American Red Cross: Leadership & Communication
Precious Teasley
Southern New Hampshire University
OL-665-X2120 Lead/Manage Not-For-Profit Org 23TW2
Dr Gaye Warren
January 9, 2024
American Red Cross: Leadership & Communication
The American Red Cross is a nonprofit organization operating in the United States. The Red Cross organization is well-known throughout the world for its humanitarian assistance during times of calamity. Similar initiatives are carried out in the US, where the American Red Cross is renowned for providing aid to victims during natural disasters. The American Red Cross’s main duties as a humanitarian organization are emergency assistance, disaster relief, and teaching about disaster preparedness (American Red Cross, 2023). The American Red Cross is one of the nation’s greatest charitable organizations and its immense impact on numerous lives. Due to its impact various strategic aspects have to be considered. These include its communication and leadership strategies. The organization is renowned due to its leadership and communication strategies. This paper analyzes the leadership and communication strategies of the organization
Leadership
The type of board structure at the American Red Cross is governing board. The Board of Governors is in charge of managing the organization’s business and affairs. It possesses all these authorities. The American Red Cross’s corporate governance guidelines are outlined in the organization’s Congressional Charter (Red Cross, 2023). This type of board structure has its advantages and disadvantages. The governing board at American Red Cross bears the ultimate duty for guaranteeing that the organization fulfils its objective and for the general well-being of the organization. This type of board establishes policies, makes sure the organization to comply with legal and regulatory obligations, and makes sure it works in the best interests of its stakeholders. The executive team is answerable to the board for their choices and actions. In order to guarantee openness and responsible management, they examine financial documents, keep an eye on performance indicators, and encourage moral behavior. However, the drawbacks for this type of board structure include possible conflicts of interest by the board of governors, higher expenses related to director salary, and the requirement for efficient communication and teamwork among board members.
The American Red Cross as a non-profit organization relies on volunteers who make up most of its human capital. The management has adopted various strategies that ensure they are able to attract and retain the best talent which includes employees and volunteers. The strategy involves transparency and communication. This is a people management strategy that ensures the roles and responsibilities of individuals are clearly outlined to attract efficient workers. The internal communication systems are well set to ensure any promotions start internally.
Leadership is a key factor to the success of one of the oldest nonprofit organizations in the United States. The leadership style at the organization is affiliative leadership. This style of leadership is effective when teammates are under pressure or need time to recover from a traumatic event. It also encourages optimism, harmony in the workplace, and teamwork. In order to foster a sense of belonging and trust, this leadership style places a strong emphasis on resolving conflicts amicably and developing close relationships between subordinates and superiors. The Red Cross operates in crisis mode and takes quick action over extended periods of time. A centralized corporate board structure is effective during periods of crisis.
Communication
The American Red Cross employs efficient communication techniques in its daily operations to meet client expectations and carry out its mandate in an efficient manner (Rubin et al. 2009). The company uses a strategic communication method for internal communication, which helps employees contribute to the achievement of the organization’s goals and mission. The American Red Cross has been promoting the main participants in the transformational procedure by developing and implementing a multi-channel communication strategy over the past few years.
The American Red Cross has a public relations strategy that involves making the most of new social media tools. This involves a policy of interacting with curious and involved influencers. The role of influencers is immense in public relations especially in amplifying PR efforts (Tworzydło et al., 2019). This includes reaching out and maintaining contact with the individuals who are assisted, the organization, funders, supporters, and volunteers.
The American Red Cross uses various communication strategies that help in advancing their goals and mission. This involve the use of multiple modes of communication which include social media, emails, face-to-face communication and others. The use of multiple mode of communication helps in achievement of the organization’s goals and mission.
Conclusion
The board structure at the American Red Cross is the board of governors. This is an effective structure that ensures aspects like accountability and effective utilization of resources. This kind of board involves having different professionals who will contribute differently to decision-making. The affiliative leadership style at the organization helps in promoting good communication strategies both internally and externally. This helps in help in advancing their goals and mission. The leadership and communication strategies at the organization have been key to its success over the years.
References
Rubin, R. B., Rubin, A. M., Graham, E. E., Perse, E. M., & Seibold, D. (2010).
Communication research measures II: A sourcebook. Routledge.
Tworzydło, D., Życzyński, N., & Wajda, M. (2019). Influencers as support for public relations campaigns.
Marketing of Scientific and Research Organizations,
31(1), 131-150.
