Leadership Practices at Uniting Care Australia: A Detailed Report

This report examines Uniting Care Australia, a social work organization, focusing on its leadership structure, organizational culture, and strategic goals. The report analyzes the organization's participative leadership style, open communication, and its impact on employee and volunteer development. It delves into the organization's values of compassion, social justice, and its strategic objectives, particularly concerning child social exclusion and employment initiatives. The report highlights the impact of the organizational culture on leadership practices, especially the interviewee's approach, emphasizing the importance of personal reflection, and the significance of effective leadership in social work, including the need for clinical background, business expertise, and financial literacy. The report underscores the role of transparency, prioritization, and timely employee remuneration for organizational success.

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Report on Uniting Care Australia
Name
Institution

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Introduction
Uniting Care Australia is one of the social work organizations that operate within
Australia with special focus on giving a voice to the most vulnerable and the most disadvantaged
people in the society. Being a Christian based organization, they uphold values of integrity,
justice and fairness. The organization has a leadership culture that enables the employees and the
volunteers in the organization to build and grow their leadership skills in various capacities
(Unitingcare Health Provisions Workstation on Wheels (Cover Story), 2014). Following an
interview with one of the senior official of the organization has values and cultures that foster
effectiveness and efficiency in the delivery of the social services that they offer. This report
entails the findings of the interview and further elaborates on the leadership structure of the
organization as well as the leadership challenges.
Leadership Development in the Organization
The organization has developed a culture of open communication among the employees
and the leaders across all levels. The most dominant leadership style used in the company is
participative leadership which makes communication within the organization easy and also
ensures that the views of all the employees and volunteers are taken into account (Suk, Kihwan,
& Seung-Wan, 2017). Since the organization attracts a large number of employees who
according to my correspondent are energetic, enthusiastic and more than ready to help in the
achievement of the objectives of the organization’s goals and objective, it provides adequate
opportunity to nurture leadership skills in the volunteers. A number of the volunteers later
become the employees of the organization who are entrusted with leadership responsibilities in
various capacities within the organization. The entity therefore provides both the employees and
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the volunteers an opportunity for both profession and leadership growth (Lebredo,2018). As the
volunteer takes the roles of an employee in the organization, he or she is aware of the leadership
culture in the organization and making it easy to practice the culture in ant leadership position
that the organization has given to them.
Organizational Culture Values and Strategic Goals
Organizational Culture and Values
Organizational culture is a term used to refer to the deeply ingrained patterns and trends
in beliefs and values shared by an organization’s staff, the organizational behavior, assumptions
and ideologies that those working within the organization hold. As contended in Beltrán, Hacker
& Begun (2016) the organizational culture at UnitingCare Australia is built on the belief in
compassion. The culture of the organization borrows a lot from the Uniting Church with which
they share values. The belief is in a society that advocates social justice for all and especially the
disadvantaged, the poor, the old, people with disability and indigenous people. As captured by
Sturm, Hinden & Teegarden (2011), the organizational behavior is modeled by the belief in
social justice and the struggle to help all people to live life to its fullest. The assumption of
workers and volunteers working with the group is that all persons deserve the very best in life.
This has informed the organizations history of advocacy. The belief that they have a
responsibility to protect the vulnerable is what shapes their organizational behavior at
UnitingCare as in Beltrán, Hacker & Begun (2016), moving them to seek better health and
wellbeing for the vulnerable and respect and justice for all.
Strategic Goals of the Organization
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Like most organizations working on social welfare improvement, UnitingCare generally
has the mandate of seeking the betterment of quality of life for all persons but especially those
who are at risk of being marginalized in the society. This section takes a look at the specific
strategic goals of the organization as exemplified in their activities and programs.
Child Social Exclusion
UnitingCare focuses its lens on the marginalized children of Australia. It envisages the multi-
faceted nature of social exclusion in many Australian communities as exhibited in the high
number of disadvantaged children (Browne, Keefe, Ruth, & Marshall, 2017). The organization
targets to tackle the 5 main components of child exclusion in the society: education,
homelessness, health, connectedness and socioeconomic status alongside 16 other key indicators
of child welfare in the country. The organization objectifies the reduction of child poverty to
bring as many children to live above the median equalized disposable income for the average
Australian household. In one of its latest surveys in 2016, the organization found that the highest
population of children at risk of exclusion is found in the Northern Territory which stands at
43.1% followed Tasmania at 34% while South Australia comes in third at 26% (Browne, Keefe,
Ruth, Cox, Maramaldi, Rishel, Marshall, 2017). The following are some of the singular strategic
objectives of the organization.
 To work with communities in remote and far flung rural areas where the risk of child
exclusion rates are high in order to reduce the risk
 To alleviate housing stress which is a major contributing factor to child exclusion
 To correct imbalances between child exclusion and child poverty quintile in areas where
disparities exist between the two aspects.
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 To pursue the expansion of education opportunities for children at risk of exclusion as a
means of correcting socio-economic wellbeing
 To create means of social inclusion for children through reduction of housing stress for
families as the primary environment for child development
Employment Initiatives
UnitingCare is strategically working together with the Australian commonwealth
government and state authorities together with UnitingCare service providers in creating
employment opportunities as contended by Levy, Aiton, Doig, Dow, Brown, Hunter, & McNeil
(2016), based on values for the betterment of the lives of the vulnerable population groups in the
community. In its model, the organization employs methods aimed at training persons,
mentoring and providing support to them in community service activities within the
organization. The initiative is aimed at bringing in people who have not been in gainful
employment for any reasonable period. As espoused by Hee Chul Kim (2017), the organization
is strategic in its approach of creating employment opportunities for the economically
marginalized through community support projects. These employment opportunities are designed
to attract persons with the necessary values and beliefs to prepare them for work opportunities in
the community services.
Impact on the Interviewee’s Leadership Practice
The organizational culture of UnitingCare has had significant impacts on Jenny’s
leadership practices. Coming from a health practitioner’s background (nursing), her scholarly
interactions had not adequately prepared her for a career in social work although she evidently
had the desire and the passion to serve humanity. Her interactions with the organizational values
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have over time strengthened her resolve to pursue redress to social injustices and inequality in
the society. Schein (2011) asserts the above observation in his submission that organizational
culture influences organizational behavior. Her leadership philosophy significantly marries with
the organizational values and strategic goals. Jenny prefers the participative (democratic)
leadership approach which as characterized by Darling (2017), allows her to listen to the ideas of
those that report to her. Over time, Jenny’s leadership practice has consistently given a listening
ear to the issues that bedevil the marginalized persons and persons at risk of marginalization in
Australia. The strategic objective of the organization have influenced Jenny’s leadership practice
in one significant way; her incorporation of personal reflection into leadership. Thanks to taking
time to conduct personal reflection as in Schulte (2010), Jenny as a leader has been able to
conduct personal assessments on how the organization is faring in marrying organizational
values with the strategic objectives. This has enabled her to identify areas that need correction
and hence made her a more effective leader.
Leadership experience
The success and effectiveness of any organization lies on the leadership styles being
used. According to Webb (2011), leadership styles will either retain or lose employees who have
great potential for the success of the organization. In UnitingCare Jenny (pseudonym) from the
executive management team is entrusted with a group of over 3000 volunteers, 8523 workers and
416 branches spread across the state of Queensland. Working with such a team, requires Jenny
to employ a method of leadership that will suit all the members of the organization. Failure to
use an effective method will definitely lead to lose of potential employees and leaders who may
better the standards of the organization in the future.
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As an organization, UnitingCare encourage use of participatory leadership according to
Kezar (2016) which allows workers to make proposals and suggestions. These suggestions are
considered in leadership meetings and some of them are implemented hence better the lives of
those working with the organization and even those they serve. This has helped them over the
last decade to maintain most of their high profile employees who have turned out to bring about
major milestones in the organizations development.
According to Abdullah (2017), UnitingCare considers sharing of responsibilities,
knowledge and delegation of duties as factors that bring cohesion. Therefore Jenny delegates
duties to any of the workers and this has always turned out to be one of the factors that has
helped them improve their standards. This form of leadership has always seen their promotion of
employees to higher offices based on merit and honesty. Since they scrutinize each and every
individual and partially allow employees to take part. This has further reduced complains and
complications in the organization hence leading to appropriate and effective services.
Management of team members
Jenny reports that she finds it very interesting to work with an enthusiastic team of employees
and volunteers. This people are willing at all the time to sacrifice their personal ambitions to
create adequate time to serve in the organization with or without remuneration. Most of their
employees including Jenny served a long time as volunteers before the actual employment. The
working force is also collaborative hence, Jenny finds it easier to work with the high number of
individuals she is entrusted with. Core values established by the organization such as compassion
demonstrate understanding and empathy for others to bring holistic hope, inspiration and care.
Sommer and Frishman (2016) denote that justice should seek to serve all the people without
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discrimination regardless of status, age. Gender, tribe and race have helped to see the
organization grow. Respect has enabled the members to embrace diversity and accept the
contribution of others.
Effective leadership in social work
Bhatnagar (2017) contends effective leadership in an organization demands an all-round
individual. A leader should have clinical background, business expertise and financial literacy.
Budgeting is one of the major tasks those in leadership will have to undertake. Jenny had a
clinical training background this was not sufficient for her to serve as an executive team member
hence she had to acquire a master’s degree in business administration to enable her effectively
handle the tasks of the organization. This means that those who will be promoted to leadership
positions should possess a wider scope of knowledge so as to be able to deal with people and
handle finances without major scratches and loses.
Each leader must cultivate an appreciation for the needs of the organization so as to be able to
lead effectively and minimize major challenges. Transparency in the area of finance should never
be left out. Actual budgeting must be done with an aim of allocating funds to each area without
surplus or shortage since this might act as a highway to embezzlement (Christensen and Cheney
2015). Prioritization of needs and wants should be determined early in advance to so as to give
appropriate attention to the primary needs before attending to the secondary needs of the
organization.
Remuneration of employees should be done in correct amounts and regularly without
delays as connoted by the contracts (Ataay 2018). This helps to focus the attention of the
employees to only one task which is working for the organization rather than looking for means
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to get money to sustain their needs. Appreciations on tasks well done should also be done to
motivate the workers. Annual increment of salaries can be employed even if its at a low
percentage, it will motivate employees and keep them longer in the organization.
Clear rules and regulations should be established in each department to ensure the employees are
aware of the does and the don’ts of the organization. Appropriate consequences of breaking the
rules and regulations should be attached to the rules so as to regulate behavior of persons
(Ribeiro and Hamel, 2015). Proper sanctions should be issued according to the offences and
should be done fairly without showing favoritism regardless of who has committed the offence.
Interaction between the Correspondence and the stake holders
Jenny is a key member of the executive management team of the organization. She is part
of the discussion making and policy making body runs the organization. She therefore interacts
with key stake holders in different capacities (Palmieri, & Mazzali-Lurati, 2016). Some of the
stake holders that she has to work with include the management of the organization, the
employees of the organization and the volunteers. Since her role is majorly management, she
rarely interacts with the people that the organization serves. However in some occasions she
takes time to make follow ups on the delivery of the services that the organization offers. Her
interaction with the workers and employees she leads is opens interaction ad she embraces and
practices participative leadership style. She is open to ideas irrespective of the sauce of the idea
within the organization.
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Interaction of the Correspondence with Organization Values and Structure
Chief Executive Officer who heads the executive team heads UnitingCare Australia. The
Executive team is composed of Directors, Chief Officers and Executive members. Below the
executive team are the various committees. The key values of the organization are compassions,
Respect and justice. The correspondence sits in the Executive committee and there she is
considered one of the senior members of the organization. Given this leadership position, she has
to lead by examples by practicing the key values of the organization (Gehman, Treviño & Garud,
2013). She is an advocate of justice and compression to the less fortunate and a firm believer in
the respect of all people across all boards. This is evident from her leadership style that makes
her open to even the volunteers in the organization elaborates her respect for even the most
junior staff in the organization despite the senior position that she holds.
Leadership Challenges faced by the Correspondence
When Jenny first got to the senior position that she holds today in the organization, she
only had clinical skills. Her roles required knowledge in management, regulatory and financial
control. She had to perform these roles despite the knowledge and practical experience gap that
existed. Furthermore, she had to face the stereotypes related to gender and perceived inequities
that come with women leadership (Potkay & Merrens, 2015). However, she was able to come up
strong against the challenges. She first enrolled for Masters in Business Administrations and
sharpened on the leadership qualities that she already had (Peters, 2017). With this knowledge
and experience, she is now able to play her roles with confidence and efficiency. Given the
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organization culture, she got a perfect platform to give the leadership contribution inters of
policy and decision making.
Conclusion
Organizations have different leadership cultures and structures. Even though
organizations that focus on social work may have similarities, Uniting Care Australia has unique
leadership cultures that enable the employees and the volunteers to flourish. The interactive
leadership structure enables open communication in the organization and ensures that
everyone’s’ opinion counts. From the interview, it is evident that the leadership of the
organization has its share of challenges. However, the correspondent has devices successful ways
of dealing with her leadership challenges. Some of the methods used to overcome the leadership
challenges include, further education and sharpening of the leadership skills.
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APPENDIX
Questionnaire
Q. Describe your current leadership roles and responsibilities. Are you on any Committees or
responsible for developing policy – leadership at the organizational level?
A. I am on the leadership executive committee which is mandated with the
development of the policies that govern the operations of the organization.
Q. How many direct reports/employees are you responsible for?
A. I am responsible for over 3,000 volunteers and 8523 workers spread across 416 branches
that I am responsible for in the state.
Q. Do you find it rewarding to lead/manage team members?
A. I find it interesting to work with a group of young enthusiastic and energetic volunteers
who are more than willing to contribute to the objectives of the organization. The
working force is also collaborative and I tend to think all of them are leaders which
makes my work easy.
Q. How would you describe ‘effective’ leadership in Social Work or human services
organization?
A. Effective leadership in social work entails upholding the key values of social work which
include integrity, good human relationships and social justice.
Q. Do you think you are an effective leader? If so, why? If not, why not.
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