific ways through embracing the teachings of the Christian religion. To this end, leadership tasks involve making wise decisions about issues such as strategy or authority. However, leadership also means loving and caring for people to promote good working relationships. In the Bible’s teachings, David was found to be a skillful leader who earned the respect of his followers through leadership, despite the challenges he faced.
Biblical Leadership Behavior
Organizations are bound to fail if they have weak leadership. A biblical leadership style involves being able to influence one’s followers through the principles of positive reinforcement (Sendjaya et al., 2008). To this end, a competent leader should be ready to help and support others to realize the set goals that need to be achieved. A leader that people admire is generally passionate, authoritative, has a vision, and is a likable and popular individual that can create order out of chaos.
How to bring order out of chaos
Due to the dynamics of a changing working environment, companies need to come up with initiatives that help to sustain growth and long-term sustainability. Such initiatives could pose a challenge to employees who find it hard to adjust to the necessary changes (Van et al., 2009). As such, they are likely to fight back or remain uncommitted to achieving the required goals. Hence, companies need passionate and influential leaders. Also, individuals who take the time to learn about new initiatives and demonstrate confidence in moving the Company to a newer and more competitive level. Such a leader can convey messages in a way that workers believe and listen to them. Just like David, a skillful manager is likable and should take time to build a positive reputation and be friendly, respectful, and understanding. As followers find it easier to trust a friendly and amicable employer, rather than one who alienates himself from his or her people.
Also, a Christian leader ought to be patient, self-controlled, hospitable, and disciplined. A greedy leader develops careless initiatives that threaten a Company’s success. His continued arrogance towards his employees leads to a bad working relationship with the rest of the workers. A leader who demonstrates such characters knows how to bring chaos to a halt as workers will be able to listen to his instructions rather than fight back.
How to restore sustainability
For the Company to attain sustainability, a good leader should demonstrate exceptional biblical behaviors such as being patient, self-controlled, a lover of good, and hold firm to his beliefs. As employees, it is easy to lose faith in a proposed strategy. For instance, if a company is known for failure, because of problematic policy issues, the Company’s leaders will have to form a new sense of trust and sustainability to recover the faith of the workers and inspire newfound hope in the business. As such, a competent leader needs to demonstrate the requisite traits to demonstrate reliability and integrity to motivate the workers (Larsson & Vinberg, 2010). For the employees working at the organization, they will need to concern themselves with stakeholder interests, support the company vision, and follow the right procedures to attain success.
How to attain optimal performance
As a Christian leader, one is required to be friendly, humanitarian, and approachable towards his followers. Only then can he create the right working environment and be able to attain optimal performance. Influence can only be accomplished if the leader goes out of their way to get to know their employees at a personal level by demonstrating empathy for their humanness since people are more likely to be receptive to any change if the leader is friendly and cognizant of their needs and desires. This will automatically increase productivity, prompting employees to share ideas freely and increase their likelihood to accept the necessary change.
Conclusion
Trust affects performance and a failing company therefore needs to work on regaining the trust of its employees. Just like the followers of Jesus that are the backbone of the Christian faith from a Biblical perspective, the employees of a company are the backbone of a business enterprise. As such, a failing company needs to work on regaining the trust of its workers to take the enterprise forward in a similar manner that Christians need to regain their trust in the teachings of the Bible and God after a major disaster occurs. Employees are the determiners of a Company’s sustainability and Christians are the followers that sustain Biblical principles. To this end, leaders should prioritize maintaining productive relationships with their employees that are based on the basic tenets of trust and reliability.
References
Kuipers, B. S., Higgs, M., Kickert, W., Tummers, L., Grandia, J., & Van der Voet, J. (2014). The management of change in public organizations: A literature review. Public administration, 92(1), 1-20.
Larsson, J., & Vinberg, S. (2010). Leadership behavior in successful organisations: Universal or situation-dependent?. Total quality management, 21(3), 317-334.
Li, J., Liu, M., & Liu, X. (2016). Why do employees resist knowledge management systems? An empirical study from the status quo bias and inertia perspectives. Computers in Human Behavior, 65, 189-200.
Sendjaya, S., Sarros, J. C., & Santora, J. C. (2008). Defining and measuring servant leadership behaviour in organizations. Journal of Management studies, 45(2), 402-424.
Schaufeli, W., & Salanova, M. (2007). Work engagement. Managing social and ethical issues in organizations, 135, 177.
Van Dijk, R., & Van Dick, R. (2009). Navigating organizational change: Change leaders, employee resistance and work-based identities. Journal of change Management, 9(2), 143-163.
