Leadership and Communication - Essay Example

?Leading an Engineering Project Team Introduction From the perspective of a project leader, effective leadership is harmonising three major aspects: (1) dealing with the situation, (2) managing the people, and (3) making sure that the tasks are accomplished well. Project leaders, especially those assigned to engineering projects, have a greater chance to be successful leaders if the members of their team value their leadership, find the task worthwhile and motivating, are reasonably and justly paid, and believe their personal career growth is being enhanced by accomplishing their tasks well (Dawson & Andriopoulos 2009, 260). The skill to motivate is an essential component of that. A personal leadership experience is used in this essay to discuss the various components of leadership (e.g. communication, rational thinking, leadership styles, etc.) that are integral to leading project teams. Leadership and Communication The author has recently been assigned to an engineering project in Dubai as an electrical supervisor. He belongs to a team of contractor whose job was to assemble and commission an 800-ton crane project. One of his responsibilities as an electrical supervisor is getting the electrical works done from shipyard supervisors and electricians through efficient communication. Since the workers who carry out the tasks of the project usually have almost all the information, managers must gain their opinions or feedback to enhance decision making, confidence, efficiency, processes, and, eventually, organisational productivity, strength, and sustainability. As mentioned by Walker (2010), upward communication “has to be constantly fostered and reinforced, so that people see it’s something that’s valued” (p. 98). Project leaders must evaluate the formal communication system to determine where there are problems in communication that could detrimentally impact the organisation’s general wellbeing. A project leader should evaluate and understand the communication network within a project team in order to facilitate successful creation of specific communication strategies. However, as observed by the electrical supervisor, most of the team members have difficulties with upward communication (e.g. lack of confidence). For several of the members of the project team, this brings about a lot of problems. Some of the members feel anxious when talking to their supervisors. In order to resolve such issues, employees must be persuaded to assess and understand both procedures and outcomes. Self-evaluation and feedback from other members of the team and supervisors would be very useful (Bass & Bass 2009, 313). It must be stressed to the members that an attention to abilities is the integral component of enhancing communication with their supervisors. Successful outcomes rely on the skills of the members of the team. Everybody recognises the need for managers to possess the abilities to communicate with employees. Yet, many employees ignore the value of abilities when communicating with their manager. Since the engineering project is big but fairly simple, the traditional communication approach may be useful. This model is highly applicable to teams working with a project supervisor. Downward communication is simple and fast. But upward communication could provide more benefits to projects composed of only a few teams (Bass & Bass 2009, 453). The decision-making process could be hastened by the electrical supervisor provided that the other members of the team are ‘properly behaved.’ An upward communication strategy could be used by the electrical supervisor to the project’s advantage since he and the other members of the team were all from the same country, sharing a common language. Leading Successful Teams Project leadership has to be realistic and concentrate on performance outcomes. Even though project leaders still carry out numerous roles, such as making schedules of work activities, discussing work allocation, etc., they function more as mentors, guides, and coordinators. Project leaders largely contribute to the accomplishment of tasks and realisation of goals by providing resources, motivation, conflict assistance, and supervision. The electrical supervisor realised that in order for him to successfully manage the team, he has to engage the members of the team in developing a definite sense of direction. Most successful project leaders do not force their own thoughts into the minds of their colleagues. Instead, according to Bass and Riggio (2006, 97), they involve them in every major task through a delicate combination of support, confidence, constructive feedback, unselfish ideas, and the pulling together of valuable insights to produce a definite and acceptable vision of the desired outcome for the team. Furthermore, the electrical supervisor found out that creating an enjoyable and lively work environment, like giving simple incentives (e.g. free lunch), has contributed to the development of a solid sense of unity among the members of the team. Strong team unity generally brings about strong team stability. Ultimately, in order to successfully manage a professional team, the leader should persuade the members to concentrate on the deliverables (Yukl 2010, 82). It is important for a project leader to have an understanding of the team’s differences in terms of values, goals, and personalities. Leadership and Rational Thinking The electrical supervisor is aware that successful project leaders employ a variety of methodologies. Project leaders are more successful when they use creative problem-solving techniques. It is important to make use of a wide range of problem structuring methods to aid in the development of the problem-identification process (Bass & Bass 2009, 303). The electrical supervisor could use these methods in making schedules of work activities, work allocations, engineering progress meetings. Notes and outlines are also useful in this regard. Throughout initial phases of problem identification, models and methods which help rational thinking should prevail over models and methods which could bring about untimely repression of the problem area. Well structured tools, like checklists which promote rational, critical thinking, must be prevented in the initial phases of problem solving (Bass & Bass 2009, 303-304). Ideally, instruments that promote more open problem investigation are valuable so that insights can be created for assessment. Influencing and Persuading Others Influence and persuasion is about affecting the results of relations. When wielding influence, project leaders affect circumstances in a number of ways. Their official status as a leader compels subordinates to pay attention to their views and perspectives on an issue. Their capacity to influence emotions by showing strength of mind and composure in antagonistic and difficult situations heightens respect and confidence among the subordinates. The electrical supervisor is able to gain the trust of his subordinates by involving himself to the task and going down to their level. Empathy enables the leader to adjust to adapt to the sentiments of subordinates and identify ‘the appropriate approach’. Influence and persuasion, basically, are accomplished by coping with and managing the feelings of others. Project leaders possessing this skill have the capacity to make an impact on others, usually through remarkable effects (Dawson & Andriopoulos 2009, 164). Influence is used in project leadership when the project leader exercises the official authority of their position to call the attention of the members of the team, and then adjust to their sentiments and communicate his/her personal view on an issue or problem, and eventually address the rationality of a particular solution. The electrical supervisor recognises the fact that in order for influence and persuasion to be successful they should be accompanied by motivation. The value of motivation, as he found out, emanates from the effect of motivation on a team member’s individual performance and the impact on the motivation and performance of the other members. Members without motivation will not merely perform poorly, but also affect the other members unfavourably, and alongside the general performance of the team (Dawson & Andriopoulos 2009, 195). Team motivation is therefore attained when members of the team have great expectations of the team’s ability to accomplish the job, the value of work, the needed independence to perform the job, and the importance of the consequences of the outcomes. From granting the project team access to rewarding tasks, independence, substantial influence on the outcome, and prospect of success by means of identifying the members’ self-motivation and disposition within the project, towards the growth of enthusiasm and determination (Bass & Riggio 2006, 96). In order to accomplish this, the project leaders must connect the values, goals, and visions of the members of the team with the current project. In view of the above principles, a transactional leadership style could create the control and organisation required to guide an engineering project team in the expected path. Transactional leadership is an interactional mechanism within which subordinates are given rewards or recognition for achieving particular objectives or attaining given performance levels (Bass & Riggio 2006, 11). This leadership style has been applied by the electrical supervisor, with much success. He identifies the needs of his subordinates and determines how these needs will be addressed. He gives encouragements and rewards for the team members’ efforts. However, taking full advantage of profitability and productivity is the quick-fix objective of transactional leadership. Recognising group and individual behaviour with valuable rewards and encouragements cultivate team unity and determination. If a member of a team anticipates favourable rewards, s/he will likely perform better to realise the goals of the team. Conclusions Leading a project team, in fact, requires not only one leadership style but a combination of several leadership styles. However, at the present, the electrical supervisor has discovered that the transactional style works best for his team. As regards to upward communication, the electrical supervisor is confronting several challenges, such as how to build the confidence of the members of the team when communicating with him. On the other hand, the electrical supervisor possesses a certain level of strength in the aspects of rational thinking, influence, persuasion, and motivation. References Bass, B. & Bass, R. (2009) The Bass Handbook of Leadership: Theory, Research, and Managerial Applications. New York: The Free Press. Bass, B. & Riggio, R. (2006) Transformational Leadership. London: Lawrence Erlbaum. Dawson, P. & Andriopoulos, C. Managing Change, Creativity, and Innovation. London: SAGE. Walker, R. (2010) Strategic Management Communication for Leaders. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning. Yukl, G. (2010) Leadership in Organisations. London: Prentice Hall. Read More