How the CVF Expanded My Leadership and Communication Skills

The effective functioning of a company in the contemporary business environment is based on the effective management and leadership. At the same time, it is necessary to realize the fact that the contemporary manager and leader should take into consideration both internal and external factors that determine the normal functioning of an organization. On the other hand, such a combination of internal and external factors lead to the contradictive objectives a manager should meet. To put it more precisely, it is necessary to provide the flexibility of an organization and combine it with the effective system of control. In such a way, it would be possible to maintain the internal stability within the organization and maintain its competitive position on the external level. In this respect, the competing values framework may be very helpful in understanding the role of the contemporary manager and leader, his/her major goals and principles of functioning of an organization.

First of all, it should be said that often managers view their organization as an isolated entity which functions independently from its environment. I, in person, also used to focus on the creation of the positive atmosphere within the organization and attempted to develop organizational culture. In such a way, I believed the focus on the needs of employees, the formation of a team, and the development of positive interpersonal relationships would be sufficient for the positive market performance of the organization. However, as the competing values framework theory shows the focus on the internal needs of the company is not enough for its success. Instead, it is necessary to focus on both internal and external dimensions (Kim and Quinn, 105), which could help an organization to progress and coordinate its development in such a way that it would be possible to combine both contradictory objectives of a contemporary company, the flexibility and control.

It should be pointed out that such understanding is very important for the effective leadership and communication.

In fact, the competing values framework has broaden my view on the role and functions of a leader. I am conscious of the fact that a contemporary manager should possess leadership qualities but he/she also needs to possess certain communication skills to perform successfully in the highly competitive environment. In this respect, the competing values framework indicates to the necessity of the development of the larger understanding of the concept of communication because, instead of the concentration on the communication with employees it is also very important to develop effective communication with customers, business partners, and business environment at large (Kim and Quinn, 193). It is very important to share the communication skills with all employees in order to make their work more effective and productive. The role of the leader, in this regard, is to help employees realize the necessity of the development of effective communication, increase their responsibility and define the standard of communication that all the personnel of an organization should meet. What is meant here is the fact that the leader of an organization should show the example of effective communication. Through the effective communication, the leader can create a positive atmosphere within the organization and through setting the standards of communication it is possible to improve the image of the company at large, because customers and business partners, while communicating with employees and personnel of the company, will be more satisfied if the latter possess effective communication skills.

At the same time, while working on my communication and leadership skills, I have realized the fact that I, as well as the company, have to meet absolutely contradictory goals. In such a situation, I have discovered that through the application of the competing values framework theory, it is possible to overcome the existing contradictions and increase the effectiveness of my leadership and communication. In this respect, it is necessary to underline that the competing values framework suggests four major models that can be used in the management and which, being effectively applied, can facilitate communication (Belasen, 184).

First of all, it is the human relations model, which lays emphasis on flexibility and internal focus. In terms of this model, cohesion, morale and human resources development are major criteria of the effectiveness of an organization. In actuality, this means that an effective manager should focus on human resources, developing the potential of all employees, increasing their morale and making them a kind of team. Consequently, this model implies the development of the communication style which could improve interpersonal relationships between a manager and employees and, at the same time, stimulate the personnel to work more effectively and productively. At first glance, the competing values framework does not suggest any new idea in this regard, but, in actuality, it reveals the fact that flexibility is the essential of success that means that an effective manager should have flexible communication style and develop flexibility of the organization at large. In such a way, the organization could easily adapt to the changing business environment.

Furthermore, the competing values framework suggests open systems model, which implies external focus and stresses resource acquisition and external support. This model is also very important because it indicates to the alternative sources that could be used for the development and progress of an organization. In fact, through the use of external resources, or by means of acquisition for instance, it is possible to improve the position of a company in the market. In this respect, the role of a leader can hardly be underestimated, because the decision to use external resources may encounter misunderstanding within the organization, especially if the merger or acquisition is planned (Schmitt and Simonson, 272). In such a situation, the use of external resources will apparently cause the changes in the structure of the organization or even job cuts. Consequently, a leader should use his/her communication skills to convince the personnel that the use of external resources is useful for all of them and that it will improve the performance of the organization.

In this respect, it is also possible to refer to the internal process model, which emphasizes control and internal focus and stresses the role of information management, communication, stability, and control. In fact, the effective information management implies that a leader is able to share his/her ideas and vision of the future development of a company and, what is more, he/she should be able to convince the personnel to support his/her ideas or, alternatively, develop some concept or strategy of the future development of the organization, involving the personnel of the company.

In addition, it is worth mentioning the rational goal model, which emphasizes the role of control and external focus.

Basically, this model views planning, goal setting, productivity and efficiency as major conditions of the effective performance of an organization. In terms of communication and leadership skills, this means that it is necessary to have a clear plan and strategy of the development of an organization. An effective manager, who should be also a leader of the organization, is supposed to develop an effective system of control over the functioning of the organization (Wilkins, 174). Practically, this means that, along with the development of the flexibility of the functioning of the organization and work of employees, the formation of positive interpersonal relations, etc., it is still necessary to remember about the function of control, which the leader of the organization is responsible for. In this respect, the clear definition of goals, the development of understandable strategic plan and the support of this plan from the part of the personnel are very important for its successful realization.

However, without effective communication skills it is impossible to meet these goals. To put it more precisely, a leader should unite the personnel and make employees work to meet the major goals defined by the plan. To make this, the leader needs to receive a positive feedback from the personnel before the strategic plan and goals are get started to implement (Paese and Smitty, 231). At the same time, the leader should develop understandable system of control of the effectiveness of work based on standards that are understandable to and accepted by the personnel.

Thus, the competing values framework helps consistently understands the role and major functions of the contemporary leader and main goals and skills he/she should meet and develop. Obviously, the focus on internal and external dimensions and the ability to develop positive internal atmosphere with the help of communication and the effective system of control will make the performance of an organization effective.