Effective leadership & management Flashcards
What are CAUSES OF ORGANISATIONAL FAILURE
Poor quality leadership or an absence of leadership.
* Being inward looking and not keeping up with developments elsewhere or adopting new ideas
and modern practices.
* Poor organisational structures.
* Poor decision making and decision-making processes.
* Decisions made on the basis of inaccurate or out of date information.
* Lack of effective links between plans, compounded by weak prioritisation.
* Action plans not being prioritised or effectively resourced.
* Inadequate systems and processes, such as performance management.
* Lack of clarity in roles, responsibilities and activities creating poor accountability.
* Poor performance, unprofessional practice and/or misconduct going unchecked.
* Failure to ensure appropriate numbers of competent staff, through inadequate procedures for
recruitment and retention.
* Failure to ensure that correct and up-to-date policies, procedures and guidelines were in place.
* Where policies and procedures were in place, failure to ensure that they were understood by staff
and adhered to.
* Poor working relationships and dysfunctional behaviours.
* Flawed and misunderstood guidelines and protocols between differing agencies.
* An insular organisational culture and poor focus on community and user needs.
* Inadequate contingency plans or risk management strategies to deal with worst-case scenarios.
* The lack of an effective communications strategy to counteract myth and misunderstanding
What is a vision & mission
An organisation’s purpose is often set out in more detail in a Vision or Mission Statement. These
statements paint a picture of a situation that staff can aspire to and sets out what the organisation
is about and what it stands for.
What are strategies
The mission, values and vision are then developed into strategies and are usually set out in the form
of a Strategic or Corporate Plan.
Strategies are declarations of intent. They define the overall long-term direction in which the
organisation is going in order to achieve its mission.DDFRS has 6 strategies ie community safety, then develop policies community safety policy.
What is SWOT ANALYSIS
As part of the strategic planning process, some organisations, undertake a SWOT analysis. SWOT is
an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. A SWOT analysis is a strategic
planning tool and is used to help an organisation understand the favourable and unfavourable
factors which can affect it
Benefits of SWOT Analysis
Using a SWOT analysis enables the senior managers in an organisation to look at how they can:
* use and capitalise on each strength. * exploit and benefit from each opportunity.
* improve each weakness. * mitigate each threat
What is a Corporate level objectives
The corporate level objectives usually set out the long term aims of the organisation, establish
policies, set out decision-making systems, identify the key competences needed, identify customers
and key stakeholders, the services to be provided, what success will look like and performance
management monitoring systems. They tend to consist of statements of intent rather than containing
detailed objectives. IRMP community risk profile community action plans
Examples of Fire and Rescue Service top level objectives:
reduce life loss and injury arising out of fires and other emergency incidents.
* reduce the number of fires and other emergency incidents.
* reduce the commercial, economic and social consequences of fire and other emergency
incidents.
* protect the environment and the local heritage.
* provide a safe, healthy, competent and representative workforce.
* support the wider agenda of community cohesion.
* provide better value for money services
Department level objectives
the services provided.
* the market environment.
* customers and stakeholders.
* how Departments will achieve three year strategic plan targets.
* time scales for individual aspects of the Plan and how actions will be implemented.
* resource requirements in terms of staff, skills, equipment, technology, buildings and identifying
when resources will be required.
* links with the strategic plan and corporate themes.
* what quality means to the Department.
* how performance will be measured.
Team level objectives pg 9 leadership & management
clarify the work/objectives to be completed by the Team and individual employees.
* show how the work of the team contributes to the vision and objectives of the organisation.
* enable individuals/teams to have a clear understanding of how they ‘fit’ into the organisation.
* enable individuals/teams to understand how their targets/objectives link to the overall priorities of
the organisation.
* help to motivate teams and individuals to complete the work they have been allocated and to
request any additional support/resources to aid completion.
* provide relevant objectives for the team.
* ensure work is allocated on a fair basis taking account of skills, knowledge and understanding,
experience and workloads.
Team level objectives pg 9 leadership & management
clarify the work/objectives to be completed by the Team and individual employees.
* show how the work of the team contributes to the vision and objectives of the organisation.
* enable individuals/teams to have a clear understanding of how they ‘fit’ into the organisation.
* enable individuals/teams to understand how their targets/objectives link to the overall priorities of
the organisation.
* help to motivate teams and individuals to complete the work they have been allocated and to
request any additional support/resources to aid completion.
* provide relevant objectives for the team.
* ensure work is allocated on a fair basis taking account of skills, knowledge and understanding,
experience and workloads.
Team level objectives pg 9 leadership & management
clarify the work/objectives to be completed by the Team and individual employees.
* show how the work of the team contributes to the vision and objectives of the organisation.
* enable individuals/teams to have a clear understanding of how they ‘fit’ into the organisation.
* enable individuals/teams to understand how their targets/objectives link to the overall priorities of
the organisation.
* help to motivate teams and individuals to complete the work they have been allocated and to
request any additional support/resources to aid completion.
* provide relevant objectives for the team.
* ensure work is allocated on a fair basis taking account of skills, knowledge and understanding,
experience and workloads.
Features of a good plan
take the organisation from where it is now to where it wants to be in the future.
* take account of all available information from both internal sources and external organisations.
* identify resources needed and ensure that resources, staff numbers, staff skills, information,
equipment and buildings are used to best effect.
VISION AND MISSION
CORPORATE/STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES
DEPT 1
PLAN
DEPT 2
PLAN
DEPT 3
PLAN
DEPT 4
PLAN
TEAM A
PLAN
TEAM B
PLAN
TEAM C
PLAN
WORK OF
EMPLOYEE A
WORK OF
EMPLOYEE
B
WORK OF
EMPLOYEE C
Issued: 08/2018 Page 11 of 151 Doc name: Leadership and Management
* clearly identify roles, responsibilities and communication channels, so that everyone is clear about
what they need to do and the relevant staff are consulted and their views taken into account.
* prioritise actions to be taken but be flexible so it can be adapted to changes in circumstances,
particularly important if the plan is over a number of years.
* take account of any health and safety issues so that any hazards are identified, risk assessed, and
ways of avoiding risk are put in place.
* take into account the needs of different stakeholders, who will be affected by or who could affect
the success of the plan. Plans which involve other organisations can be more difficult to achieve
than internal plans.
* reflect the standards to which the organisation needs to operate such as legislation, technical
standards and agreements.
* set realistic timescales related to the complexity of the plan and identify review periods.
* set out evaluation processes so that lessons are learnt for future reference.
* result in the identification of clear implementation aims and objectives and SMART targets.
* be risk assessed so the potential effects of failure are identified and mitigated
