Advise on Ways of Increasing the Quality of Leadership and Improving Teamwork Success - Coursework Example

Advise on ways of increasing the quality of leadership and improving teamwork success Introduction The development of businesses worldwide has been related with their ability to continuously improve their leadership style achieving a high level of cooperation and communication in their internal environment. The importance of leadership has been highlighted in the literature and the empirical research; in the study of Lussier et al. (2009, 4) it is noted that leadership is one of the most crucial factors for the success of businesses worldwide; moreover, it is made clear that leadership does not refer only to an enterprise’s central management unit but it is also related with the administration and the supervision of all organizational sectors; it is mentioned, as an example, that the success of the Domino’s Pizza chain is based on the form of leadership used: the manager of each store can act as a leader – proposing his own strategies – applying, however, the firm’s ethics and principles. Lussier et al. also mention the case of Enron (2009, 4) as an example of a firm where the failure of leadership to follow the ethical standards of the US market led to the firm’s collapse. In other words, leadership can have a decisive role in the development of a business – this role can be either positive or negative in the context described above. However, the leader cannot practice his power on a business without the participation of the employees – the latter apply the leader’s rules and plans and develop the various organizational activities – as assigned to them by the leader. In this context, any suggestions for the improvement of the quality of leadership should be combined with an effort to improve the level of cooperation within the organization; the improvement of teamwork success in a specific organization would be the proof that the quality of leadership in the particular organization has been improved. However, improving the quality of leadership can be a challenging task; suggestions are made in this paper for the achievement of the above task – taking into consideration the fact that the success of this plan is depended on the simultaneous improvement of team working across the organization – in the context described above. The case of Apple is mentioned as an indicative example of the potential success of organizations in which their leaders have set the improvement of teamwork as a priority. 2. Methods for increasing the quality of leadership and improving teamwork success Because the structure, the aims and the resources of businesses worldwide are different, the methods suggested for the improvement of the quality of leadership in these organizations cannot be identical – similarities are expected to exist but points of differentiation can also be many. In the study of DuBrin (2009) it is noted that ‘the best way to achieve effective leadership is to integrate the task and relationship orientations’ (DuBrin, 2009, 117); the main point of this suggestion is that leaders in modern organizations have to be able to align the business goals with the employees’ potentials and needs; organizational plans that are designed without taking into consideration the employees’ needs and competencies are likely to fail. Using the above view, the quality of leadership in a specific organization can be improved only by aligning the business goals with the employees’ needs and competencies. In accordance with Lumsden et al. (2009) the identification of the measures that could help towards the improvement of the quality of leadership cannot be achieved without referring primarily to the content and the nature of leadership; in other words, it is not possible to suggest the practices that should be incorporated in a specific organization in order for the quality of its leadership to be improved without having identified in advance the needs and the characteristics of this organization. Lumsden et al. (2009, 28) emphasize on the importance of communication as a key element of leadership; by enforcing communication within an organization a leader can also help to the improvement of the teamwork success. Hill et al. (2009) highlight another aspect of leadership: its potential role as an indicator of superiority towards the competitors; in fact, this is not a common leadership style; it rather refers to the superior position of a firm in the market because of one or most key advantages towards its competitors; in this context, a firm that has the lowest prices in its sector is considered to be the cost-leader in the particular sector. The leadership in this case is related with the business practices and not with the characteristics or the decisions of the person that has the overall supervision of the organizational activities. Even in the leadership of this type, the cooperation of employees is decisive for winning the first position in a particular sector – keeping this position in the long term is also depended on the employees’ participation in the relevant activities. The improvement of the quality of leadership in the above case – the one highlighted in the study of Hill et al. (2009) – is based on the provision of the necessary support to the employees; if the job satisfaction is kept at high levels then the firm is likely to keep the leading position in its sector. It is expected that the support – at a personal and a professional level - of employees will lead to the improvement of the teamwork success – in any case the leadership style applied on a particular organization has to be used as the basis for the development of the proposals related with the improvement of quality of leadership in the specific organization (Northouse, 2009, 116). The study of Holbeche (2009, 4) emphasizes on the continuous change of business needs and priorities; in accordance with his view, the improvement of leadership quality could be achieved only by understanding the differentiations in the business goals and objectives – a fact related with the changes in the market trends but also in the technology used for the development of various organizational activities. Following the above view, the suggestions on the improvement of the quality of leadership would be based on these criteria: a) the increase of cooperation between the leader and the employees and b) the increase of the leader’s involvement in organizational activities of various levels. Through the above policies the teamwork success would be increased; it would be important that the leader actively supports the teamwork. The potential methods for improvement of teamwork have been examined by Rosenhauer (2009); in his study, the following methods are proposed as potential methods for improving teamwork: ‘a) a shared belief in teams and b) strong goal setting and accomplishment’ (Rosenhauer, 2009, 12). From a similar point of view, Doherty et al. (2009) note that teamwork can be enforced only under the following two conditions:’ a) each individual – member of the team – involved makes a strong effort to support the activities delegated to his team and b) the leader of the team listens the issues highlighted by the members of the team’ (Doherty et al., 2009, 167) – i.e. the level of communication within a specific organization is directly related with the success of teamwork in this organization. 2a. Exploring leadership effectiveness through the case of Apple (Steve Jobs) Apple is among the leading firms in the electronics/ computer industry worldwide; the practices of its leader, Steve Jobs, have been considered as decisive for the firm’s development in the global market. More specifically, Steve Jobs, has tried to encourage the active participation of the employees in the development of organizational plans – employees are not only the persons that execute the orders of the firm’s leader – they are free to make their own suggestions on the plans introduced across the organization; the continuous support and development of team working has been the key for the success of Apple in all markets around the world. The leadership competencies of Steve Jobs have been analyzed in the literature; in fact, his practices have helped researchers in the specific field to identify the factors that affect the quality of leadership. One of the most important characteristics of Jobs’ leadership style has been the encouragement and support of cooperation across the organization; an indicative example of such kind has been Jobs’ initiative to ‘bring needed technical personnel; these people helped Apple to obtain adequate financing and improved marketing’ (Yammarino et al., 2009, 350). Steve Jobs does not behave to the employees as a typical manager does; rather, he tries to encourage creativeness and innovation within the organization; the inspiration of employees has been a priority for Steve Jobs (Bertocci, 2009, 46). Another aspect of Jobs’ leadership style is described in the study of Griffin et al. (2009); it seems that Jobs’ behaviour towards the employees was not standardized; Jobs is characterized by ‘brilliance, originality and charm’ (Griffin et al., 2009, 328); but it could also be ‘arrogant and hypercritical’ (Griffin et al., 2009, 328); these facts can lead to the assumption that the development of specific policies for the improvement of the quality of leadership and the improvement of the teamwork success may be a challenging task; in fact, the response of employees to specific leadership practices can be differentiated across organizations; it is also possible that teamwork is encourages in certain organizations while in other it is regarded as an unnecessary practice. 3. Conclusion Leadership has a decisive role in the development and the survival of firms worldwide; the improvement of its quality has been found to be related with the simultaneous improvement of the team work success; Peltier (2009, 332) notes that leadership can be good or bad; its quality can be depended on a series of factors; its role in the organization can be either supportive or disastrous. The qualities of a successful leader are described in the study of Harrison et al. (2009); in accordance with the above researchers, a successful leader needs to: ‘a) he/ she must create or design the organization’s purpose, vision and core values, b) the leader must oversee the creation of policies that translate purpose, vision and core values into business decisions and c) the leader should create an environment for organizational learning’ (Harrison et al., 2009, 66). The qualities presented above could be used as the basis for the evaluation of a leader as successful or not; however, since the characteristics and structure of organizations can be differentiated – in the context described above – it would be possible for leaders to be successful even if they don’t meet all the above criteria – the case of Steve Jobs who used to respond differently in employees’ initiatives is an indicative example of such kind. Through the years, the organizational goals and priorities are differentiated – leadership quality is also affected; characteristics of quality have to be changed in order to meet the trends and the demands of the market. The literature developed in the specific field – as indicatively presented above – leads to the assumption that the improvement of quality of leadership can be achieved using different criteria and methods; in any case, teamwork remains a key organizational aspect; the improvement of teamwork can be achieved by improving primarily the quality of leadership; additional measures would be also required – as explained using the relevant literature. References Bertocci, D., 2009. Leadership in Organizations: There Is a Difference Between Leaders and Managers. University Press of America Doherty, G., Andrews, B., 2009. From Crisis to Recovery: Strategic Planning for Response, Resilience and Recovery. Loving Healing Press DuBrin, A., 2009. Leadership: Research Findings, Practice, and Skills. Cengage Learning Griffin, R., Moorhead, G., 2009. Organizational Behavior: Managing People and Organizations. Cengage Learning Hill, C., Jones, G., 2009. Strategic Management Theory: An Integrated Approach. Cengage Learning Harrison, J., St John, C., 2009. Foundations in Strategic Management. Cengage Learning Holbeche, L., 2009. Aligning Human Resources and Business Strategy. Butterworth-Heinemann Lumsden, G., Lumsden, D., Wiethoff, C., 2009. Communicating in Groups and Teams: Sharing Leadership. Cengage Learning Lussier, R., Achua, C., 2009. Leadership: Theory, Application, & Skill Development. Cengage Learning Northouse, P., 2009. Leadership: Theory and Practice. SAGE Peltier, B., 2009. The Psychology of Executive Coaching: Theory and Application. CRC Press Pride, W., Hughes, R., Kapoor, J., 2009. Business. Cengage Learning Rosenhauer, S., 2009. Teams and Teamwork as the Basis of Effectiveness: Developing Business Knowledge: an Independent Learning Approach. GRIN Verlag Yammarino, F., Dansereau, F., 2009. Multi-Level Issues in Organizational Behavior and Leadership. Emerald Group Publishing Read More