Leadership, Management and Decision Making - Essay Example

PART THREE- LEADERSHIP, MANAGEMENT AND DECISION MAKING

Decision-making and management

In working with the group this year, there were many decisions I made in order to ensure efficient working and to generally complete the tasks assigned to us. In general, the democratic style of leadership was applied, and we managed to work with each other by consulting each other and in instances where there was a conflict in choices or opinions, a majority show of hands was used to resolve the conflict. The democratic method of leadership helped appease the majority and helped to eventually convince the minority that the carried decision would be best for the harmonious working relationship of the group (Burke and Barron, 2014).

The power used by the leader in our group was legitimate power. We voted for him to be the leader, therefore, he legitimately had the right to hold power and to use such power. We also believed that we had the obligation to comply. Legitimate power as discussed by Yukl (as cited by Green, 1999) relates to the fact that the authority is applied when the leader makes a legitimate request, sometimes verbally or in written form. Under this exercise of power, polite requests have more weight than arrogant demands (Green, 1999). Complying with a request is the more likely option especially if the option is considered within the scope of the leader’s authority. Illegitimate requests or orders are usually not obeyed or are actually rejected especially where the order would be dangerous or unpleasant (Green, 1999). Legal or legitimate orders have to be made clear and have to be concisely phrased, using language which the target individual/s would be able to easily understand (Green, 1999).

Within the context of a democratic group, the orders coming from the leader would also be considered legitimate requests or orders because the leader is simply implementing the decision of the group (Tannenbaum, et.al., 2013). This was the case in our group where there were sometimes different opinions about specific actions or activities and our leader helped facilitate the decision-making process by calling on us to vote for decisions (Tannenbaum, et.al., 2013). After a decision was carried by the group, the leader implemented it and this was the source of legitimacy for his decision. We did not anymore question such decisions or orders because these decisions were now considered legitimate decisions.

Our group was made up of different individuals from various minority ethnicities. Hence, most of the time, our decisions and opinions varied. Some were influenced by their culture, religion, and the rest were simply deciding based on their political beliefs (Scott and Davis, 2015). There were no right or wrong decisions because each of us had our own ideas about the activity or options brought before us. We were actually given a chance to present our opinions about the matter/s placed before us and we were given a chance to understand why our group members felt the way they did about the matter/s (Scott and Davis, 2015). After considering all the opinions of the group members, we then took a vote. The majority vote was carried and was then implemented by our leader. In this case, the decision of the leader was the legitimate decision, as supported by the majority opinions of the group members (Scott and Davis, 2015).

The form of power applied and used by the followers was also legitimate power. We all felt that we had the right and the power to have each of our opinions about the activity be heard (Green, 1999). We felt that we all had the legitimate power to express our opinions about the matter at hand. We however understood that each of our opinions cannot be used as the decision for the group and that we had to submit to the will of the majority (Green, 1999). Nevertheless, the legitimate power of the group and of each individual was given sufficient room to be expressed and narrated to the other members for them to also understand and eventually make an informed decision (Green, 1999).

There were barriers in making effective decisions, mostly in the time-consuming process of having to discuss as a group the different options and opinions each member had on the activity. We came from different ethnicities and had different political affiliations and opinions. In discussing such barrier, it is important to also discuss groupthink (Turner and Pratnakis, 2014). Groupthink relates to groups making defective decisions due to group pressures causing the deterioration of mental effectiveness and moral judgment (Turner and Pratnakis, 2014). Groups vulnerable to groupthink usually do not consider alternatives and often make irrational decisions which tend to demoralized other groups. Groupthink is also seen in groups which has members with similar backgrounds, wherein external opinions are not often allowed to slip through and where there are no clear policies in the decision making process (Turner and Pratnakis, 2014). Fortunately we did not have such issue. We were not pressured to come up with a quality decision, or to always show unanimity in such decisions. We were generally open to the opinions of our group members. The diversity of our group ushered in the way towards a more open and diverse decision-making process. We were not insulated from the outside world and we knew that there were other alternative choices or options we could consider simply because each member already had his/her opinion to present (Turner and Pratnakis, 2014). There were also times when the members wanted similar tasks; there were therefore issues in who would be assigned to what task. In the end, we applied a more democratic approach to the process of assigning tasks. The group assented to such decisions because it was supported by the majority.