Leadership Strategies for Addressing the Flint Water Crisis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the Flint Michigan water crisis, examining the critical failures in leadership that exacerbated the situation. It explores the crisis's origins, including the decision to switch water sources and the subsequent contamination issues. The report identifies the res...Read More

Running head: MANAGEMENT
Management
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author Note:

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Overview......................................................................................................................................3
Research Problems.......................................................................................................................4
Research Purpose.........................................................................................................................4
Research Aims and Objectives........................................................................................................5
Aims.............................................................................................................................................5
Objectives.....................................................................................................................................5
Research Questions......................................................................................................................5
Literature Review............................................................................................................................6
Introduction..................................................................................................................................6
Flint Michigan Water Crisis.........................................................................................................6
Poor Living Condition.................................................................................................................7
Leadership Required....................................................................................................................7
Leadership challenges..................................................................................................................7
Research Methodology....................................................................................................................8
References and Bibliography.........................................................................................................10

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Introduction
Water Crisis is one of the most important global problems that tend to disrupt the growth
and development of the human civilization. As water forms the most important element in earth
and nothing is more important than it, the absence of it can bring different types of strong crisis
across the globe. Clean Drinking Water and water free from any forms of contamination is
highly important for leading a healthy life (Arnold, 2015). However, unfortunately a large
portion of the global population is deprived off healthy drinking and using water. Apart from
these kinds of problems, the absence of proper groundwater can also be a serious issue for
leading a proper life. There have been major areas of the world, where the over usage of ground
water or for some any other major natural reason, there has been a serious loss of groundwater.
People in these areas are struggling to access the quantity and the quality of water needed for
drinking, bathing, hand-washing, irrigating and for many other reasons (Arnold, 2015). The
research will help to identify the major issues of global water crisis by identifying a particular
crisis. The “Flint Michigan Crisis” will be identified here and the problems will be discussed in
the research in a proper and efficient manner.
Overview
Water Scarcity can be said to be the lack of fresh water resources to meet the demand for
water. Almost the entire global area has been affected by the water scarcity problems. Water
Scarcity is termed as one of the most important global risks of the modern day. There have been
major factors that have been promoting the water scarcity risks in the globe. There have been a
number of different kinds of problems that has led to global water crisis. The following research
is based on the study of the Flint Michigan Water Crisis. The study will focus on the water crisis
in the United States where it is believed that people living in Flint Michigan region are faced

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with lack of clean water for consumption. The intended research work will focus on some of the
causes and solutions to the problem which has negatively impacted the living standards of people
in terms of health and nutrition since they lack clean water for consumption. In most times, the
residents of Flint Michigan have been consuming unsafe water since they lack proper water
source hence they are forced to drink untreated water which has led to the outbreak of
waterborne diseases in the area.
Research Problems
The major research problems that will be addressed in the research will be to find the
solutions that can help to understand the type of leadership that will be required to gain a
solution to the water crisis of Flint Michigan. The different kinds of the problems related to the
Flint Michigan issue will be addressed in this particular research.
Research Purpose
The research proposed is aimed at finding possible solutions to the research problem of
water crisis to improve the living standards and health of the affected people. The solutions
arrived at based on the causes and how to control the problem will then be shared with the
ministry of health and sanitation for further action. The research will find out the different
solutions that can help to understand the type of leadership that will be required to gain a
solution to the water crisis of Flint Michigan.

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Research Aims and Objectives
Aims
The aim of the research is to find out the most important solutions that can help to
address the different kinds of the leadership issues needed to address the Flint Water Crisis
Solution.
Objectives
The different kinds of the research objectives that will be used in the research are based
on the research aims. The research objectives are as follows;
 To determine the environmental cost of providing clean water to the residents of Flint
Michigan
 To determine the reason behind the residents of Flint Michigan exposed to the poor
living condition
 To gain an idea of the statistics regarding water crisis Flint Michigan region
 To identify what kind of leadership is required to address water crisis in Flint
Michigan
Research Questions
The Research Questions will be based on the research objectives. The questions of the
research are based on the different kinds of the perspectives and aspects related to the research.
The questions of the research are as follows;
1. What is the environmental cost of providing clean water to the residents of Flint
Michigan?
2. Why are the residents of Flint Michigan exposed to the poor living condition?

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3. What are the statistics regarding water crisis Flint Michigan region?
4. What leadership is required to address water crisis in Flint Michigan?
Literature Review
Introduction
The literary review chapter of the research is one of the most important chapters of the
research. The review will present a clear and transparent imagery of the research study in the
most enhancing manner. The major characteristics of the review chapter are that it presents a
critical analysis of the different kinds of the secondary based research analysis. The secondary
research analysis will use the basis of the research questions and consider them to be the
variables that will be lead to the research perspectives. The secondary research analysis will
present the different kinds of the factors related to the Flint Michigan Water Crisis and will also
present the leadership required and the leadership challenges needed to address the different
issues of the water crisis in the mentioned USA city.
Flint Michigan Water Crisis
The Flint Michigan Water Crisis is a serious health crisis that happened in the year 2014.
The crisis happened as because of the change in the drinking water source of the city. The
change of the water source from treated Detroit Water Sewerage Department water to the Flint
River was the main reason for the water crisis (Arnold, 2015). The authorities that changed the
supply source failed to apply the corrosion inhibitors to the water. The inclusion of lead from the
leaked pipes was the major reason for the particular problem. The Flint Michigan Water Crisis
had invited a large number of media attentions and had led to a large number of different issues.
The water issues led to a number of different diseases that led to a number of deaths.

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Poor Living Condition
The contamination of the drinking water in Flint, Michigan has been a major reason for
crisis in the community. There is major thinking as because of the 40% people of the city are
below the poverty line. Apart from this there have been issues about environmental racism as
because a large portion of the population of Flint Michigan is black (Billings & Black, 2018).
The poor living condition of the people has been mainly because of the non-availability of the
clear drinking water. There have been different issues like the rise in the rates of the water, the
rise in the price of the high quality pipes and many more as such. In Michigan there have been
major issues that include problems in the regional scale are highly costly and complex in nature.
The lack of transparency on different kinds of the public health issues, failing infrastructure and
different other water level crisis has been quite problematic for the residents of Flint Michigan.
Leadership Required
The water crisis failure can be accurately termed as a manmade disaster that has totally
been one of the major problems for Flint Michigan. The crisis has been a great example that
provides the lack of leadership by the government of Michigan (Billings & Black, 2018). The
current leadership process needs a total change and the current leadership process needs a total
change to ensure the success of the process.
Leadership challenges
Leadership challenges foreseen in the region is lack of corporation between the leaders
and area representatives. Another leadership challenge foreseen in the region is poor leadership
and governance from the local administration bodies based in the region. This evidenced in a
scenario where they cannot seek support from the government for their people. There is a
possibility that they are taking public resources for their consumptions. The reading which will

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guide the research process in this case should be based on the human resource management since
the research questions are closely linked to the human resource management (Kershner &
McQuillan, 2016). The reading will be from books and other online resources which demonstrate
management of human resources and allocation by the government so as to enhance equity in the
area. From the above mentioned readings, some of the research questions will be answered since
they relate to the human resource management.
Research Methodology
The methodology section of the research will discuss the different kinds of the methods
and the processes that will be used to identify the solutions of the research. The major
perspective of the research methodology section will be the selection of the different kinds of the
methods and the processes like the philosophical stances, research approaches, research design
and many more as such. The research will be used to ensure the different kinds of the research
methods accordingly. Data collection method suggested for the research process is interviews
and questionnaire. Interview process of collecting data is believed to be effective since it
involves one on one talk with the residents of the region; therefore the honest response is
guaranteed as it provides the interviewer with the opportunity to seek clarification on unclear
points. The research team will be expected to walk within the region to conduct the interview
process to the residents based on their gender, age and marital status to ensure an effective
response to the research problem.
Due to the large geographical area covered by the region, questionnaire method will also
apply to regions where the research team will not be able to interview the whole population. The
questionnaire will also guarantee honest response since it contains a yes or no response from the

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residents hence they cannot manipulate the questions. Another reason for using the questionnaire
method together with the interview method is that they are less costly as compared to other
methods of data collection in terms of resources required.

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References and Bibliography
Arnold, N. W. (2015). Cultural competencies and supervision. Supervision: New perspectives for
theory and practice, 201.
Billings, A. C., & Black, J. E. (2018). Mascot Nation: The Controversy Over Native American
Representations in Sports. University of Illinois Press.
Kershner, B., & McQuillan, P. J. (2016). Complex adaptive schools: Educational leadership and
school change. Complicity: An International Journal of Complexity and Education, 13(1).
Khan, N. (2017). Adaptive or transactional leadership in current higher education: A brief
comparison. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 18(3).
Kiersch, C., & Peters, J. (2017). Leadership from the Inside Out: Student Leadership
Development within Authentic Leadership and Servant Leadership Frameworks. Journal of
Leadership Education, 16(1).
Squires, V. L. (2015). Tackling Complex Educational Challenges Through Adaptive Leadership.
Antistasis, 5(1).
Tjernberg, C., & Mattson, E. H. (2014). Inclusion in practice: a matter of school culture.
European Journal of Special Needs Education, 29(2), 247-256.