Organisational Behaviour in Vidsoft Technologies - Essay Example

? Organisational Behaviour Table of Contents Summary of the leadership issues at Vidsoft 3 Recommendations for resolving the situation 4 Steps that could have been taken by Babatunde for avoiding the situation 4 Leadership steps for avoiding reoccurrence of similar situations in future 7 Reference 9 Summary of the leadership issues at Vidsoft Vidsoft Technologies is an internet company which develops softwares for meeting the procurement needs of customers. The company has been known for its high quality of service delivered to customers through a culture of teamwork, cooperative efforts, collaboration and solidarity among organization employees. However, along with the growth of the organization it has been confronting with leadership issues which are summarized in the following section; Babatunde’s who was the Technical Support Manager at Vidsoft initially applied his management style having a micro-management attitude where all his efforts went towards performance and success of the entire team. However, as number of team members kept growing, this management style felt short and it was increasingly difficult collaborating efforts and attaining a common consensus of all individuals in the group. Secondly, Babatunde’s leadership style represents a participative form of management style in which he allows participation of group members in the decision making process of the company. The participating style of management was effective in satisfying some of the members in the group; however, attaining the support of all members was impossible which resulted in creating distance, detachments and aloofness among employees (Dubrin, 2011, p.380). Thirdly, it is Babatunde’s decision to assign responsibilities to Li for managing one of the product lines is not accepted by all. Despite having valid reasons for nominating Li to the position, he does seem to be depicting a strong support over own decisions. Rather he is still in conflicting minds and lacks confidence over his decision. He seems to be trying to satisfy all members, however failing to do so. Moreover, it can also represent a poor form of management style in front of the employees who might eventually lose confidence on the management and its decisions. Recommendations for resolving the situation The previous section describes a situation in which the key gaps in the leadership attributes have been recognized and presented. However, certain revisions are to be made to overcome the problem situation through modification of the leadership styles and changing the ways of managing people. The recommendation for the same covers areas of appropriate leadership style for Vidsoft, the expected changes in the attributes of a leader, and some of behavioural changes in the leader. Steps that could have been taken by Babatunde for avoiding the situation Although it is crucial that Babatunde, being a leader empowers his people through the sharing of his power among team members and enhancing their feelings of personal effectiveness, too much reliance on the decision of team members must not be entertained. At present, Babatunde is seen to be representing the ‘country club’ leadership style according to the Managerial Grid presented by Blake and Mouton, and shown in the following figure. Figure 1: Managerial Grid by Blake and Mouton (Source: University of Kentucky, 2011, slide-19) According to the country club style of leadership he has been showing high concern for people, showing support and warmth towards followers, maintaining good relations with them, showing respect to their feelings and being sensitive to their needs. These attributes get reflected through the fact when he chose to allow Hsu to present his grievances against his decisions. Firstly this was allowance for Hsu to refuse to comply with his decisions. Hsu’s request to refuse to report to Li and further to be transported to a different support group which was supporting another product line shows an attempt to go against or flout the decisions that had been taken. His deepest for people also reflects from his decisions to hold a three way meeting with Hsu. This shows that he was more interested in resolving the personal interest of Hsu rather than meeting the business interest which required Hsu to work under Li. It is rather recommended that Babatunde follows ‘middle of the road’ style of leadership which means to strike a balance between the importance of tasks as well as for the people. In this particular case, it shows that the group of engineers working under Li was quickly adapting to her management style and was quite content with her. It was only Hsu who had allegations against her of lacking enough technical knowhow for the position she was holding. Thus Babatunde could have been strict about his decision about Li’s position and should not have allowed his decision to be questioned. This would serve the purpose of attaining consensus of the people at large as well as catering to the immediate business needs. Secondly, an important aspect to evaluate his leadership would be evaluation of the performance of his group members. Since Babatunde had complete confidence in Li, expecting that the education and skill she possessed would be required in the position even though she lacked technical skills and prior management skills. Babatunde could have implemented a program of evaluation of Li’s performance as a manager, keeping her in probation of six months. Her performance as a manager could be evaluated in terms of her group productivity, motivational skills, problem solving skills, and conflict resolutions skills. Then the improvement of performance of group members would be noted against previous performances. Moreover a system of performance appraisal could also be incorporated in which subordinates, or the group members, peers and seniors would evaluate her performance. The entire evaluation would reflect her results which would determine whether she would be fit for the position and would continue thereafter. This strategy would have been effective in avoiding the situation where subordinates questions the leaders’ decisions and refuse to comply with the same (Meindl & Shamir, 2007, p.29). A substantial success of a leader depends on the effectiveness of his communication skills. Leadership communication uses the complete range of resources and communication skills for delivering a message which provides direction, guides, motivates and inspires others. In this case study, Babatunde could have make use of effective communication for informing his employees about appointing Li to the position of manager. This would include providing a vivid explanation of why the decision had been made. It would highlight on her educational, experiential and behavioural capabilities, her past successes, achievements and performances. Members could be influenced by rationality of the decisions if they were supported by facts, logic and reasons. Hsu, who had been against Li being appointed as the manager could also be influenced and inspired in this way. Hsu could be influenced easily if the communication process was made transparent, unbiased and reflected the business interests that it meant to serve (Barrett, 2006, p.8). Leadership steps for avoiding reoccurrence of similar situations in future In future a supportive leadership style is recommended which means that Babatunde’s behaviour would not be exclusively aimed towards organizational goals, but rather supportive behaviours would be used to bring out the employees’ skills for performing the tasks. The supportive style of leadership would include listening to the employees’ queries, complimenting or praising them, asking for inputs and also providing feedback. Through the supportive style of leadership, Babatunde could keep the major decision making in his own hands and guide employees through the process. This would be effective in providing subordinates with the control with the regular decisions but at the same time facilitate problem solving in the organization. In Vidsoft, Babatunde could retain his discretion of appointing managers and employees at required positions without being questioned. At the same time he would guide his staff through the process to make them successful in their endeavours. The supportive style would be effective in handling discontentment occurring among group members in response to any decisions undertaken by the management and also keep the focus on staff performance. The main focus would be retained on task accomplishments and productivity through support, guidance and directions which could be in the form of training and development and discussions with staff (Northouse, 2009, p.94). The leadership style that Babatunde must incorporate must be performance driven. Thus any decisions of promotion, recognition, rewards or benefits must be driven by performance. This would help to avoid situations of resistance such as the case where Hsu refuses to work under Li. If the decision to promote Li had been supported by facts or records of prior consistent and high performance and backed by facts, it could have kept Hsu from resisting against the decision. This would allow maintaining support of staffs in the business decisions and at the same time attain their participation in task accomplishments and performances. Lastly, the leadership style of Babatunde could be focused on inspiring and motivating them to support the management’s business decisions rather than trying to gain the staffs’ approval for every decision making. This could be done through proper and effective communication systems. The decisions must be communicated to staffs highlighting on the benefits and advantages it was likely to bring. However, this would have to be done through rationality, supported adequately by logic, facts and figures. Enhancing the influential and inspirational ability of the leader could account for a determining factor for motivating and enhancing performances of staffs. Reference Dubrin, A. J. (2011). Essentials of Management. Cengage Learning. University of Kentucky. (2011). Theoretical Foundations. [Ppt]. Available at: http://www.uky.edu/~drlane/orgcomm/325ch03.ppt. [Accessed on September 29, 2011]. Meindl, J. R. & Shamir, B. (2007). Follower-centered perspectives on leadership: a tribute to the memory of James R. Meindl. IAP. Barrett, D. J. (2006). Leadership Communication: A Communication Approach for Senior-Level Managers. [Pdf]. Available at: http://scholarship.rice.edu/bitstream/handle/1911/27037/Leadership%20Communication%20-%20A%20Communication%20Approach%20for%20Senior-Level%20Managers%20-%20Barrett.pdf?sequence=2. [Accessed on September 29, 2011]. Northouse, P. G. (2009). Leadership: Theory and Practice. SAGE. Read More