Leadership Approaches to Social Inequality: Wicked Problem in AU

This essay identifies social inequality in Australia as a wicked problem and assesses it using the competing values framework. It highlights the growing income and wealth inequality, the housing affordability crisis, and the misconduct within the banking sector. The paper discusses the characteristics of wicked problems, emphasizing their complexity and the lack of definitive solutions. It applies the competing values framework to illustrate the tensions between organizational flexibility and control, and the importance of various leadership roles. The essay concludes that addressing social inequality requires a multifaceted approach, integrating different leadership skills and strategies to navigate the complex, interdependent challenges. Desklib offers a platform to access this and similar assignments to aid students in their studies.

Running head: LEADERSHIP
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Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive Summary
The purpose of the paper is to identify a wicked problem in Australia and assess the problem
with respect to competing values framework. The paper presented the implication of identified
competing values on the wicked problem. The paper concluded by stating that wicked problem,
in this case, social inequality can be solved by combined efforts of people.
Table of Contents

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Introduction.....................................................................................................................................3
Discussion........................................................................................................................................3
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................11
References......................................................................................................................................12

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Introduction
Leadership is nothing but the simple and the subtle art of motivating and guiding the
others to achieve the organisational objectives. It refers to directing the employees or any
organisational individual to perform tasks by following certain strategy that will fulfil the
company’s needs at the earliest possible stage (Antonakis & Day, 2017). The leadership is done
in order to drive away any kind of problems arising while performing the organisational tasks. A
proper leadership technique removes all the problems and coordinates all the internal and
external process in a manner that helps in motivating the workers as well as achieving the targets
through them only (Arnold et al., 2015). The purpose of the paper is to understand a social
problem in regards with the concept of wicked problem.
Discussion
Wicked problems are a part of the society. They are related to social justice or any
problems related to the organisational or the social changes. This term is usually used in context
of social planning. These problems are the worse and are very complex in nature and at times, it
may be impossible to solve such problems. They cannot be measured and scaled as a particular
degree. The concept of the Wicked Problem was first termed by Horst W.J. Rittel and Melvin M
Webber (Blok, Gremmen & Wesselink, 2016). They mentioned this term in order to refer to the
social condition at their times. Several such social and business issues reflect these wicked
problems and several leadership qualities and techniques are required to solve such problems.
Several problems can arise within a business organisation and those problems can become
wicked if there are disagreements between the stakeholders, the root of the problem is very

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complex and it cannot be solved even after a lot of trials and errors (Caspar, Le & McGilton,
2017). One such social issue has been identified in this essay.
Australia managed to keep itself strong at the times of the Global Financial Crisis and has
been developing but there are certain cracks that have appeared recently. The condition of
inequality is rising in the country and is becoming the worse. People are facing several issues
related to the affordability of the houses. The Banking Royal Commission has also pointed out
certain issues with the financial institutions that have shocked the people (Hayne, 2018). The
country has reflected a greater focus on the economic growth. Now it is losing focus on the
direction as a result of which these concerns are arising (Kennedy et al., 2017).
The income inequality issue that has been found in Australia reveals that 1/5th of the
people having the highest income level have an income of around five times more than those
1/5th who belong to the lowest income level. In case of extreme situations, 1/100th of the people
having the highest income level earn 26 times more than the 1/20th of the people from the lowest
income level (Saunders, Wong & Bradbury, 2018). The wealth inequality states that the highest
20% income class holds almost about 2/3rd of the total wealth of the country (Dabla-Norris et al.,
2015). The lowest segment holds only 18% of the total wealth. The average wealth of the
wealthiest household is almost 100 times more than that of the lowest wealthy household.
Inequality is not good for the society and it harms the economy as well. In case of inequality, the
power gets concentrated in the hands of few people who start exploiting with the available
resources in a manner that does not maintain the sustainability within the society (Patterson,
2016). The wealth inequality in Australia is higher than its income inequality. The young society
is facing the inequality problems from the old society. The individuals who are under the age of
35 are investing huge amounts in securities and other investment properties and these properties

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are getting concentrated in the hands of the old people who take advantages of these funds and
deepen the inequality.
The problem related to the household is increasing day by day because of income and
wealth inequality. There is a lack of affordable housing in Australia. The new supplies are not
being filtered down to the income groups having very low incomes. The rate of growth in the
housing stock is more than that of the rate of growth in the population and regardless of this the
prices of the residential property has been doubled. The problem is increasing day by day
because the Australian financial market is deregulated tax concessions have been provided by the
Government in order to make the house investments look more attractive (Gurran & Phibbs,
2015). The high-income earners are buying new houses and vacating the old ones to be sold at a
better price for the one next in the line. The migration from the overseas has also put a pressure
in the household and the housing stock has grown unprecedentedly.
Discussing about the Australian banks it can be said that the banks are also not working
properly and are engaged in a lot of frauds and other such activities that has affected the
customers a lot. The Banking Royal Commission has portrayed a lot of information in front of
the public about the operations of the Australian banks. It has stated about the misconducts of the
banks (Hayne, 2018). The National Australian bank, The Westpac, ANZ Bank, Macquarie Bank
and many such financial institutions were held liable for several frauds attempted. The banks did
not respond quickly to the problems raised by their customers (Boyle, 2016). They were involved
in money laundering activities and ignored the statutory rules and regulations. They were also
involved in false practices in foreign trades. False fees were being charged and signs of the
customers were duplicated thereby making illegal transactions. Fees were charge for those
accounts whose holders have already expired. They lend millions of dollars to several

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individuals and pensioners without proper documentations (Matthews, 2016). The banks also
were involved in the bank bill swap rate scandals. All these frauds have stumbled the banking
sectors and many customers have suffered a huge loss. The high-income earners have gained a
lot from these scandals whereas the low-income earners have suffered largely. This information
have really shocked the people of Australia and they have lost faith on the banking sector as
well. The economy is suffering therefore because of these conditions and inequality in income
and wealth is increasing.
Wicked problems are those problems that cannot be necessarily solved. They are unique
in nature and they do not have a definite set of solutions. The solutions are determined with a
trial and error technique. The problems do not have a stoppage rule. The solutions are rather
better or worse rather than true or false (Mertens, 2015). The solutions to the wicked problems
are one shot as every attempt taken are counted significantly. The wicked problems can be
considered as a symptom of other problems.
Inequality is a serious social issue. Inequality of income and wealth is major problems
that gives rise to a series of different other problems. The problem of inequality cannot be solved
just in the blink of the eye. It takes a lot of planning and strategic management to solve such
problems. The problem is so deep at times that there might be no solutions available to come
back to a stable position. Inequality cannot be solved with a set of management techniques or
principle. Solving this problem requires a lot of effort, trial and error. This problem is unique and
has an effect on the other key social indicators. It can act as a catalyst of various other issues, in
this case it is the issue related to the housing sector as well as the banking sector. The problem of
inequality is not stoppable and it will always continue in every parts of the world, the only thing
that being different is the degree of the inequality. Different people perceive the problem of

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inequality in different ways and this problem is not solved definitively. The possible outcomes
while solving inequality can be either a good outcome or a bad outcome. It is therefore this social
issue can be related with wicked problems.
The competing value framework is one of the major indicators of all effective
organisations. The competing values to the wicked problems refer to a situation where several
roles and responsibilities are needed to be performed in order to drive away the wicked problems
or rather reduce them significantly. The dimensions of this competing value include the
organisational focus and the preferences for a proper structure. The organisations should be
adaptable as well as flexible but at the same time, it must be controlled and stable (Edmondson,
2016). While one competing value measures the organizational effectiveness, another competing
value measures the leadership ability and skills. In this situation, it is expected from the
managers that they should perform multiple roles and responsibilities that would coordinate all
the activities properly and at the same time, they must be aware of the competition and act
accordingly. The organisational effectiveness and the leadership competitive value framework
are shown as below:

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Fig. Competing value Framework for Organisational Effectiveness
(Source: Ghannay & Mamlouk, 2015)
Rational Goal
Model
Internal Process
Model
Open Systems
Model
Human Relations
Model
Means: Morale
and Cohesion.
Ends: Human
Resource
Development.
Means:
Readiness and
Flexibility.
Ends: Resource
acquisition and
Growth.
Means: Goal
setting and
Planning.
Ends: Efficiency
and Productivity.
Means:
Communication
and Information
Management.
Ends: Control
and Stability.
Internal External
Control
Flexibility

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Fig. Competing Values Framework for Leadership Roles
(Source: Ghannay & Mamlouk, 2015)
The competing values play an important role in contrast to the wicked problems. A
proper set of organisational planning along with a proper leadership skill helps in controlling the
inequality issue. The goals of the organisation or the society must be achieved by taking into
account the human relationship, the internal and the external process models. The human
resources can be managed by cohesion or by moral suasion. The resource acquisition and the
growth of the organisation or the society can be done by the readiness and adaptability of the
organisations. There can be a control and stability in the organisation if there is a proper flow of
messages and there is least miscommunication and misunderstandings. The effectiveness can be
thereafter achieved by proper goal setting and planning. All these ends can be achieved through
Rational Goal ModelInternal Process
Model
Open Systems
Model
Human Relations
Model
Mentor Role
Faciliator Role
Innovator Role
Broker Role
Producer Role
Director Role
Monitor Role
Coordinator Role
Internal External
Control
Flexibility

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the proper leadership skills as well and therefore there are several leadership roles that are
needed to solve these wicked problems.
In order to tame the wicked problems, intervention to such problems is a necessity and
these interventions can only be done after proper planning by a good and effective leader. The
society must use a number of concepts of the leadership skills rather than any single concept. In
order to guide the society or the business in case of any transitions from the complex,
interdependent and nonlinear turbulences, new leadership skills are required. The leaders must be
open-minded and must have intellectual flexibility. A number of leadership concepts like the
Transformational leadership, Situational Leadership, Laissez-Faire, Transactional Leadership
and many such leadership concepts can be used. The first and the foremost decisive step that a
leader must take in order to solve the wicked problem is that they must understand what the
problems are, and thereafter avoid any kind of past management actions (Yahaya & Ebrahim,
2016). The reality should be openly accepted that is there are no solution to the problem and that
are several demonstrations that are needed to be done. The leaders must establish a list of shared
goals and trust should be built between the hierarchies (Yahaya & Ebrahim, 2016). Better
solutions can only be obtained by properly sharing information and other resources. New
territories are needed to be explored and new ideas are to be formulated.
In the case of the inequality in Australian society, there is a desperate need for responsive
leadership. This kind of leadership is a modern leadership technique that assess and recognizes
the cause of the disparity and the discontent that are causing this social and economic downfall
and thereafter taking the necessary actions. The society is volatile, uncertain, complex and
ambiguous and hence responsibilities are to be taken accordingly to maintain a balance. It
depends on what is the mix of profit and purpose, hierarchies and networks, control and

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empowerment, planning and experimentation and privacy and transparency. The problems must
be properly listened in this case and then the decisions are to be taken.
Conclusion
It can be concluded that the problem of inequality cannot be solved by a single individual
and it will involve many people that need to work together for a common purpose and this can be
possible through responsive leadership as leadership means followership but not coercion.

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References
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