Assignment Content
Read the City of Kelsey, the Growth in the City of Kelsey, and Stakeholder Power Base documents. In addition, read the City of Kelsey Profile, and Learning Team Toolkit.
Act as the Council members and provide important leadership considerations for the mayor in preparing to implement the water sustainability plan. In building a stakeholder power base, consider stakeholders in the city government. Once you identify the key stakeholders in the government, address how the following below questions may affect their support of the plan:1. The leadership theories the mayor might choose to influence organizations in the government, and why2. The role of the mayor in promoting the empowerment of government employees to aid in successful implementation
Prepare a 550Microsoft Word report informing the mayor of effective leadership considerations for the water sustainability plan. Format your assignment using headings as part of organizing and structuring information.
Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines using in-text citations and at least 4 peer reviewed sources, one must be at least one of the course texts.
Review the posted Rubric below for additional assignment requirements and expectations.
Effective Leadership Considerations for the Water Sustainability Program
Implementing policies requires strong teams and affirmative motivation. Kelsey’s plan to implement a water sustainability plan will require the mayor to influence the city stakeholder’s position on the plan and empower government employees to effectively implement the plan. However, the mayor’s ability will depend on leadership theories employed to push it and employee empowerment methods.
Influential Leadership Theories
The City of Kelsey’s stakeholder power base comprises the planning board responsible for advisory issues and the conservation commission that implements actual policies. Different leadership theories influence individuals and groups differently and achieve varying results. One of the leadership theoretical options available to the mayor, the transformational approach, allows leaders to involve their followers in the decision-making process (Nawaz, Khan, & Khan, 2016, p.3). Interacting with followers enables leaders and followers to work on agreeable values, beliefs, and goals (Nawaz et al., 2016, p.3). Additionally, the transformational leadership style sets aside personal differences, allowing leaders and followers to identify the need for change, commit to the change process, and create a guiding vision (Nawaz et al., 2016, p.3). As the council members, we believe that using a transformational leadership style to push for the water sustainability plan implementation will convince Kelsey’s stakeholders to support the plan due to its inclusivity. The mayor will exhibit his close working relationship with followers and focus on a shared goal, convincing stakeholders regarding the plan’s strengths.
The mayor may also choose to use the path-goal theory to influence organizations in government and stakeholders. The path-goal theory asserts that leader behavior serves as a source of satisfaction to followers, eliminate hindrances to goal accomplishment, and exhibits meaningful rewards (Khan, Bhat, & Hussanie, 2017, p.258). The goal-path theory reveals itself as a directive leadership approach whereby supportive leaders consider employees’ ideas and set high standards (Khan et al., 2017, p.258). As Kelsey seeks to upgrade its primary water system, policy implementation teams and leaders must embrace collective bargaining and support each other to reach a consensus that will benefit the city’s goals’ accomplishment. We believe that the city’s stakeholders make decisions in the city’s best interest. As a result, the mayor’s path-goal leadership approach will convince the stakeholders to drum their support for the plan due to its consideration of the city’s best interests.
The Mayor’s Role in Promoting Government Employees’ Empowerment
Successfully implementing the water sustainability program will depend on the mayor’s ability to influence government employees to support it. Leaders and managers influence employees through their ability to mobilize and equip the employees with the right tools and resources to handle their responsibilities (El-Rawas & Seddawy, 2015, p.41). Complete accountability and possession of knowledge, skills, and attitude successfully motivates and empowers employees to follow an organizational course (El-Rawas & Seddawy, 2015, p.41). Kelsey’s stakeholders will explore government employee’s attitudes towards the proposed water sustainability plan. If they realize that the employees possess the right information regarding the project and the necessary skills to implement it, they will most likely support the program. However, this will depend on the mayor’s employees’ empowerment by providing the plan’s details and exhibiting its strengths. Successful empowerment encompasses decision-making authority, information sharing, and self-management (Dahou & Hacini, 2018, p.51). If the city’s stakeholders, including the planning board and the conservation commission, realize that government employees support the water sustainability plan, they will relate this support to their empowerment and the mayor’s role in breaking down the program. It is our belief as council members that the stakeholder team will support the water sustainability plan if the mayor empowers government employees to aid in its successful implementation.
Conclusion
Kelsey’s stakeholders will outline their support for the water sustainability plan if the mayor approaches its implementation using the right leadership theories and empowers government employees regarding the implementation process. The mayor must approach this implementation phase appropriately since stakeholders will study his attitude and focus. As council members, we believe the mayor should avail sufficient resources to implement the plan, educate government employees about it, and utilize transformational and path-goal theories to garner support.
References
Dahou, K., & Hacini, I. (2018). Successful employee empowerment: Major determinants in
the Jordanian context. Eurasian Journal of Business and Economics, 11(21), 49-68.
El Rawas, A. S., & El Seddawy, A. I. B. (2015). Leadership development and employees
empowerment. International Journal of Economic and Business Management, 3(4), 39-44.
Khan, Z. A., Bhat, S. J., & Hussanie, I. (2017). Understanding leadership theories – A review
for researchers. Asian Journal of Research in Social Sciences and Humanities, 7(5), 249-264.
Nawaz, A., Khan, A. Z., & Khan, I. (2016). Leadership theories and styles: A literature
review. Leadership, 16(1), 1-7.