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  • Essay / Theories of Leadership and Teamwork: Their Relevance in Today's World

    Table of ContentsAction-Centered Leadership: Balancing Task, Team, and IndividualWilliam's Theory Z Ouchi: a cultural approach to managementElton Mayo's human relations approach and Bruce Tuckman's group training modelConclusionBibliographyLeadership, management and Teamwork is part of understanding and studying the behavior of each individual in organizations, then its use to manage the behavior of people in organizations. For people to be motivated to work and achieve their goals, these three elements must be executed successfully so that they are committed to achieving their goals and do not feel obligated to do so. Different approaches to the study of teamwork and leadership are explored in the essay based on their relevance to the structure of today's workplace. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay To start with a definition, leadership is “the process of influencing others to understand and agree what needs to be done and how to do it.” » Some may say that leaders are born and not made because they possess the particular qualities or traits that extraordinary leaders normally possess and the Traits/Qualities approach will explain this further. Although this approach does not have a fully developed theory, it was one of the first theories of leadership because it focuses on the individual leader and his or her norms, values, and personality that are best suited for a great leader. Trait researchers came up with a collective list of characteristics that a successful leader would exhibit, which would include either behavioral traits, personality traits, or the skills they possessed. There are a few traits that a successful leader would have, some of which are confidence, integrity. , emotional stability, social skills, general cognitive ability, initiative and finally charisma. Researchers later discovered that there were only a few qualities that differentiated someone from a leader or follower, but according to Martin and Fellenz, research in the 1950s found that only 5% of these favorable traits were common. This theory only considers these leadership qualities as innate and that they cannot be learned, but in modern society it has been found that within organizations these traits can be learned, hence this theory does not t is not very relevant in the workplace today because for an individual to become the best in a field, they must have the opportunity to learn the skills that will then benefit their business. Another theory that explains leadership is the functional/group approach. This theory suggests that leaders should make it their main priority to ensure that the needs of their group are met, as they have then successfully done their job and put forth their efforts to ensure that the group functions effectively and efficiently. coherent. Leadership is also assumed to be a set of skills that can be learned and not necessarily innate.Action-Centered Leadership: Balancing Task, Team, and IndividualAdair's Action-Centered Leadership Theory best known in functional leadership because it suggests that great leaders should have well-rounded experience. control over the three main areas of the action-centered model which are tasks, team maintenance and individuals. Each of these elementsoverlap, so if one of them is weak, for example the individual, it could affect the performance of the team and the way the task is accomplished. It is essential that to maintain balance, the leader has full power over all three elements, because when he does, he achieves the desired results, increases motivation and also productivity. In my personal experience when it comes to the Traits approach, I believe that some people are simply born to be leaders because they naturally exhibit the qualities that a great leader would tend to have. When working through a simulation in college, I was placed in a group with many other people to complete the task at hand, but many of us didn't know each other before. In the midst of this, an individual guided us through the simulation by giving us tasks and roles to complete and we all complied, but we never chose this individual to be a leader. It was an unspoken agreement between everyone that this person would be the leader because of the qualities he naturally possessed and expressed and we automatically thought he would be best suited to lead us. Although some may say that management and leadership are quite the same, they really are. are not because managers make things happen because they achieve these goals that leaders set through the efforts of their employees and it is said that it is Martin and Fellenz, 2010, p.190 &p. 196 “A process that involves the primary functions of planning, organizing, and deploying resources to achieve objectives.” This shows that managers ensure that the goals and objectives set are achieved by individuals but that they are also there to ensure the well-being of their employees and McGregor's Theory X and Y supports this. He developed two theories that clarified what managers believed and how it would affect their management styles. The Theory They don't want to put in the effort to finish their work because they don't like it. They tend to adopt an authoritarian style so that they can force/control their employees to achieve set goals and intentions and offer incentives to their employees because they feel that they need to be attracted so that goals are achieved because they have no motivation to work. In recent times, Theory tend to use it, when necessary, because they employ. a large number of employees and are given strict deadlines that must be met. Theory Y explains that managers believe their employees take pride in their work and do it more effectively on their own, so they tend to trust them to do it on their own. clean and this is what we call a participative management style. Organizations that use Theory Y always provide employees with frequent opportunities to improve their skills because they encourage them to communicate openly with their employees rather than controlling them. McGregor explained that this theory has become more popular in organizations in the past and has also proven to be effective in recent times because when this approach is used, employees tend to choose careers that are moremeaningful opportunities that offer them more than just opportunities. However, this McGregor's Theory X and Y tends to be criticized for having a simplistic approach because sometimes a Theory Y manager needs to use a Theory X approach with their employees. From my personal experience while working with Superdrug, I can say that my manager had a participative management style. Indeed, she would never force us to do the activities that were proposed to us, but she would trust that we would carry them out according to our own abilities. This was effective because being able to solve problems in my own way made me more motivated to complete tasks and I enjoyed taking ownership of my work, which then allowed me to be promoted to manager. team. William Ouchi's Theory Z: A Cultural Approach Approach to Management Another management theory that will be discussed as an approach to management is William Ouchi's Theory Z of Management Style, also known as the Japanese Method of Management . His theory explained how the norms and values ​​of a person's culture formed their management style, similar to that of clan cultures. He suggested that cultural values ​​instilled in employees would increase their commitment to their work and that the main characteristics of Ouchi's theory were collective decision-making, long-term employment, strong relationships, and informal control. In an organization it also works smoothly so that the employees earn. I don't feel like managers who are obligated to do a job should involve their employees in decisions about their jobs. When this happens, they feel like they are part of the organization and are not just there for the money because they feel valued and because of this, it will increase their commitment to ensuring that the decision socket is respected in accordance with the standards in force. this must be the case. Long-term employment simply states that if employees feel they will have a job in the future, this security ensures that employees will be more loyal to the organization. Strong employee relationships within the organization are a must as they need to take into consideration that their employees have their own personal lives. Caring for the health and happiness of their employees should be one of their priorities as they need some support in the difficult circumstances they may encounter. Finally, informal control suggests that organizations should work cohesively, as a team, so that everyone can share resources. . This would then give the employee their own responsibility, which is essential, as mentioned earlier in Theory Y, because they are more motivated to achieve the goals. Ouchi's theory is still very relevant in today's workplace, even though it may be old, because it emphasizes how managers must connect with their employees to achieve optimal performance. employee satisfaction. Finally, teamwork is necessary in an organization because it allows individuals to understand how well people work as a team. Teamwork is defined as “groups of two or more people who interact and influence each other, are mutually responsible for achieving common goals, and perceive themselves as a social entity.” Organizations find that when their employees work as a team, more work gets done efficiently because they come together to share ideas and solutions to problems they may encounter. Elton Mayo's approach to human relations and the model ofBruce Tuckman's band formation. Elton Mayo's approach to human relations highlights the importance of social relations between employees and managers because productivity did not depend on the amount of work they did or the amount of their remuneration but on the way in which they interacted with their colleagues in the workplace, which then advised managers to take more interest in their employees. . This explains how teamwork is effective in the workplace, because as humans we tend to need a feeling of love, according to Maslow's hierarchy, because we want to belong to a certain group and these feelings then increase the motivation of an individual who adopts a certain behavior. Bruce Tuckman introduced the five-step model of group formation: forming, storming, normalizing, executing, and adjourning so that individuals can improve as a group. This was important because a group takes time to form as members need to become familiar with other team members and understand what they are going to do. From there, they will then begin to define the roles and responsibilities that the team will need to follow and it is also important that the team leader involves everyone and ensures that they understand what is being done. expects from them. Once these roles and responsibilities are defined. established, this is usually when the storming phase begins, as the individual tends not to follow the boundaries set during the training phase, leading to conflicts between members , which can lead to team failure. For example, a member may disagree on who leads the team. they might try to take away this role from the current leader. The leader of the team must take control of this situation and restore the balance because if the conflict is not resolved then the motivation of the members will decrease and this sometimes leads the teams having difficulty completing the project. In the normalization phase, usually members begin to resolve their conflict and respect each other. Once this happens, they tend to socialize with each other and share information and ideas about the project, which increases team morale and their commitment to the goal. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized article from our expert writers now. Get Custom EssayConclusionIn conclusion, for an organization to thrive, it must be able to balance management, teamwork and leadership cohesively, as one factor can be the downfall of the other. Organizations need to understand that managers need to socialize more with their employees as it increases productivity, leaders need to know how to influence their employees to achieve set goals and delegate their work to others and finally, that working in a team tends to be more effective than having employees work alone because it demotivates them. Finding the perfect balance between these three factors is a difficult task, but it is not impossible to achieve.BibliographyAbudi, G., (2010). THE FIVE STEPS OF TEAM DEVELOPMENT: A CASE STUDY [online]. Smart project. [Accessed April 29, 2019]. Available at: https://www.projectsmart.co.uk/the-five-stages-of-team-development-a-case-study.phpBarnett, T. (2006). Theory Z [online]. ReferenceForBusiness. [Accessed April 22, 2019]. Available at: https://www.referenceforbusiness.com/management/Str-Ti/Theory-Z.htmlBratton, J et al (2007) Work and Organizational Behavior. Basingstoke, Palgrave MacmillanBusinessballs., (2019). McGregor's XY Management Theory [online]. Business bullets. [Accessed April 22, 2019].6-16.