BUS310: Introduction to Leadership
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BUS310: Introduction to Leadership
Question 1: How do you think leadership communication differs from conventional management communication?
Leadership communication entails motivating, directing, and guiding the followers in realizing the organization’s goals and objectives. Effective communication is essential since the followers are from diverse backgrounds and need to understand comprehensively on what the employers expect from them. Through effective leadership communication, the leaders are perceived to be communication champions through building trust, gaining commitment, and inspiring the followers (Clutterbuck & Hirst, 2002). To realize that goal, the leaders use both verbal and non-verbal cues of communication. The leaders may embrace direct or indirect communication. Direct communication may involve face-to-face communication and use persuasion to ensure the juniors understand the desired outcome. Indirect communication may include the use of printouts and manuals that guide other employees. Leadership communication becomes effective when the leader communicates to different departments, teams, and people in various positions at the right time, right format, and proper way. Hence, through leadership communication, leaders become sense givers, and the followers develop a deep understanding of an organization and accept its goals. The leadership communication ensures that the receiver comprehends the meaning from the leader. Leadership communication demands the followers to effective listeners to make sure they understand all information being passed to them.
On the other side, conventional management communication involves communication between the managers on how to align an organization’s operations in realizing the organization’s goals. The communication among the managers develops strategies that are to be shared with the followers. Thus, it involves dialogues and discussions in the management team in developing a strategy to address a problem or to focus on future operations. The management communication ensures that all the operations within the firm remain aligned to the organization’s goals. During conventional management communication, the managers share opinions before selecting the optional strategy in a particular situation.
Question 2: Explain dialogue and discussion; how does dialogue differ from discussion? Provide an example each.
Discussions are more of a debate whereby one expects others to follow their opinions concerning a contentious issue; hence, it takes the form of an informal debate. During a discussion, the parties involved provide differing opinions since everyone is entitled to personal opinion. Each person tries to convince others about the idea by defending the claims. On the other side, dialogues entail people creatively exploring an issue in depth. During a discussion, everyone presents knowledge about a problem to enlarge the available knowledge (Davis, et al., pp. 16-17). In a discussion, the people involved tend to open the closed issues, and barriers to communication are removed. A favorable discussion is characterized by asking questions, encouraging others, getting feedback, and finding common ground.
The significant difference between a discussion and dialogue is the approach taken during the communication. Discussions involve talking more than listening, defensive listening, and finding flaws in other’s claims. In contrast, discussions involve listening more than talking, focusing on the whole subject, and giving everyone to express personal views. While a discussion entails making one’s opinion count while disregarding others’ viewpoints, dialogue involves enhancing one another’s knowledge on a particular concern and coming up with a common ground. An example of a discussion is debating about whether women should be allowed to make a personal decision about reproductive health, such as abortion. Hence, in such a discussion, there shall be individuals supporting the idea and others opposing it. An example of dialogue could be assessing the benefits and costs of women being allowed to make individual decisions on abortion. In this dialogue, all the parties involved will give a personal opinion about the subject.
Question 3: Think about a recent crisis, such as the COVID 19, and discuss how you think leaders should handle crisis communication.
COVID 19 is an ailment resulting from a newly discovered coronavirus that has spread across the globe, thousands of people have died while millions have been infected and few recoveries have been reported. Considering the seriousness of the ailment, the leaders need to address the pandemic through crisis communication. Crisis communication requires all the leaders to put aside their political differences and come together for a common course. The leaders need to acknowledge that the infections are spread across different geographical regions unproportionally. Even though there are regions where low rate infections are reported, it does not mean that those areas are safe in the future.
The crisis communication demands the global leaders from all the countries to come up with a solution to fight the disease to guarantee the future of humankind (Coombs, 2014). The leaders need to recognize that different countries have different economic and healthcare abilities; however, these differences should not result in a country taking its direction in addressing the disease. For instance, the U.S. and China should not be engaged in blame one another but should lead other countries in coming up with a solution to the global problem. The two global powerhouses, the U.S. and China, should be at the forefront in addressing the crisis through bringing together other economies by effective communication after acknowledging the importance of having a common goal.
Crisis communication can be useful in addressing the problem since every economy will have a chance to give its opinion on the strategies being undertaken to manage COVID 19. Crisis communication enables the healthcare providers to put aside their political, economic, and social differences and come up with a viable solution to the ailment, without which the future of humanity will be jeopardized. The leaders need to come together for a common course at a time when the infections from COVID 19 have not reached the peak.
References
Clutterbuck, D., & Hirst, S. (2002). Leadership communication: A status report. Journal of Communication Management, 6(4), 351-354.
Coombs, W. T. (2014). Ongoing crisis communication: Planning, managing, and responding. NY: Sage Publications.
Davis, K.A., Zorwick, M.L.W., Roland, J. & Wade, M.m. (2016). Using Debate in the Classroom: Encouraging Critical Thinking, Communication, and Collaboration. NY: Routledge.