Leaders Are Always Accountable for Failures or Lack of Achievement of Their Group - Term Paper Example

Leaders are always accountable for failures or lack of achievement of their group Introduction A leader can be considered as the captain of the ship. He is a person who provides his team with a direction and a vision. Ever since the concept of managers evolved in our societies, the debate of the differences between managers and leaders initiated. Burton (2008) describes managers as the people who monitor the activities and processes for smooth functioning and execution of the plans. He further explains that leaders are the individuals who manage the team as well as provide them with aims and objectives regarding projects. The people who work under a leader might suggest some ideas regarding the execution of a certain goal but the final decision comes from the leader after he has weighed all the pros and cons of a certain matter. The team members are dependant on the leader for instructions. Baerga (2008) states that it is very unusual for a project would result in failure in a matter of a day or two. It takes a number of elements and factors that direct the projects towards failures. It is primarily the job of a leader to monitor everything regularly to ensure that the project does not head towards failure. 2. Leadership in an Organization We shall be analyzing the role of a leader in an organization to further explain and justify the notion that leaders are responsible for all failure outcomes. Lash (2007) explains that there are many authoritative figures in an organizational setup; however the true description of a leader can fit the role of a team leader or product manager. We shall be analyzing different phases of a project in which the team leader will be seen responsible for any failure. 2.1 Feasibility of the Project When a company is contacted for some project, the top management of that organization will contact the team leader of the concerned team. Heldman (2002) defines that it is the job of the team leader to analyze the requirements of the client and judge if those requirements are feasible or not. There might be different types of feasibility analysis that he might perform: 2.1.1 Scope feasibility Bryce (2008) explains that the team leader should be able to identify if the scope of the project is achievable or if the client requires an unattainable result. This is the first step at which he shall be primarily responsible for the success or the failure of the project. If the team leader accepts an unachievable task then there are great chances that the project will fail. In this regard, it is best to contact the client and negotiate or discuss his demands. 2.1.2 Technical feasibility Bryce (2008) also states that the team leader is also responsible to judge if his team is technically capable of handling the project. It is the team leader’s responsibility to get suggestions and feedback from his team (if required) regarding their command on the required technology. Even if the team members are not equipped with the required knowledge, it is necessary for the team leader to arrange for appropriate training or workshops on the related matter. If the team leader does not address this aspect of the project then it will be very difficult for the team members to produce good results and the project is more likely going to fail. 2.1.3 Schedule feasibility Heldman (2002) explained the relevance of a leader’s judgment regarding the schedule feasibility. It should be judged by the team leader if the requirements of the clients are possible to be catered in the scheduled time. If the team leader is not able to evaluate the magnitude of the project correctly then the project will most likely fail as it will not be submitted on time. It is the job of the team leader to accept a project that has a realistic deadline or inform the client if the deadline suggested by him is not feasible. 2.2 Requirements Gathering Hull et al (2005) describes the role of the team leader in the process of requirements gathering; when the project is accepted by the team leader, he only has a rough idea about the requirements of the client. After this initial phase, requirements are formally documented and discussed in detail. The team leader should designate some of his best men on the team to take care of this activity because if the requirements are vague then the end product will not in accordance with the exact requirements of the customer. Till this point the team members had not entered the picture. This might be the first point where their involvement in the project officially begins. Gathering requirements from the client is a very important part of the project and has great relevance in the success or failure of a project. 2.3 Project Planning Heldman (2002) states that once the requirements of the project are well understood and negotiated by both the parties, an important phase of the project begins. If planning of the project is not done in a systematic and careful manner then many problems can arise in the middle or at the end of the project, for example; over-budgeting, under-allocation of resources, low quality result due to shortage of time etc. Bowen et al (2007) stated that the team leader should be able to schedule the activities efficiently so that the pace of the project can be maximized, yet not compromising on the quality. The project plan should be made while utilizing all the resources in an effective so that none of the resources are over-allocated or under-allocated. Since both of these states are not healthy for the project or for the organization. The under-allocated employees get unmotivated, get the feeling that they are not worthy enough for genuine work etc. Whereas, over-allocated employees tend to get stressed out with work and might even not produce good quality work due to the excess of work. 2.4 Project Execution Then comes the phase where the project plan is to be executed. In this phase, the team leader should provide his team with a direction and a vision. Perry (2008) states that he should monitor the execution of the plan at regular intervals to ensure that the project is going according to schedule If he does not monitor the activities then the project might head towards failure and it might be too late for him to control it later. Problems that are identified earlier seem to benefit the project greatly as the cost of correcting it at that time is much lesser. Early detection of problems even benefits the cost of the project as early fixation of problems costs much lesser. Cunningham & Cunningham, Inc. (2003) points out that there might be many instances where it is the fault of the team members but even then the leader is blamed. In such instances the team leader is blamed because it is his responsibility to spot any activity that might cause harm to the project. The team leaders who don’t keep track of the execution of the project tend to produce unfavorable results in the end. The team members should be evaluated for their performance and attitude towards the project so that it can be corrected in due time. The project should be directed towards achieving the aims and objectives of the project and should not change from the decided direction. Freeman & Stoner (1992) stated that even if some of the team members are unmotivated for some reason and do not perform well in the project, the responsibility for solving this matter lies in the hands of the team leader. He should be able to motivate them with either some promises of giving them rewards at the end of the project or some better benefits. If the team leader is not able to keep his team members motivated then the outcome of the project will be seriously affected. The team leader should ensure that the main objective of the project is well understood and repeatedly communicated to the team members so that failures are avoided at the end of the project. 2.5 Testing of the Product Heldman (2002) explains that once the project is completed, the last phase of the project begins. The team leader should designate competent QA resources from his team and ensure that they understand the requirements and basic use of the product. The team leader should also monitor these QA activities so that least number of defects reaches the customers since a great number of defects also account for the failure of a project. 2.6 Unforeseen Incidents Baerga (2008) states that there might be some unforeseen incidents in the middle of the project that might prove to cause harm to the project for example; useful resources being unavailable due to some reason. The responsibility of such an incident also lies on the shoulders of the team leader. He should be able to assign replacements for such resources and ensure that the pace of the project is not affected. A team leader should be given full authority over the project, only then should he be made responsible for all outcomes- whether good or bad. There might be some other types of uncontrollable incidents that might affect the project and the manager will not be able to control them for example; some natural disaster or some company policies that might go against the benefit of the project. Heldman (2002) pointed out that there might be an incident in which a manager is assigned to lead a project in the middle of its execution. In such instances, the manager cannot be blamed for all the outcomes of the project since he wasn’t involved since the beginning. However, the team leader who heads a project from the initial phase is responsible for all outcomes and should be able to handle the controllable risks. It even creates a comfortable environment for the team members as they report to one leader only. 2.7 Triple Factor Baerga (2008) explains that the secret of a successful project lies in the correct balance of these three factors- time, cost, and quality. A project is more likely to head towards failure if the team leader is not competent enough to strike a good balance between these factors. Heldman (2002) states that the team leader should be able to analyze the need of the project at any certain time and compromise some of the low priority factors to ensure that the high priority goals are not affected. For example; a certain client specifies in his requirements that he wants a very good quality product. The team leader identifies during the monitoring activities of the execution phase that some more efforts might be required to produce a good quality product. Then, the team leader should be able to communicate with the client and inform him that time might be compromised in order to produce a high grade product. Another approach can be to assign more resources to the project to produce good quality, by compromising on the cost of the project. Bowen (2007) concludes his paper with the notion that if the team leader is not able to strike a balance between these factors then project might be at the risk of failure. The team leader should have the quality of a good decision maker and handle issues as efficiently as possible, with the resources at hand. Fig.1: (Perry 2008) Perry (2008) observed that there is no such thing as having no obstacles or risks in a project. Every project or set of processes involve a number of problems that are required to be dealt with wisdom and tactics. It is the team leader’s responsibility to ensure that all the obstacles are removed at the right time. The team leader is given credit for all of his successes and blamed for all the failures at the end of the project because he is the figure who is solely responsible for all of its outcomes 2.8 Benefits of Making the Leader Responsible for Failures The most important aspect of this notion is that the leader should be given utmost authority in all areas of the project so that he can execute or monitor it with respect to his tactics and skills. There are a number of benefits in making the leader responsible for all successes and failures of the project. It induces the spirit of loyalty and ownership towards the project. He strives towards performing better and monitoring the activities of the team members to keep them on the right track (Heldman 2002). He stays motivated towards the project and transfers this motivation to his team members as well. If he will be held accountable for all the failures then he shall be more careful of his actions and leadership. He tries to perform better for the success of the project so that he is given credit by the top management (Douglas 2008) Holding the team leader responsible for all outcomes will mean that he will be given full autonomy over the project. This brings out the creativity in the people and innovative techniques evolve. It also gives the team members the confidence that their team leader has full authority to take care of their grievances; this will promote a good relationship between the team leader and his team members (Cunningham & Cunningham, Inc. 2003). Incase of a failure of a project, the top management will know who to contact for solving the matter. It will avoid the beginning of a blame game and chaos in the environment. A significant example of our times in terms of leadership failures is of Enron (Maryame 2008). Enron top management and leaders failed to provide a direction and vision to their employees due to conflicting interests between each other. 3. Conclusion After a thorough analysis of the matter, it can be concluded that the leader is responsible for all outcomes of the project. Different phases of the project require different type of decision making to handle issues and direct the project towards progression. Regular monitoring and planning needs to be done by the leader so that risks can be mitigated and avoided. Project failures do not happen overnight. Many elements act in the failure of a certain project. It is the responsibility of the team leader to ensure that all the activities and processes are going smoothly so that the project does not head towards failure. 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