Leadership in Work Teams
Leader is a person who advances
organizational goals by influencing the attitudes and actions of
others, and the ability to influence and to motivate others to
achieve organizational goals can be defined as Leadership. The
leadership process involves using authority to help determine
group or organizational goals, motivating organization members
to work toward achieving those goals, and influencing group
dynamics and organizational culture.
Leadership and motivation go
hand-in-hand. Just as employees draw inspiration from leaders,
leaders are not considered as leaders unless they can motivate
others. Generally, organizational leadership is a continuous
process rather than a one-time event, providing the means to one
end performance.
Order your custom
research papers and term papers now!
Work Teams
A formal group characterized by relative autonomy and active
employee participation in management and decision-making
activities. The member must have the ability to act together. It
proudly shares a sense why the team exists and are invested in
accomplishing its mission and goals, they should know what needs
to be done next, by whom, and by when to achieve team goals.
Team members should contribute ideas and solutions, recognize
and respect differences in others, value the ideas and
contributions of others, listen and share information, ask
questions and get clarification, participate fully and keep
their commitments, be flexible and respect the partnership
created by a team, strive for the "win-win" and have fun and
care about the team and the outcomes.
Three types of teams are increasingly popular in the United
States. These are problem solving, special-purpose and
self-managing teams. Problem-solving team consist of a group of
employee and manager volunteers who meet regularly to discuss
methods for solving problems with products, processes, quality
or the work environment. Special-purpose team, is also called a
cross-functional team, made up of members with diverse levels of
experience and knowledge that work together on a specific
activity. These teams with union employees and officials working
alongside management are becoming more common in many industries
as companies seek closer cooperation on a variety of issues that
affects organizational competitiveness, productivity and
profitability. Self-managing team is a team in which members are
responsible for virtually all aspects of an operation or
production process.
Order your custom
research papers and term papers now!
Role of Leadership in Work Teams
Leadership can play a vital role in Work Teams. The relation
between Leadership and its team is of mutual trust and support.
It indicates the willingness of team members to respond to
leader guidance, when team members and leaders trust each other
and are mutually supportive of work efforts, leader-work team
relation are good; when work team members and leader distrust
each other and are not supportive, leader-work team relation
will be considered as poor and worst and even there will be no
leadership in work teams.
Management Role
Besides Leadership and Work Team members, Management of an
organization has very important and essential responsibility to
provide feasible and healthy environment to leadership and its
work team. It includes providing proper materials,
personalities, policies and other influences that affect its
performance or operation. Office layouts, availability of
physical aspects of workplace are all parts of environment, but
intangibles such as the organizational culture in which the
group operates are also important. Providing an environment can
encourage teamwork members and participants but it requires
different management approaches than that used in traditional
formal teams/groups. Establishing an environment in which all
team members feel responsibility as the manager for the team
performance. Management has to provide feeling and sense of
common purpose about why the team exists and the function it
serves, creating a climate of trust and open, honest
communication, keeping meetings and interactions focused on
results, applying individual talents and creativity, identifying
and acting on opportunities. Opportunities for feedback and
updating skills are provided and taken advantage by team
members. As a member of a team, managers act as coaches,
advisers, consultants and liaisons rather than as directive
leaders, because responsibility is shared with other team
members and their participation is encouraged.
Behavior of a Team Leader
A good Team Leader should have to be loyal, energetic, good
advisor having qualities of a good teacher and communicator. He
should be responsible and optimistic. He should have encouraging
and helping attitude and try to judge its teamwork member by
their ability and performance instead of doing any favoritism.
He should be innovative, good planner, team builder and capable
of handling difficult and complicated issues.
To be an effective team builder, he needs to use all his skills
such as active listening, feedback, conflict resolution, problem
solving, and coaching.
Order your custom
research papers and term papers now! |
