Leadership, Teamwork, and Organizational Development

Posted on Oct 16, 2024 in Other subjects

Leadership and Team Dynamics

Leadership Styles

Leadership Support: Prioritizes the needs and well-being of subordinates, fostering a friendly work environment.

Managerial Leadership: Provides clear expectations, guidance, and procedures, emphasizing rules and coordination.

Participative Leadership: Values input from subordinates, seeking their suggestions and involving them in decision-making.

Achievement-Oriented Leadership: Sets challenging goals, encourages performance improvement, and instills confidence in subordinates’ ability to achieve high standards.

Fiedler’s Leadership Contingency Model

Fiedler identifies three key variables influencing a leader’s effectiveness:

  1. Leader-Member Relations: The most crucial variable. Strong, trusting relationships reduce the need for formal authority.
  2. Task Structure: Well-structured tasks simplify leadership and facilitate goal achievement.
  3. Position Power: Stronger position power enhances a leader’s ability to influence and direct.

Stages of Team Development

  1. Preparation: Clarify the team’s purpose and potential productivity improvements.
  2. Introduction: Establish a positive work environment and training standards, introducing a theoretical framework for teamwork.
  3. Analysis and Problem Solving: Address identified problems and develop solutions.
  4. Interpersonal Feedback: Teach constructive criticism techniques to foster a positive work climate.
  5. Action Planning: Set deadlines, assign tasks, and designate responsible individuals.
  6. Tracking: Monitor progress towards objectives and assess the degree of completion.

Teams vs. Working Groups

Working Group: Individuals primarily interact to share information and make decisions to support each other within their respective areas of responsibility.

Team: A group working collaboratively to achieve shared results.

Types of Teams

  • Formal: Defined by the organizational structure, with tasks aligned with organizational goals. Example: Quality Circles
  • Informal: Unstructured groups arising from social needs within the work environment.
  • Permanent: Stable teams responsible for routine operational and maintenance tasks.
  • Temporary: Formed for specific projects or transient activities, disbanding upon completion.
  • Self-Directed: Teams managing their own work, including planning, scheduling, and performance evaluation.
  • Functional: Employees from the same hierarchical level but different departments collaborating on a task.
  • Quality Circles: Members of the same department discussing quality, efficiency, and work environment improvements.

Team Synergy

Synergy occurs when the collective output of a team exceeds the sum of individual contributions. Task division, individual responsibility, and collaborative efforts enhance productivity.

Fainstein’s Team Concept and Development

According to Hector Fainstein, a team is a group of people working together to achieve results.

Advantages of Teams

  1. Increased participation and valuing diverse opinions.
  2. Coordinated efforts.
  3. Creative problem-solving.
  4. Synergy.
  5. Commitment to solutions.

Kouzes and Posner’s Seven Behaviors for Building Credibility

  1. Demonstrate Integrity: Act consistently with espoused values, ensuring actions align with words.
  2. Be Clear and Consistent: Communicate intentions clearly and consistently without being rigid.
  3. Create Positive Energy: Maintain an optimistic team environment, avoiding negativity.
  4. Use Empathy and Reciprocity: Show understanding and responsiveness to team members’ needs.
  5. Manage Agreements and Disagreements: Address disagreements constructively to reach mutually beneficial outcomes.
  6. Encourage and Advise: Support team members, alleviating fears and guiding efforts towards success.
  7. Share Information: Facilitate understanding of diverse perspectives within the team.

Key Competencies

Competency: A skill or set of habits leading to superior job performance and increased economic value.

Practical Intelligence: A blend of skill and experience applied to daily tasks.

Expertise: Combining common sense, practical knowledge, and skills for effective work performance.

Emotional Competence: Acquired capacity based on emotional intelligence, contributing to outstanding work performance.

Pillars of New Organizations

Leadership: Crucial for organizational success.

Horizontal Organization: Minimized hierarchy, emphasizing process-based structures, multidisciplinary teams, and self-management.

Communication: Transparency in business plans, financial aspects, and potential impacts of mergers and acquisitions.

Delegation of Responsibilities: Empowering employees through responsibility sharing.

Continuous Training: Investing in ongoing employee development.

Negotiation Approaches

Distributive Negotiation: A zero-sum approach where one party’s gain is another’s loss.

Integrative Negotiation: Seeks win-win solutions through collaborative problem-solving.

Data in Negotiation

  • Personal background of the other party (power, authority, education, personality, attitudes).
  • History of previous negotiations.
  • Characteristics of the enterprise or institution (financial situation, production status, their need for us).
  • Decision-making process.
  • Sales procedure or marketing strategy.

Profile of a Good Leader

  • Sensible and composed.
  • Dedicated to their work.
  • Proactive and takes initiative.
  • Strong interpersonal skills.
  • Integrative and collaborative.
  • Organized.
  • Knowledgeable in their domain.
  • Effective communicator.
  • Recognizes and appreciates others.
  • Responsible for achieving goals and objectives.

Characteristics of People with Self-Control

  • Manage impulsive feelings and conflicting emotions effectively.
  • Maintain balance, positivity, and composure under pressure.
  • Think clearly and stay focused despite challenges.