The Styles of Leadership in the UK - Case Study Example

The Styles of Leadership in UK 1. Styles of Leadership in UK Leadership is more than just meeting staff’s needs as the UK model suggest that leadership is fundamentally engaging as partners in developing and achieving the shared vision and as such it relates to distributed leadership. According to Storey (2003), the UK concept of leadership is also about creating a fertile, supportive environment for creative thinking, for challenging assumptions about how public services should be delivered. Moreover, it is about sensitivity to the needs of a range of internal and external stakeholders (p.179). Given the fact that leadership is ultimately a social influence process, it is self-evident that development must involve feedback from other as to the impact of the leader’s behaviour. On the other hand, competent employees who are satisfied with their employers, who know what is expected, and who have minimal absenteeism and reduced turnover potential are assets to the organization. However, just as individuals in an organization can be a competitive advantage, they can also be a liability. When few employees know how to do their jobs, when people are constantly leaving, and when the employees who do remain work ineffectively, human resource are a problem that puts the organization at a competitive disadvantage (Mathis and Jackson (2006, p.78). The secret of success for organizations is to put more emphasis on making sure every employee and every managers knows what he or she need to accomplish in the present and future. Max and Bacal (2004) explains that when an employee understand what he or she needs to do to succeed, it is much easier to contribute (p.5). In our organization individual employees coordinates their work and everyone is moving in the same direction. Performance goals provide the foundation to allow this kind of coordination to occur. Because people in this organization know what he or she needs to accomplish and what is expected, they work without constant supervision. 1.1 Communication and Teamwork One reason why simple prescriptions cannot be offered for effective teamwork is that teams operate in varied organizations settings. The people who constitute these teams are also likely to differ dramatically in personality and background. Within organizations too, teams differ markedly. In our organization, teams are made up of people who have different cultural backgrounds. Similar to other organizations, teams may span national boundaries, including perhaps members located in a number of different nation states, all of whom are required to work effectively together. Moreover, changes in work patterns such as part-time, flexitime, contract, and home working all add further mixes to the heterogeneity of teams. As teams become more diverse in their constitution and functioning, team members must learn to reflect upon, and intelligently adapt to, their constantly changing circumstances in order to be effective. There are two fundamental dimensions of team functioning. One is the task the team is required to carry out, and the social factors that influence how members experience the team as a social unit. The basic reason according to West (2004) for the creation of teams in work organizations is the expectation that they will carry out task more effectively than individuals and so further organization objectives overall (p.2). Our organisation takes into account the content of the task, and the strategies and processes employed by team members to carry that task because they know that it is important to understand how to work in teams. They are also aware that their teams are composed of people who have a variety of emotional, social, and other human needs that the team as a whole can help to either meet or frustrate. In order to function effectively, team members actively focus upon their objective regularly reviewing ways of achieving them and the teams’ methods of working. At the same time, in order to promote the well-being of its members, the team reflect upon the ways in which it provided support to members, how conflicts are resolved, and what is the overall social climate of the team. Today new demands that make cooperative work in teams more vital and more challenging. To meet the pressures of the global marketplace, organizations are moving away from rigid hierarchical structures to more organic flexible forms. Teams are developing and marketing products, solving production problems, and creating corporate strategy. Managers are experimenting with participation, high-commitment organizations, self-managing work teams, employee-management cooperation, and gain sharing programs. These innovations all involve the explicit use of teams to accomplish central organizational tasks. The team rather than the individual is increasingly considered the basic building block of organizations (p.8). In modern organizations, such as the one in our study, as they become structurally more complex, the need for groups of people to work together in coordinated ways to achieve objective, which contributes to the overall aims of the organization, has become increasingly urgent. For instance, teams are the best way to enact organization strategy, because of the need for consistency between rapidly changing organizational environments, strategy, and structure. Team-based organizations, with their flat structure, can respond quickly and effectively in the fast-changing environments, most organizations now encounter. However, although team working can be effective for all the reasons we mentioned earlier, it is not the case that the introduction of team working is inevitably successful. Simple re-labelling a department in an organization as a ‘team’ does not lead to team working. Group effectives according to West (2004) are understandable if we separate out the potential productivity of groups, their actual productivity, and the gap between them. The gap was due to process losses such as coordination and communication problems. For instance, the social loafing explanation of poor group performance is helpful in understanding some of the difficulties faced by teams. However, it does not account for the fact that group decision making is sometimes inexplicably flawed. Although we tend to think of groups as somehow reasonable and logical they are greatly influenced by hierarchical considerations. In most primary health care teams, for instance, the opinions of the doctor in a meeting will have much greater influence that the opinions of the receptionists. Because of superior status, the doctor exerts more influence over the thinking of the teams. Team leaders tend to have more influence over the thinking of the team. They also have more influence over decisions regardless of whether their views are correct or incorrect. Moreover, dominant personalities within groups exert a disproportionate influence over group outcomes (p.13). Most of what goes on in the workplace takes place in teams. Many really smart or talented people do not succeed in the workplace because they are either unable or unwilling to work in teams. Adubato (2005) explains, usually these people have weak interpersonal communication skills. You cannot be an effective team player if you are not a good communicator and a good listener. Team members need to listen to each other in order to succeed. A great team include being clear on exactly what the team’s goal is. Team members are aware of their roles and how that role relates to the overall success of the team. “Motivation is the process of arousing and sustaining goal-directed behaviour and it is one of the more complex topics in organization behaviour” (Nelson and Quick 2006, p.150). The essence of leadership is motivating others to follow and achieve. Motivation help leaders understand why people behave and provide a framework for thoughtful reflection about one’s own motivation, behaviours, leadership style, and values. A leader can directly manipulate some external force, which will cause the person to work hard. They can create conditions in the workplace that the individual perceives as motivating an internal drive or desire (Chance and Chance 2006, p.128). When people perform well at work, they may receive praise from their manager, which may encourage them to continue to strive for excellence. This organisation provides rewards to motivate their people as providing rewards contingent upon performance is a common approach used to shape motivates behaviour and performance among employees. This is an approach that is grounded on the assumption that actions that have led to positive outcomes for an individual in the past tend to be repeated while those that have led to negative outcomes will tend to be performed with decreasing frequency (Murray et. al. 2005, p.78). The personality of any organization determines the quality of work it does. It also determines how effective the efforts at motivation will be. Hanks (1991) explain that all around us we see organizations that are described as uptight, critical, and pressured. If an organization is described as distrustful, the problem is building an atmosphere of loyalty. On the other hand, if an organization is described as exciting, the problem is creating a static atmosphere. The level of performance of the people in an organization can often be directly linked to that organization’s personality. If one thinks their people need motivation, look first at his organization (p.68). According to Paton et. al. (1991) mission of an organization is about inspirational values within the organization and by not sharing these aspirations; the opportunity to build an effective organization is lost. Thus, in developing vision and mission, the organization has to look at the needs and wants of the individual as people is not energized unless that see their own needs and wants in parallel with those of the organization (p.137). The ability to create a team is generally viewed as one of the most significant attributes of those in leadership positions. Jones (2004) explains that successful teamwork depends on a clearly defined set of aims and objectives. The skills and qualities of the person leading the team and the personalities and attributes of team members (p.24). However, successful teamwork according to Davis and O’Connor (1999) is not easy to achieved thus it is important to acknowledge the theories of teamwork and apply these principles to practice to assist team development and to improve performance. The desired outcome of teamwork should include improved delivery of service clients which is measurable, and that team members will feel supported in their work, developed, highly motivated, satisfied, and possessing a team spirit, to achieve increased cooperation and trust between themselves (p.78). 1.2 Management, Strategy, and Power in Organization A person’s view of their attributes will vary according to their position in the organizational power hierarchy. Wilson (2003) maintains that those occupying position at the upper corporate levels have power and are in advantageous position. Meanwhile, those in the lower positions have little power (p.62). One of the most important considerations of any leadership development initiative in any organisation according to Storey (2003) is the degree of support from senior managers. There is an inextricable link between the leadership style of the top group of managers and the culture of the organisation. Thus, before introducing any major leadership activity it is crucially important to try to ensure the commitment, and ideally, the active involvement of these managers. In the study conducted at the University of Leeds, among the most formidable barriers identified were the attitudes of the most senior managers such as their reluctance to participate believing that they had little need for such support (p.185). However, whatever the actual power structure that prevails within a particular organization, on would expect that there will be a range of situations in which its members are inclined to downplay both their self-power and dealings with other members of a salient in-group (Haslam and Haslam 2004, p.148). According to Beare and Boyd (1993), the most direct and straightforward way to control human behaviour in general and to organize work in particular is through power. Thus, the distribution of power in an organization constitutes a third and potent structure (p.180). In this organisation, good communication occurs when staff feels their concern are listened and dealt with promptly, when mistakes can be quickly identified and corrected, and when staff understand what is taking place in the organization that might affect their work. Although communication is generally desirable, under certain circumstance it is essential. Even when the basic structure of the organization is not changing, the tendency for organizations to delegate responsibilities to the lowest practical level means that every staff member is involved in making choices (Brody 2004, p.362). 2. Bibliography Adubato Steve, 2005, Make the Connection: Improve Your Communication at Work and at Home, Published 2005 Rutgers University Press, ISBN: 0813536529 Beare Hedley and Boyd William Lowe, 1993, Restructuring Schools: An International Perspective on the Movement to Transform the Control and Performance of Schools, Published 1993 Routledge, ISBN: 0750701218 Brody Ralph, 2004, Effectively Managing Human Service Organizations, Published 2004 SAGE, ISBN: 141290420X Chance Patti and Chance Edward, 2002, Introduction to Educational Leadership and Organizational Behavior, Published 2002 Eye On Education, Inc., ISBN: 1930556241 Davis Sally and O'Connor Steve, 1999, Rehabilitation Nursing: Foundations for Practice, Published 1999 Elsevier Health Sciences, ISBN: 070202273X Hanks Kurt, 1991, Motivating People: How to Motivate Others to Do What You Want and Thank You, Published 1991 Thomson Crisp Learning, ISBN: 156052085X Haslam Alex and Haslam Alexander, 2004, Psychology in Organizations: The Social Identity Approach, Published 2004 SAGE, ISBN: 0761942319 Jones Jeff, 2004, Management Skills in Schools: A Resource for School Leaders, Published 2004 SAGE, ISBN: 1412901103 Mathis Robert and Jackson John Harold, 2006, Human Resource Management, Published 2006 Thomson South-Western, ISBN: 0324289588 Max Douglas and Bacal Robert, 2004, Perfect Phrases for Setting Performance Goals, Published 2004 McGraw-Hill Professional, ISBN: 007143383X Murray Peter, Poole David, and Grant Jones, 2005, Contemporary Issues in Management and Organisational Behaviour, Published 2005 Thomson Learning Nelson, ISBN: 0170121275 Nelson Debra and Quick James , 2006, Organizational Behavior: Foundations, Realities, and Challenges, Published 2006Thomson South-Western, ISBN: 0324224702 Paton Robert, Paton Rob, and McCalman James, 2000, Change Management: A Guide to Effective Implementation, Published 2000 SAGE, ISBN: 0761964991 Storey John, 2003, Leadership in Organizations: Current Issues and Key Trends, Published 2003 Routledge, ISBN: 0415310334 West Michael, 2004, Effective Teamwork: Practical Lessons from Organizational Research, Published 2004 Blackwell Publishing, ISBN: 1405110570 Wilson Fiona Margaret, 2003, Organizational Behaviour and Gender, Published 2003 Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., ISBN: 0754609006 Read More