Steven Clark

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Leadership Failure Steven Clark was the administrator for a non-profit health care center between 2004 and 2014. Clark’s tenure was full of instability, abuse of power and overall failed leadership. He was uncompromising, ruthless and abusive earning him the nickname “killer.” The nickname “killer” was given to Clark by his employees due to the fact that he was constantly firing his employees and when he threatened to fire someone he would say “you’re going to get shot” referring to the fact that he was going to kill their job. Clark was known to fire at least one employee a week to keep his employees on their toes if they wanted to keep their job. He took the nickname in pride and even purchased a paintball gun to keep in his office to shot …show more content…

According to Fiedler a leader’s leadership style is a constant variable while the leader’s effectiveness changes with the situation as the situation changes. Based on Fielder’s contingency model Clark was a task-motivated leader. He was primarily motivated by the success and accomplishment of the assignments and undertakings of the organization. When he delegated assignments to his employees he expected his orders to be completed exactly as he requested without any deviation. As a task motivated leader, Clark tended to be extremely harsh in judgment when his employees failed on any part of a task or assignment. In addition Nahavandi (2015) indicates that task motivated leaders are also highly punitive which Clark demonstrated as well. Furthermore, Clark always made it very clear what his position was and the role he played in the organization. In his opinion his role and position as an administrator was to control and direct the organization anyway he deemed …show more content…

Trustworthiness, self-sacrifice and integrity are all elements of leadership and are all the more so in non-profit organizations. Clark exhibited on many occasions that he did not always ethically or morally run the organization. Leaders of non-profit organizations also “require considerable skills in motivating and inspiring their followers” (Nahavandi, 2015, p. 234). Clark essentially did the opposite. He instilled fear and dread into his employees. In order to be an effective leader in a non-profit organization the leader must empower their employees, use all accessible resources by utilizing the power of teams and participating in creatively solving problems which Clark did none (Nahavandi,

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