Generation Y and Team Leadership - Coursework Example

Generation Y and Team Leadership Affiliation Generation Y and Team Leadership Introduction In most organization managements, the Y generations are almost being left out. There could be some effects on the environments and the organization as a whole when this technology crazy- generation is left to run the management. Various leadership styles maybe adapted by the organizations’ managers to run the team inappropriately. The effects of introducing the millennium generation in to organizational management and their difficult leadership styles are discussed in this paper. Dq 8.1 The Y generation is also referred to as the millennial generation. It is a generation rarely values a one-on-one discussion since the advanced technology can enable communication without necessarily meeting across tables. The characteristic of believing on internet communication over traditional boardroom meetings is both beneficial and disadvantageous to the generation. For instance, another trait that this generation has is being team oriented. The ladies and gentlemen who fall in this group are always striving to be part of the taskforce in charge of doing various assigned duties. It can be argued that this trait was obtained when these people were growing up as they played in teams and everyone struggled to participate. The millennial has grown up to be a generation that supports teamwork due to this factor. Being on the internet for close to 24 hours is one way through which this group enhances teamwork. Internet communication channels create a platform where people coordinate their work despite the distances. The Y generation is also characterized with boys and girls who love being given attention so much. The individuals in this age group will always struggle to seek attention through what they say, their dress code, and how they socialize. Due to this, the millennial generation is always engaging in extra ordinary deeds so that they can be noticed by everyone around. This can be beneficial in the sense that workers from this generation can be innovative. However, it can also be the cause of many uncalculated steps being taken by people in the society just for the sake of seeking attention. Dq8.1.1 (1) Based on this knowledge of Gen Y, how do you see the work environment changing as Gen Y enters management positions? Some changes maybe observed in work environments as the Y Generation enters managerial posts, some of these changes maybe positive while others maybe negative. Implementation of the positive changes on certain fields may better the organizational success. For instance, since this is an ambitious generation, the productivity of the organization is likely to be seen that is when they really push their stuff to work harder and achieve higher goals for the organization (Cheung & Wong, 2012). Since the Y generation has more interest in technology, they are likely to introduce advanced technologies in their working environments. This changes the working environments since the head team member may decide to change the operations of the organization to involve a lot of technology. With the Generation Y in managerial positions, several innovations are likely to be introduced to the working environments and thus new operational activities from time to time. Several other frequent changes are likely to be experienced since this is a so curious generation and lives by trying out new stuff they learn from their daily internet use. (2)Will Gen Y be more adept at managing distributed workers than baby boomer managers? (3)Why or why not? The generation Y managers are better adept to manage distributed teams more than the baby boomers; this is because they have better opportunities to bring together the team members through modern technological communication means. Some reasons why they are at better place to manage their teams are as highlighted below; The high-tech generation has a high self drive and encouragement character. It graduates to team work in cases where there are globally distributed teams. Despite the fact that coordination maybe a major problem, the management goes an extra mile to ensure each distributed member is competitive enough and is a team player on their own. These combined efforts really benefit the organization as a whole. Since the Y generation has a greater interest in the modern technology, managers from this generation are better placed in the coordination of globally distributed teams. These modern technological methods play an important role in the communication of globally distributed teams. Since the y Generation managers are so conversant with the modern technology and so is the team members, they are able to introduce the technologies of their choice that enable easy flow of data, information and reports of each member thus high performance rates by the teams (Carter, 2013). Dq 8.2 (1) what is the effect of organizational culture on leadership style? The organizational culture of a team refers to the philosophy, experiences, expectations and the values that hold it together and aid it achieve its desired goals. Leadership styles are often affected so much by different organizational cultures of different organizations. These organizational cultures affect the distribution of its workers, flow of information from one member to the other in a hierarchical manner as well as the organization’s productivity (Sackmann, 2011). Organizational cultures tend to determine rather define how things get done in a certain organization, this may at some point have a negative effect on the leadership style since the incoming leaders might not get the opportunity to bring in new ideas that would aid in achieving better goals for a specific organization. Goal setting by certain teams also depend greatly on its organizational cultures. This may mean a certain target by a certain period of time. Different leadership styles may be required to enforce this hence high productivity by the teams. In this context, it is so evident the cultures have influenced the leadership styles (Schneider & Ehrhart, 2013). Leadership styles in an organization may be affected by organizational cultures by dictating how the teams operate and what approach to give to certain problems. Since the cultures give a guide on what to do and where, the leadership may be forced to be lenient on some tasks while on some they would be stern to ensure competition. This way the leadership is affected. (2)How does organizational culture interact with personal leadership style? Organizational culture interacts with personal leadership styles in that the organizational cultures are used to set values and operations for the organization by its management rather than leadership. Later on, the values set by the leadership are the same ones that make up the organization culture of the same company or team as well as dictate what type of leadership the company needs. Culture of operations determine the do’s and don’ts of an organization and for this reason the management is only restricted on a specific path thus affecting the leadership style. Dq 8.3 (1) What are the differences between transactional and transformational leadership? The two most commonly used leadership styles are transactional and transformational. The two types of leadership differ in different ways some of which are discussed below; Transformational leadership is the type of leadership that ensures problems do not arise in the organization. It fights to see the maybe issues solved before they turn to great problems which may hinder the final outcome. While transactional leadership is mainly interested in the solution of problems the organization experiences, by problems I mean those that have gotten into the organization and have maybe started slowing down its productivity. It is thus noted that one form of leadership acts to ensure perfection as the other tries to do away with any damages already done (Kelloway, 2013). The transactional type of leadership also bases its function at ensuring that the organization being led maintains some status in the market and society as a whole. The transformational leadership on the other hand aims through adaptive changes at ensuring the operations of the organization is improved (Azanza & Leon, 2013). These two differences come in due to the differences tabled by their objectives. Transformational leadership differs with transactional leadership in that it bales its major interest on the overall success of the team, while the transactional mainly aims at seeing the success of each member of the team, which is the individual performance in the team or organization (Winkler, 2014). (2)How might each of them contribute to or hinder distributed team performance? Globally distributed teams’ performance maybe greatly influenced by the two types of leadership. For instance the transformational leadership ensures that a team comes up with desires and ambitious goals which are across the dispersed teams. This enables the teams to work towards a common interest and enables the team to grow. This leadership also exhibits team players, this way all the individuals have a drive and passion to work together to better their overall performance. The virtue of team playing is showed where the leadership encourages each individual to work towards their team’s interest without minding the distance between its members hence success of the organization (Colbert, 2012). Transactional leadership contributes to the performance of distributed teams in that; it enables the organization to solve all the issues that may offer hindrance to the relay of information across globally dispersed teams hence the output of the organization. This is achieved since transactional leadership aims at solving issues before they become major problems. The general performance of globally distributed teams is improved by this type of leadership where the self esteem of the organization and its members by making them feel that they are the best and building a good image for the company. This boosts the confidence of the workers which later translates to the success of their team (Martin, 2012). 3) What are other leadership styles you might use in a team environment? Effective team leadership plans which could be used in team environments are; Laissez faire, it is a type which involves allowing the current operational systems to be kept by an organization without employing new strategies. This is so important during transition from one management to the other (Naranjo-Valencia & Jiménez-Jiménez, 2011). It fights to see the incoming management to learn the organization’s operation activities before later deciding on whether to try out some new changes or not. This policy is important in keeping the cultures of an organization for such a long time since some administrators may not decide to revise them. Another leadership style is the Authoritarian or the autocratic leadership. Here the leaders are left to make decisions based on the knowledge they have on certain issues since the ideas of the workers are not sought. This type of leadership can be applied in cases where there comes in a rescue administration to help save a sinking administration of a single organization (O’Reilly, 2014). The rescue administration makes the decisions for the organization and the former has no say about it. Participative leadership on the other hand serves the extreme opposite of the authoritarian leadership. In this type of leadership, the ideas of the workers is sought and taken into keen action. Every member here is allowed to share their views and ideas towards the success of the team (Sinkowitz-Cochran, 2012). All the team members here are assigned duties which could help improve the performance of the entire organization, they per-take their duties and when they get a platform to meet, everyone presents their respective findings (Ogunfowora, 2014). This is a very important contribution to the overall productivity of the firm. (4)Can teams function without a leader? A team has to have a leader for it to work tirelessly in order to achieve its set goals. Team leaders play a very important role in enabling the success of their teams. Some of the important roles a team leader plays are; Leaders energize the teams giving them a ‘we’re almost there’ attitude that helps them roll their sleeves and work even harder to meet specific time frames and meet their goals. Team members at times may lose steam, and may not be able to motivate one another in completion of a certain project or task. This function can only be done by a team leader who won’t just keep track, but cheer them up too (Hartnell, 2011). Leaders act as liaisons that are a connecting piece between the members of the organization. Teams do not function in a vacuum thus a connection is needed. Leaders therefore serve to ensure everyone is updated on the progress and obstacles of the team and tries to give advices on how the obstacles can be tackled. Without a leader, the teams are likely to miss some important information since there would be no one to make clarifications (Kelloway, 2013). Leaders also ensure their teams stick to the visions and missions of the organization. This enables effective operation of the team and better achievement of certain goals. This helps the workers to get to realize what they need to reach out to, and even working on other aspects of their project. Conclusion The high tech Y Generation can be of great importance in the management of the globally distributed teams. This generation exhibits a high knowledge in technology, and these technologies help to bring together the globally distributed teams giving way to the organizations success. 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