Perspective Chapter: Leading Welfare Organisations from an Integrated Leadership Approach - Responding to Modern Social Problems

Abstract

Organisational leadership plays an important role in addressing societal problems. For welfare organisations, effective leadership is even more crucial given the nature of problems presented to these organisations, which are complex and affecting mostly vulnerable population groups. Despite the contribution of traditional leadership approaches in resolving some of the social problems, research evidence have proven that the traditional approaches to leadership have not been effective, with some researchers calling for an integrated approach to leadership. The call is considered legitimate given the complexity and dynamic nature of social problems to which welfare organisations respond. A leadership approach for an organisation should adapt to the broad and diverse contexts in which welfare organisations exist (including its own internal environment) in order to effectively respond to these complex and diverse social issues that are often presented for intervention. The aim of this chapter is to argue for an integrated leadership approach as an appropriate leadership approach for leading a welfare organisation. Drawing from the leader-oriented and relationship-oriented approaches to leadership, the chapter demonstrates how the conventional approaches to leadership can be adopted interchangeably or even collectively in an integrated fashion to respond to a single-presenting problem within the welfare organisational context.

1. Introduction

Leadership is one of the fundamental imperatives for the success of any organisation. For social welfare organisations, it is even essential given the nature of these organisations. Unlike your corporate entities that are streamlined towards a specific business objective which is mostly income generating, social welfare organisations are broader in scope and therefore requires a broader approach to leadership. With complex, divergent and complicated modern social problems like Covid-19, gender-based violence and others that are compounded by the very nature of social work’s applicability to diverse fields, the need for welfare organisations to align their leadership strategies and approaches to accommodate its diverse and complex nature is of particular significance if social work is to effectively respond to these social problems. This chapter seeks to explain how social welfare organisations can be managed or led from an integrated social work approach in order to effectively and efficiently respond to modern complex and diverse societal problems that are often presented to these organisations. A discussion of the meaning of leadership in the context of welfare organisations will be an opening section of the chapter, which will then be followed by a background to integrated social work approach and its significance to organisational leadership. The discussion will proceed to how integrated social work approach to leadership can be effectively used to manage or lead an organisation in responding to various problems that confront our modern society. Due to an applied approach followed in this chapter, a case study will be used to demonstrate the applicability of an integrated social work approach to managing welfare organisations.

2. Methodology

This chapter relied on integrative literature review method. It is based on existing literature, knowledge and research findings on leadership theories with the overall purpose of developing and reconceptualising integrative leadership approach [1]. Although the author targeted publications focusing on leadership in general, the inclusion criteria set to specifically select relevant material was that such material: (1) had to be written in English; (2) had to focus on leadership theories and literature. A search for literature from various electronic resources websites yielded a total of 62 publications, of which 26 were selected in line with the set criteria. To demonstrate applicability of integrated leadership theory, the chapter provides a case study of a welfare organisation where some suggestions are proposed on how it can effectively be applied. This case study was also based on integrative literature review.

3. The meaning of leadership

In order to clearly understand leadership, one needs to first understand the concepts lead and leader. The word lead is a verb which is used to refer to an act of giving some kind of direction to subordinates. In organisational context, to lead is to provide some kind of strategic direction in order for an organisation to realise its overall mission. By organisation in this context I refer to a welfare entity and its staff component. Metaphorically, one can relate leaders to drivers of a vehicle called an organisation and whose primary responsibility is to drive these organisations towards its envisaged mission and objective which in the welfare context may include building self-reliant society by supporting the marginalised sections of the population such as widows, orphans, persons living with HIV, the older adults, victims of gender-based violence and many more. Leaders are also expected to provide a sense of belonging among the organisational staff component in order to enhance the organisations’ productivity and attainment of objectives [2]. In other words, subordinates of a leader should feel free to exercise their duties and to constructively and critically interrogate any of the activities involved in the organisation.

An integrative definition of a leader is that a leader is a person who select, equips, trains, and influences one or more subordinates towards the mission and objectives of the organisation by causing them to expend their spiritual, emotional and physical energy willingly and enthusiastically in a concerted coordinated effort so as to achieve the organisational mission and objectives [3]. In exerting such an influence, a leader conveys a prophetic vision of the future in clear terms resonating with subordinates’ beliefs and values in such a way that they can easily understand and interpret the future into present-time action steps [3].

Within the welfare organisations, a leader’s role is quite a complex responsibility because welfare organisations deal with complex social issues that require them to use complex problem-solving approaches and strategies. They have to provide leadership to social workers and related professionals who are guided by various techniques, theoretical orientations, skills, values and methods that are all geared towards addressing the challenges faced by their various client systems who visit their organisations for assistance. As heads of these organisations, leaders have a responsibility to ensure that their social workers and related professionals do possess the necessary capabilities to deliver quality services in order to ultimately realise their organisations’ mission [4].

Leadership involves a collaboration between a leader and subordinates with effective leadership involving a high-quality services, personal development, high level of satisfaction, direction and vision, innovation and creativity and invigoration of organisational culture [2]. In other words, effective leaders are able to influence subordinates towards the entity’s envisaged aim of providing good quality services while at the same time developing the qualities of both subordinates and a leader (through continuous training and development initiatives) and promoting satisfaction to both subordinates and the client systems. They are able to creatively and innovatively give guidance towards the envisaged aim of the organisation by instilling an organisational culture [2]. Cleary an effective leader cannot be influenced by one conventional approach, method or leadership style. She/he will rather need to draw from a variety of approaches, skills, techniques, principles, theories and perspectives that will all come together and enable her/his to effectively satisfy all of the preceding qualities. In the context of welfare organisations, it even become more complex because the issues that leaders are expected to respond to through their organisations and subordinates are mostly based on human relationships and therefore dynamic, complex and continuously evolving.

4. Leadership in welfare organisations

What makes leadership in welfare organisations unique and different is that these types of organisations respond to dynamic and continually evolving social problems that confront people in their daily lives. The very dynamic nature of human relationships that most of these organisations have to deal with, also make leading these organisations a unique exercise. It is the nature of problems that are presented by people to these welfare organisations that make leadership in these types of organisations to be complex, multifaceted and therefore requiring what one may call an all-rounder kind of a leader, who is fully knowledgeable and in possession of broader skills and techniques to support, guide and enable her/his subordinates to effectively and efficiently respond to issues that are presented by their client systems.

Take an example of a parent seeking assistance from a welfare organisation for a teenage daughter who is a victim of cyber bullying. A leader who is leading such kind of organisation will have to ensure that subordinates are properly equipped with the necessary knowledge regarding cyberbullying and its related dynamics by giving the necessary direction in that regard. She/he should also ensure that they are acquainted to the continuously evolving internet space and the manifestation of cyberbullying as this digital space evolves. Such a leader will also have to ensure that her/his subordinates who will be working on this particular case, are at the same time equipped with the necessary skills and knowledge regarding the generational gap issues in order to enable the parent and this teen to relate and understand one other, while at the same time respecting and appreciating the family culture and values. More importantly, such a leader will also have to ensure that her/his subordinates are fully initiated regarding the organisational culture and mission.

The uniqueness of each case as reported within this organisation may also bring another layer which needs to be considered for example if it’s a crisis a leader may adopt a more autocratic approach by giving instructions on how to intervene, or she/he may opt to rather leave it up to subordinates on how to respond to such kind of cases. Of course, her/his approach will also depend on her/his relationship with subordinates. All these factors imply that such a leader, should herself/himself possess superior knowledge regarding all these aspects in order to influence, guide, support and direct this subordinate on how to effectively and efficiently respond to the issues that are presented. In doing so, she/he will therefore not draw from a single approach or theory of leadership. She/he will rather need to possess an integrated approach to leadership, a basket of various approaches, theories and perspectives so that she/he can influence her/his subordinates in responding to this dynamic issue.

5. Conventional approaches to leadership in welfare organisations

In order to fully understand the broader context of integrated leadership in a welfare organisation, it is important to first begin by understanding the conventional approaches to leadership from which the integrated approach to leadership develops. The two categories of leadership theories are those that are oriented towards a leader and those that are oriented towards the relationship that a leader has with her/his subordinates [5]. These theories are briefly explained below:

5.1 Leader-oriented theories

Theories that are oriented to a leader assumes that leadership is a personal quality possessed by certain people and that not everyone can be a leader [5]. Some of these qualities emanate from their behaviours while others they are simply born with. The following section will focus on the leader-oriented theories of leadership.

5.1.1 Trait theories

Trait theory are based on the view that leaders possess traits that are unique to leaders and that non-leaders do not have such traits [5]. In other words, leaders are born with certain traits that enable them to be developed into becoming leaders [5, 6, 7]. Features that distinguishes leaders as proclaimed by the train theories are personal character of a leader, drive; motivation; consistency and integrity; fairness; patience; courage; determination and perseverance; self-confidence; emotional intelligence; innovative thinking; ability to instil entrepreneurship in an organisation; rational decision making; self-management and knowledge of organisation attractiveness [6, 7]. Although a 1948 study by Stogdill concluded that a person does not become a leader by virtue of possessing certain traits, the trait theory remains relevant and influential in leadership [5] and may even be relevant in certain circumstances of welfare organisations.

Leading a welfare organisation aiming to support people living with HIV might for instance require a leader who possess certain traits such as drive, patience and courage for managing a hospice that deals with people with chronic conditions such as AIDS and the inherent challenges associated with such chronic conditions. It may even be crucial for such an organisation to have a leader with full knowledge of the organisation in terms of its strengths and weaknesses so that she/he can make informed and rational decision making. Due to funding related challenges for some of these organisations, a leader should have some kind of strategies for raising funds and therefore possess some competencies in instilling entrepreneurship in this organisation. In summary, a trait theory can also be a crucial theory through which leaders in a welfare organisation are influenced.

5.1.2 Style and behaviour approaches

Central to the behaviour approaches to leadership is the view that leaders are not born, they are rather developed [6]. Among the behaviour theories are Theory X and Theory Y; autocratic, democratic and laissez faire leadership style, initiating structure versus consideration theory, production-oriented leaders versus employee-oriented leaders and in some instances, may even be a combination of both [5]. In terms of Theory X, an average employee or subordinate is fundamentally lazy and will avoid work at all costs. These kinds of workers will then prompt leaders to closely monitor them consistently [3]. A leader who is influenced by Theory X tend to use the rewards and punishments and create compliance rules and procedure in order to get the subordinates to perform [8].

Contrary to Theory X, Theory Y assumes that an average employee is ambitious, self-motivated and exercise self-control [3]. For leaders who are inspired by this theory, they consider work to be natural for all human beings and therefore employees would then naturally execute their responsibilities as required [8]. Whereas Theory X adopts a more rigid approach to leading an organisation, Theory Y is more flexible, and a leader have more trust in her/his employees’ competencies and abilities [3].

It is generally difficult to draw a line between them in practice and leaders tend to fluctuate between them [8]. Whether both of these theories find relevance in a welfare organisation is subject to the unique contextual features or circumstances presented to a leader at the time and I would argue that this theory does find relevance in welfare organisations. In other words, some instances or even types of organisations, may require a leader to adopt a more rigid Theory X approach while others she/he may consider the Theory Y approach. A leader may for instance in cases where an organisation such as a hospice is presented with a complex crisis case requiring an urgent intervention to save a life, adopt the Theory X approach by prescribing the procedures to follow or by even closely monitoring her/his subordinates as they intervene in such cases. The same approach could be applied in a child welfare organisation when cases such as sexual child abuse are presented which requires social workers to report to police within the prescribed time frames and to ensure medical attention is provided to such a child. In such instances, Theory X might be a relevant approach to adopt. Contrary to the above scenario, cases may be presented before an organisation through which a leader may entrust the competencies and decision-making by subordinates, thus adopting the Theory Y approach to leading. This may be your ordinary domestic violence cases that require couple counselling or mediation by third parties as well as your normal foster placement and adoption cases,

In autocratic leadership, the leader makes all decisions and employee, merely follow without saying much in decision making [6]. Although research evidence suggests that authoritarian leadership is destructive, undesirable and ineffective, some researchers suggest that this approach may be conducive for employee responses and therefore exert positive effect on such employees [9]. A subordinate centred approach study undertaken among the Chinese organisations to explore the psychosocial process linking authoritarian leadership to employee and the situational factors that may affect the process revealed that authoritarian leadership may also motivate employees to enhance their performance [9]. In arguing for authoritarian leadership Wan and Guan consider it (1) to be effective since it allows leaders to set up specific and unambiguous goals to subordinates; (2) to enhance a sense of identity among subordinates as group members which in turn increases their level of performance; and (3) setting high performance standard expectations for subordinates. Although some authors critique this kind of approach, it does find relevance for adoption in a welfare organisation, which like any other organisation, would benefit from very clear and specific goals for the subordinates and to develop a sense of collective identity within such an organisation.

Just like your theory X and Theory Y, autocratic leadership approach may also find application relevance in a welfare organisation. In view of the fact that welfare organisations function within the broader societal context characterised by various factors such as specific legal prescripts, leaders often find themselves having to adopt an autocratic style in order to ensure that compliance with such prescripts is precisely done by setting very clear and specific procedures to be followed. Some of these practices may have been witnessed during the Covid-19 pandemic for instance wherein several countries imposed some regulations for companies and organisations on how to better manage Covid-19 which led to some kind of top-down approach to leadership.

With democratic leadership, a leader adopts a participatory approach towards leadership by involving subordinates in her/his decision making [6]. Employees who serve under leaders who are influenced by democratic leadership approach tend to display high degree of satisfaction and are motivated to be creative and to work with enthusiasm and energy. Their performance is not influenced by the presence or absence of a leader [7]. What is central to democratic approach to leadership is that human beings possess the capacity to be intelligent, to self-control and be conscience in making decisions and it is this inherent capacity that makes discussions and continuous participation to be free. The approach is that every person should be listened to since they are capable of sharing ideas that can contribute towards resolving organisational problems [10]. This theory makes sense for welfare organisations which are aimed at addressing complex challenges triggered by dynamic human relations and which normally comprise of various employees and client systems with different talents, skills and experiences and therefore likely to contribute to resolving some of these complex issues.

The word laissez faire is a French term which literally means to ‘let do’ [11]. In organisational terms it basically means to let the process take its course without interference. In terms of the laissez faire approach to leadership, leaders allow subordinates to make all decisions often without any follow-up, with the leader taking no active role besides assuming leadership position [6, 7]. This type of leadership approach is also referred to as “the hands-off, let things-ride” approach or a “zero leadership” [12, 13]. Although Laissez faire leaders are considered to be passive and avoid responsibility, it can be an effective leadership style for organisations where subordinates are highly skilled and motivated though not suitable for employees who lack the necessary skills and knowledge [14]. The non-involvement of a laissez faire leader does not necessarily mean she/he is not active because non-involvement is in this context similar to an empowering leadership [14]. A Pakistanian study aiming to empirically investigate the impact of authoritative and laissez faire leadership approaches on employee thriving (the employee’s capacity to vigorously prosper, grow, flourish and develop in the workplace) has revealed that laissez faire and authoritative readership approaches contribute to employee thriving [14].

Within the welfare organisational context, a submission can be made for the relevance of laissez faire approach to leadership. In these types of organisation, one finds a diversity of employees with different talents and experiences. Some may have served the organisation long enough to know all the tools of trade while others may have just joined fresh from universities and colleges. An effective leader might in this instance, adopt laissez faire approach among those who are well vested with the organisation, while applying other appropriate conventional methods such as the autocratic, among those who are fresh from a college or university training. Of course, one might argue that as much there may be a category of the so called experienced who may benefit from the laissez faire as well as the new ones who may need closer monitoring, a blanket approach which involves a blind application of these approaches may not be a good idea. A leader might find it beneficial to further asses even within these categories as to whether a particular approach will be suitable. In a nutshell, the laissez faire should be applied with caution by considering all relevant factors within the organisation as well as among the subordinates.

With initiating structure versus consideration theory, leaders define their structures, their role and the roles that are played by employees for the purpose of attaining the overall goals of the organisation [6]. Whereas initiating structure refers to the extent to which a leader defines and facilitates group interactions towards the attainment of set goals, consideration means the degree to which a leader shows concern and respect for subordinates by considering their welfare and expressing appreciation and support [15].

Initiating structure may particularly be appropriate in situations where a leader wishes to address a presenting problem by assigning it a responsibility to address it to a particular team or group of subordinates. This is also a normal practice for welfare organisations wherein for example, a team can be assigned a responsibility to investigate a case of child neglect. With consideration, the leader tends to value the wellbeing of subordinates and is more inclined to encouraging them through support and appreciation of their work. You may have also come across this kind of practice among some welfare organisations wherein structures such as the employee wellness are in place while systems such as performance management systems are in place to encourage employees’ performance by recognising their contribution and rewarding them accordingly. Leaders who are influenced by consideration theories are employee oriented as opposed to production or service oriented. Whereas service-oriented leaders are those who are inclined to the task and dimensions of work, employees-oriented leaders are more inclined to focus on interpersonal relationships [6].

5.1.3 Contingency theories

Contingency theories were championed by Fiedler, whose view is that leadership style appropriate to a given situation is determined by behaviours that emerge from such situtation [5]. According to this approach, there is no single approach to best respond to all situations and therefore a solution to respond to a presenting situation is determined by internal or external dimensions of the environment [7, 10]. The view is that the style of leadership should be aligned to the maturity or subordinates [7]. In other words, as subordinates grow and develop or advance in their competencies, leaders should also grow and advance in order to merge the needs and dimensions of the subordinates.

Contingency theories can address the societal developments and by demanding from a leader to also acclimatise to such developments. Earlier on we had an example of cyber bullying as one of the issues addressed by a welfare organisations. With some developments in the internet space, cyberbullying might also advance and require a leader to adopt the contingency theory in guiding the organisation to adapt to these developments. There may be certain instance in which a leader can pull out her/his authoritarian style by giving an instruction particularly in crisis situation where negotiating or accommodating subordinates’ inputs will waste time. There may equally be instances wherein the presenting problem may require a leader to not only invite opinions of the subordinates, but also involve the active participation of the clients themselves. In a nutshell, circumstances under which a leader exercises leadership will determine the approach that a leader is to adopt [16].

5.1.4 Leader’s virtues

The leaders’ virtue is inextricably linked to character because good leadership character is built through the practice of virtues [17]. The leader’s virtues hold the view that a leader has to possess certain features such as being authentic, being ethical, being responsible, being able to handle crisis and overcome them and to demonstrate adaptability, apply creativity in difficult situations [5]. These features are essential for any typical welfare organisation. Any welfare organisation will benefit from upholding high ethical standards and a sense of responsibility while at the same time adapting to societal developments when working with vulnerable groups such as victims of bullying, persons with disabilities, the older adults and others.

Although some welfare organisations such as the doctors without borders and gift-of-the-givers for instance specialises in responding to crisis situations, from time-to-time, there are crises situations in ordinary welfare organisations, that requires a leader to guide the organisation in swiftly responding to them. An example would be a case of child physical abuse presented to a child welfare organisation, which requires a leader to swiftly guide the organisation to manage such a crisis. It may also happen from within the organisation itself that certain subordinates who specialises in the presenting issues are not readily available to respond and in such situations a virtues leader should accordingly guide the organisation on how to respond.

A welfare organisation may benefit from a leader who introduces some level of creativity or innovations such as creating an impact out of limited resources particularly given the underfunding-related challenges faced by most of these organisations. The term authentic in the context of leadership means the genuine fundamental elements of a positive leadership [18]. An authentic leader provides moral compass by counteracting unethical management, promoting social responsibility and ensuring the wellbeing and development of employees [18]. Subordinates can also feel more comfortable in an organisation which is led by an authentic leader since they will be in a position to fully understand her/his position regarding what is required for realising the organisational objectives and be afforded an opportunity for growth and development. They will also work under assurance that they are respected and being taken care of and that in cases where they have difficulties they are guaranteed of a support from their leader. An authentic leader is that leader whom you find at funerals of employees or their loved ones, delivering messages of condolences on behalf of the organisation.

Undoubtedly, welfare organisations require subordinates who are fully informed about all presenting issues to which the organisation is expected to respond and to continuously receive training on how to better respond to such issues. An organisation may for instance be required to adapt to technological development in order to ensure that employees with visual disabilities are also able to make use of technology. In such instances a leader may pull out her/his creativity and innovation virtues approach to leadership by exposing subordinates to the necessary training which is aimed at enabling them to accurately and from a technological point of view, respond to the presenting issues. To sum up, a virtues leader does find relevance of application in welfare organisation.

5.1.5 Women leadership theories

The need to prioritise women in leadership is triggered by the gender discrimination and gender inequality across many sectors of our society, particularly in leadership positions [19]. Proponents of the women leadership theories believe that men and women should understand barriers that prejudice women from assuming leadership roles and free women to assume these roles as opposed to how they are perceived [5]. This means that leaders should enable the working environment to be effective and efficient for women to also occupy leadership positions. Women’s effectiveness in leadership positions is determined by their attitudes and acceptance of their leadership style in a particular context [5].

Organisations that are more tolerant and open to women’s contribution in leadership can result in prosperity in their duties as leaders. By virtue of their primary aim being the promotion of social justice to vulnerable and marginalised sections of populations of whom most are women, all welfare organisations should somehow consider promoting women into leadership positions, by adopting the women in leadership theories. Women leaders may even be in a better position to steer these organisations towards a desired direction in their quest to respond to the presenting issues because they may have lived through such presenting issues themselves and may know better on how to respond to them. An organisation which seeks to respond to gender-based violence for instance may benefit from a women leader, particularly one who has lived through such experiences because she/he can lead by also drawing from her/his own experiences.

5.2 Relationship oriented leaderships

Relationship oriented leadership seeks to address job satisfaction, motivation and work-life balance among the employees [20]. The objective of leaders who adopt relationship-oriented approach to leadership is to promote support, motivation and develop or grow their employees. Although their interests are on achieving the organisational mission and objectives, they do so by prioritising support, motivation and development of employees. Under this type of leadership, one finds transformational leadership approach, power-influence leadership approach, servant leadership, leader-member exchange leadership, shared leadership, diversity, multicultural leadership and team leadership. These approaches are introduced below, with the central argument for their incorporation into welfare organisation as part of the integrated leadership approach.

5.2.1 Transformational leadership

Transformational leadership is better known as visionary or charismatic leadership and it is future oriented and involves risk taking [2]. One of the central features of transformational leadership is the leader’s ability to significantly transform both subordinates and organisations, using three main features: being visionary, the ability to identify core values and guiding people by giving purpose and using integrity [5, 6]. A transformational leader is a leader who leads subordinates by being creative in inspiring them to try more than their abilities by inventing innovative ideas [21]. Transformation leadership is realised when leaders and their followers motivate each other for the higher motivation and morality. Subordinates are motivated to do more than what is stated in the contract by focusing on their higher-level needs [21].

A question to be posed here is whether this type of leadership find relevance in a welfare organisation. Clearly any welfare organisation has a vision, mission, objectives and values upon which it is founded. One would somehow expect a leader of this organisation to be fully acquainted with the values and objectives and to develop some kind of vision regarding where the organisation is to be taken. If she/he is to attain the organisational objectives, such a leader will have to influence the subordinates to somehow share her/his vision so that their activities are also geared towards such a vision. Such a leader will also have to know each of her/his subordinates’ needs, values and beliefs so that she/he can motivate and inspire them towards achieving the organisational objective based on such needs, values and beliefs. She/he must make an employment setting an attractive centre for employees who will then develop a stronger sense of belonging to an extent that they do not consider performing their duties to be part of their employment contract, rather some kind of a “calling” as we normally hear.

A welfare organisation will undoubtedly benefit from this type of a leader especially because they deal with clients who are not contributing any income to these organisations because of the poor backgrounds from which they come and also do not have much of a revenue to really satisfy the employees. A welfare organisation will benefit from motivating employees to passionately go all out in assisting these client systems. Some of these organisations function purely on personnel who volunteer their services and continuous motivation may be critical for their survival. An argument can therefore be put forward that welfare organisations cannot necessarily function without a leader who is inspired and influenced by the transformative leadership approach.

5.2.2 Power-influence leadership approach

Power is the ability to exert an influence on others. Great leaders possess a clear vision to achieve their envisaged large-scale ideas as well as personal power to enact such ideas. They make use of power to attain the organisational goals [22]. According to the power-influence leadership approach, a leader needs to adopt a pragmatic behaviour in order for an organisation to succeed. A leader who leads from a power-influence approach to leadership can develop sufficient resources of power and influence in order to secure their needed support from subordinates, peers and superiors [5]. One of the proponents of this approach Pfeffer, argues that leader should refrain from looking at the world as just and fair, and instead begin to actively develop the skills necessary to acquire and use power.

The manifestation of power in organisational leadership can take a form of legitimate power; reward power; coercive power; expert power and referent power. A legitimate power is a form of power through which a leader influences subordinates’ behaviours by virtue of the position that she/he holds in an organisation. It derives from the position of authority from within the organisation. If subordinates consider the power used as legitimate, they would normally comply [22]. An instruction from a manager to a subordinate to attend an urgent case by removing a child from an environment which is considered abusive to a place of safety will for instance be considered the exercise of legitimate power and such a subordinate is likely to conform to such an instruction. A reward power manifest when a leader influence subordinates by providing them with rewards through things like pay increase or bonuses, promotions, favourable work assignments, more responsibility, new equipment, praise and recognition [22].

Regarding coercive power, a leader influences the subordinates by punishing them or creating a perceived threat of punishment. In organisational context, this form of force is used through things like reprimands, undesirable work assignments, withholding key information, demotion, suspension or even dismissal [22]. For expert power to manifest, a leader make use of her/his recognised knowledge, skills or abilities to influence subordinates into executing assigned responsibilities. Experts such as physicians, computer specialists, tax consultants, economists and others are considered knowledgeable and therefore have the capacity to exert power by virtue of their expertise [22].

Finally, referent power involves a leader’s ability to influence her/his subordinates because she/he is liked, admired and respected by these subordinates. It may even be inspired by the subordinates ‘desire to be like such a leader. In other words, a subordinate who may be inspired by a leader and maybe considers such a leader to be a role model is likely to execute assigned responsibilities allocated by this leader meticulously. Just like I did with all forms of leadership, the critical question to be posed is whether power-influence leadership is relevant for adoption in leading welfare organisations and in such instance I would argue that yes, it is important to consider this type of leadership in some instances of the welfare organisations and I will explain why. Firstly, the legitimate power is normally a reality in all organisations. It may even happen without the conscious knowledge of both a leader and the subordinates because by their nature, leaders are considered to possess authority and their instructions or requests are always honoured. Of course, that will depend on whether such an instruction is done within the context of the values and objectives of the organisation.

Secondly, power-influence theory finds application in welfare organisation though the reward power wherein some leaders in welfare organisations have through systems such as the performance management system, put measures for recognising positive performance through promotions which include reward by increasing the salary notch. In some instances, reward power is applied by offering an employee who executed a duty expeditiously a day-off or an equivalent kind of reward. Some elements of expert power may also have been observed particularly from leaders who specialises in specific programmes such as professors managing certain portfolios within the welfare organisations, whose instructions are often highly regarded by virtue of their expertise status.

The relevance of power-influence theory can also be supported by referent power by virtue of them merely liking such a leader either because they are inspired by such a leader as a mentor or merely out of respect. This practice is also relevant in welfare organisations wherein several employees, especially those who are newly graduated develop some kind of admiration and draw inspiration from seniors within the organisations. The power-influence leadership approach is therefore suitable approach for welfare organisations, depending on the specific circumstances at a particular time.

5.2.3 Servant leadership

Servant leadership is at the very heart of most welfare organisations. The meaning of a servant leader emanates from the overall purpose of this kind of a leader which is to serve as opposed to lead. A servant leader’s approach is that of a selfless leader. She/he leads by listening and supporting with the ultimate aim of building community [5]. The selflessness of a leader is one of the central values of a welfare organisation, which are mostly the so called non-profit organisation (NPOs). Here the passion towards nation or community building is the main driver as opposed to generating profits or any form of benefits for the organisation. Servant leaders are driven by the natural desire to serve first as opposed to your ordinary leaders whose first desire is to lead [23].

Whether a servant leadership can be an appropriate leadership approach for a welfare organisation should be considered in the context of the overall aim of these organisations which is mostly to assist people who are for whatever reason, unable to assist themselves. Factors such as the non-profit making nature of these organisations as well as their composition of staff who are sometimes volunteers should also be considered in determining whether servant leadership can be relevant. One can argue that a leader who leads these kind of organisations will also have to possess selfless values such as doing it for the goodwill of the community because their very purpose of existence is such goodwill. Her/his expectation of a payment should be superseded by the overall need to serve and contribute to society. This makes the servant leadership approach to be the relevant approach for welfare organisations along with the preceding forms of leadership.

5.2.4 Leader-member exchange theory

The leader-member exchange theory is a process approach because it focuses on the importance of the dynamic relationship between a leader and subordinates during the process of organisational existence. In the leader-member exchange theory, both the leader and subordinates are active participants [24]. The six dimensions of leader-member exchange theory are trust, liking, latitude, attention, support and loyalty [24]. In other words, there has to be some level of mutual trust between the leader and her/his subordinates and they must both like the activities that make them to interact with one another. The nature of their exchange should be voluntary and not be restrained by some kind of rules or procedures while both of their full attention and loyalty to this exchange or relationship is important and where necessary mutual support be provided.

In terms of the leader-member exchange theory, the relationship that leaders have with their subordinates is critical to the success of their organisation. It is believed that if leaders and subordinates develop effective relationships which in turn lead to progressive mutual influence [5]. Ideally in any organisation, leaders will from time to time engage their subordinates either for the latter to be briefed on the latter’s operations or for the former to guide the latter on other better ways for improving organisational practices in order to ultimately realise the vision. For welfare organisations, the leader-member exchange is particularly important because leaders need to continuously redefine their organisational visions in light of the societal developments and then in turn update and support subordinates regarding such redefined visions. Subordinates themselves may also engage the leader on a particular issue such as briefing on how a reported case was managed or on presenting plans for intervening on a presenting issue. The nature of work dynamics also shapes this leader-exchange theory like for example in situations where a subordinate lost a loved one and as a result become emotionally overwhelmed to an extent that she/he is unable to optimally execute her/his responsibilities. In such instance a leader may step in by either directly render some psychological intervention services or by referring such a subordinate for such services. The same can happen with a leader whom a subordinate can step in to see how she/he can support in situations of distress.

5.2.5 Shared leadership

A shared leadership is a type of leadership emanating from the members of a team as opposed to the appointed leader. It often involves the active involvement of the team members in the process of leadership and their fulfilment of leadership functions [25]. The shared leadership approach holds the view that leadership should be based on team work [5]. In other words, a leader who is influenced by shared leadership approach will promote a collective leadership among her/his subordinates.

A question which is to be posed in the context of this chapter is whether this type of leadership will really be necessary for a welfare organisation. I would argue that yes, it is because all activities are undertaken within the organisation should ultimately build up to its overall vision. Shared leaderships will ensure that members share this vision and values so that their efforts become well-coordinated towards an envisaged vision. It will ensure that subordinates and leaders have a very clear understanding of the vision and how it is to be realised.

5.2.6 Diversity and multicultural leadership

Diversity and multicultural leadership involve an approach to leadership wherein a leader adopts a multicultural competency such as cultural intelligence, cross-cultural communication skills, cross-cultural management of ethical issues, global mindset, and cosmopolitanism or curiosity about other different countries and cultures in order to effectively function in diverse cultural contexts [5].

Diverse and multicultural orientations among the employees or subordinates is common in organisations and a leader should clearly strive to accommodate them. She/he should accommodate them by recognising the diversity of each subordinate and achieve unity of common values and directions without necessarily causing any destruction to the uniqueness of each subordinate [26]. Such a leader will also have to be mindful of the diverse society from which the client systems come and ensure that they are also accommodated by providing the necessary accommodating leadership to her/his organisation. This kind of approach is even more important for our modern societies because cross-border interactions have become common as a result of digital revolution and the expansion of cross-border or international organisations. All of these opened space for diversity of multicultural practices which all need to be accommodated within these modern society. Some countries such as South Africa, the US and others are by their very nature culturally diverse and therefore necessitates organisations that are located or operating either physically or online in these areas to adopt this kind of approach.

6. An integrated social work approach to organisational leadership

As indicated earlier in the introduction, social welfare organisations and social workers employed in these organisations, deal with complex and dynamic social problems emanating from continually evolving human relationships. These organisations also comprise of employees with different needs, personalities and from different backgrounds. This therefore calls for a leadership approach which will fully and comprehensively respond to these dynamic and diverse situations. They require a leader who will develop different styles of leadership when the environment, the presenting problems, employees’ needs and personalities as well as community and societal factors so require, while at the same time creating an enabling environment for subordinates to respond accordingly in addressing the issues presented by their client systems [2]. This section proposes an integrated approach to leadership as a suitable approach to leading a welfare organisation.

One of the central arguments purported in this section of the chapter is that an integration of all approaches to leadership is essential if welfare organisations are to effectively and efficiently respond to dynamic modern societal problems. Due to the dynamic and multifaceted nature of these problems, a leader may in one instance guide the organisation to respond to a particular part of a problem by drawing from the trait theories while in some instances a collection of leader-oriented theories may be adopted to guide an intervention. She/he may also consider adopting the women in leadership approach by “anointing” a woman to assume the position of leadership in order to address the gender imbalances and in line with societal expectations.

Thus, the need to uproot the presenting problems and to curb its further impact may in some instances call for an application of all leadership theories on the various dimensions of such a presenting problem while at the same time paying attention to the context in which such problems manifest. In other words, how a leader guides the organisation to respond will be determined by among others, the overall organisational mission, the type of personnel or subordinates that he is leading, the context of the issue presented at the time (the type of the issue (i.e. gender-based violence, sexual abuse, substance abuse etc.) or its extent (i.e. whether or not is considered a crisis). This suggest that leaders in welfare organisations should possess both qualities of leader-oriented theories and relationship-oriented theories as explained above in order to guide their organisations to respond whenever the situation requires.

An observation made by Druker is that effective leadership is characterised by eight characteristics [9]. A leader should acquire the needed knowledge in order to effectively lead. She/he should have the potential to determine what is required for the organisation and ensure that plans are put into action [9]. A leader must take a responsibility for decision making and always communicate effectively. She/he should always focus on opportunities as opposed to problems, use time and resources efficiently and encourage team approach [9]. Looking at the above features, it is clear that an effective and efficient leader should possess the knowledge, ability and competency to apply the right approach at the right time. Such a leader will have the competency to assess any presented situation and guide the subordinates on how to respond based on her/his assessment. She/he should always have her/his “tool box” readily available at hand to immediately use the correct “tool” where required.

7. Why an integrated social work approach to leadership?

In laying the ground for the significance of integrated leadership approach, it is crucial to begin by Winston and Patterson’s criticism of the conventional approaches to leadership as an examination of the parts of leadership and not its entirety, despite the importance of having a full understanding of leadership. They relate this practice to the story of blind men who describe an elephant by pointing at different accurate descriptions which are all insufficient to enable a full and comprehensive understanding of this elephant (i.e. leadership) and call for a more holistic approach to leadership [26]. An integrated approach to leading a welfare organisation is essential for a number of reasons. Firstly, the main reason is for a leader to steer the organisation in such a way that it adapts to societal dynamics which are continuously evolving.

Remember the organisation exists within these societal dynamics and some are even established mainly because of these dynamics. This implies that a leader should be knowledgeable and possess the competency and capacity to read the events as they unfold that often lead to various social problems. These events maybe political, economic, social, health or even technological in nature. We have seen for example the global osmosis of the refugees fleeing economic hardships and wars to seek refuge from various countries, causing welfare organisations to respond by repositioning their programmes and activities. The scourge of Covid-19 is another example which prompted several organisations to migrate to virtual mode of operation, while others resorted to adapting by observing the necessary precautions to mitigate the spread of the virus. The nature of a presenting problem as well as the diverse and unique nature of the client systems is another layer of factors that cannot simply be undermined if a leader is to steer an organisation towards its desired mission and objectives.

Within the organisational context there are some factors that also shapes and influence the functioning of such an organisation. It could be employees who are diverse in terms of the ages, cultures, genders or even educational levels or a general lack of funding to fully respond to some of the presenting problems through relevant programmes and projects. A blanket approach to leadership will clearly not always be an option for such a diverse organisation since some employees may benefit from being guided step-by-step on how to execute certain tasks while others who may be more experienced can quickly and confidently ride on their own even without guidance. Just like the societal or community context, the organisational context is also the crucial basis upon which the organisation’s leadership should be based since in responding to these societal problems, it has to mobilise its diverse capacities and resources.

In striving to realise the overall organisational mission and objectives, the leader does so by steering the organisation through the societal context and the organisational context, using the various approaches and theories that are outlined in the preceding discussion. Her/his approach can be to adopt the leader oriented or relationship-oriented leadership approach. An explanation of these two categories of theories has demonstrated that leader-oriented theories consider leaders to possess certain features that no ordinary persons possess, qualifying them to be leaders and that relationship -oriented leaders tend to consider job satisfaction, motivation and work-life balance for employees to be central to effective leadership. A central argument submitted through this text is that both leader-oriented and relationship-oriented approaches should be central to a welfare organisation in a given circumstance, hence the call for an integrated approach to leading.

Some of the presenting problems such as a child abuse, rape, gender-based violence and others, are prioritised and categorised as crisis cases and may require a leader to lean more on the leader-oriented theories by for instance adopting autocratic approach in order to ensure full compliance with the rules, while others such as dealing with victims of disaster may require her/him to in addition to giving instruction and prescribing the procedures, also extend some kind of support to employees who are intervening in such cases to mitigate their emotional turmoil that may emerge. Figure 1 above outlines an integrated approach to leadership within a welfare organisation.

Figure 1.

Integrated approach to welfare organisational leadership.

As outlined in the above Figure 1, welfare organisation is considered to exist on the basis of community/societal as well as organisational context. It is somehow influenced by the factors that happen within a society and around the communities in which they exist. They are also influenced by its own internal factors that together with the societal or organisational ones, determine the correct approach to adopt in responding to a particular presenting problem in order to eventually realise the organisational mission and objectives.

8. An ideal leader in welfare organisation operating from an integrated leadership approach: a case study

Case study: Siyasiza is an international HIV/AIDS organisation based in South Africa. It renders support services to orphans and vulnerable children whose mothers died because of AIDS-related conditions. Its services are mainly rendered in the country’s rural areas due to a high demand in such areas. The staff component of this organisation comprise employees from various tribal backgrounds and some neighbouring countries. This organisation was once presented with a case of a child with challenges pertaining to academic performance after the educators noticed that she was struggling academically as a result of the death of her mother, the only parent that she had. The problem of children who are orphaned and left vulnerable as a result of HIV is one of the main challenges and authorities consider supporting these children to be a national priority.

Upon receiving a request to intervene in this issue through her organisation Ziyanda, a leader who is also a professor in the field of child welfare identifies a junior social worker who is newly appointed to manage the case and asks her to brief her after every contact that she makes with the child. As a professor who is knowledgeable on issues of the law policy and child protection, she immediately convened an information session around the subject in view of the presenting problem with the purpose of ensuring that anyone who is allocated this case does understand the processes from both legal and policy point of view. She then appointed a team which will work with the entire family while this junior social worker is working with this particular child. The team is led by a senior social worker with 18 years of experience and who specialises in family preservation services.

Looking at the case from the perspective of integrated leadership, a leader in this organisation will be guided by the organisational aim or vision and the context in which such an organisation exists. In considering the community or societal context, she will for instance ensure that she is fully knowledgeable about the impact of HIV on these children, the existing policies and legislative frameworks that guide responses to orphans and vulnerable children. She we also have to be mindful of other existing support systems that these clients may have undergone before they present themselves for assistance to her organisation. This leader will also have to look from within her own organisation by paying attention to the individual needs of subordinates (i.e. whether or not they prefer to work with orphans and their experience in this regard) as to whether there is relevant capacity in terms of subordinates who would then intervene and their unique needs for extended support (i.e. possibility of offering debriefing once they finish).

Throughout this process, she would have applied several theories either at once or interchangeably. For example, by merely reading the context to determine the relevant/appropriate intervention approach, she would have adopted the contingency theory of leadership. Her consideration of the societal context, the unique nature of the presenting problem as well as the internal organisational context might be a reflection of diversity and multicultural approach. Her decision to appoint a junior social worker to attend the case might in some instances require her to give very clear instructions and procedures to follow under close monitoring and therefore some kind of autocratic approach. Her creation of an opportunity to engage through feedback on progress may also reflect some kind of leader-member exchange approach while her briefing on the legalities of dealing with orphans and vulnerable children as a professor might amount to some kind of power-influence approach.

9. Conclusions

The focus of this chapter was on leading a welfare organisation from an integrated leadership approach. As a foundation for this chapter, the discussion was kickstarted by an explanation of the meaning of leadership and leadership in the context of a welfare organisation. The two categories of conventional leadership approaches namely, the leader-oriented approach and the relationship-oriented approaches were outlined with determination of their relevance and applicability in a welfare organisation. The chapter also demonstrated that indeed all approaches to leadership from the two categories are relevant for welfare organisations and that they can clearly be integrated and applied in a welfare organisation to the realisation of organisational mission and objectives. As a conclusion, a case study contextualised the text to a practice setting by outlining the practical application of the integrated leadership approach to a case study.

Conflict of interest

The author has no conflict of interest to declare.