A lack of leadership

I watched with great interest my former workplace descend into chaos brought about constant sniping, infighting and backstabbing. The leadership vacuum created by those holding positional power along with laissez faire management not only allowed this situation to develop - they encouraged it. 

The study of organisational behaviour is of special interest to me, these behaviours are textbook occurrences that occur in a leadership vacuum, this is unfortunately a government funded institution based solely on personal gain.

The behaviour by the majority of staff is poor, this is a taxpayer funded organisation with a charter to provide a service to citizens at a reasonable cost. The trouble with long-term government positions, people are elevated to roles well beyond their skill-set and capabilities.

What I learned with more than a decade in state government employment is the need to improve one's position at the exclusion of another. At the lower positions in a state government enterprise in the one upmanship and the need to white-ant fellow workers to achieve those goals.

Then there is the constant meetings with terms like teamwork used throughout yet I don’t see much application here. Leadership posters hanging on the wall everywhere, that is humorous in some respects yet sad in others.

So what needs to be done to correct this situation? Mission, vision and values statements need to be ingrained within the organisation at business unit level. This is all about culture and the application of values - this is what needs to occur.