The Responsiveness Paradigm outlined elsewhere in this newsletter is applicable at a number of levels. For example, it applies to organizations in general, and the ability of the organization to respond to the needs of customers, staff and other stakeholders (eg. politicians, etc). It applies to non-supervisory staff, and their ability to respond to the needs of their managers, customers and co-workers. This month we are going to look at responsiveness as it applied to managers, leaders and/or supervisors.

One of the least mentioned effects of change relates to how it affects the manager leading that change, and his or her ability to undertake the leadership role.  We have already talked about the effects of change on the individual employee, and of course managers are subject to the same reactions, resistances and strains.  Some types of change, such as restructuring, or downsizing can put considerable strain on the leaders of an organization.

When change is imposed (as in downsizing scenarios), clearly the most important determinant of "getting through the swamp", is the ability of leadership to...well, lead. The literature on the subject indicates that the nature of the change is secondary to the perceptions that employees have regarding the ability, competence, and credibility of senior and middle management.