Leadership, Team-building, and Communication - Essay Example

Leadership, Team building, and Communication Organizational leadership started before 1940. Studies were paying attention to thepersonalities, skills and values of those who were perceived to be natural leaders. However, studies on traditional forms of leadership did not pay attention to universal leadership traits that facilitate success. Leaders were expected to have the ability to plan, organize and coordinate. They are also supposed to be inspirational and considerate to their subordinates. This created a dichotomy in traditional leadership forms. They are job-centric and employee-centric leadership style. Most of the traits revolved around the behavioral approach of leadership (Nelson & Campbell, 2012). Contingency leadership traits were added to the traditional aspects of leadership after it was discovered that the studies were not conclusive. Contingency approach considered the environmental aspects of leadership. Modern forms of leadership tend to focus on transformational skills. Leaders are expected to a psychological appeal to the subjects with an aim of making them like when job they do (Runde & Flanagan, 2010). This also involved raising a team of leaders who share in the same vision and mission. Modern leadership and emerging leadership places emphasis on strategy and results. This paper intends to discuss Apple Inc. organization and its leadership models and strategy (Nelson & Campbell, 2012). The current leadership in the world’s most valuable company is Tim Cook. He has instigated a number of fundamental changes after the demise of his predecessor, Steve Jobs. Tim Cook is known to have created a relaxed atmosphere in Apple Inc. Steve was known to have polarizing mood swings which occasionally created tension. The new CEO’s temperament is even. Most employees believe he is always upbeat and fun. The current Apple Inc. leadership is willing to release less than perfect products into the market. Apple Inc. has created its brand and reputation around perfection. The current leadership is still going through a transition. The company is mostly known under its late charismatic CEO. While Jobs insisted on perfection, the new leadership has been seen to releases products, which have deficiencies according to some customers. Organizational stressors entail job roles than cause stress (Nelson & Campbell, 2012). The responsibility and job assignment can lead to job overload. Depending on the amount of work being done and the nature of the schedule in the workplace, a role can be a source of stress. Employees are often under constant pressure to perform. This makes them uncomfortable in the job place (Runde & Flanagan, 2010). According to Runde & Flanaga (2010), this can be solved by avoiding job overloads for employees and ensuring reasonable schedules for the workers. Improper working condition is another source of organizational stress. The physical conditions and infrastructure can be a potent source of inconvenience when they are malfunctioning. For instance, in a technological multinational like Apple Inc. server failure can be a significant source of stress and inconvenience for both employees and customers. Organizational politics are known to cause stress among employees (Nelson & Campbell, 2012). Radical changes in the leadership personalities and models can have a profound effect (West, 2012). According to West, unhealthy competition between departments and internal power struggles can result in discouraging team members. Most workers join organizations with the aim of developing their careers (Runde & Flanagan, 2010). However, when the employees’ skills are underutilized, they end up being de-motivated. This results in absenteeism and role ambiguity. It also creates dissatisfaction and instability in organizations (Nelson & Campbell, 2012). For workers to perform their roles effectively, they need to be motivated in their line of specialization (Nelson & Campbell, 2012). This can be avoided by using professionals and inspirational leadership in organizations. Workers need to work as a unit through unification of purpose and mission. The organizational leadership should ensure infrastructure is compliant to the latest technology to give the company a competitive advantage (Runde & Flanagan, 2010). Organizational success depends of effective teamwork (West, 2012). Effective teamwork needs a positive organizational culture at the organization. The culture must be open and invigorating. Negative rivalry and infighting should be discouraged (Runde & Flanagan, 2010). A creative and creative work environment is the best to harness teamwork. Another positive team element is giving the team members recognition for outstanding performance (Nelson & Campbell, 2012). Recognition is essential for organizational success. The team should be encouraged to approach success with a group attitude rather that individual goals (Runde & Flanagan, 2010). Team workers need challenges and opportunities for them to work hard. Therefore, it motivates teams when new opportunities are created. Workers are motivated by new challenges and opportunities. This helps the team members plan their long-term career goals and assess their personal progress and value (West, 2012). According to West, teams are motive by the element of positive feedback. When feedback is missing, confusion is created leading to disappointment. It creates a situation where workers do not know how to improve. Feedback can be both formal and informal. However, for feedback to be effective, it must be specific and objective (Nelson & Campbell, 2012). It can be given in public and private depending on the nature of the assignment and the message being passed. Team members must be willing to learn and try out new ideas. This enhances innovation and complementary contributions to the team members and the organization at large (West, 2012). This created an avenue for the unique talents and capabilities of individual members of the team (Nelson & Campbell, 2012). It discourages mediocrity and creates and team with shared skills and knowledge which is indispensable for organizational success (Runde & Flanagan, 2010). Through training and joint project ventures strong teams can be developed at Apple Inc. The potential sources of conflict in Apple Inc. work groups are lack of leadership. This is a significant challenge in many organizations (Runde & Flanagan, 2010). It is the duty of the team leader to give objective leadership. When team members are misguided, the waste both time and resources. They also lack a sense of direction which kills their morale. Lack of a common goal leads to time mismanagement of time (West, 2012). The other source of conflict is the lack of commitment. The causes some team members to be over worked. It can also lead to the collapse of an entire project. Lack of resources or underfunding team projects causes teams not to accomplish their goals leading to frustrations (Runde & Flanagan, 2010). Runde & Flanaga argue that, when success is not measured in the organization, teams can end up in conflicts. This is because teams are motivated by results. In order to overcome these conflicts proper conflict management styles need to be used. Team leader should be objective and professional in his role (Nelson & Campbell, 2012). This would encourage healthy competition within the team due to motivation. Team members should compromise to accommodate each other’s views (West, 2012). The leader should facilitate collaboration with an aim of improving the quality of results. Teams should learn to own both success and failure collectively. Team members should strive to avoid discouraging others by being a burden to being reluctant in the duties; they are assigned while working on the project (Nelson & Campbell, 2012). Team members should accommodate each other’s views and short coming (Runde & Flanagan, 2010). According to Runde & Flanagan (2010), this is essential for the success of the Apple Inc. projects and organizations at large. This would encourage measuring of success and clear team leadership with works through motivation. The most crucial conflict management style is collaborating. It leads to harmony and enhances productivity in team work. It has got the potential to address all sources of team conflicts. The most common communication barrier in team work is the difference in perspectives leading to polarization (West, 2012). The other barrier is a lack of trust (Nelson & Campbell, 2012). This goes together with distractions which take the center stage at the expense of team projects and achievement. This culminates in a physical separation and lack of contact among the group members. Whenever team members operate independently, then communication errors increase exponentially (West, 2012). These barriers destroy the team spirit and common objectivity leading to the death of projects. To address communication barriers, team members should be given a chance to vent out their concerns any time. Team members should learn to address their differences with professional decorum so that they do not affect the purpose of the team and the anticipated goals. References Nelson, D. L., & Campbell, J. (2012). Organizational Behavior: Science, the Real World, and You (8th ed.). Cengage Learning. Runde, C. E., & Flanagan, T. A. (2010). Becoming a Conflict Competent Leader: How You and Your Organization Can Manage Conflict Effectively (1st ed.). John Wiley & Sons. West, M. A. (2012). Effective Teamwork: Practical Lessons from Organizational Research (3rd ed.). John Wiley & Sons. Read More