How the Team Can Make Use of Strengths - Term Paper Example

?Part A: Leadership Handbook Scoring Rubric Aspect Criteria 0=Unsatisfactory Needs Improvement 2=Satisfactory Articulation of Response (clarity, organization, mechanics) The handbook demonstrates unsatisfactory articulation of response. The handbook demonstrates weak articulation of response. The handbook demonstrates adequate articulation of response. Score: 2 Comments: the book clearly addresses the issues that it seeks to address and the responses are adequate enough. Cohesiveness (consistent look and feel) The handbook is not cohesive. The handbook has cohesive elements but is not consistent overall. The handbook is cohesive and has a consistent look and feel. Score: 2 Comments: the book is cohesive and consistent. The flow of information is consistent and the topics follow each other in a logical sequence Overall Presentation (visual elements, report format) The overall presentation of the handbook is not satisfactory and does not include visual elements or a report format. The handbook presentation is satisfactory for some of the sections but not for the entire handbook. The handbook provides an effective overall presentation with visual elements and all articles are in report format. Score: 1 Comments: most of the book is presented in a satisfactory way. There are however some cases in which some improvements such as in the table in page 14. Comprehensiveness The handbook does not provide comprehensive coverage of the selected leadership topics. The handbook provides some comprehensive coverage of the selected leadership topics but does not include major content areas critical for a new manager. The handbook provides a comprehensive coverage of the selected leadership topics and includes the major content areas critical for a new manager. Score: 2 Comments: the book chooses several topics and goes on to address them comprehensively. The book covers the major content areas that would be helpful to a new manager. In-Text Citations and References in APA Format The handbook does not include in-text citations or references. The handbook includes appropriate in-text citations and less than 3 references with several major APA formatting errors. The handbook includes appropriate in-text citations and at least 3 references accurately or with only minor APA formatting errors. Part B: Leading a Team Introduction From the various tasks that I have been engaged in, I have aimed to maintain a high level of integrity in my work, and remain accountable in the line duty. I have strived to ensure that the quality of my work is as expected. However, I have the self-awareness to recognize that I do have my strengths and weaknesses. The strengths that I possess enable me to be more efficient at my work while the weaknesses may sometimes hinder me from producing the best possible results in my work. Question 1: How the Team can Make Use of My Strengths A notable strength that has helped me achieve success in my work, which may enable me achieve the set objectives in the workplace is the ability to meet the set deadlines within the required amount of time. In meeting the deadlines I was still able to come up with work that was of high quality. This attribute can be used in the team to ensure that the members do not lag behind which would slow the entire team. The team can also make use of this strength to ensure that people do not do the work hurriedly without taking into consideration the quality of the work. Question 2: How to Improve on my Weaknesses One of the weaknesses that I have is that I lack the ability to contribute to a collaborative team environment. During the teamwork, I failed to effectively contribute to the team’s collaborative effort. In improving this weakness, I resolved to be more proactive in group activities as opposed to remaining passive, and only performing the duties that were assigned to me. This will help me develop the ability to be an effective team player. Question 3: How My Team Realized its Goals The team was able to achieve the purpose for its establishment. The team met its targets within the intended time span. The work that the team came up with was also of high quality. In deciding on what should be done and the best content for the project, the team took the shortest time possible while assuring that the members were in agreement. The involvement and communication with those outside the team were effective, which helped the team in achieving its goals. With strategies such as effective communication and effective conflict resolution methods, the team was able to meet its targets and achieve its goals. Question 4: How the Team Applied Motivation Strategies In the course of meeting the set targets, several motivation methods or strategies were used. The members of the team aimed these at the improvement of the quality of work. It is important for motivational strategies to be adopted for the purpose of boosting morale by the employees and to ensure that the tasks are completed promptly and that there is a high quality of work. One of the strategies used was to maintain the health of all the team members. This is because people cannot work in poor health. The health is both physical and mental. In the team, employee motivation was maintained by ensuring a positive working environment in which people were allowed to share their views and express their opinions. Everyone was allowed to deal with the area in which they felt more competent while improving on their weaker areas. The creation of a positive working environment is an important strategy in motivation as people are likely to leave a team if they do not feel included or if they are unhappy with the working environment. Motivation was also maintained through the provision of room for personal accomplishment. In carrying out the different tasks, input and effort by the individual was recognized and credited. This was important in keeping a positive spirit within the team. All members were also assured of their position within the team, which minimized the risk of internal competition within the team. Internal conflicts within teams usually have the effect of making people lose focus on the team goal as they focus on how each can outdo the other. By assuring the team members of their positions within the team and with the clear division of duties and responsibilities, the team members remained motivated and focused on the team goals. This made it easy for the team to be successful. The motivation strategies that were adopted by the team were effective as all members of the team remained to the completion of the project (West, 2004). Question 4: How Effectively My Team Utilized Influence Strategies to Exert Influence over the Team Outcomes or Deliverables In any given team setting, it is important to have the ability to use influence strategies. These methods used to influence others. Within the team, there are different strategies that are put in place to influence the outcome of the activities of the team. Within the team, this was used to get acceptance for proposals when they were not unanimously accepted. The focus was then shifted to the building of the relationships within the team, and on building a mutual understanding between the members of the team. After the building of understanding, and trust among team members, it became very practical to re-introduce the proposal. This method influenced most of the outcomes of the team as it helped in building team spirit and cooperation amongst members. It also ensured that proposals were acceptable to the team and this led to the team owning the proposals, which in turn motivated them to work on the assigned tasks and to achieve the team’s objectives. In the process of building consensus within the team, the input and opinions of different members were considered. The team applied this strategy to improve the proposals. It also proved to be a time and cost saving strategy as opposed to trying to force people to accept the proposals or attempting to divide the members of the team. Question 5: Effectiveness of the Team’s Communication Plan Effective communication is an important factor in determining whether a team will achieve its objectives within the given period or not. Effective communication within a team means the correct exchange of information by the rightful members of the team. It also means that the people who interact with the team receive proper information in good time. The team adopted the communication strategy of ensuring that the use of the right medium of communication depending on the message that was being passed on. Most of the communication took place within the team meetings. This strategy was effective as it ensured that miscommunications remained minimal. It also ensured that immediate feedback was sought. This provided the team members with an opportunity to seek clarifications and respond appropriately to the issues at hand. By minimizing the miscommunications, the team was able to work more effectively (Maginn, 1994). Question 6: Effectiveness of the Team’s Conflict Resolution Strategies Conflicts are an unavoidable part of the team interaction process. It is important to put in place effective measures to deal with the inevitable conflict. The team in dealing with conflict adopted an interest based relational approach. This is a conflict resolution model in which individual differences are respected and at the same time ensures that people do not take hard line and fixed stances. It also ensures that upon the resolution of the conflict, the different members of the team can continue to work effectively as a team, which helps in the achievement of the team’s objectives (Larson & LaFasto, 1989). This strategy was effective and worked for the interest of the team. The individual differences were respected which led to the members of the team feeling appreciated and part of the team. Respecting the individual differences led to an increased cohesion within the team. The respect of individual views made it easy to negotiate during times of conflict. This worked to strengthen the team and contributed to the success of the team. By creating an understanding between the different members of the team, the team was able to work together effectively. Question 7: How I Could Have Improved the Team’s Performance Despite the good performance by the team, there are ways in which the team’s performance could have been improved. More delegation of tasks would have saved a considerable amount of time. It would also have enabled the team members to develop their skills and abilities, which would have worked to strengthen the team. The performance of the team would also have been improved by increasing accountability within the team. There were instances in which the team members kept blaming each other for the mistakes that occurred within the team. This lead to a lot of time wasting. If accountability is increased within the team, tasks would be completed within a shorter time and would be done more efficiently. References West, M. (2004). Effective teamwork: Practical lessons from organizational research. Malden, MA: BPS Blackwell. Larson, C. LaFasto, F. (1989). Teamwork: What must go right, what can go wrong. California: Sage Publications. Maginn, M. (1994). Effective teamwork. New York: McGraw-Hill. Read More