Introduction
For the UAE Armed Forces and Abu Dhabi Police, Tawazun is the authoritative figure on intelligence and military purchases. It promotes financial benefit through its programs and initiatives, fosters ecosystem economic expansion and the growth of individual capability through collaborations on a local and international scale, and fosters technology & innovative thinking through its security and defense R&D ecosystem (Tawazun, 2021a). Tawazun promotes economic value, supports ecosystem expansion, and encourages technological advancement and creativity. The objective of the study is to further analyze the laissez-faire and participatory leadership theory at Tawazun.
Tawazun oversees the organizational, technical, commercial, legal, and financial elements of the UAE Armed Forces and Abu Dhabi Police’s purchases, as well as the follow-up and supervision of their implementation. Tawazun’s duties also include carrying out pertinent executive processes on contracting and other issues, as well as authorizing and granting initiatives and contracts (Tawazun, 2021c). Tawazun is also responsible for creating, administering, putting into practice, and allocating the budget for procurement. She also represents the relevant organizations in any proceedings involving the financial elements of procurement.
For the sake of the UAE’s independence, broader economic effect, and development, the Tawazun Economic Program creates and administers collaborations with the intelligence and military industries. By creating new initiatives that support knowledge transfer and add to the larger industrial environment, the initiative seeks to address the fundamental requirements of the sector and the end user. In collaboration with the Ministry of Defense and the Armed Forces, Tawazun has established a research and innovation managerial role to coordinate R&D operations in certain defense-related domains that have included dual-use capabilities (Tawazun, 2021b). This will make sure that military defense capacities are developed in accordance with the specific planning of the UAE Armed Forces and are assessed in light of the UAE’s security and military aims and goals.
The Tawazun Economic Council’s chief executive officer is Tareq Abdul Raheem Al Hosani. Tareq is in charge of implementing long-term strategies for the growth of the UAE’s military and security industry. He also oversees Tawazun’s daily operations. Tareq was the Chief Executive Officer of Yahsat prior to entering Tawazun, and he then assumed the position of Deputy Director General for the National Electronic Security Authority (NESA). He has also held the positions of Deputy Senior Technical Officer and Executive Director for Strategy & Corporate Development at Yahsat. Tareq worked in Mubadala Investment Firm as a deputy director as well.
Project Description
Determine the type of leadership used in the change process at the selected organization
Tawazun is a board of directors headed by the CEO of the company, so it can be concluded that this company has taken on a democratic form of leadership. Laissez-faire leadership and participatory leadership both have certain parallels and substantial contrasts. Laissez-faire leaders do not intervene in their employees’ choices on how to carry out their jobs and projects; they just let them get the job done. Participatory leadership fosters the participation of employees in choices and tactics in addition to accepting their opinions, thoughts, and suggestions (Chan, 2019). Both of these leadership philosophies rely on the leader having knowledgeable, trained, and competent subordinates. Unless the employees have a remarkable sixth sense for what has to be done, using the democratic management style with workers is asking for disaster. However, the majority of notable representative democracy people throughout history have been successful because they pushed their team to participate in conversations regarding important and unimportant choices.
Discuss the characteristics, advantages, and disadvantages of the selected leadership style?
Democratic and laissez-faire leaders have similar characteristics, such as delegation. Their participation in the decision-making procedure is the primary difference. Democratic politicians do not just choose specialists to oversee specific projects or departments and then wait for the results. They participate in the process and keep them informed. They strike a balance between the realities and the judgment of seasoned team leaders. Democratic politicians frequently decide against adopting a fantastic proposal if there is little demand for it. They take chances but also know when to stop.
The fact that democratic management functions effectively across a company, as opposed to other leadership philosophies, is one of its main selling factors. In contrast, the autocratic style operates in some areas but may not always be top-down. Having authoritarian rule all throughout the entire company can be oppressive and demoralizing. In some businesses, the involvement in controlling can be found at every level. An organization that prioritizes development, research, and talent development may benefit from this strategy. The democratic management style is ideal for private businesses, academic facilities, and charitable organizations that are growing because it promotes cooperation (Eva et al., 2019). Participative management encourages collaboration and rewards accomplishment.
The benefits of a democratic establishment should be clear to followers, at least in theory. The majority of workers want to be part of a hierarchy of authority that values teamwork and promotes meaningful debate. In actuality, not every institution is suited to democrats. The expectations of managers, members of the board, donors, and investors are concentrated on efficiency. The participatory leadership approach may not be suited for them due to the disadvantages, such as the increased possibility of conflict and rapid decision-making. Furthemore, laissez-faire leadership’s downsides include disorder and isolation among team members. Other leadership styles, such as autocratic, are more appropriate in some businesses and organizations where internal procedures are narrowly focused, carefully regulated, and often refined.
What was the current situation (environmental scanning), the vision of the future, the new goals, and the system changes needed to support the new vision?
The current situation of Tawazun involved sustainable development of finance industry. Organizational transformation was being accelerated in company’s corporate environment to unprecedented levels. The vision of the firm was to ensure SME growth and continue focusing on innovation. Meanwhile, certain goals to support the vision were set to promote trust and employee participation in the workplace. As for the system changes needed to support the new vision, mutual trust must be the foundation of relationships between labor and management. Trust makes employees make more significant commitments to their work, which means they are less likely to be absent. A staff focused on finding solutions leads to increased productivity.
Employee invention and creativity rise as a result of teamwork, which is the goal of mutual trust. Subordinates’ knowledge and experience might cause leaders to become unduly reliant on them. Collaborative projects can take up significant time as participants provide their differing perspectives. However, deadlines may be missed as a result of the inability to make quick, wise judgments. It can be expensive to rely on consensus from people who are uninformed or lacking in reliable facts. The problem of managing specialists in collaborative teams may weigh heavily on leaders.
Why change is important for organizations?
Although organizational change may be challenging, it can have a hugely positive impact on the firm as well as the employees who work there. Stagnant working environments are chosen by organizations that are rigid or entrenched in their ways of doing business. This setting cannot change to accommodate new possibilities, including original ideas. While neglecting the need for change may be extremely risky, creativity, creativity, and the capacity to modify the company sector can lead to the prospect of substantial new business possibilities.
What was the change initiative/s?
The change initiatives at Tawazun Holdings’ included the establishment of productive workforce and increasing presence in the market. The problems were first identified, and then they were given a priority so that the corporation may choose which problems to address first. Identifying the problems that were affecting the organization was followed by identifying the traits or signs of the issue. The firm’s difficulties were divided into two categories: their causes and their manifestations. Business analysts frequently hear a variety of problems impacting the company and provide a variety of remedies, which promoted change.
What was the change plan?
The change plan involved incorporating re-engineering and updating the practices of hiring process. Every suggestion made had to be considered by the company since each one might be useful in a different circumstance. To determine the efficiency of the remedies, however, they were often debated with the firm’s management. The hiring and recruitment procedure varies depending on the company. When compared to an updated and re-engineered worker recruiting process utilizing an online vendor like Monster, Tawazun Holding’s manual method of hiring new personnel was most likely to take longer and cost more money. Re-engineering the hiring process had advantages in terms of costs as well as other aspects (Noe, 2017). Time could be saved by Tawazun Corporation since it takes less time to find and hire new personnel. A work process must result in positive outcomes rather than the internal source of information in order to be successful.
How the leader overcome resistance to change in an organization?
When the leader is resistant toward the change in an organization, an analysis of advantages and possible disadvantages is always a smart move. While the leader might focus on the disadvantages, it is vital to emphasize the positive and lucrative outcomes. Instead of merely offering workers a limited vision of what will occur in the near future, an emphasis on the positive aspects enables them to understand the overall picture and the impact of the changes. Both innovation and progress take place every day. There are always methods to enhance a business with fresh thoughts and suggestions, whether it is altering the perspective on a task or altering the typical workplace dynamic (Noe, 2017). Whatever it is, there is always room for improvement, which might have an impact on how people perceive change management in an organization.
Role of Leadership during Change
What did the leaders do well or not so well?
Tawazu has seen many changes along the way, some of them fundamentally changing the structure of the company. An important factor is a suitable catalyst for the success of leaders in problem solving and collaboration with other large companies to achieve common goals. The only negative that was noticed during the analysis is that management sometimes does not have time to apply innovative solutions in terms of hiring new employees.
Conclusion
What does the group recommend that the leaders do differently to better implement the change initiative?
One of the main issues that contemporary organizations confront in implementing change successfully. At its foundation, change leadership involves collaborating to develop a clear understanding of the change necessary to carry out the plan and the best way to do it. Despite the efforts invested in developing change procedures, research on project management has shown that organizational change management projects frequently fail. It is crucial to gather individuals to plan and carry out the change. Crossing borders, encouraging staff to leave their silos, and forbidding unhealthy rivalry were all traits of influential leaders. Additionally, they strengthened the employees’ willingness to change by including them in judgment early on. Employee involvement in the transformation process is a significant failing of effective leadership.
References
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Eva, N., Newman, A., Miao, Q., Cooper, B., & Herbert, K. (2019). Chief executive officer participative leadership and the performance of new venture teams. International Small Business Journal, 37(1), 69-88.
Noe, R. A. (2017). Fundamentals of human resource management. Boston, Mass. McGraw-Hill. Web.
Tawazun. (2021a). About us. Web.
Tawazun. (2021b). Our commitment. Web.
Tawazun. (2021c). What we do. Web.