Running head LEADERSHIP ISSUE .docx

Running head: LEADERSHIP ISSUE
! 1
Leadership Issue
Brittany Baron
Dr. Ed Funk
OLCU 487
LEADERSHIP ISSUE
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Abstract
Leaders face a number of issues that, which can affect the
effective management of the
organization. Among the issues, they came across in their
leadership role that will be discussed is
a confrontation. Confrontation may occur in the following ways;
speaking up, talking about
problems, raising issues, and asking for help. Leaders
experience confrontations almost every
day. Since confrontations occur frequently in workplaces, they
have to be dealt with

appropriately. The best way to deal with confrontation is not to
avoid it. Avoidance is a method
that has been adopted by many leaders. The avoidance of
confrontation erodes the elements of
respect, trust, and healthy workplace. Therefore, leaders should
encourage constructive
confrontations. Constructive confrontations will be encouraged
through knowing of ways to
create them and handling them. It is crucial to study
confrontation in order to be able to create
constructive ones in the workplaces and deal with them.
LEADERSHIP ISSUE
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Table of Contents
Leadership Issue 4
..............................................................................................
Research Purpose and Questions 5
..........................................................................
Literature Review 5
............................................................................................
Confrontation as an act of respect (how it is healthy) 5

..............................................
Why leaders are not encouraging more of the confrontation 9
.....................................
Conclusions and Recommendations 11
......................................................................
How to create a constructive confrontation 12
.......................................................
How to handle confrontation 15
..........................................................................
References
16...........................................................................................
........
LEADERSHIP ISSUE
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Leadership Issue
The leadership issue identified is a confrontation. Leaders battle
with the problem of
confrontation in their organizations. Confrontations that are not
constructive are likely to result
in conflicts while those that are constructive can be dealt with
peacefully. There are many times
leaders, in their roles, have experienced a clash of ideas and
attitudes with other leaders or

followers in the organization. In fact, leaders experience
confrontations almost daily in their day-
to-day activities.
Some leaders try to avoid conversation because it is likely to
lead to confrontation. In
fact, leaders think that confrontation is a bad thing, and it
should be avoided at all cost. For
instance, if a leader was doing something that was interfering
with the ability of another person
to perform his task and accomplish the objective that is
important, it will be important for the
other person to notify the leader his actions. This is a form of
confrontation.
It is very important for leaders to know the consequences of
their actions. It will be
difficult for one to be successful in avoiding confrontations.
One should be willing to give and
receive feedback from workers in the organization (Hershcovis,
Cameron, Gervais, & Bozeman,
2017). Communication should not be assumed by those in
leadership positions. The fear of
conversing about issues that are pertinent will bring about
leadership issues in the organization.

The idea of assuming things on the part of managers and leaders
should be done away with. The
assumption will make important things not to be dealt with at
the right moment. Those in
leadership positions should always be free with one another and
with other workers. It is crucial
LEADERSHIP ISSUE
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to study confrontation in order to be able to create constructive
ones in the organization and deal
with them.
Research Purpose and Questions
The purpose of this paper is to discuss confrontation. Also, it
will discuss whether
confrontation is an act of respect (or whether it is healthy,) and
why most leaders try to avoid
confrontation. Therefore, the research question for this study is
the following: Is confrontation an
act of respect and why aren’t leaders encouraging more of it?
The good thing about the formulated research question is that it
will create more inquiry into this
issue of confrontation. Being among the important stages of

research, it will help guide the
research. This research question is the foundation of this study.
All the things that will be
discussed in the next sections will be built on the research
question. It means that the base of
where this study is heading is formed by the research question.
Literature Review
Confrontation as an act of respect (how it is healthy)
Kellermanns et al. (2008) argue that constructive confrontation
is important to leaders
and in organizations. This is because it helps to create a healthy
environment or workplace for
leaders and employees. Organizations are making use of work
teams so much to get greater
access to the broader skill and knowledge base of workers as
well as provide efficient, adaptive
decision-making. The authors also argue that constructive
confrontation norms crucial
contingency variable in the relationship between decision
quality and mental model similarity.
The significance of mental model similarity during
confrontations is that it will enable a leader

LEADERSHIP ISSUE
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and other team members to understand the perspectives of one
another. Also, it will bring down
the chances of occurrence of conflicts. Decision quality will be
improved by mental model
similarity. With the presence of constructive confrontations and
good norms, leaders and workers
will reap positive benefits from confrontations without
experiencing negative consequences.
Additionally, there will be a greater diversity of inputs
(Kellermanns et al., 2008). Therefore,
when there is a strong constructive confrontation norm and less
mental model similarity (that is,
more diversity of perspectives) improved decision quality will
be likely. Therefore, constructive
confrontation is good since it creates a healthy workplace. It
will also create respect among
leaders and members.
According to a study that was carried out by Johnson (1990),
confrontation, especially
constructive confrontation, is an act of respect in the workplace.
Leaders who empower others in

the organization to speak up, talk about their problems, raise
issues, and ask for help are likely to
be respected. Speaking up and dealing with confrontations is a
cultural norm, which can enhance
organizational success. In their study, the researchers also
found that individuals who are always
on receiving end of disrespect at workplaces spend much of
their time, about 50 percent, during
working hours dealing with the impact of disrespect behavior.
For instance, if leader X is
disrespected by leader Y, leader X will spend much time dealing
with the impact of being
disrespected by leader Y. When confrontation is encouraged,
workers will be free to air their
ideas and feedback freely (Johnson, 1990). This will encourage
innovation and creativity,
thereby, doing away with fear that could have brought about
disrespect. Respect will prevail in
the organization when workers are able to express themselves
respectfully. Many people know
how to communicate, but the skill that most leaders lack is how
to communicate respectfully and
LEADERSHIP ISSUE

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effectively. Confrontation and conversation are good cultural
norms of workplaces. Giving
feedback and speaking up are forms of confrontation
(Hershcovis et al., 2017). Leaders should
not go to great length to avoid confrontation. Due to this, things
that are interfering with the
ability of a person to do his job properly, to attain their full
potential, and positively contribute to
the performance of an organization should be dealt with.
Keeping silence when things are
bothering you only kills the chances for top employer status.
Respect within the organization and
better performance from leaders and employees can be attained
through having a culture in the
workplace that encourages people to speak up.
The study by Burpo and colleagues examined the use of
confrontation when it comes
power tool. According to the study, a good association helps to
build power among leaders and
employees. Further, confrontation always arises during the
association of leaders and employees.
A constructive confrontation between those with power and
while dealing with other employees

can help deal with intractable conflict (Burpo, DeLord, &
Shannon, 1997). During this kind of
conflict, there should be the assumption that long-term and
intense confrontation over difficult
and crucial issues are inevitable. What can be not usual is the
destructiveness that is attributed to
the escalation of conflicts. Also, discussed are the steps in a
constructive confrontation. The first
step is diagnosis and it entails preparing for a conflict map.
This map requires leaders to
determine potential and active adversary groups together with
intermediaries. The interests and
position of these groups should also be determined.
Furthermore, immediate disputes and
confrontations should be placed into the context of the
underlying and long-term conflict. The
LEADERSHIP ISSUE
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other thing to be carried out during the step of diagnosis is
differentiating core aspects of a
conflict from factors that are complicated. Complicating factors
are issues in the process of

conflict that make core harder to see, understand, and address.
Some examples include the
classes determined in the training program. Some of these are
framing problems, fact-finding
problems, procedural problems, misunderstandings, and
escalation and polarization. Finally,
problems present in the core confrontation process has to be
determined.
Pearce and Littlejohn (1997) argue that respect among
individuals and the creation of a
healthy workplace can be attained through having more
productive ways to express moral
differences and manage moral confrontations and conflicts.
Moral confrontation and conflict are
defined by the authors as a situation where moral orders and
social worlds of individuals are
incommensurate. Some of the best approaches that can be used
when it comes to these situations
are primary approach via communication theory and process-
oriented approach. The good thing
with these approaches is that they will direct attention to the
structure of confrontation and
conflicts. One particular method that should be avoided is
strategic outcome-oriented

approaches. This is because it only focuses on winning a
confrontation or dispute (Pearce &
Littlejohn, 1997; Sessa, Morgan, Kalenderli, & Hammond,
2014). A confrontation should be
handled through the use of better confrontation management
methods. Some of the ways that can
be used to handle confrontation and conflict is dealing with the
issue and reaching an agreement
and not avoiding a situation. Confrontation in the workplaces is
beneficial. When a confrontation
is dealt with properly, a stronger and more open social bond is
formed between individuals. This
calls for leaders to find a better way of engaging with others
and dealing with confrontations and
conflicts.
LEADERSHIP ISSUE
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Similarly, Hershcovis et al. (2017) state that confrontations
emerge from some moral
differences. Some of the moral differences and differences in
opinion, differing social realities,
and differing worldviews. Not all difference among individuals
will lead to confrontations.

Moreover, confrontations are a good form of communication,
and it has four important features.
These features are interminable, intractable, morally and
rhetorically attenuated. Differences
among individuals are normal. When differences are not
threatening, people may communicate
in ways that celebrate differences and ways that celebrate
similarities. On the other hand,
persuasion can be used to deal with differences that are a bit
troubling. Shared standards of the
disclosure will be required during the process of persuasion. In
cases where that is troubling
differences, individuals may be forced to repress their
differences (Hershcovis et al., 2017).
Repressing differences is not a good way of dealing with
confrontations because it may make
things to be violent at sometimes. Better communication
methods should be used to handle
confrontations. For instance, one method that can be employed
is transcendent discourse.
Transcendent discourse will introduce a new shared language.
This language will help
individuals to coordinate their worldviews that are differing,
thereby, creating strong bonds and

respectful relationship.
Why leaders are not encouraging more of the confrontation
According to Chaudhuri, Kettunen, and Naskar, (2015) leaders
are always after creating a
good image for others in the organization. The leaders believe
that confrontation is not healthy
and getting involved in one will create a negative image. This
makes these leaders avoid
confrontation at all costs. For instance, there are leaders who,
when a confrontation is looming
will change the method of communication. Instead of
communicating with others face to face,
LEADERSHIP ISSUE
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they will use the internet to communicate messages. This is not
a good way of dealing with a
problem. Trust and respect can be created by communicating
effectively and ensuring that all
issues or matters are resolved.
Jackman and & Strober (2003) believe that leaders are not
encouraging more of confrontation

because they fear confrontation. Leaders who cannot confront
are not effective in their work.
This is because they fall below their potential, live with the
frustration of nagging, and lead a
workforce and organization that is unremarkable. Such leaders
avoid confrontation due to a
number of reasons. Among the reasons are: they are concerned
that they will not confront well;
they are driven by self-interest, where they do not want to get
upset with others; they have false
compassion (false compassion avoids while real compassion
confronts), and think that
confrontation is cruel. There are many methods to deal with the
fear of confrontation. Some of
these methods are; believing in the ability of others, committing
and serving others and making
things better, reflecting on past failures and success before
confrontations, defining perspective,
coming up with alternatives and choosing the best ones,
responding to defensiveness by asking,
and using others' language.
Some leaders do encourage confrontation because they argue
that the confrontation may
change from a constructive one to one that is destructive

(Hershcovis, Cameron, Gervais, &
Bozeman, 2017). Constructive confrontation is good in the
organization since it enables
individuals to air their views and give feedback freely. Also, it
can create the elements of trust
LEADERSHIP ISSUE
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and respect among leaders and workers since the views of all
are accepted and acted upon.
Destructive confrontation, on the other hand, will create
conflict. Conflict will hamper the
effective performance of leaders and workers. Most leaders
believe that confrontation may make
things worse in the workplace by interfering with cooperation,
coordination, teamwork, respect,
and trust.
Lack of effective methods of handling confrontation on the part
of leaders makes them not to
encourage confrontations. Most leaders are having a problem
with handling tough conversations
with others in the organization (Dirks & Skarlicki, 2004;
Susskind, Levy, & Thomas-Larmer,

1999). This is because they do not know about ways of handling
confrontation as a leader. For
instance, most leaders come across issues or things in the
organization that is not done properly,
however, they have the fear to confront those who are not doing
those things as it is expected.
Therefore, leaders should do away with qualities that they had
while leading small teams, such as
generous heart, niceness, and gentleness. These qualities are a
liability to leaders and senior
managers.
Conclusions and Recommendations
A confrontation is an act of respect and it determines the
effectiveness of a leader. Since it
may occur in different ways, such as giving feedback, speaking
up, talking about problems,
raising issues, and asking for help, it creates effective
communication and brings in the elements
of respect and trust. Leaders should be aware that it is a cultural
norm that can create the success
LEADERSHIP ISSUE
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of the organization. Additionally, confrontation will make sure
that all issues like moral
differences are dealt with in an appropriate manner. Most
leaders do not encourage confrontation
because of a number of reasons. These reasons are; lack of
effective ways of handling
confrontation, having the fear of confrontation, and avoiding to
create a bad image.
Therefore, it is recommended that leaders should come up with
ways of creating
constructive confrontation and methods of handling them.
Below are some of the ways that
should be used by leaders to create constructive confrontation
and methods of handling the
confrontations.
How to create a constructive confrontation
One of the major challenges and difficult situations, leaders
face is trying to work on the
poor performance of an employee. With skillful coaching,
patience, and perseverance, leaders
can help the worker have the preferred change through giving
them positive motivation. A coach
who is an effectual performer knows how to confront a worker
constructively hence increasing

the chances of the positive outcome. These leaders understand
that engaging workers on a
destructive confrontation lead to reactions that are negative to
the workers.
As a good coach, it is good to come up with stages so as to
effectively practice
presentational communication and interpersonal skills, this will
facilitate the effectiveness and
LEADERSHIP ISSUE
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delivery of the constructive feedback to the workers. A leader
should be prepared when handling
the workers. In that what he/she has the right facts and
examples that are specific to be used
during the meeting with the workers. Reviewing documents with
workers will help increase their
understanding of what is discussed.
Create the best atmosphere. As a leader is positive, not
arrogant, being confident while
speaking and maintaining of eye contact will create a good
environment for the discussion.
Monitoring non-verbal cues such as tone, facial expression, and

body language are important.
Studies have shown that non-verbal cues carry a strong meaning
to the audience other than what
we verbally speak.
Acknowledging the past good performance of employees will
encourage them to discuss
freely towards the subject matter. A leader who recognizes all
the work of his/her employees and
is sincere with what observed will create a better room for
improvement since he/she is positive
about the workers.
During the meeting, as a leader lecturing should be avoided.
The meeting should be
meant for discussion where each party is given an opportunity
to speak and point out examples
of poor performance and how to deal with them to give good
results. By reviewing acts of poor
performance with the employees will give the room to reflect
and focus on how to work well so
LEADERSHIP ISSUE
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as to give the best performance. Asking open-ended questions

will give room for discussions.
Ensuring that the employees understand clearly on the situation
and what is needed differently so
as to give improvements.
Allowing possible solutions to come from employees facilitates
easy commitment,
gaining by the employees. Employees will have time to reflect
on the solutions generated by
them and also come up with ways of changing their behavior
about the work. Discussing specific
aims and letting the employees give their sides and what it will
take them to meet what has been
set. Being part of them and adding your ideas will lead to
improvement.
The conversation should be kept on track so as to avoid
misunderstandings. If an
employee goes out of topic, acknowledge what he/she has said
and helped them to get back to
the subject matter. In case of any misbehavior or employees
become disrespectful immediately
stop it. Come up with strategies that will make them get
composed by maybe initiating a break
in the middle of the discussion. Be ready to have empathy for
them if they express what they

feel, but the subject matter should remain on track.
Disciplinary procedures should be explained if they are unable
to improve the situation.
Before ending the meeting, you should be able, sum up, what
has been agreed on and the
possible disciplines that will be there if they do not meet with
what was agreed on. Remember
that in order to achieve good performance it is the duty for both
of you to work together. Give the
employees encouragements that they are the best and hence
what has been discussed will be put
LEADERSHIP ISSUE
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into consideration. Conclude the meeting on a positive note and
schedule a date for the next
meeting to discuss their progress.
How to handle confrontation
Issues of confrontation are very common in workplaces.
However, this is not the best
way of interaction in places of work. There are many positive
ways of dealing or handling

confrontation in a manner that it cannot cause conflicts.
If issues arise between you and your employees or between
leaders it is good to find the
right place to discuss the issue. A private place or office is
better because the conversation is
private and you don't want other co-workers to know what is
happening. Additionally, it is not
good to confront someone over the email or telephone since
there are no physical interactions,
one may miss the facial expressions or body language cues. It is
good to have in-person
confrontational meetings.
Confrontational interactions or meetings need a lot of time
whereby you and the other
party has time to have a conversation at length. Little time will
make you unable to express your
feelings and say everything you wanted to say. Giving yourself
more time will enable you to
express everything you desired to say and confront the person in
the best way that will lead to a
good ending.
LEADERSHIP ISSUE

! 16
When meeting up with a co-worker or a leader about issues, it is
good to go there without
any attachments to the outcome and with a positive attitude. Try
to walk into the meeting place
without the mind that you are right or you know everything.
Being in positive attitude will
enable you to listen carefully to the other person without
creating more conflicts.
Looking for ways to clarify the situation will ensure that a
confrontation is not difficult.
Asking related question will help to make the dialog more
productive since these questions seek
to find out what really went wrong. Answering the questions
will help to create solutions to the
issues, hence, making the both of you feel productive.
‘I' statements help to avoid problems in a conversation between
two co-workers or
leaders. ‘I' statements help to turn the attention of the listeners
back to the person speaking. This
tool helps to avoid confrontation of what was done by the wrong
person. This will make another
person not to feel defensive because you are talking about what
happened to you and your

experience. Using ‘I’statements help to shift the conversation
tension hence ending up positively.
References
Burpo, J. H., DeLord, R., & Shannon, M. (1997). Police
association power, politics, and
confrontation: A guide for the successful police labor leader.
CC Thomas.
LEADERSHIP ISSUE
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Chaudhuri, M. R., Kettunen, J., & Naskar, P. (2015).
Transformational and servant leadership:
Evidence from indian higher education. Online J. Qual. High.
Educ, 2(4), 93-101.
Dirks, K. T., & Skarlicki, D. P. (2004). Trust in leaders:
Existing research and emerging issues.
Trust and distrust in organizations: Dilemmas and approaches,
7, 21-40.
Hershcovis, M. S., Cameron, A. F., Gervais, L., & Bozeman, J.
(2017). The Effects of
Confrontation and Avoidance Coping in Response to
Workplace Incivility.
Jackman, J. M., & Strober, M. H. (2003). Fear of feedback.

Harvard Business Review, 81(4),
101-108.
Johnson, David W. (1990). Reaching Out, 4th ed. Englewood
Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Kellermanns, F. W., Floyd, S. W., Pearson, A. W., & Spencer,
B. (2008). The contingent effect
of constructive confrontation on the relationship between shared
mental models and
decision quality. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 29(1),
119-137.
Pearce, W. B., & Littlejohn, S. W. (1997). Moral conflict: When
social worlds collide. Sage.
Sessa, V. I., Morgan, B. V., Kalenderli, S., & Hammond, F. E.
(2014). Key events in student
leaders’ lives and lessons learned from them. Journal of
Leadership Education, 13(2),
1-28.
Susskind, L., Levy, P., & Thomas-Larmer, J. (1999).
Negotiating Environmental Agreements:
How To Avoid Escalating Confrontation Needless Costs And
Unnecessary Litigation.
Island Press.
Leadership IssueResearch Purpose and QuestionsLiterature
ReviewConfrontation as an act of respect (how it is

healthy)Why leaders are not encouraging more of the
confrontationConclusions and RecommendationsHow to create a
constructive confrontationHow to handle
confrontationReferences
Senior Research Project Presentation
Length: 8 PowerPoint, Prezi or PowToon slides (excluding title
page and References)
Due: Week 8 by Wednesday Midnight
Value: 80 Points for 8% of the grade
Post: Week 8 Discussion Board
Evaluation Criteria for Senior Research Project Presentation
Report Elements Exemplary
Proficient
Developing
Emerging
Leadership Issue,
Research Purpose
and Questions

20 - 19
Clearly and
concisely describes
the leadership issue
and purpose.
Identifies 2 research
questions (RQ).
Introduction is
engaging and
interesting.
18 - 17
Fairly clearly
describes the
leadership issue
and purpose.
Identifies 2 research
questions (RQ).
Introduction gains
audience attention.
16 - 15
Somewhat clearly
describes the
leadership issue and
purpose. Identifies 1
- 2 research
questions (RQ).
Somewhat engages
audience
14 - 0
Unclear or confusing
description of
leadership issue and

purpose. May identify
research questions
which may not be
succinct.
Literature Review
20 - 19
Clearly and precisely
defines key terms,
identifies theories
and research
studies. Effectively
uses literature to
answer research
questions supported
with citations.
18 - 17
Defines most key
terms and concepts,
identifies theories
and research
studies. Uses
literature to answer
research questions
usually supported
with citations
16 - 15
Somewhat clearly
defines most key
terms’ identifies
some theories and
research studies.

Somewhat uses
literature to answer
research questions
with some citations
14 - 0
Limited if any
definition of key
terms, may not
identify theories
and/or research
studies. answers
RQs. May not use
literature and/or
citations to answer
research questions
Conclusions and
Recommendations
20 - 19
Objectively analyzes
and integrates
research to draw
valid conclusions
and
recommendations
supported by
findings in the
literature.
18 - 17
Fairly objectively
analyzes and
integrates research
to draw valid

conclusions and
recommendations
supported by
findings in the
literature.
16 - 15
Somewhat analyzes
and integrates
research.
Conclusions and
recommendations
may be general
and/or have only
come support in the
findings of the
literature.
14 - 0
Limited if any
analysis and
integration of
research. Limited if
any conclusions or
recommendations
drawn based on the
findings of the
literature.
Presentation
clarity
20 - 19
Presentation is
clear, informative;
visually interesting,

easy to read and the
required length.
Uses good grammar
and spelling, and is
focused. Includes
citations and
References.
18 - 17
Presentation is
clear, easy to read,
fairly visually
interesting and
focused. May by
10% too long or
short and/or have
minor grammar
and/or spelling
errors. Includes
citations and
References.
16 - 15
Presentation is
somewhat clear but
may not be focused.
May by 15% too long
or short and/or
include numerous
grammar, spelling
and/or APA errors.
Citations may be
incomplete.
14 - 0
Presentation is

unclear and difficult
to understand or
read. May by 20%
too long or short
and/or include
numerous grammar
and/or spelling
errors. Limited
adherence to APA
standards.
Senior Research Project Presentation

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