Introduction
Leadership could be referred to as a research area and practical skill that encompasses the core capability of any particular individual or company in leading or guiding all other individuals, companies and teams. This leadership comprises of distinct traits, functions, values and visions, intelligence, power and situational interaction and even many more (Conger 2015). A successful leader is responsible for ensuring that a common task or project is being accomplished under every circumstance. This particular trait is considered as a matter intelligence, courage, discipline and trustworthiness that should be present within every significant leader, after depending on the depth and importance of situation or issues to be resolved. In a project, leadership is subsequently associated to different performances and ensures that the respective project becomes a successful one without much complexity or issue. As soon as a person within a leadership role is not fulfilling the profit potentials by the high management or shareholders, they might be eventually terminated completely (Bolman and Deal 2017). This report will be outlining a brief description on failed leadership attribute for one of the most distinct and noteworthy projects in the entire world, namely New Royal Adelaide Hospital with appropriate details.
2. Discussion
2.1 Brief Idea of the Case Study of New Royal Adelaide Hospital Project
The Royal Adelaide Hospital or RAH is one of the most significant hospitals in entire Australia that is being owned by the respective state government as the major part of the public health care system of Australia. They provide tertiary services of health care for South Australia and also provide clinical services secondary care to the inhabitants of the metropolitan area that involves inner suburb. In the year of 2017, the hospital was being replaced by a new hospital called nRAH or New Royal Adelaide Hospital. This was being built at the Western end of the North Terrace as well as at the time the most costly building with budget of 2.3 billion Australian dollars in both equipment and construction. However, while making this particular project, there was a major issue in leadership and they were unable to deal with the complexities for leadership for gaining better effectiveness and efficiency in the work. As a result, there was several conflicts amongst the team members and the project was getting delayed majorly. Moreover, project was getting delayed for such discrepancies and it was affecting the overall budget eventually.
2.2 Critical Analyses of the Leadership Dimension of the Case Study with 2 Conceptual Frameworks of Leadership
The leadership dimensions are referred to those attributes, which provide the opportunity to a leader to lead any organization or situation. Performances are well measured and the communication process is improved to a high level. These dimensions could easily form the major basis for a thoughtful self-assessment as well as organizational evaluations of the leaders and these evaluations should be utilized with care (Grint et al. 2016). If any type of deficiency is noted in such dimension, the respective organization or project would not get proper or accurate outcomes and as a result, the project work would be delayed. The major dimensions of leadership for this particular case study of New Royal Adelaide Hospital include lack of expertise and experience in the project, lack of problem solving capability and lack of core beliefs and values.
i) Expertise and Experience: The first and the foremost dimension of leadership in this specific case study of nRAH is expertise and experience. This is one of the major and the most dimension of a leader that is needed to be followed eventually for ensuring that the respective project would become a major and the most successful one (Western 2019). It majorly includes expertise and education in respective industries and companies as well as maintain a track record to efficiently lead the companies with several numbers of staff or managerial levels. The managerial wisdom emerges as the decrement regarding the process of industries and companies working regarding motivational attitude of the people and requirement of the customers for understanding the effectiveness of high level of management work. Hence, maximum success is obtained without much complexity or issue (Priest and Gass 2017). However, in this project of nRAH, the respective leader was new and he did not have the ideology or experience to deal with such large budget project eventually and hence the project suffered a lot.
ii) Problem Solving Capability: The second important and significant dimension of leadership in this specific case study of New Royal Adelaide Hospital is problem solving capability. It comprises of the significant level of intellectual horse power for efficiently performing the highest level of task complexity and work assigned to a specific individual (Rosenbach 2018). Few important aspects are considered for this purpose, which include the number of variables operating within a situation, maintenance of ambiguity of the variables, the rate of change over time and finally the extent to which they are interwoven, so that these could be unraveled for checking as well as the core capability of an individual for identification and controlling the salient variables and finally time horizon of the work. One of the major and the most significant issues that was noted in the case study of nRAH was that there were several conflicts amongst the team members and employees; as a result the project was getting delayed eventually. Hence, they were unable to deal with the employee conflicts and issues were raised majorly (Mendenhall et al. 2017). Moreover, the working conditions were also needed to be improved and due to lack of problem solving ability, the leader was unable to do so.
iii) Core Beliefs and Values: The next important and significant dimension of leadership in this specific case study of nRAH is core beliefs and values. This particular leadership dimension manifests itself as the major patterns of interaction and behavior, intrinsic motivators and tacit assumptions for checking the working behavior of leaders in the business or project. A collection of core values and beliefs for a specific leadership position is needed to be considered on top priority and they help out a person to work properly and also reveal proper decision making biases, pattern in the inappropriate behavior or predictable errors in judgment.
A specific conceptual framework of leadership is the structure that the respective team members believe can best explain the natural progression of the respective phenomenon (Robertson 2016). It is subsequently linked to the concept, empirical researches and vital theories that are being utilized in promotion and systemization of the knowledge by the team member. A suitable conceptual framework for understanding the leadership dimensions of the case study of nRAH is provided below:
Figure 1: Conceptual Framework for Leadership Dimension of Core Belief, Value or Trust
(Source: Herman 2016)
Another suitable and effective conceptual framework for leadership dimension is provided below:
Figure 2: Conceptual Framework for Leadership Dimension of Social Categorization and Expertise and Experience
(Source: Herman 2016)
The above mentioned two conceptual frameworks for leadership dimension clearly demonstrate that a structured approach is needed to be followed in a project for better execution of the project operations and processes as well as gaining project objectives successfully.
2.3 Identification of Possible Reasons for Failure of Leadership Aspects
Leadership is considered as one of the most significant and important requirements in a project to ensure that the project results are quite effective and would decrease the chance of project failure. Moreover, it enhances the team effectiveness and reduces conflicts to a high level. The leaders, who comprise of the major responsibilities include that being present for supporting their team at every situation (Komives and Wagner 2016). The major reasons of failed leadership in the case study of the project of nRAH are provided below:
i) Lack of Experience: The first important and significant reason of failed leadership in the case study of the project of nRAH is lack of experience of the leader. The leader did not have proper experience to lead a project team and hence was unable to manage them eventually. As a result, they were unable to navigate the team and stopped directing people forward (Martin et al. 2017). The leader required to have clear visions and goals for being sure that all the individuals and team members are continuously delivering higher quality results and hence the project is achieving its respective goals and objectives. The leader also needed to have to set major expectations and even keep a track of the total progress for holding themselves accountable. However, these attributes were absent in the project of nRAH due to lack of experience of the leader.
ii) Not providing proper Feedback and Criticism: The second vital and significant reason of failed leadership in nRAH is not providing proper feedback as well as criticism to the team members. It is extremely easier for the leaders to try and then please every individual; however it is not always effective. The leader in the project of nRAH would have to take up a step back and look at the weaknesses of the team for gaining better improvement. When the individuals would not compliment all the people, it is considered as disservice and similar issue was noted in this particular project (Covin and Slevin 2017). The project manager did not provide proper feedback to the team members for ensuring that better efficiency is gained under every circumstance.
iii) Leaders refusing to Adapt: Another vital and significant reason of failed leadership in the case scenario of the project of nRAH is leader refusing to get adapted. The respective project was needed to be headed in a new direction and hence it was extremely important and significant for leader to change his leadership style for ensuring that the project results are accurate in the new environment. However, he was unable to do so and hence the team members were unable to get aligned with each other regarding the working procedure of the project. As a result, the leadership approach of autocratic became a major failure; since the team members were not ready to accept the autocratic leadership style eventually.
iv) Lack of Self Leadership: The next important and noteworthy reason of failed leadership in the project nRAH is lack of self-leadership. The leader required to know yourself and communicate with the team members for core values, beliefs and expectations (Mittal and Dhar 2015). The leader required to understand the strengths, goals and weaknesses for having the core capability of giving the best self to the team and also comprise of fulfillment. Self-leadership is the significant practice to intentionally influence the thinking, feeling or action towards obtaining different objectives and goals. A comprehensive perspective of self-influence majorly concerns for leading someone in the team. Self-leadership is the answer to how the personal thinking should be developed for surviving and thriving in the volatile, uncertain, complicated and ambiguous world (Senge, Hamilton and Kania 2015). Self-awareness and self-efficacy are required for better handling of the team; however, this particular attribute was absent for the leader in nRAH project.
v) Lack of Communication: Another important reason of failed leadership in the case study of the project of New Royal Adelaide Hospital is lack of communication. The leader was unable to contact or communicate with the team members and hence they were unable to communicate in such a manner, which increases productivity, wellbeing as well as performances of the personnel. Hence, the project did not get maximum effectiveness and the leadership approach become a failure.
2.4 Identification of Methods by which Leadership in the Case Study can be improved
There are some of the most significant and important methodologies, by which leadership would have been improved in this particular case study of nRAH. These methods and practices are provided in the following paragraphs:
i) Setting Self Imposed Goals: The first and the foremost method or practice by which the leadership attributes within the respective case study of the project could be improved would be setting self-imposed goals and objectives (Cashman 2017). The respective leader lacked any type of self-leadership and as a result, they were unable to deal with such discrepancy related to leadership management. A leader needs to be highly goal driven, so that the respective business objectives are being achieved by him or her easily or promptly. Moreover, it even is required for making the other team members aware of the project and highly motivated to work eventually (Storey 2016). They get the habit of meeting as well as exceeding the goals to ensure that a well-equipped leader is present within the project without any type of complexity or issue.
ii) Providing Feedback to the Team Members: The second important and significant method or practice by which the leadership attributes within the respective case study of the project of New Royal Adelaide Hospital could be improved would be providing periodical feedback to the team members. This type of feedback is extremely important or vital for ensuring that all the team members are aware of their respective strengths and weaknesses. Since, nRAH was a large construction project, it was needed to ensure that all the team members are working altogether and would be providing effective solutions easily and promptly (Robertson 2016). For this particular purpose, it was needed to ensure that the leader is providing feedback eventually; however he did not do so.
iii) Increasing Communication with the Team Members: The next effective method or practice by which the leadership attributes within the respective case study of the project of New Royal Adelaide Hospital could be improved would be increasing communication with the team members. It is required to ensure that all the team members are working effectively and communication is getting increased eventually (Priest and Gass 2017). Such increased communication is also required for ensuring that the goals and objectives are absolutely clear to all employees and they would be completing their work without much issue or complexity. Communication would be helpful for the project as the team members would be motivated enough for providing maximum efficiency and productivity eventually. As a result, according to the theories X and Y, employee motivation would be kept on top priority and the project of nRAH would not have faced leadership issue.
2.5 Identification of Leadership Lessons from the Case Study
Leadership is regarding mapping out of the factors that are required to go for winning as a team or company and it is dynamic, inspiring and exciting. They should also utilize management skills in guiding their people to the right direction in the most smooth and efficient way. It refers to several things to various people for understanding the importance of leadership and management and also the procedure to deal with such complexities. Five distinct virtues are needed to be considered on top priority (Bolman and Deal 2017). A leader is one, who eventually inspires as well as motivates action and having a can do personality or stronger leadership skills for leading the changes. Leadership is the distinct art to motivate a particular group of people for acting towards accomplishment of any common goal. Leadership captures the essentials to have capability and preparation for inspiring others and an efficient leadership is based on different ideas; however will not happen unless these ideas can be properly communicated to team members in such a manner that involves them in acting as the leader.
The respective leadership lessons that are majorly gained from the case study of nRAH are as follows:
i) Modelling the Way: The first and the most significant leadership lesson or practice that was obtained from the case study of the project of New Royal Adelaide Hospital is modelling the way properly (Komives and Wagner 201). It is needed to clarify the values after finding out the shared ideals. Moreover, alignment of the business processes would also be present in such distinct manner.
ii) Inspiring a Shared Vision: The next significant leadership lesson or practice that was obtained from the case study is inspiring a shard vision. It is needed to envision the future of a project by imagining any negative situation and ensure maximum success in the process.
iii) Increasing Communication: Another vital and significant leadership lesson or practice that was obtained from the case study of nRAH is increasing communication (Covin and Slevin 2017). One of the major reasons of leadership failure in this particular project was increasing communication. It is quite vital for a project to ensure that all the team members are aware of their project goals and objectives and there is a proper communication with the leader.
iv) Experience: This is yet another important aspect that is needed in a project. nRAH project did not comprise of an experienced leader and as a result, he was unable to deal with the complexities and conflicts eventually.
These above mentioned learning lessons also help in understanding the probable reasons of a failed leadership in any specific project and methods to avoid them for making the work a successful one.
3. Conclusion
Hence, a conclusion could be drawn that leadership and management are referred to as two most important and significant requirements in a business or project. He or she is responsible for developing the organizational strategy in beating the competition. These leaders help themselves in doing appropriate things. They set proper direction, build up an inspiring vision as well as create anything new or innovative. A proper leadership attribute is required for providing motivation and inspiration to individuals for helping them in delivering the organizational vision and ensure that maximum success is obtained in terms of intrinsic and extrinsic. Frequent opportunities are being gained for communicating the vision in the most engaging and attractive manner. The leaders could even motivate as well as influence other people through their natural appeal and charisma and even through the major sources of power. An effective team is built and coached at the same time for achieving proper vision and also understanding team dynamics. This report has properly provided a detailed analysis of leadership in the popular and distinct project, called New Royal Adelaide Hospital.
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