Chris Payne

LDRS 802

Module 1 Discussion Board

What are some examples within your own workplace (or other organizational system of interest)
illustrating one of more theories or concepts presented in Module 1 readings? What might be
some of the management/leadership implications related to your identified examples? Explain
thoroughly.

In my work experiences at churches, what I've found is the exact opposite of what Taylor expressed in
his first Harvard lecture. In it, he “attributed the witholding of output to two sources. One was the
'natural” tendency to laziness, which only money could overcome”. (Weisbord, pg 76)

Taylor's assertion that a natural tendency to laziness could only be overcome by paying the worker
more money has, in my personal observations, proved to be largely false. In the world in which I work,
I've found that the higher the stress, the more the position pays. When I was leading worship in my
first full-time ministry, they offered me what I considered to be a crazy amount of money. Once into
the role, I soon found out why. They were a church which was attempting to maintain two distinct
styles of worship and a very specific way in which they wanted it done.

Of course, those specific ways were never stated and only when they were violated would I hear about
it. Combine that with a pastor that was more interested in making congregants happy than in leading
them to maturity and a time bomb was set. Week after week, I'd be told what I'd done wrong, and often
it was something the pastor had told me to do. After about nine months of no vision, no mission and
feeling I'd failed every week, I'd had enough. I resigned, making me the 4th worship leader in 3 years to
do so.

Lewin's formula for Behavior resonates with me as I attempt to understand the people that I lead.
“Behavior (B) is a function (f) of person (p) and environment (e)”(Weisbord, pg 85). If I, as a leader,
can understand who the person is, and how they live and what their life is like, I can understand the
people I lead.

References

Weisbord, M.R. (2012) Productive workplaces: Dignity, meaning, and community in the 21st century
(3rd ed.). San Fransisco, CA: Jossey-Bass