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| Yellow Tram in Vienna |
Introduction
This essay focuses on
the role of leadership in improving performance in public service
organisation. This essay uses the
improvement of the Indonesian state-owned railway company under a new leader as the case study. The aim of the
essay is to analyse the role of leadership in improving performance in the
company.
The essay is structured into four sections. The first
section is introduction. It contains
aim and the structure of the essay. The second section is theory. It describes the concept of
leadership, the comparison with private sector leadership, integrated
leadership. The section also describes the features of leadership that are very crucial to the improvement of public service organisation. The third section is the case study. It tells
the improvement of the company under a new CEO. The fourth section is the
analyse. It relates the concepts with the actual implementation. The last section is the conclusion. The essay concludes that having a leader that shows
strong leadership character brings significant impact to the improvement of
the organisation performance.
The
Concepts of Public Leadership
Leadership is translating
core values and beliefs of the organisation into a clear vision. In doing
this role, leaders are expected to have an ability to empower followers to
achieve the vision. Leaders must be assertive in facing problems and avoid
any falter in encountering difficulties. They must have strength to prevent failure and disappointment and focus on making an
improvement on toward success (Pilkington, n.d., taken from Broussine, 2003,
p180). From this perspective, a leader must be a person that has more abilities
than others in an organisation. On the
other hand, Rosenbloom, et al., wrote that leadership “is a process, not a position, and can take place
throughout an organisation” (2009, p150). It implies that leadership is not
only related to top position but how it can influence the organisation to reach
the goals.
Leadership has several
differences with management. One of them is
based on its function, “leadership shapes the future, management
delivers it” (Broussine, 2003, p180). Based on the performer, leadership is
performed by leaders while managers implement management. Leaders empower
their organisation to cope with change. In here, leaders set direction on how
to face the change. On the other hand, managers give orders and stay attempt
to maintain consistency. In implementing this role, managers control by
monitoring the achievement of the plan. Managers and leaders also have
differences in the way they treat people. Managers organise people and design
organisation whereas leaders communicate with people and give them direction
to achieve the goals of the organisation (Milner and Joyce, 2005, p18). In addition, Gabriel (in Broussine, 2003,
p180) distinguished differences between management and leadership based on
what they do. Managers give more focus on the situation that is happening
while leaders give more focus on the future of the organisation. Managers organise current resources so that
the organisation can maximise their resources in achieving goals.
On the other hand, leaders articulate their future vision and persuade their
followers to give their efforts, time and resources to realise the vision.
According to Van Mart
(in Orazi, et al., 2013, p490)
leadership in the public sector is
defined as the procedure to provide results that are mandated. In here, the
leaders give supports to the followers so the results can be achieved effectively. Also, the leaders
direct their followers to provide services without
neglecting their environtment. On the other hand, leadership in private sector has a connection with the
responsibility for achieving ‘financial’ goals (Andersen, 2010, p132). From
the comparison, leadership in private
sector has fewer and clearer goals than that in the public sector. However,
recent studies indicate that public sector leaders think that they have clear
tasks as those in private sector (Saz-Caranza and Ospina, 2010, taken from
Orazi, et al. 2013, p491).
Public leadership is
challenging because it relates the internal organisation with external
stakeholders and the public (Broussine, 2006, p175). Instead of only managing
their organisation, they also comply with several stakeholders that demand
accountability. The leaders in public
sector must deal with high levels of formalisation. Compared to private sector, leaders in public sector are facing more stakeholders
(Orazi, et al., 2013, p492) such as the
government, the service users, politicians and pressure groups. Public
leaders, therefore, need a leadership ability in meeting organisation needs and public demands (Broussine,
2006, p175).
Leadership can be divided into two models, transformational
and transactional leadership model (Jung and Avolio, 2000, p950-951).
Transformational leadership according to Bass (in Alimo-Metcalfe and
Alban-Metcalfe, 2005, P51) is the ability of leaders to empower their
followers so that they can optimising their effort more than that is expected. Burns (taken from Alimo-Metcalfe
and Alban-Metcalfe, 2005, P51) argued that in transformational leadership,
leaders transform their followers to be leaders, first, by fulfilling their
higher needs. Then the leaders change followers’ paradigm, from self-interest
to the greater common interest. Work for the greater
good can lead the followers to show self-actualisation and finally show an
ability to be leaders.
Transformational leaders
have certain behaviours. First, ‘inspirational motivation’. It means that the
leaders can translate their vision into purposes and then set the goals.
Secondly ‘Idealised influence’. It improves followers’ pride and loyalty.
Thirdly, ‘intellectual simulation’. In here, leaders give their new
perspective of the environment and promote followers’ participation in work
structure design. Finally, ’modelling pro-social behaviours’ (Orazi, et al.,
2013, p494). Theoretically, transformational leadership results in followers that admire, trust and commit to realising the organisation vision (Jung and
Avolio, 2000, p950). The transformational leadership can improve employees’
motivation in public service provision. It can happen if the leaders successfully empower their followers to take the initiative and to be involved in decision-making processes (Park and Rainey,
2008; Bass and Avolio, 1990; taken from Paarlberg and Lavigna, 2010, p715).
Compared
to the transformational leadership, transactional
leadership is related to a contractual mechanism between leaders
and followers. In this concept, leaders set expectations from the followers
and give rewards if the followers meet the expectations (Jung and Avolio,
2000, p951). There are several features that show the transactional
leadership in public service
organisation. First, ‘performance monitoring’. It is a tool for the leader to
observe followers. Secondly, the leaders intervene and take actions if they
found errors in organisation performance. Thirdly, they give rewards to
followers based on their services. Finally,
the leaders must be able to identify the demands of their followers (Orazi,
et al., 2013, p494).
More recent development
in leadership introduces ‘integrated’ leadership term. It combines the
transactional and transformational leadership behaviours. In here, leaders
implemented several features, such as: set clear outcomes, improving
employees’ motivation, assessing achievements and performance, and applying
sufficient transactional interaction (Orazi, et al., 2013, p494). By using ‘integrated’ leadership approach,
Fernandez explained features that affect performance such as: ‘task-oriented
leadership’; ‘relation-oriented leadership’; ‘change-oriented leadership’;
‘diversity-oriented leadership’; and integrity-oriented leadership’ (taken
from Orazi, et al., 2013, p495). ‘Integrated’ approach still has minor weaknesses, but those are insignificant. Many
researchers, therefore, believe that this approach will be adopted in the future (Orazi, et al., 2013,
p495).
A feature that important
in effective leadership is problem-solving skills. The skill shows the
competency of a leader to solve organisational problems (Northouse, 2012,
p48). In here a leader must have the ability
to define, collect information, formulate the articulation of the problems.
Then the leaders are expected to propose several problem solutions. Ability to construct solution is the key in
problem-solving skill (Mumford, et al.,
2000, in Northouse, 2012, p49). Hartley and Allina (2010, p37) argued that
the skill is the conventional view of
leadership. In here, to complement the
problem-solving skill, leaders must have an ability to take risks and make decisions in their organisation.
Being decisive or risk
taker means that leaders have the courage
to make a decision especially in
difficult situations (Alimo-Metcalfe and Alban-Metcalfe, 2005, p61). It will
be crucial for a public service organisation to have a leader that is not in
doubt in making decisions. Being decisive also means that the leader needs to show their determination to reach
the aims (Alimo-Metcalfe and Alban-Metcalfe, 2005, p61). A determination is shown by the willingness of the leader to assert themselves to
achieve organisation goals (Northouse, 2012, p25). In addition, the leader with determination also shows proactive
and can face obstacles in achieving the
goals. A determination is crucial for
the organisation because a leader in
some situations needs to show dominance and give direction to the followers.
Finally, to be a decisive leader, someone must have a confidence
(Alimo-Metcalfe and Alban-Metcalfe, 2005, p61). Self-confidence is the belief
about self-competencies and skills, and the ability to influence others. In
here a leader must show a confidence that they influence their followers in
appropriate manners (Northouse, 2012, p24).
Public
Sector Performance
The
performance of the public sector is related to
the using of resources to provide the services (Flynn, 2007, p126). It
compares the cost of provision and the action of the public sector in
providing service. Performance in public sector is “a key component of the
competitive advantage of national economies and a contributory factor in
overall societal performance” (Bouckaert and Dooren, 2006, p128). From the
statement, it can be inferred that
performance in public sector is related
to the attempts of public sector in affecting public
performance. It is also related to how the public sector using resources to
achieve the targets. Before, performance was measured by the efficiency of
the public sector in using public money. Recently, performance is measured by the quality of life indicators
and the quality of governance (Bouckaert and Dooren, 2006, p128).
The performance of
public sector can be measured using several indicators. First, economy
indicator. Economy is related to
the cost to produce inputs. It is also related
to the implementation of economic in
using them. Secondly, productivity. It measures output divided by a specific
input. For example, train hours per
train driver. The third indicator is efficiency which is measured by the average cost of producing
goods and services. The next indicator is effectiveness. It calculates
outcome divided by output. Finally, the indicator is cost-effectiveness which
calculates the ratio of cost to the outcome
(Bouckaert and Dooren, 2006, p131; Flynn, 2007, p130-131).
Case
Study: The Improvement of PT KAI Under New CEO
Indonesia has a
state-owned railway company namely PT Kereta Api Indonesia (PT KAI). It is
the only company that operates all train transportation in Indonesia. The
history of the company began in 1864 under the initiative of the Dutch
government. After Indonesia gain the independence in 1945, the management of
the company was under the Ministry of Transportation. The status of the
company was changed in 1998 from a public company to a limited liability
company (PT KAI, n.d.). By changing the status, the company modify their
management into a more private
model company which also gain profit while providing service.
The
status changing did not bring any improvement to the service delivery. PT KAI
still regarded as a company that had a very low performance (Djuraid in Saragih, 2014, p34). There were several
problems that were identic with the PT KAI (Najiyah, 2016, p3). First, the quality of the railways and
signals were poor. It declined the level of the safety and comfort. Secondly,
the quality and the quantity of
locomotive, trains and stations were poor and declined each year. All train
stations were dirty, cramped and messy. Thirdly, the time management was so poor that led many delays in the
services. Employees’ orientation was not to give service. They prioritised to
maximise their benefits. On the other hand, the company had a poor
remuneration system that led to the corruption. Moreover, the competency of
the employees was low. It delayed the improvement of the performance of the
organisation (Supriatna, et al., 2015, p1). The other problem was that the
company did not maximise the use of the technology in ticketing service. It
often made long queuing in train stations (Supriatna, et al., 2015, p4). It
also caused many ticket brokers operates both in the train and the stations.
Facing the problems, in
2009 the government appointed Ignasius Jonan as the new CEO of the
company. He was appointed because he was successfully improved another
state-owned company management. Also, he is an accountant that has many
experiences in monetary business. To improve the performance of the company, Jonan changed
the mindset of the workers, from ‘product oriented’ to ‘customer oriented’
(Saragih, 2014, p35). Jonan also
consistently and transparently applied ‘rewards and punishment’ mechanism to
improve the workers’ welfare. He also trained the workers in order to improve the quality of the human
resource by sending them abroad. Leadership was also his focus. He ordered
and gave an example to his branch
office operational managers to not only sit behind desk but actively inspecting the real situation (Saragih, 2014,
p38).
Jonan
implemented reforms in all divisions inside PT KAI. It aimed to optimise the performance of the organisation
and make a good profit while serving the public. As a result, PT KAI under Jonan
had experienced successes. Among the successes were: first, the company
experienced rising in their profit. Jonan
raised prices, especially for executive
long distance travel services. Jonan
also maximised opportunities that could bring profit to the company. He
invited foods tenants to open their franchise in railways stations (Najiyah,
2016, p17).
Table 1. Gain/Loss of PT KAI
from 2008 to 2012 (in Rupiah)
Year
|
Gain/Loss
|
2008
|
Loss 83 Billion
|
2009
|
Gain 154
Billion
|
2010
|
Gain 210
Billion
|
2011
|
Gain 210
Billion
|
2012
|
Gain 425
Billion
|
Source: Najiyah, 2016, p10
From the table above, PT
KAI successfully raised profit. The table also shows that in the Jonan’s first year as the CEO, he made the
company recorded gain. Jonan retained
the achievement by obtaining higher
gains in the next years.
Secondly, the number of
accident declined. It is one of the results
of the safety maintenance under Jonan.
PT KAI under Jonan implemented a new
system that prevents accidents by
informing the actual speed limits of the train.
Table 2. The Train Accident
between 2005 - 2012
Types of Accident
|
Year
|
2005
|
2006
|
2007
|
2008
|
2009
|
2010
|
2011
|
2012
|
Collision
|
9
|
5
|
3
|
4
|
7
|
4
|
1
|
3
|
Plummet
|
99
|
75
|
114
|
79
|
79
|
70
|
53
|
54
|
Others
|
32
|
15
|
16
|
7
|
14
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
Total
|
140
|
95
|
133
|
113
|
100
|
76
|
54
|
57
|
Source: Najiyah, 2016, p15.
The table shows that the
trend of accidents from 2005 to 2012 declined. Although there was a rise from
2011 to 2012, it was still an improvement compare to the increase on total
train departure (Najiyah, 2016, p15).
Thirdly, related to human resource management, Jonan implementing several policies. First,
in recruiting employees, PT KAI focused on performance, dedication, integrity
and readiness. Jonan did not give a
privilege to the title but give more
attention to the competency and willingness to work (Najiyah, 2016, p9).
Secondly, the employees’ salary was raised in
order to fulfil employees’ basic needs (Saragih, 2014, p39). Thirdly, Jonan applied strict ‘rewards and
punishments’ principles. It led to raising
the discipline of the employees.
Before Jonan came, many believed that the problem in
PT KAI was too difficult to be solved. Many were pessimistic on the
improvement in PT KAI was impossible so that no
one cannot solve the problems (Najiyah, 2016, p15). However, Jonan proved that under a good leadership the
performance of an organisation could be
improved. The improvement of the company is
proven by several achievements got from several institutions. For
instance: the most innovative state-owner company in 2012; Runner up best
‘user interface & marketing communication’; the second best state-owned
company in website management. As the CEO, Jonan
also won the most innovative CEO of the state-owned
company in 2012 (Najiyah, 2016, p16).
Analysis
Based on the case study,
leadership has a crucial role in the improvement in an organisation. It can be seen from the indicators and progress
achieved by PT KAI. In addition,
leadership is the key factor in implementing change. Without leadership, the
change is likely difficult to be achieved even though the change is well
managed (Gill, 2002, p307). Related to the
change process, poor management is
believed as one of the key
factors that lead the process fails. On
the other hand, well-managed changes
sometimes do not meet the target. It can be
caused by the lack of expertise and resources (Gill, 2002, p308). The
statement implies that well-managed
changes still needs a good leadership. It directs the followers towards the
improvement.
Problem
solving
Related to the
leadership features, Jonan has shown his problem-solving skills during his
dedication as the CEO of PT KAI. PT KAI before Jonan faced many problems regarding the performance of the
organisation. PT KAI as the only railway company in the country did not give
the best service to the customers. It
made the transportation experts felt pessimistic about the future of the company (Najiyah, 2016, p15). Jonan has improved the performance
organisation. The improvement can be achieved
in several aspects such as business, security and safety and organisational
cultures.
One problem that became
a serious concern of Jonan was security
problems. Before 2009, passengers complained the security level. There were
many pickpocket cases. But recently, the transportation using train is secure
(Wahyuni, 2015, n.p.). Jonan introduced
several policies to improve the service by concerning to security issues.
First, ‘one seat one passenger’ policy. In here, long distance passengers
cannot buy a ticket if there is no longer seat available. Secondly, ‘boarding
pass’ policy. Every passenger must show a valid ticket and an ID before
entering the check-in area (Najiyah, 2016, p10). Thirdly, PT KAI placed
internal security in every train travel. Finally, Jonan also involves The Police Department in security process (PT
KAI, 2013, n.p.). Those policies are believed
as the main factor in reducing the number of criminal cases in train
transportation. By improving security level, PT KAI is also improving its
performance to provide better services to its users. For this achievement, Jonan as the top manager showed his
leadership skill by showing his
ability in solving the problem.
The improvement in
security, although it becomes an
improvement for the organisation, needs a big
amount of resources. On the one hand, it will bring users trust. It can be a
crucial factor for service users to choose train as a mean of transportation.
On the other hand, PT KAI must provide several things to implement the policy. First, PT KAI must place many employees
in security check counter. It means that PT KAI must pay more employees. Secondly,
PT KAI must provide boarding pass machines in every station. The machines and
the system are not cheap. Therefore PT
KAI must spend many resources to
provide them. Thirdly, PT KAI must provide a good mechanism so passengers can
print the boarding pass and pass security checking without feels distracted.
In here, PT KAI places many employees to assist passengers in printing the boarding pass because many
passengers still do not know how to print it.
In implementing
problem-solving agenda, a leader also must consider that drastic change in an
organisation can be disruptive if the organisation is not ready. The
innovation or change can improve the performance of the organisation or even
destabilise the organisation (Bovaird,
2003, p71). The implementation of strict rules,
on the one hand, can improve employees’ discipline. It can be
achieved if the organisation has clear rules and assessment mechanisms
related to the employment. A leader, therefore, must be able to give a good example in implementing organisations
rules. On the other hand, it can make the employees feel depressed and
stress. Monitoring and target achievement are factors that can make employees
feel insecure especially when they do not meet targets given. Monitoring and
target achievement as part of performance indicator also can lead to
ossification to the employees (Thieel & Lieew, 2002, p269). A leader,
therefore, must calculate the benefits and drawbacks of the changing.
The next problem that needs to be solved was ticket broker
practices. It affected the financial condition that led PT KAI loss. They
operated in many places, in the station
and on the train. Although the train was full of passengers, the income was not fully received by the company
(Najiyah, 2016, p10). Many passengers paid lower
prices to the officers before or during the trip. Another problem was the
employees’ mindset in the organisation. Jonan
identified the bad mindset of the employees that was only thinking about the
benefits from the company and tried to change it into ‘company and customer
first’ (Saragih, 2013, p35).
To solve organisational
problems, a leader must be consistent in performing their actions because it
is a difficult process. The change is challenging because public sector tends
to enjoy present situation and not so enthusiastic with innovation. It is by the statement from Kotter and Heskett (in Bovaird, 2003, p62) that implied that highly
adaptable cultures are rarely seen in
the public sector. Jonan with his
effort has improved the performance of the organisation by showing
consistency (Saragih, 2013, p40). A
leader that shows consistency in his/her leadership can inspire his followers
in changing organisational cultures. Leadership that shows consistency can be seen from the attempt of the leader in
rule-making process and the implementation of punishment for any violation of the rules (Saragih,
2013, p40).
By showing consistency, Jonan has shown his effort in solving some
problems. His effort faced many obstacles because PT KAI is a public service
organisation that has many stakeholders. Unlike the private sector that deals
with fewer stakeholders, as a state-owned company, PT KAI also must deal
with bureaucratical problems. It might potentially raise the scale, the
number and the complexity of the problems (Broussine, 2006, p181).
Related to the
improvement of the organisation, Jonan
also faced organisational cultural problems. Organisational culture covers
‘taken-for-granted assumptions and norms’ in an organisation (Bovaird, 2003,
p61). To understand and change it,
leaders can pick an approach to explore several aspects that are called ‘cultural web’. In here, the
leader can explore “stories, routines and ritual, symbols, power base,
structure, and control system” (Bovaird, 2003, p61-62). After exploring that aspects, leaders need to take actions to
implement the changing, particularly to activities or cultures that are
inappropriate (Bovaird, 2003, p62). As a part of problem-solving agenda, Jonan implemented strict reward and
punishment systems. For employees that break work ethics and honesty, Jonan applied ‘no mercy’ punishment (Saragih,
2013, p39). In this case, Jonan shows
integrity as part of the leadership skill where he was very strict in
implementing rules. The implementation of ‘no mercy’ punishment is one of the
ways to enforce the rule. It is good to make employees discipline. On the
other hand, Jonan is considered too
hard in treating his employees. He never gives second chance to his employees
that break the rules in PT KAI (Najiyah, 2016, p17).
In
order to change organisation cultures, Jonan also empowered his followers.
Empowering followers is one of the characters
in transformational leadership model (Alimo-Metcalfe and Alban-Metcalfe,
2005, p59). The ability to empower the followers is very important in
improving performance. It is related to
the challenge of the leader to give clear vision and empower his/her follower
to do the instruction voluntarily. To empower the followers, leaders need to
give instructions on how to do works given. Leaders also need to motivate his
followers to achieve organisational goals. The
motivation can make the followers believe that they are directed to get a
better future (Avey, 2008 taken from Saragih,
2013, p38).
Attempts
of a leader to improve the performance of the organisation cannot be made by
one man. It
needs supports from lower managers and followers. In this case, a leader must
gain a trust from the followers, so they desire voluntarily to be
involved in the change process (Saragih, 2013, p38). Jonan not only gave orders but also give instructions and
examples. He demanded daily report from Head of regional division. Jonan always analyses
the report detail and give feedbacks for the reports (Saragih, 2013, p38). In
here, Jonan shows his problem-solving
skill by empowering his employees.
Jonan
also implemented a policy that orders the head
of regional divisions to do extra duty on weekends. Instead of only
monitoring the implementation of the policy, almost every weekend Jonan
checked the operation of PT KAI (Saragih, 2013, p38). A leader that gives
good examples can inspire the followers. Inspired followers, therefore, can
be motivated to give their efforts to achieve
the organisation goals. In addition, by inspiring the followers, the
attempt to improve the performance of the organisation might be easier.
Decisive
Related to the decisive
function/role in leadership, Jonan as
the new CEO of PT KAI made several decisions In order to improve the performance of the
organisation. These decisions are believed to change the performance of the
organisation in providing service to the public. First, he implemented
several innovations related to the service provision. One of the innovation
is the introduction of ‘rail ticketing system’ (RTS) (Najiyah, 2016, p11).
The system gives information and services to ease the customers to check
schedules, book and pay tickets. To facilitate the RTS, PT KAI made ‘railbox’ or ticketing machines and ‘railcard’
or prepaid card. By using the facilities, the passengers do not need queuing
in ticketing counter before take a journey using the train. Under Jonan, PT KAI also introduced ‘internet
reservation’. The service eases the passenger in booking or buying a ticket online.
The
innovation that aims to provide better service can be included into ‘new service’ term (Bovaird, 2003, p71). It brings
benefits to the service users because they can enjoy better services. In this case, passengers are given a more
practical way in ticketing mechanism. For the organisation, PT KAI can reduce
the number of the employee who serves
in ticketing division. By employing fewer
workers in ticketing division, the organisation can spend operational cost
less. The introduce and use of new technology consumes much organisation
resources. It is caused by the needs to install the new system, buy new hard
wares and the promotion of the system. Compared to the cost spent, PT KAI
still gets more benefits in introducing the innovation.
The
next innovation is inviting ‘new customer’. PT KAI not only focusing on the passengers but also private companies
as the ‘customer’. Private companies are invited to operate franchises in
train stations. PT KAI provides land
or area for private companies.
Private companies can use the land or areas to sell their products or
services. Before Jonan, there were many
tenants that were not well organised and did not give significant income to
the organisation. Recently, the arrangement of the stations is neater. It can attract passengers to visit the
tenants. It also becomes a way for
the organisation to maximising the profit (Najiyah, 2016, p17).
The innovation which
invites new customers brings consequences. On the one hand, it benefits the
organisation by increasing profits. The profit comes from the utilisation of
properties that were not maximised
before. On the other hand, it caused many conflicts with previous tenants
that illegally occupied the properties of PT KAI. The previous tenants
refused to move because it would make them loss.
In this situation, Jonan showed a
strict policy by evicting tenants that were illegal (Najiyah, 2016, p16). He
does not hesitate to call the police department to secure the eviction. The refuse shows that
every policy brings consequences. In this case, the injured party is tenants
that lose places to run their business.
The way Jonan facing the illegal occupiers can be related to
the implementation of ‘integrated leadership’ model. He applied
transformational leadership model inside the organisation by realising his
vision into strategic actions. The ability is very important for the
organisation, so the followers can understand and do the instructions
clearly. Jonan also implemented
transactional leadership model. The model is
shown by his action in giving punishment to the officers that did not
achieve targets in ‘property clearance’ process (Najiyah, 2016, p16). As a result, tenants in train stations are
neat. PT KAI also manages the tenants well (Najiyah, 2016, p12).
From his several
decisions made, Jonan is considered to
direct PT KAI into a more business-like company. Under Jonan, many popular and rich-owned franchises
such as Starbucks, KFC, McDonald, Alfamart and Indomart replaced local-owned
stores and restaurants (Najiyah, 2016, p12). Although
it leads the company to gain more income, PT KAI is less able to empower
local economy. Instead of giving them the opportunity to open a business, PT KAI under Jonan prioritised big companies.
Conclusion
Having a leader that
shows strong leadership character can bring significant impact imrpoving
performance of public service organisation. It can transform the organisation to provide better
services to the public. From the analyse, Jonan
shows a strong leadership in his position as the CEO of PT KAI. Under his
leadership, the performance of the company has improved. The improvement is shown by comparing the performance before
and during Jonan. It compares several
indicators such as profit business,
safety and security and the users’ satisfaction. PT KAI as the organisation
and Jonan as the leader also receive
many achievements. The achievements prove two things. First, it shows the
recognition of the improvement of the company. Secondly, it shows Jonan’s ability in implementing leadership
principles.
One character in
leadership that gives significant impact to the organisation improvement is
problem-solving. In here, leaders are challenged to solve organisational
problems by analysing the causes, gaining information and propose several
solutions. In this analyse, Jonan has
shown problem-solving skills. He
observed the operation of the company then analysed problems relating to the
operation.
Leaders need to execute
the solutions to complete the problem-solving process. It is the situation
where leaders show their leadership by being decisive. Decisive also means
that the leaders are not afraid to take risks. Jonan is a risk-taker in his attempts to improve the performance
of the organisation. One of them is his policy to eradicate ticket broker
practices. It was very difficult because the ticket broker practices were the
habit or culture in PT KAI before Jonan.
Changing cultures that are inappropriate with the improvement of the public
service organisation is difficult. It involves many parties. The changing
will be more difficult or even faces rejection especially from those who got
benefits from the inappropriate cultures. Also, PT KAI as public service
organisation has many stakeholders that might make problem-solving process
complicated. In here, a leader needs to
show his leadership by giving a decision
on problems and executes it. As a result,
PT KAI under Jonan gains many successes
in facing problems and improves the performance of the organisation.
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