1. GM502 | Leadership Theory and Practice I
1
Assignment Rubric
Unit 2 Assignment: The Leadership Challenge – Leadership
Credibility
This Assignment will assess your knowledge based on the
following outcome:
GM502-2: Develop leadership practice through the application
and integration of leadership theory.
Kouzes, and Posner (2012) state “What people most look for in
a leader (a person they would be willing to
follow) has been constant over time,” and cite these
characteristics as:
Honest
Forward-looking
Inspiring
Competent
(Kouzes & Posner, 2012).

2. Using the Kouzes & Posner, and Northouse readings in a 4–5
page APA compliant paper you will:
1. Provide an overview of the four characteristics described in
Kouzes and Posner.
2. Determine if these characteristics are indicative of the skills
or trait approach as described in Northouse.
3. Provide at least one example of a leader you have known or
have identified through research that has
demonstrated these characteristics. Include detail on how this
leader used these characteristics to increase the
effectiveness of the organization.
4. Identify the trait or characteristic that resonates with you the
most. Then provide a detailed action plan on how you
will incorporate this trait or characteristic into your own
leadership practice.
Reference
Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2012). The leadership challenge
(5th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Wiley.
Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership theory and practice (7th
ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Review the grading Rubric below before beginning this
Assignment.
Directions for Submitting your Assignment

3. Compose your Assignment in a Microsoft Word document and
save it as Username-GM502 Assignment-
Unit#.doc (Example: TAllen- GM502 Assignment-Unit 2.doc).
Submit your file by selecting the Unit 2:
Assignment in the Dropbox by the end of Unit 2.
GM502 | Leadership Theory and Practice I
2
GM502 Unit 2 Assignment: The Leadership Challenge –
Leadership Credibility
Point
Value
Your
Score
Content (50 points)
● Provide an overview of the four characteristics described in
Kouzes and Posner.
● Determine if these characteristics are indicative of the skills
or
trait approach as described in Northouse.
25

4. ● Identify a leader that you have known or have identified
through
research that has demonstrated these characteristics.
● Cite examples of what this leader has done to support your
choice.
● Identify the trait or characteristic that resonates with you the
most.
● Provide a detailed action plan on how you will incorporate
this
trait or characteristic into your own leadership practice. Be sure
to
include specifics on how you will incorporate this skill/trait and
how you will measure its effectiveness and results.
25
Analysis (30 points)
Work demonstrates synthesis of concepts, research, and
experience. 10
Work demonstrates the student’s ability to tie relevant
information to
real life applications.
10
Work demonstrates recognition of questions and problems.
These are
expressed precisely using relevant information and abstract
ideas to

5. support well-reasoned conclusions that can be tested against
relevant
criteria.
10
Writing (20 points)
Correct use of APA 6th edition format; all sources used to
support the
paper are referenced.
5
Sentences are clear, concise, and direct; tone is appropriate;
spelling,
grammar, and punctuation are correct.
15
Total 100
1
Running Head: communication information technology
communication information technology 8
;
Communication Information Technology

6. February 24, 2017
Introduction
The application of information technology and computers is one
of the most important things that should be embraced by
different healthcare organizations for purposes of improving the
efficiency as well as well the performance of hospitals. It I
important to note that the application of these technologies
leads to an increase in the speed of collecting important patients
historical data that may be used to offer high quality medical
services to them (Baselinemag, 2007). Additionally, the
application of these technologies play an important role in
assisting hospitals to organize as well as to store all the
patient’s data in a way that it can be traced easily and without
any hurdles. It is also important to note that the technology has
the ability to lock access to information like through the use of
encryption and passwords thus ensuring that no unauthorized
person can access any information in the facility (Wager, Lee,
& Glaser, 2013). Thus, the purpose of this paper will be to give
an analysis of the role of health officers in the process of
ensuring efficiency in the healthcare information technology
systems.
Define the fundamental responsibilities and key characteristics
of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Chief Technology
Officer (CTO) within health care organizations
Generally, a chief information officer can be defined as that

7. individual who has been given the authority to oversee the
development as well as the advancement of information
technology in a given healthcare setting. To fulfill his or her job
objectives effectively, a chief information officer is supposed to
make sure that there is appropriate involvement of medical
officers in the use as well as in the improvement of every
infrastructure that is related to information technology
(Baselinemag, 2007). Additionally, these individuals are also
mandated with the responsibility of creating roles as well as
appropriate knowledge linked to the use of information system
among all persons in a given healthcare facility.
On the other hand, the work of the Chief Technology
Officer is to invest his or her time and resources for purposes of
staying updated on any of the new technologies available and
make an appropriate evaluation of their applicability and
usefulness in the healthcare setting (Wager, Lee, & Glaser,
2013). Again, these individuals are also involved in the process
of evaluating the different standards of technology as well as
supervising the information technology managers. Additionally,
these individuals are also given the responsibility of evaluating
different managerial skills like return on investment when
trying to determine the kind of projects that the healthcare
organizations should implement (Wager, Lee, & Glaser, 2013).
Make one (1) recommendation where they can utilize their
expertise to assist with employee and patient satisfaction
Presumably, the key role of these officers is to ensure that the
operations of the healthcare facilities that they are attached to
are run in an efficient manner through the application of
appropriate information technology infrastructure. As such, the
two officers have a common duty of ensuring that the workers
in the organization where they work achieve the best in terms of
using the right information technology infrastructure. Thus, the
officers are supposed to make sure that the healthcare
employees receive the best training in the application of IT in
the hospital setting (Baselinemag, 2007). They also have the
ability to organize for trainings by holding workshops and

8. seminars. Through his organizations website, these officers may
develop appropriate chat box that will help the management to
chat and get the right feedback from the customers as well as
from other employees in the organization. They may also offer
their help to the healthcare facility by offering effective
consultancy services that will streamline the operations of the
healthcare facilities. The CTO is always responsible for all the
engineering works in the healthcare facility and he or she must
apply the available technology in enhancing the operations of an
organization (Difference between CTO and CIO | Difference
Between | CTO vs. CIO. (n.d.). Lastly, the CTO plays a
significant role in integrating technology with production in the
healthcare sector.
Developing technologies that health care systems apply
Recent research found out that most of the processes that
are carried out in different healthcare sectors call for the
application of technology. In this, it is important to note that
organizations are responsible in the process of defining and
using the available data in the process of developing appropriate
plans to improve the performances that happen in the
organization, reduce the costs and improve service delivery
(Wager, Lee, & Glaser, 2013). As such, the best two
technologies that may be employed by healthcare organizations
for purposes of improving the healthcare processes are that of
adding a Therapeutic Consultation Program as well as that of
implementing an Electronic Medical Record (Difference
between CTO and CIO | Difference Between | CTO vs. CIO.
(n.d.). The other best technology is that of adopting the Health
Information Exchange technology with e Prescribing.
The application of the Therapeutic Consultation Program
in the healthcare facilities plays a significant role in offering a
better outcome to all the patients having chronic conditions.
The application of this technology reduces the number of times
that individuals visit healthcare centers as well as making sure
that patients take their medication as properly prescribed. On
the other hand, the application of the Electronic Health Records

9. as well as the Health Information Exchanges with e Prescribing
plays an important role in reducing the costs of patients and
providing enough security through monitoring the safety of the
patients in different healthcare facilities where they are applied
(Baselinemag, 2007).
Additionally, the health information exchanges offer an
appropriate platform for the electronic health records to be
exchanged between different healthcare stakeholders and give
results that are then used to offer appropriate care to the
patients irrespective of their geographical location and time.
The application of e prescribing services in the healthcare
sector plays an important role in increasing the level of patient
satisfaction and efficiencies when offering their services.
Through the application of this technology, the pharmacists
always give the right prescription without having to guess what
the doctors had written.
Appropriate strategies to prevent information misuse
There are a number of methods that can be applied in the
process of making sure that information is not misused in
healthcare organizations and that patient privacy is strongly
upheld. It is important for the healthcare managements to note
that whether the process of giving information happens
intentionally or unintentionally, it could lead to some serious
information about the patients being leaked to different
unauthorized individuals (Difference between CTO and CIO |
Difference Between | CTO vs. CIO. (n.d.). As such, there is
always a need for the healthcare IT technicians to come up with
the right assets and technologies to protect the information of
their patients.
One of the best methods that could be applied in the
process of protecting organizational data is that of using data
encryptions. The use of data encryptions in the healthcare
facilities will make sure that the transfer of data from one
department to the other is secure and that no hackers will in
anyway access the data being exchanged in the healthcare
organizations (Baselinemag, 2007). Through this process, all

10. the data in the healthcare facilities will be kept off any changes,
will not be easily accessed thus remaining secure from any
source of interruptions that could lead to effectiveness in the
way in which data is organized and kept in the facilities
(Wager, Lee, & Glaser, 2013).
The other effective method that could be used is that of
embracing the use of passwords in all the systems that are
connected to the healthcare organization. The use of passwords
happens to be amongst the most commonly used methods of
protecting patient medical records. The application of this
method will entail the use of user Identification and a defining
PIN number that will authorize individuals to access these
systems effectively (Baselinemag, 2007). Through the
application of this method, all the information available in the
organization will be kept secure and away from different threats
that might be brought about by unauthorized system access.
Strategy for healthcare organizations to train providers
There are a number of strategies that might be used by different
organizations to offer effective training to their providers. One
of the best training strategies that might be applied by different
organizations is the process-based training. By definition, the
process-based training is a kind of training that makes different
employees to learn on how to use new systems in the
organization (Baselinemag, 2007). It is important to note that
the introduction of a new system in an organization will
definitely affect the flow of work in an organization thus the
need to learn on how to operate effectively.
The application of the process-based training by the
organization happens to be the most effective strategy as it
offers the much needed updates about the organization as well
as playing an important role in standardizing different policies
and procedures and entail that what could be termed as the best
practices for the employee’s training (Wager, Lee, & Glaser,
2013). Additionally, it is important to note that the processes
might significantly change from time to time and evolve from
one level to the other as employees learn more about the new

11. system for purposes of effecting their operations. Additionally,
having different issues come up at the time of training can
assist significantly in reducing the anxiety levels of the
employees during transition times.
Best practices in effective IT alignment
There are a number of practices that can be applied for
information technology alignment purposes. Thus, the best IT
alignment strategies to apply include the following.
Establishing an IT Steering Committee
The use of this strategy will work significantly in helping
those initiatives that do not work in the healthcare
organizations. These teams tend to work hand-in-hand with the
chief information officer (Wager, Lee, & Glaser, 2013). As
such, it is important to note that the CIO convinces the steering
committee to prioritize their issues for purposes of making the
organizations more effective.
Installing a high level Information Technology liaison in every
department
The other best strategy that could be applied is that of
coming up with an effective I.T liaison committee
(Baselinemag, 2007). Those who are put in this position tend to
play an important role in helping the organization to identify
the various ways that the organization’s departments can apply
technology and end up gaining a competitive advantage in the
market.
Produce and distribute a list of ongoing projects
There happens to be a need to come up with an updated
project after every month. The list is then distributed to the
Information technology department as well as to different
organization’s leaders (Wager, Lee, & Glaser, 2013).
Conclusion
To conclude, it is important to note that organizational
information should be guarded at any cost for purposes of
making the organization more effective and efficient in its

12. operations. As such, this paper has discussed a number of
aspects that are related healthcare information management as
well as defining the roles of different employees in the
organization. Through this, the reader has been equipped with
the right knowledge concerning the different issues that have
been discussed in the paper.
References
Baselinemag. (2007). Page 4 - I.T.-Business Alignment: 10 Best
Practices. Retrieved from http://www.baselinemag.com/c/a/Past-
News/ITBusiness Alignment-10 Best Practices/3/
Difference between CTO and CIO | Difference Between | CTO
vs. CIO. (n.d.). Retrievedfrom
http://www.differencebetween.net/business/difference-between-
cto-and-cio/#ixzz1fUQdhgPz
Wager, K. A., Lee, F. W., & Glaser, J. P. (2013). Healthcare
information systems: A practicalapproach to health care
management (3rd Ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass