It is a process of how decision making is done according to the intrinsic factors and psychological factors which affect decisions made by leaders or decision makers
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Contents
Leadership and Psychology ..................................................................................................1
Introduction...............................................................................................................................3
Leadership and decision making ..........................................................................................3
Analysis and effects of the decision making process ........................................................4
Theories and Literature Review ............................................................................................6
Emotional intelligence.........................................................................................................6
Theory analysis and dimensions of decision making ........................................................8
Theories supporting better solutions ................................................................................. 10
Reflections and observations ............................................................................................. 11
Conclusion............................................................................................................................. 12
References ............................................................................................................................ 13
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Introduction
Today, being a leader has become a challenging task because of the effects of
globalization and technological advances. Globalization presents unique challenges
of leadership that require greater flexibility and good communication skills. Being a
leader means one has to have the capability to make decisions from a political or
organizational position. Leaders are not supposed to make decisions or decide in
isolation. Instead, they involve others with the same objective of changing a particular
social context for the better. However, the decisions made are likely to have negative
impacts or collateral implications. Leadership is a process that is meant to inspire
others towards working together with a purpose of achieving a common goal in a
particular entity (Peterlin, Pearse & Dimovski, 2015). Leaders are in charge of making
decisions regarding what needs to be done, how it should be done, why, when, for
how long and with whom. Decision making is ultimately one of the most essential
aspects of leadership which makes it critical to a leader’s development. Leaders make
decisions on the basis of priorities which are aligned with their personal values and
are bound to work and accept the consequences of their decisions. This essay
analyzes the personal experiences of a leader of a board member of the Qatar Station
Company, Privately Owned by Myself and playing the role of the chairman of the board
in Qatar.
Leadership and decision making
As an owner and chairman of the board, I was involved in a decision making
process with other Board Members regarding a dismissal of an employee on grounds
of continuous lateness to work. Having worked in the field of HR for some time, I
understood I had gained experience in managing employee misconduct and
performance. I also knew that being in charge as a leader, I had to be authoritative
and assertive, but at the same time fair. A leader does not have to rule with an iron
fist, but rather with respect. I did not agree with the managers on the dismissal of this
employee because there was no prior in depth investigation concerning his lateness
before reaching this decision. I believe that decision making has to involve various
steps including preliminary evaluations and development of alternative scenarios
before reaching a conclusion.
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The termination of an employee is among the most unpleasant elements of a
leader but sometimes it becomes absolutely necessary for the good of an organization.
However, if it is necessary to terminate an employee, then it should be done in the
most professional and ethical manner possible. According to Bhugra, Till & Ruiz (2013)
when managers follow a proper protocol when terminating an employee, the blow to
the employee is softened, and business is protected from potential litigation as a result
of the termination. It additionally reassures managers that they did the right thing.
Wang (2010) adds that whether the terminated employee was a bad performer or a
good one is not relevant at this point.
Analysis and effects of the decision making process
Leaders cannot underestimate the essentiality of fair procedures when effecting
employee dismissal. In most cases, HR managers may feel they have a fair reason
for effecting a dismissal, but they often find themselves being subjected to litigation as
a result of the procedures they used in effecting the dismissal.
Figure 1: The process of decision making
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Perritt (2018) asserts that irrespective of whether there is application of fair
dismissal procedures, if the managers do not have objectively justifiable reasons for
dismissing a specific employee, then the dismissal is likely to be viewed as unfair. He
suggests grounds that are deemed fair for dismissal. It is fair to dismiss an employee
who shows incapability, incompetency and lacks necessary qualifications required in
performing tasks needed to be done. Capability is the mental and physical ability of an
employee and competency is associated employee performance and their skills,
intellectual ability, qualifications; technical, professional, industrial or occupations and
relevant knowledge. In addition, it is fair to terminate an employee on grounds of
misconduct that is continuous in nature such that it amounts to gross misconduct.
Before effecting a dismissal, leaders are obligated to give warning to the employee on
the consequences of ignoring the warnings, advice the particular employee on the
matter at hand, give the employee a chance to rectify his/her mistakes and give a
warning to against specific employees in case they fail to improve (Silver, 2001). This
might force managers to train, retrain or monitor the affected employee. Regarding
the given warnings, managers are supposed to follow the set procedures and
guidelines in the handbook or contract of the employee. The procedures should at
least encompass a minimum of one oral warning which should be followed by a written
one and then final written warning which can be then followed by a dismissal.
For the case of Employee, he had received an oral warning for his late reporting
to work and I learnt that was the last warning he received. He never received any
written warning from the top managers and this explains why I felt it was not necessary
to dismiss him. Furthermore, Employee had a contract of three years and he had only
done two of them. The board members failed to examine the contract guidelines
regarding his employment which also points towards unfair dismissal. According to
Barrett (2006) there are numerous natural justice principles that leaders should adhere
to when considering a dismissal. The leaders have to write to the employee and
request them to attend a formal disciplinary meeting. In the letter, there should be a
brief summary giving reasons as to why there is a need for the meeting and should
also stipulate that the outcome of the meeting might be a dismissal. The involved
employees have a right to representation by a suitable individual at the disciplinary
meeting including a friend, colleague, or a representative from the trade union.
Employees affected should have the opportunity to respond to the allegations fully and
6. 6
have their submissions or arguments evaluated and listened to before any decision to
dismiss them is taken. Sacks (2001) adds that employees have a right to fair and
impartial hearing with no pre-judgement or bias. It is the right of employees to appeal
the decision to dismiss them and their penalty must be proportionate to the breach of
the employee and must be fair. It is unfortunate that Employee missed out on most of
the procedures of a fair dismissal. The company being a private entity does not
undergo much scrutiny as far as employees’ welfare is concerned. This explains as to
why the board members involved in the decision of dismissing Employee felt they had
no obligation of following the procedures. As a result, Employee was not summoned
to any disciplinary meeting before dismissal. He was also not given a chance to be
represented, listed to, evaluated or even appeal his dismissal.
Theories and Literature Review
The board members involved in the dismissal of Employee acted upon their
unconscious influences of lack of emotional intelligence and cognitive biases that
affected their leadership abilities and qualities.
Emotional intelligence
Emotions characterize the life of an individual. The emotional competencies of
a leader have an overwhelming impact on an organization’s company in terms of
employee motivation and customer relationships (Bradberry, Greaves & Lencioni,
2009). Emotional skills have been proved essential for people that hold positions of
responsibility since they have a task of getting maximum benefits from the hard work
of employees. Emotional qualities that distinguish outstanding leaders from average
one include; the capability of creating a motivating and friendly environment for
employees, the ability to perfectly communicate and being able to develop
interpersonal relationships with employees. The dismissal of Employee may have
seemed as a non-issue to top managers but the impact it was going to have on other
employees is enormous. According to Newman (2009) employees tend to lose trust in
the management when they feel that one of them was unfairly treated. This could kill
their motivation and their job satisfaction will be affected greatly. To achieve better
results out of employees and be capable of achieving the goal of an organization,
leaders should put effort towards understanding the pulse of his/her employees as well
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as his/her own. Leaders should therefore be careful when dealing with the emotions
of their employees.
Having a greater understanding of personal emotions and those of another
individual (emotional intelligence) allows leaders to affect their situations positively
through establishing an open communication environment, greater empathy and
enhanced trust. Burston (2018) points out that organizations are becoming
increasingly aware of the vitality of these skills of allowing for higher standards of
communication within groups, suppliers and other stakeholders. Consequently,
emotional intelligence has termed as an essential leadership characteristic. Leaders
that are emotionally intelligent are likely to be more committed and happier in their
work place and are committed to achieving greater success, performing better and
taking advantage of and using position emotions for purposes of envisioning major
organizational improvement (Emerald Group Publishing, 2005). Such leaders use their
skills to improve their skills of decisions making and instilling of a sense of cooperation,
trust and enthusiasm in other employees through developing interpersonal
relationships. The enhancement of organizational decision making process depends
on the capability of leaders in communicating effectively, influencing stakeholders and
managing conflict. In the process of making decisions, the capability of managing
relationships is critical to success. Leaders with emotional intelligence recognize their
personal weaknesses and strengths and surround themselves with people that
compliment or mitigate those attributes. In addition, such leaders posses attributes of
developing others not only for organizational benefits but also for personal and
professional growth of the individuals.
Anderson, M. (2015) asserts that emotionally intelligent leaders feel they have
the responsibility of developing talents of his/her employees and preparing them to be
ready to take up leadership roles in the future. Instead of feeling threatened by their
juniors, emotionally intelligent leaders are concerned about managing their
relationships and developing their juniors into executives who can take up advanced
positions in the organization. These leaders also utilize their behavioral and personal
traits to influence the decision making process (Vugt & Ronay, 2013). Sometimes,
even the best decisions are likely to have negative outcomes when not properly
communicated even when there is proper articulation of the process of decision
making. Leaders with emotional intelligence must perceive the importance of good
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communication and its impact on a successful decision making. When there is a
detailed discussion among stakeholders, there is creation of space that creates room
for the start of the process of decision making. Creation of this space and dialogue
allows leaders to effectively utilize their skills of emotional intelligence to establish a
consensus and strengthen the bonds among employees. Poor communication of the
decision making process may make other employees to feel isolated and distant from
decisions and their effects (Holt & Wood, 2017). This will lead to a decrease in their
performance. The effectiveness of a leader partially relies upon the capability of
excising leadership styles that embrace conflict management skills. The ability of
managing conflicts is pivotal to both the outcome and process of decisions hence,
requiring the leaders to utilize emotional skills while steering necessary changes
simultaneously. Collaboration, teamwork and building of bonds in the process of
decision making require leaders with emotional intelligence to portray behaviors that
limit self desires for the greater good of the organization.
In the scenario of Employee, it is already evident that there was poor
communication in the sense that the victim was almost ambushed with the dismissal.
Employee had just received an oral warning and there was no further communication
through letters or emails for any further warnings. This is an indication of poor
emotional intelligence skills on the part of the board members. Moreover, other
employees were not involved in evaluating the actions of Employee which is likely to
make them feel isolated and less important to the organization. The board members
did not show any collaboration or team work during the decisionmaking process. They
did not seem to care about the emotions of Employee or those of other employees
who will be affected and become scared that the same thing might happen to them in
the future.
Theory analysis and dimensions of decision making
The scope of the decision making process is a wide one and often starkly
complex. Decision making processes styles differ considerably. Decision making is a
fundamental part of the growth and existence of human beings however, most people
seldom give enough thought on the approaches to decision making. For purposes of
understanding the styles of decision making, the main dimensions of decision making
must be taken into consideration. According to Wang (2010) there are five major
9. 9
dimensions of decision making. The first one is the influencing and motivating factors
which include factors like the environment in which decisions are made. The
environment is likely to motivate people towards making irrational or even
instantaneous decisions. Particular color schemes, smells, sounds and imagery make
people feel comfortable and they tend to lower their guard and become more
agreeable and more motivated to listen. These factors are commonly influenced by
people’s personality traits like being introverts or extroverts, hyper vigilant and risk
takers. For leaders to understand this dimension, they need to examine the factors
that influence and motivate them. Secondly, there is the dimension of thinking over a
situation and analyzing it. Leaders or decision makers are supposed to analyze a
situation in depth. They should identify critical factors and single them out from huge
piles of information. Loci & Peterlin (2018) add that great inventors and scientists
believe in thinking about a situation and analyzing it as the best method of decision
making. It is crucial to have an understanding of our propensity during the process of
decision making. Thirdly, adapting and changing is another decision making
dimension. Most decisions are irreversible but some of them allow one to adjust, adapt
or change at a particular cost. Once a decisionhas been made, sticking to it has been
suggested o be the best thing to do. However, it does not mean that if the decision is
not suitable, people have to suffer indefinitely. In specific cases, counting losses and
moving forward seems to be the best choice. The point at which one might need to
change or adapt is dependent on the situation and the style selected. The fourth
dimension focuses on preference and bias. On the basis on one’s value system and
life experiences, knowingly or unknowingly, one may be favoring or making certain
choices. People have a tendency collect information selectively hence supporting the
hypothesis of biases. Cray, Inglis & Freeman (2006) argue that no one is without
biases and being aware of this fact can enable people to consciously avoid them.
Lastly, there is the dimension of opinions and support. The process of making
decisions in most cases, range from making individual decisions to consulting trusted
people or experts. Most people prefer to be independent while others prefer to consult
and get various opinions which could help them make the best final choice. There are
a variety of coaches and experts available to give support to almost every decision
making incident required. Understanding one’s tendencies will help them make their
final personal decisions even after considering the input of others. These dimensions
of decision making vary depending on a particular situation along with the existing
10. 10
circumstances including stress levels, our environment and our recent experiences.
The most important aspect is to be able to understand our personal style and in case
we do not like the outcome, then we will need to adjust.
Theories supporting better solutions
Distributive justice theories have been categorized as either proactive or
reactive (Maimuna, 2006). Reactive theories are those that focus on ways in which
employees respond to decisions they term unjust. Employees can determine whether
they have been treated justly or not by making comparisons on their inputs, the efforts
they puts towards their job including time, qualifications and knowledge and the
outcome they receive in return from employers such as pay and promotions with the
outcomes and inputs of other employers. Employees who view that their colleagues
receive more outcomes as compared to their inputs will perceive the happening as an
injustice. The theory of equity ascertains that these employees are likely to respond to
the perceived injustice through reduction in their inputs and seeking of more outcomes
by demanding for pay raise. These employees can also lower their outcome. Leaders
and policy makers should therefore understand and learn the perceived injustices of
their employees and try to ensure that they receive outcomes both punishments and
rewards that reflect their input and contributions. This also applies to promotions, pay
increases and dismissal. Proactive theories according to Nel (2014) are those that try
to ensure that a decisionis just from the beginning with the use of appropriate decision
procedures. Perritt (2018) recommended guidelines for examining an outcome of a
dismissal in the justice context of an organization. He proposed a model that involves
two perceived justice principles; correctness and balance guided by three major goals;
dignity, community and performance. Balance involves a comparison of the act of
dismissal with a variety of similar acts under similar situations. In this case, the
concepts of proportionality and rationality are applicable. Rationality entails making of
decisions consistently and reasonably while proportionality stipulates that the
punishment given suits the crime. The rules applicable for balanced decisions under
dignity, community and performance goals are equality, need and equity which reflect
the framework of justice. Correctness entails on whether a decision arrived at is
accurate, compatible with values and morals and followed the required procedures.
11. 11
A broader perspective of distributive justice goes beyond evaluating the
situation of an individual to consider even the social cost and general welfare at
societal levels. Distributive justice with regard to dismissals is relevant in two major
respects (Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation, 2007). First, it focuses on
determining if the dismissal portrays a just outcome particularly when in terms of
punishment. The second one is concerned with whether a remedy afforded to an
employee dismissed unjustly provides a full restitution which compensates the
employee for the losses incurred and also reinstating them back to their job.
Determining whether a particular dismissal was done justly or not is best described in
terms of the type of dismissal; downsizing, poor performance and misconduct. In our
case, the dismissal of Employee was due to his misconduct with regard to lateness.
In this case, the allocation rule of equity is applied along with the proportionality
argument that demands for a reflection of an employee’s contribution and punishment.
This means that a dismissal is only necessary for extreme forms of misconduct or
consistent misconduct because dismissal is an extreme punishment that involves
drastic income loss, social disconnection and major stigmatization. As a consequence,
organizational leaders should establish progressive procedures of discipline which are
capable of addressing behavior problems and employee performance more
systematically via a series of standardized steps along with severe punishments at
teach stage. They should also have improved organizational structures and updated
rules to address disputes at the workplace in a more general way. These could involve
compliance programs which comprise of a code of conduct that stipulates how
employees are expected to conduct themselves in the organization. Leaders are also
encouraged to embrace a developmental leadership style which focuses on team
building, employee participation and ethical behavior. They should also establish an
internal termination process and grievance hearing designed specifically to offer
employees a fair hearing concerning their disputes with board members. These
measures will encourage employees to voice their grievances and concerns
Reflections and observations
From the above discussion, it can be observed that Employee did not receive
a just dismissal based on various issues. First, Employee was not given a chance to
defend himself against the allegations that were made against him. It is my thinking
12. 12
that had the managers taken their time to assess and examine the circumstances that
contributed to his lateness, they could have found a legitimate reason behind it. It is
my understanding that employees go through a lot back in their homes that managers
may have no idea about if they do not have good relations with their employees.
Secondly, there was no prior communication regarding the dismissal hence it is likely
that he underwent through a lot of emotional trauma as a result of the shock that came
with the dismissal. In addition, the management did not consider the previous
contribution of Employee to the organization. As a business owner and Chairman of
the board, I had come across Employee on few occasions and he passed as a
committed and passionate employee which the other managers/board members were
not aware of and since they were not ready to listen, I was overpowered in terms of
defending him for the majority of the board members were against my decision.
Generally, the circumstances under which Employee was dismissed and the
procedures that were applied in the dismissal decision making process were not just
or fair. I felt like the managers could have done more before reaching the conclusion
of dismissing him. However, I understand that even private organizations seldom
follow set procedures and guidelines regarding employment because it is unlikely for
them to be compelled to compensate the victims of unjust treatment, if the case was
escalated to labor law. This explains the attitude of the managers and their actions
towards Employee.
Conclusion
Leadership starts and ends with people: their motivations, feelings, aspirations
and their way of communicating. Leadership is using force in the most intelligent way.
Future leaders should have a vision and capability of inspiring others in ways that can
turn their visions into reality. Decision making is one of the major responsibilities of a
leader. For successful execution of managerial functions, decision making is termed
mandatory. It is important that leaders realize that the process of decision making is
crucial in a successful organization because it influences the behaviors, performance
and input of employees. Leaders must strive to acquire skills such as emotional
intelligence for them to be effective. They should also understand the cognitive biases
that could affect their decision making and be able to put them under control.
13. 13
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