Leadership, Teambuilding, and Communication - Research Paper Example

Leadership, Teambuilding, and Communication Introduction Organizational leadership, teamwork, and communication determine the success of the organization. Communication is an essential component of effective organizational leadership because it enables leaders to establish teams for a healthy environment and development of constructive result (Griffin & Moorhead, 2013). Efficient communication improves team performance and involves undertakings geared toward promoting communication and cooperation. Team building is an essential element that determines the success of failure of the organization (Griffin & Moorhead, 2013). The study focuses on how leadership, teambuilding, and communication can influence the organization’s performance. It examines the impact of leadership style in PepsiCo Inc, which is a multinational food and beverage company based in America. Leadership theories and forms of power There are various types of leadership styles and interpersonal forms of powers used in various organizations and how they impact organization’s performance. Leadership in an organization can refer to the practices of controlling and guiding of individuals in the work environment. It is the art of getting other doing what one believes in or wants (Griffin & Moorhead, 2013). Traditionally, leadership is perceived as a method where the power is given to the leaders. The traditional behavioral theory identifies different leadership styles among the people. It recognizes several behavioral styles namely autocratic, democratic, laissez-faire styles, transformational and transactional. Autocratic or authoritarian leaders assume absolute powers over the workers in an organization (Hislop, 2013). Those leaders may use threat or force to compel the employees pursue the organizational goals or impose their will on the workers. They perceive workers as incompetent, irresponsible and lazy who cannot perform without authority and control (Griffin & Moorhead, 2013). Authoritarian managers do not consult the employees or allow them to give their contributions in the decision-making process. Such leaders are sole decision makers and will issue directives to the workers at all times. Military leaders mainly use authoritative powers to achieve their targets. Democratic leaders value the contribution of their workers and always work in collaboration with the employees in order to achieve common goals. They involve employees in decision making and listen to the workers’ views regarding anything they feel might impact certain decisions (Hislop, 2013). It gives employees a better understanding of the organization and why certain decisions are made in the organization. Involving employees in decision making is very crucial because it makes workers identify with organization’s performance and appreciate the performance of the organization (Hislop, 2013). Effective leaders are well informed of what that they purpose to achieve and how they will go about to achieve it (Hislop, 2013). Irrespective of the organization conditions team leaders can acquire experience from their teams and be able to set goals and focus on strategies to achieve their goals. The PepsiCo team leaders motivate their juniors to strive to achieve the organizational goals (PepsiCo, 2013). The group focuses on developing the leadership skills of the associates in order to improve performance of the organization. The PepsiCo team leaders act as a link between the senior managers and junior workers (PepsiCo, 2013). Apart from connecting the team goals with the top management goals, team leaders disseminate information and obtain feedback in the entire group. An example is the PepsiCo production line managers who engage in developing the group processes and relational skills (PepsiCo, 2013). As previously mentioned, democratic leadership style encourages workers in the process of making decision. It entails deliberate and consultative process that results to workers’ empowerment through holding them accountable for their actions or decision they make. PepsiCo Company is considered to be using democratic leadership style because all its workers are involved in the daily management of the organization (PepsiCo, 2013). The workers are highly experienced and knowledgeable hence they are effective in solving disputes in their teams. The team leaders using laissez-Fare leadership style leave employees to make a personal decision and make them responsible for the outcome of those decisions (Singh, N.d.). This technique can operate in an environment where the workers are self-driven, experienced and knowledgeable. Also, the method is effective where managers can execute their duties effectively in order to make the workers feel secure in decision-making. Transformational and transactional leadership styles are also part of traditional leadership styles. Transformational leaders have well defined goals and can share those goals with the other workers (Singh, N.d.). Transformational leadership is characterized by the centralized control of workers. Effective communication between workers and their leaders is critical for the success of this style of leadership. It favors workers who have self-determination to achieve personal goals. Transformational leaders spend adequate time to coach the workers, as well as learning from the workers (Singh, N.d.). Transactional leadership is focused on centralized regulation of workers. They aim at regulating the workers’ productivity and making them comply with organizational behavior. The transformational leaders motivate their workers through promises, reward, and praises (Singh, N.d.). Also, they can improve their conducts because of employee reprimands, disciplinary measures, and threats. It is essential to note that every leadership style has its benefits and challenges, and no single style that can yield excellent results and in most cases managers may use a combination of styles to achieve desired output (Singh, N.d.). Therefore, hybrid style is the most effective because it combines various leadership characteristics to suit particular work environment. Organizational Stressors and Their Impacts on Organizational Performance Stressors refer to anything that cause stress in any situation. Stress results from a number of factors that may be physical, psychological or social factors (Hislop, 2013). Physical stressors are exterior in nature and may include extreme temperature, noise, chemicals pollutants and so on. Social stressors are caused by the relationship between workers and their environment. These may include conflicts with the team members, translocation of residency, demotion, negative remarks by the leaders, etc. Finally, psychological stressors are contributed by combination of physical and social factors such as fear, worry, hate, frustration inferiority complex, jealousy, etc. (Hislop, 2013). Slight work related stress serves as motivating factors and catalysts of personal advancement. Extreme stress can have negative effects on the worker's behavior and productivity because they demoralize them (Singh, N.d.). This is because stressed workers have no motivation, have poor work relations, can think independently, no creativity and lack expectations. Any form of stress affects the workers’ contributions and results to low productivity (Singh, N.d.). In most cases, team leaders exhibit symptoms related to physical and psychological stress compared to senior managers. Workload, deadline issues, and pressure caused by time constraints are associated with stresses faced by team leaders (Hislop, 2013). Effective leadership requires leaders to delegate tasks to the employees and have clear goals for each task. This helps the workers to take responsibility for their contribution roles in the organization. Therefore, in an organization where the workers tasks and goals are unclear there is the high rate of stress among the workers. On the other hand, employees may get tensed because of lack of appreciation by their leaders or lack of involvement in the decision-making process (Hislop, 2013). Furthermore, in an organization where workers have poor interaction with their leaders or team members most workers tend to tense because they lack the support of other workers and seniors. Some jobs do not have the prospect for future career growth. When employees develops a feeling that they career development has stagnated, they tend to develop stress. Furthermore, workers get stressed in case of job uncertainty or the fear that they lose their jobs anytime (Hislop, 2013). Therefore, effective leadership involves creating certainty and career growth for the workers in order to give them assurance for future employment. For example, PepsiCo Inc. has a well-established mechanism for career development aimed at getting rid of worker's stress and uncertainty PepsiCo, 2013). Poor leadership style is considered to be responsible for most stress in the work place because of increased uncertainty and attrition of self-esteem among the workers. Stress management at the work place requires a coordinated effort of workers and the organization leader. Studies have indicated that employees can benefit incalculably from social support (Hislop, 2013). Close relations between the team members and their managers or supervisors can help in reducing stress among the workers. Also, engaging workers in various activities such as outdoor games and swimming, team building can reduce stress by diverting and relaxing mind and enhancing self-esteem. For example, PepsiCo promotes constructive attitude and engage employees in controlled physical activities (PepsiCo, 2013). They promote interactions, relaxations and self-control of one’s behavior in order to improve employees’ relations and minimize stress. In order to improve organizational performance, the leaders should devise strategies to reduce stress because they can result to irregular behavior that tends to reduce performance and turnover. Controlling emotional environment is one of the essential managerial strategies for reducing stress (Griffin & Moorhead, 2013). This involves promoting environment of self-esteem ad recognition of workers. The organization leaders should also involve their subordinates in the decision-making practices in order to increase personal responsibility and appreciate the unique contribution to the organizational achievement. For example, PepsiCo promotes supportive organizational culture by establishing clearly defined goals with the aim of reducing conflicts (PepsiCo, 2013). The product line supervisors ensure workers are not overburdened with tasks. Individual tasks are well-defined to avoid ambiguity and conflicts of characters (Griffin & Moorhead, 2013). This is achieved through effective communication system that improves performance and superiority of the work. The human resource department ensures effective job design, recruitment and selection of workers, employee training and working environment to reduce stress caused by poorly designed tasks and roles (Hislop, 2013). Critical elements for effective teamwork performance Team is a set of people working together to accomplish mutual goals. The process for teambuilding is aimed at improving team performance, and it encompasses tasks intended to nurture communication and promote corporation (Griffin & Moorhead, 2013). In addition, it reduces friction between the team members and boosts the morale of workers. Teambuilding promotes organizational performance because teams usually perform better than individuals. Teams are composed of individuals with diverse experiences that are utilized for mutual benefit of the organization (Hislop, 2013). Effective leadership is critical for successful teambuilding. In addition, workers must be involved in the teambuilding process. The roles of each team member should be clearly defined in order to avoid conflicts of roles. Also, there should be a well-defined procedure for solving conflicts among the team members (Hislop, 2013). Members have shared responsibilities and vision that keeps them working together. Effective communication between the team members, support from the team members and minimal control by the team leaders promote efficiency, individual performance and results to motivation of workers and job satisfaction (Griffin & Moorhead, 2013). Potential sources of conflicts within Work Team Conflicts in the organization demoralize workers and result to misuse of energy that could have been used constructively to improve performance. Poor communication, unclear roles and goals, irrational standards, time constraints, individual clashes, oppressive rules, etc. can cause conflicts (Hislop, 2013). Distribution of resources can cause serious conflicts sine they are not adequate for all workers. However, managers should focus on increasing the scarce resource in order to minimize conflicts. The management can engage a third party through arbitration or mediation process in order to arrive at an amicable solution. There are various approaches that can be applied in conflict resolution. For example, collaborating is an approach whereby the conflicting parties meet to discuss the issues face-to-face. This is appropriate for mutual benefits of both parties (Singh, N.d. p. 252). It is cost effective but time intensive. Accommodating approach focus on agreement and parties may have to drop claims against each other in order to reach a consensus (Singh, N.d. p 252). Compromising approach aims at striking mutually satisfactory position even if parties have to forego something. Avoiding approach involves suspending issues to avoid further confrontations with hope that they will be settled in the future (Singh, N.d. p. 252). Finally, competing approach involves satisfying one party at the expense of the other because one party is compelled to surrender the claims while the other party has to succeed. Collaborating or integrating problem-solving approach is more appropriate for solving identified issues because the parties can discuss the causes of disputes and arrive at a lasting solution (Singh, N.d.). Both party benefits and managers get to understand the causes of conflicts so they can set up measures to prevent future conflicts. Potential barriers of communication and their impact of on Team performance Communication involved sharing of information between two or more parties. Communication promotes strengthens teambuilding and improves understanding between employees and their leaders (Griffin & Moorhead, 2013). Also, effective communication is very critical for solving conflicts. Therefore, organizations must have a clear structure of command in order to establish a communication protocol. Poor communication can result to poor performance and low morale of workers. Mechanical and physical barriers such as absence of communication devices, noise, poor health, prejudgment, poor communication skills, ignorance about medium of communication, etc. reduces efficiency of communication (Hislop, 2013). Misinterpretation of information can result to poor performance because workers do not understand their tasks or the organizational goals (Griffin & Moorhead, 2013). This implies that group members are likely to pursue different goals and increased chance of conflicts of roles among the members. Furthermore, a lot of time is wasted I repeating the tasks or seeking for clarity of information. Conclusion Organization leaders play a significant role in influencing the performance of workers through influencing work environment. There are different leadership styles, but successful leaders should focus on leadership traits that can help them achieve specific goals. Leaders should have vision and goals and share the goals with workers in order to achieve desired output. Communication plays a crucial role in the team building employee management in order to achieve desired outcome. Leaders should focus on motivating employees and rewarding them for their achievement. Teambuilding ensures mutual success as opposed to individual achievement. Bibliography Griffin, R. & Moorhead, G. (2013). Organizational Behavior: Managing People and Organizations, (11th Ed.). USA: Cengage Learning, 365-624. Hislop, D. (2013). Knowledge Management in Organizations, (3rd Ed). UK: Oxford University Press. PepsiCo. (2013). Talent Sustainability. Retrieved November 25th, 2014, from Singh, K. (N.d). Organizational Behaviour: For Chaudhary Charan Singh University Pearson Education India. 252-324. Read More