Leadership and Organizational Evaluation Task 2
1.    Organization Description
ABC Solutions is one of the leading consulting firms in the healthcare service sector and currently providing consultancy services in the healthcare financials in one of the hospitals. The firm offers a wide range of consultancy services that range from establishing, enhancing, reviewing, and repositioning scaled healthcare finance functions appropriately to enable the finance department, and the organization succeeds.
History and Background
ABC solutions started operating in 2008 on a small scale as a consulting firm for the local community centers. The organization upgraded gradually to specialize in providing consultancy services to established healthcare institutions both on a local and countrywide scale. The expansion focused on the objective of providing hospital finance departments with exceptional financial strategies to ensure quality and effective care delivery. More so, this also extends to enhancing the finance functions and increasing value to the hospital through a range of services under three networks, namely finance operations, decision support as well as financial strategy and transformation.
In the case of finance operations, the firm focuses on providing hospitals with an efficient way of identifying and delivering improvements as a way of unlocking value as well as resources. Such an approach improved financial decision making. Decision support, on the other hand, involves providing consultancy support that helps the hospital provide a fit-for-purpose plan as well as financial performance framework that may ensure informed decisions. The key emphasis with such choices is on the working capital improvement, cost accounting as well as management in addition to budgeting planning and forecasting. Lastly, the third framework involves helping hospitals define critical roles that effective finance play in driving strategic imperatives. More so, this is also in the sense of articulating achievable finance strategies and establishing operation model fit for achieving set objectives.
The firm’s operations revolve around a specific vision, mission as well as objectives. The elements reflect on the firm’s prioritization of hospital financial strength and effectiveness in care delivery.
Vision
To become the regionally recognized firm in consultancy services for healthcare institutions
The vision points out the efforts of the firm in establishing itself as a reliable and efficient in the delivery of consultancy services for hospitals. In such sense, the focus is on the provision of comprehensive financial as well as professional consultancy services at an individual and business level while creating a financial environment fit for progress.
Mission
To provide financial consultancy services with higher integrity and professionalism levels.
The mission focuses on ensuring hospitals using the firm’s consultancy gets exceptional services with integrity and professional approaches that can cultivate long-term progress. Such is an indication that the firms value the client’s loyalty. Professionalism also indicates a value of staff input as a way of establishing a dynamic and open work environment which encourages innovation focused on achieving set objectives.
Purpose and objectives
Goals: To satisfy the client’s need with full-time financial consultancy; to establish a client base that reflects team effort and satisfaction of requirements
Financial objectives: To improve revenue and increase net profit annually.
Strategic objectives: To expand financial strength for existing clients, enhance client retention, and maintain outstanding service delivery.
A1. Leadership Practices
The leader identified in this case is Amy Smith working as the chief financial officer at the firm. The leader is in charge of overseeing the management of finances of clients with a focus on financial planning, financial risk management, reporting in addition to record-keeping. More so, the CFO to an extent is also providing data analysis for the firm. One of the leadership practices that stand out in the leader is communicative. In such sense, Amy Smith tends to engage the team involved in the consultancy service delivery as well as the staff of the client’s finance department. The leader can engage others in dialogue to get their opinion on emerging issues and contribute to discussions on matters that require informed decisions. Such creates room for the team to share and get effective feedback necessary for participative decision-making.
Another leadership practice seen in Amy Smith is innovation. The innovation involved looking into updated procedures as well as developing informed ways to improved service delivery. The lack of innovation can also make a department stagnant. The CFO is therefore innovative in a sense that also encourages the rest of the team to embrace the practice. Change in any institution’s finance department implies that there is room for the constant creation of ways to enhance financial performance and service delivery. The team and the entire institution can access better solutions. More so, the effort of the leader in pushing the team is also a challenge for the consultancy firm to embrace informed ways of facilitating resources for the finance department to increase efficiency and perform.
Lastly, Ami Smith is an adaptive leader based on the situational kind of engagements exhibited in the engagements at the finance department staff. The practice comes with clarity on the use of situational leadership style, which encourages such a leader to weigh significant variables in work environments and engage ideas that fit the emerging situation. More so, the kind of leadership practice is seen in the way through which the leader develop staff members of the finance department as well as the consultancy team; establishing rapports as well as bringing out the best in employees. Such practice aspect, therefore, makes Amy Smith stand out as a unique CFO in the finance department.
A.2 Effects of Current Leader on Organizational Culture
The hospital where the firm is providing consultancy services has a mission of delivering exceptional services for every patient. Such kind of organizational culture is evident in the actions of the firm’s staff as seen through the CFO and the other stakeholders. The result of the mission is also seen in other departments at the institution with everyone focused on the delivery of a unified goal of quality services. Amy Smith is one of the focused leaders in the fulfillment of the mission. One of the approaches the leader is embracing towards achieving the culture involves eliminating bias and giving every member of the team a clean slate. More so, there is also a set of expectations with the staff expected to deliver on the same.
As a leader, Amy Smith also affected the organizational culture as the CFO through fostering an appropriate environment for ensuring transparency and accountability. The case also extends to empowerment for the team at the department. More so, the events before embarking on fulfilling the duties of a CFO involved the leader reviewing the employee engagement survey about the staff reaction to the proposals for the changed expected at the entity. Addressing the problems in the study focused on transparency with the employees to ensure their concerns were current, updated, and addressable with time. Such was made possible through a weekly newsletter, staff meetings as well as individual engagements.
Moreover, the change in organizational culture in this sense involves the utilization of an active listening approach as a way of encouraging the input of other staff members. The method has proven to be a success in determining the updated employee engagement survey impact on employee’s delivery on set objectives. More so, the change in organizational culture as a result of staff empowerment as well as the promotion of accountability also proved the influence of the leader in the work environment. Part of the leader’s successful influence in organizational change involves encouraging accountability through guiding productive conversations and solving conflicts. Such an approach ensures the cohesion of teamwork remains intact.
Additionally, the change in organizational culture in the finance department has increased the rate of teamwork and productivity. In such sense, the workmates of the leader are empowered to work as a team, accountable and transparent. The productivity is as a result of teamwork involved in decision making. More so, the coworkers have a productive relationship with the leader. Such depicts the significance of fostering such kind of a work environment with engaged as well as satisfied staff thereby resulting in the fulfillment of set objectives. The culture, therefore, ensures the employees at the finance department work as a unit.
B. SWOT Analysis
B1. Strengths
i.    Staff commitment to the achievement of the firm’s mission and vision
The consultancy firm has staff from employed from within the local and outside setting with different financial skills and knowledge. Such is an indication of the firm’s diverse background and the demanding nature consultancy work. The staff is consistently showing signs of commitment towards the realization of the firm’s mission and vision through productivity, accountability, and transparency. More so, the support the staff has for the leadership is also a reflection of the commitment. Such is an indication that having the right leadership in a work environment is enough motivation to ensure employees commitment towards achieving set objectives.
ii.    The user-friendly and robust work environment
The firm customized its work environment and system to accommodate the diverse nature of its workforce. The firm needs such kind of work environment to ensure the workforce is comfortable enough to provide clients with unique solutions to financial problems experienced at the hospital finance department. More so, the user-friendly nature of the environment is due to the effective leadership in place. Such kind of a work environment is therefore necessary for ensuring the team has the motivation to address the day-to-day challenges in healthcare finance.
B2. Weaknesses
i.    Lack of coordination
The firm offers its consultancy services under three networks, which include finance operations, decision support as well as financial strategy and transformation. The three systems are expected to collaboratively work together towards the realization of the firm’s goals, vision, and mission. Lack of internal control is, however, limiting the efficiency of the coordinated efforts.
ii.    Overdependence on consulting for hospitals
The firm only focuses on providing consultancy services to healthcare institutions. The focus on hospitals only limits the firm’s source of revenue as it is well fitted to offer services beyond the hospital setting. Consultancy in finance is an extensive field with a significant revenue generation probability when offered to diverse departments. The overdependence on hospital clients can, therefore, be dangerous for the firm in the sense of long-term business since running such kind of operation requires firms to be ready for challenging financial days that require supplementing revenue source.
B3. Opportunities
i.    Business expansion
The firm has an opportunity to expand its business beyond the hospital setting to also target small and mid-sized projects from other sectors or departments. An expansion to other sectors may help in supplementing the firm’s revenue and create more employment opportunities. More so, such kind of expansion may provide the firm with an opportunity to employ staff with diverse skills and knowledge in consultancy as well as experience with distinct organizational cultures. The opportunity would, therefore, help in fulfilling the goal, vision as well as the mission of the organization.
ii.    Acquisitions
The firm also has the opportunity to acquire other entities to address the issues of service diversity and expansion of consultancy services to other fields. The firm may acquire a provider of digital and information technology services to strengthen its IT-related services for healthcare finance. The acquisition opportunity can, therefore, help ABC Solutions enhance its consultancy strength, thereby creating an avenue to expand.
B.4 Threats
i.    Staff inadequacy
ABC Solutions is facing the threat of staff inadequacy, which is a shared challenge among the consultancy firms providing services for healthcare finance. Such problems relate to the challenges involved in the finance sector, such as unethical behaviors that at some point, result in staff manipulating financial records for payment rewards and improvement in service rating. The case is pushing ABC Solutions to use strict measures in employment efforts, and this has seen the firm experience a slow recruitment process leading to staff inadequacy. The issue is also threatening the firm’s capability to deliver timely services.
ii.    Competition
The consultancy market is currently experiencing stiff competition given the progress of established consultancy firms and the threat of new entrants. Such causes a decrease in client access, thereby limiting revenue growth and the ability of the firm to progress. The stiff competition in the consultancy sector is, therefore, pushing ABC Solutions to face the possibility of future uncertainty in acquiring clients from the healthcare sector.
C.    Leadership Evaluation
Amy Smith uses situational leadership approach in executing duties as a chief financial officer. The leadership style reflects on situational leadership theory which tends to focus on the capability of a leader to adapt to specific situations which may determine performance as well as effectiveness in work environment (Daft & Marcic, 2013). In such sense, a situational leader is therefore capable of making adjustments to fit the requirements of a work environment. More so, such is also an indication of the leader’s possible change to other leadership styles used in the same work setting right from authoritative to laissez-faire.
C1. Strengths
i.    Adaptive leader
Amy Smith is an adaptive leader, as seen in the capability to adjust to fit distinct work settings. Such kind of flexibility proves to be an integral aspect of the success of situational leaders working in challenging work environments as the healthcare finance department. In such sense, the leader can adapt to specific behaviors as well as practices to meet set objectives. According to Daft & Marcic (2013), such a case may involve providing personal support as well as task instruction to enable the subordinate staff to undertake an assigned task successfully. For example, Smith had an experience with a junior workmate who was unsure of how to go about preparing a cash flow statement. The leader adjusted to the level of the worker to ensure the explanation about the process was as understandable as possible. The case, therefore, demonstrates that the leader is flexible enough to meet the needs of the CFO role.
ii.    Communication
The strength is one of the essential aspects of a work environment with a situational leadership style. Smith can communicate directions and expectations when assigning and assessing tasks. The strength is proving to be beneficial for the leader when it comes to directing, coaching, as well as trusting in the work environment (Dwyer, 2012). For instance, Smith needed the team to evaluate the financial performance of ABC Solutions during the first quarter in a way that is different from the previous undertaking. Verbalizing the specifics of the tasks made it easy for the team to provide an impressive result at the end of the process.
iii.    Mentorship
The strength is critical for a situational leader to coach and support junior employees (Dwyer, 2012). Smith has proven to be a significant CFO in the sense of mentoring staff at the firm’s work environment. More so, the strength enables the leader to build teammates personally and professionally to be able to face any challenge while executing assigned duties. For instance, Smith mentorship efforts assisted a junior employee in becoming well-versed with the firm’s consultancy system to the extent of being able to consistently make an informed decision that benefits the firm and the client.
C2. Weaknesses
i.    Shifted attention from long-term business needs
Situational leaders tend to focus more on the achievement of exact needs essential at a specific moment (Northouse, 2009). The weakness is seen in Smith’s focus on the immediate needs of the firm instead of looking into the long-term perspective. Such is an indication that Smith is vulnerable to the trap of immediate circumstances than focus on overall firm objectives. The weakness may, therefore, stall personal and professional development at the firm.
ii.    Unproductive in task-oriented settings
The leader sometimes finds it challenging to complete tasks designed in specific ways due to the flexibility of the situational leadership style (Northouse, 2009). The case reflects on the specific and inflexible set of rules involved in completing a task. Such a situation makes Smith’s flexibility strength ineffective.
iii.    Skillset
The leadership style involves a focus on a specific skill set. When a situational leader is capable of reading changing the work environment and situations with the ability to understand the needs involved, their role becomes useful (Northouse, 2009). The lack of development of a certain skill set is a weakness for Smith. For instance, the leader lacks the skillset in financial IT, which makes responses to technology-related issues ineffective. Such is an indication that a situational leader may worsen a situation by misreading and formulating an inappropriate response.
C3. Recommendations
i.    Reviewing of performance
The situational leadership requires a leader to continually assess performance over a specific timeline, especially during and after task completion (Enos, 2007). The approach would assist in addressing the issue of Smith’s focus on immediate needs as opposed to the long-term objectives. The leader in such sense would be able to gauge and determine the effective prioritization of tasks and make fundamental changes to ensure focus is on the long term.
ii.    Assessing of tasks and priorities
The actionable item focuses on addressing the weakness of unproductiveness in task-oriented settings (Enos, 2007). The approach requires Smith to regularly assess tasks as well as priorities that are critical for the firm to ensure flexibility can work in producing the desired outcome. More so, this involves outlining the essential tasks to enable the right selection of the intervention approach. Routinely using the approach would enable the leader to adjust effectively to specific tasks.
iii.    Assessing the team’s readiness
In most cases, workforce maturity, as well as preparedness, tends to significantly influence the outcome of tasks in a work environment (Enos, 2007). More so, this also helps a leader gauge the strength of the workforce in different areas. The approach would assist in addressing the issue of skill set. Smith would be able to determine a workmate with a specific skill set in IT and make it easy to assign as well as handle the role efficiently. The ready employee would, therefore, be able to ensure the formulation of an appropriate response.

References
Daft, R. L., & Marcic, D. (2013). Understanding management. Australia: South-Western Cengage Learning.
Dwyer, J. (2012). Communication for Business and the Professions. Pearson Australia Pty Ltd.
Enos, D. (2007). Performance improvement: Making it happen. Broken Sound Parkway, CRC Press.
Northouse, P. G. (2009). Leadership: Theory and Practice. SAGE Publications Ltd.

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