Achieving Performance Excellence: The Influence of Leadership on Organizational Performance

• NCJ Number: 238875
• Author(s): Nancy Cebula; Elizabeth Craig; John Eggers; Marge Douville Fajardo; James Gray; Theresa Lantz
• Date Published: June 2012
• Length: 100 pages
• Contract Number(s): 11AD01GKF8
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute of Corrections
• Sale Source: National Institute of Corrections
• Publication Format: Document (Online)
• Publication Type: Technical Assistance; Instructional Material
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: From the Achieving Performance Excellence (APEX) Guidebook Series

Annotation

This guidebook addresses leadership practice, competencies, tools, behavior traits, styles, and approaches intended to improve organizational performance.

Abstract

Following an introductory chapter, chapter 2 "Focus on the Leader," identifies the five levels of leadership, along with specific traits of a leader and the various approaches to and styles of leadership. Case studies of actual correctional workers who demonstrated leadership abilities are presented throughout the chapter. Chapter 3 "Leadership of Others and Beyond," encourages a higher level of performance for corrections leaders. The topics addressed are ethics and values, valuing relationships when dealing with conflict, managing change, strategic thinking, effective communication, and managing external and political influences. The critical leadership skills emphasized are coaching, mentoring, collaboration, team development, problem solving, decisionmaking, and the ability to elicit change. The chapter also discusses situational and distributed leadership characteristics and styles. Chapter 4 "Leadership That Is Transforming," portrays the roles of transformational and transactional leadership. Transactional practices guide critical, detailed, rule-driven operations; and transformational practices enable a leader to inspire followers to lead in achieving change and meeting challenges. The U.S. Army's leadership development system is used as an example of how each leadership style works in various situations. Chapter 5 "Case Study - Collaboration Shifts a Dysfunctional Culture," presents a case study in which a correctional department engaged individuals throughout the system to work together in shifting the culture and performance in a struggling facility by using the REACT model (Responding Effectively Acquiring Collaborative Team). Chapter 6 "Case Study - New Leadership as a Catalyst for Change," presents a case study in which a new leader shifted a dysfunctional system with low staff morale. 68 references