Discussion: Grant Improprieties

Introduction

Grant managers work in various sectors of organizations ranging from social service, education, business, non-profit, and health among others. Grant managers role in an organization includes oversight, design, development of grants. Additionally, grant managers are tasked with the duty of developing grant policies, practices, and procedures that guide both the staff of the organization and the grantees (Geever, 2012). In their line of duty, grant managers often come across some errors in proposals or grant applications. These errors are common but disastrous as they can cause embarrassment to the grant manager and the entire organization. The errors can also result in grave consequences such as loss of trust and confidence from the grantors leading to the unsuccessful application of grant fund. Therefore, it is mandatory that the grant manager deals with such errors to avoid embarrassment among other consequences. However, cleaning an embarrassing error does not require a grant manager to be extremely aggressive.

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Errors occur in everyday life in many situations around the workplace. More so, errors are common in written content such as grant proposal. As a grant manager, one must understand that errors do not occur intentionally, but rather randomly without the person making the error even realizing. Therefore, it is unnecessary for grant managers to employ excessive aggressiveness in correcting such errors. Grant managers can find a more civilized way of talking to the staff responsible for such errors and warning them of dire consequences of their mistakes. In essence, the grant manager needs to encourage the staff to carry out due diligence and pay attention to details when handling proposal or grant work (Ward, 2010). Being too aggressive with the staff may only create more problems in the future because the workers end up being disgruntled. Such a situation is not health both for the grant manager and for the staff working under the grant manager to fulfill their duties.

Grant manager's core skill and the requirement are being a great leader. As a leader, grant managers need to behave in a particular manner that portrays a positive image to the public, as well as those he leads. Being too aggressive is not a useful attribute for a leader. Moreover, a good leader must react and interact in a way that motivates employees rather than create resentment. Further, a grant leader who acts aggressively especially in front of his juniors creates a negative influence on them and promotes a resentful work environment. Thus, a grant leader needs to use less aggressive approaches in dealing with embarrassing errors arising from proposals and other grant activities (New & Quick, 2003). Taking such an approach promotes motivation and a positive work environment that in turn enhance the productivity of the employees. This will also ensure that employees will be keener in handling future work.

Conclusion

In conclusion, grant managers play a crucial role in the organization especially in developing and overseeing grant activities. Errors continuously arise from the grant managers' line of work that may lead to lack of trust and bad reputation. Thus, grant managers must effectively deal with these mistakes to protect the image of the organization and ensure quality and credibility. Though these mistakes are costly to the organization, the grant manager need not be excessively aggressive to deal with such errors. Applying proper communication and using conventional means of correcting staff is the best method to handle such situations.

References

Geever, J. C. (2012). The Foundation Center's guide to proposal writing . New York, New York: Foundation Center.

New, C. C., & Quick, J. A. (2003). How to write a grant proposal. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Ward, D. (2010). Effective grants management. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett.