Team Leadership - Case Study Example

Team Leadership Introduction to Team Formation and Group Dynamics A group is as good as a single player or an individual within it. This is so very true when we speak of the manner in which groups and teams are being made and dealt with these days. There have been many a number of individuals who have had exceptional talents, both in the field of sports as well as a number of other arenas of life. These people have ascended on the ladder of success with sheer hard work and commitment, which in its essence, is the key to attain and achieve success and fame. There have been great players, leaders and trendsetters amongst these who can be bracketed alongside the very best. One needs to understand what challenges they had to go through before the world understood their might and leadership ways were appreciated left, right and center. (Bonner, 1959) Leadership – Definition and Contextual Significance Leading is quite interpersonal in nature. It is not just the manager in an organization that is supposed to lead. It can even exist between employees. It has to do with mutual influence. All these are normally based on different theories and assumptions. Any style that is incorporated in management can be based on combination of preferences, values and beliefs. Organizational culture also plays a big role in influencing the leadership style used by management. Leadership style used by management plays a big role in affecting the success of the organization. A leader has to clearly understand the different types of leadership styles and their impacts on the organization. Good leadership always includes incorporation of all the leadership styles. Bad leadership just sticks to one style. Leadership is a very important aspect in any organization. This is because it greatly determines the success therein. There are various leadership styles that can be incorporated in overall running of an organization. There is authoritarian leadership which involves telling the employees what needs to be done and how the task should be done. This is very effective when employees are still new in an organization and they have no experience. In participative leadership, employees or other stakeholders are incorporated in the decision making process. It is normally very effective and makes employees to feel important in an organization. In delegative style of leadership, a leader entrusts decision making to employees. This is effective when employees have experience and are qualified. Good leadership always incorporates some authoritarian, participative and delegative style of leadership. Leadership Ethics For a group to become a high performance team, it needs to set ethics in place first and then go about implementing the same at all stages of the assignment or the task at hand. For this to happen, each one of the group members should be accountable to the whole clan as well as be asked to come clear in front of everyone over an issue or matter. Team performance eventually rises if the whole group works as a coherent unit and does not stray from the set path of action. The charter for the whole group needs to be set in place before they think of start working together, as well. Cultural Diversity in Leadership Regimes The impact of demographic diversities in a group means that more efforts are needed to be put in place so that each of the group members knows what his or her duty is and whether this person is communicated about the roles that are asked of him or her, both in the short term as well as the long run. Moreover, demographic changes mean that the leader has to focus more on a particular set of people or at times, the ones who are not very easy going along with the whole group. Hard work and commitment thus form the key in this whole equation of getting the best out of even the ordinary of people in the group. (Michaelsen, 2002) Similarly, we find out that cultural diversity can pose a number of problems for the group members but it is the duty of the leader of the group to make the group members hailing from different cultures to feel comfortable within the group and contribute to the best capacity they can, both as an individual and in the form of a group as a whole. At different stages of one’s career, an individual has to exhibit certain set of skills and qualities, which make him, stand out like nobody else. He has to portray the best of his character and bring out what is not present in the rest of the populace. He has to lead by example, a thing which people of present times usually lack and which is not that easily found in our society. It is extinct to say the least. Leadership Qualities Leadership qualities are not inborn or inherent, they have to be developed with the passage of time and one needs to comprehend the fact that it requires strenuous exercise and a certain set of power that is needed by the man of courage, determination and dedication. Leadership qualities require that the leader gets the best out of the group members no matter how hard and trying the circumstances are. The odds might be tough at times but it is the leader’s tact and sheer discipline that can turn the tides in the favor of the group rather than the other side. However the role of a team leader cannot be denied its due place in the related context of things nonetheless. Organizational Domains of Leadership A company or an organization needs sound management framework at its top so that the staff and the employees working at different levels feel at ease with the job as well as the working environment. This indeed is very important as it builds long-term credibility of the organization that it cares about its employees and not just the customers and in cases profits and revenues only. (Sanna & Parks, 1999) A formal organization takes into account the role of leadership at the top and the manner in which this leadership is basically carried about, both in the interests of the people within the company as well as the company itself so that the end result is one on which everyone solemnly agree, that is to make the company thrive from a revenue-generating angle and image building aspect in the long run. Thus it is also pertinent that the top management inculcates the subject of working in team rather than being loner in different projects so that the end result is a clear manifestation of the people with their respective whole hearted efforts and dedication levels exceeding what was expected of them in the first place. Top management needs to understand its due role here and advise all and sundry as to how the employees should work as teams and bring about the best result possible. For this to happen, the firm must make sure the reservations of the teams be met beforehand and they are shown encouragement and given support whenever need be or at times when the need is not that much. The idea is to be proactive and taking the lead than being reactive, after a problem has occurred and the solution is being found. The informal structure of an organization lays the foundation for the formal hierarchy, as people are more easily able to relate to each other as well as to the company for which they are working day in day out. This informal structure builds a sense of trust and belonging within the people and they can easily contribute to the single basic benefit on which the company has housed its attention upon, either to earn benefits at an exorbitant rate or to satisfy the customers/consumers with no holds barred. The grapevine can really build the basis for the formal structure and becomes quite a factor in the final analysis. Self-Management of Team Leadership In order to make teams self-managing, it is important for the team to realize its potential, both from the team’s perspective as well as on an individual level. This asks for making the team members realize their true potential in a manner which is easy to comprehend. (Fink, 2002) A team needs to be a single whole to perform in the best manner possible and it is only possible when the group members realize their attachment and involvement with the group. Without the same, there would be anarchy and chaos which cannot be the cornerstone of any group at all. It needs to be emphasized here that the success of a group is the success of each and every individual who worked hard and toiled for it to achieve in the first place and vice versa. Rather than pinpointing the weaknesses of certain group members, focus should be more on exploiting the strengths and hitting on the areas where potential opportunities can come out from, within an individual who is a part of a group. This will definitely increase the chances of better team performance and positive results. Delegation within Team Ethos In an office place, there are certain instances when it is best to choose different people for the various jobs that are assigned in the working environment. This holds true for the rationale that a single person cannot and will not be able to do his work as well as the additional burden that is thrust upon him with zeal and enthusiasm. Hence the need of the hour is to understand that employees and workers need a manager to comprehend their shortcomings in the field of work and thus be assigned tasks and responsibilities in line with the same. It has been seen that at times, the top line personnel present in offices delegate jobs and assignments to their sub-ordinates without even thinking that the same might not be the correct manner and mode of action as to go about carrying out the tasks and responsibilities. They think that delegation would prosper a sense of getting more work within the sub-ordinates who themselves are pretty much occupied with their already assigned tasks and jobs. This is hence not the correct manner in which things should be done and hence a need has to be chalked out to ramify the very same problem. The best possible diversity that could be made in this regard is to appoint top line managers who understand the psyche of the people working under him or her or on the same level as his so that he or she can get a grasp as to what employees usually are best suited at and what they do not prefer under certain strenuous conditions in the office place environment. As a consequence, being able to do more work is definitely considered a plus and an added advantage for an employee but this should not, under any level, exceed his capabilities and skill sets. He must be assigned the amount of work which is proportionate with his pay, already set working conditions and more so the skills on the basis of which he was selected in the first place. Managing through Sound Leadership Values Diversity therefore could be pinpointed in the area of managing these people well with the help of a manager who not only takes care of them but also acts as a person who is professional and knows how to get work done from his specialists, technicians and other sub-ordinates present at various levels within the very company. This manager thus not only plans their work that they have to carry out within a specific period of time but also organizes their routines, looks after them both from the company and the human perspectives, and not to forget his integration skills which are deemed so very necessary for involving people and their commitment towards their assigned tasks and jobs over a period of time. Lastly, he also measures their performance that they have done over this time period. This measurement tool goes against a number of managers in the work environment of present times as it is usually very difficult to get a hang of because employees feel that the managers were the one to guide them along and hence they should also be held accountable in cases of extreme failure where the burden only falls on the person who carried out a task or a job. This is pretty much true of the negative aspects related with managing people and treating them fairly. Conclusion In the end, one must realize that a group is better than an individual working in his own capacity. This group can bring forward much better results as compared to the individuals working alone. All said and done, it is the commitment level of the group that makes the notion of team dynamics such an easy and viable option in the whole ball game of working for the attainment of results in an effective and efficient manner. BIBLIOGRAPHY Bonner, Hubert, 1959, Group Dynamics Principles and Application. Ronald Press, USA Fink, L Dee, 2002, Team-Based Learning: A Transformative Use of Small Groups. Praeger, Edition 1 (30 December, 2002), New York Michaelsen, Larry K, 2002, Team-Based Learning: A Transformative Use of Small Groups. Praeger, Edition 1 (30 December, 2002), New York Sanna, Lawrence J, Parks, Craig D, 1999, Group Performance and Interaction. Westview Press (December 1998), USA Word Count: 2,164 Read More