Write a two page academic paper analyzing a problem that may occur in a retail organization or your choice. Analyze the problem using BART principles. The purpose of this paper is to apply BART to a specific problem you may/have encountered when working in a group and to apply BART as an attempt to help keep this problem from occurring in the future. Think about a recurring or difficult problem that you have faced in an organization or in a system that you have participated in. Think about this problem deeply and without blaming others. (The problem you address may be your issues with authority, or with completion of projects on time, or issues with those who report to you, or an inability to find a mentor or a host of other issues). Using Adaptive and Innovative leadership skills to develop a three to five step plan to
Solve the problem using BART. You must be specific. Cite, and APA is required.
This paper will address the following questions:
• What is the specific problem that is being addressed?
• How does this specific problem effect the entire organization?
• How would clarity around BART create a better process for getting work accomplished in the organization?
• How would BART be applied?
• What is the three to five step plan that is being offered?
• Does the BART solution offered use adaptive and innovative leadership skills
THE WORK OF LEADERSHIP
Understanding Your Boundaries, Authority, Responsibilities, and Tasks
Leadership is hard to define and even harder to execute. Often, “leadership”
means different things to different people in different situations. As a result, it
is important that we have a helpful, transferable framework by which we can
accomplish the work of leadership, regardless the circumstances.
In attempting to create a workable framework for leadership, think of BART:
Boundaries, Authority, Responsibilities, and Tasks.
Boundaries:
Creating and establishing boundaries for your work is an important first step
for determining exactly what you are to accomplish. Defining your interests
and your influence will help you, and your work group, know when to forge
ahead, and when to seek input and/or permission.
Key Questions:
• What is the scope of the job?
• What is the scope of influence for the job?
• When do you have to ask for permission?
• What can you accomplish without asking anyone?
Authority:
Authority is often defined as the right to do the work in service to the task.
Understanding your individual authority and the authority within the group will
allow you to understand chain of command issues such as who reports to
whom, what can you ask someone else to do, and what can others ask from
you. Lacking clear authority, groups tend to move into confusion and their
assigned tasks take extra effort to accomplish, if they are accomplished at all.
Key Questions:
• Who reports to you?
• Who do you report to?
• What authority do you have over these people?
• Can you fire/hire independently?
Responsibilities:
Moving further into the work of leadership, understanding your
responsibilities, and those of your coworkers, will help you define and execute
your Task. Clearly defining your own future efforts in service to the task will
free you to devote your energies to action, instead of continually guessing
where you fit. The more your responsibilities are delineated, the easier it is for
other members to rely and delegate effectively, based on expertise.
Key Questions:
• What is the content of the work to be done?
• At the end of each week/month/year, what should you be focused on?
• What should you be accomplishing?
Tasks:
Finally, the issue of task is the concrete set of items for you to accomplish,
the end toward which your efforts are directed. Often, people seek to
understand and accomplish the task at hand, while skipping through the
previous steps above. And while the task, or the work product, may ultimately
be what you and your group is judged on, the process of defining Boundaries,
Authority, and Responsibilities will free you to create and collaborate in
accomplishing the Task.
Key Questions:
• What is the task to be accomplished?
• What are the steps you take to accomplish your responsibilities?
• Can you list the actions steps for your job?
• Describe the processes you take to complete your responsibilities.
Works cited:
Hayden, C. & Molenkamp, R. (2002). Tavistock Primer II. Published from The A.K. Rice
Institute for the Study of Social Systems. Jupiter, FL.
