Topic > Leadership and Teamwork Theories: Their Relevance in Today's World

Index Action-Centered Leadership: Balancing Task, Team, and IndividualWilliam Ouchi's Theory Z: A Cultural Approach to ManagementThe Human Relations Approach by Elton Mayo and Bruce Tuckman's team training modelConclusionBibliographyLeadership, management and Teamwork is part of understanding and studying one's behavior in organizations and then using this to manage the behavior of people in organizations. In order for people to be motivated to do work and complete goals, these three elements should be executed successfully so that they are committed to achieving their goals and do not feel pressured to do so. The essay explores different approaches to the study of teamwork and leadership and their relevance to today's workplace structure. We say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay To start with a definition, leadership is “the process of influencing others to understand and agree on what needs to be done and how to do it.” " Some may argue that leaders are born and not created because they possess the particular qualities or traits that extraordinary leaders normally possess and the Traits/Qualities approach will further explain this. Although this approach does not have a fully developed theory, it has been one of early leadership theories because it focuses on the individual leader and his or her norms, values, and personality that are best for a great leader Trait researchers have established a collective list of characteristics that a successful leader would represent which would include behavioral traits, personality or skills possessed. There are some traits that a successful leader would have and some of these were confidence, integrity, emotional stability, social skills, general cognitive ability, initiative and finally charisma. Researchers later found that there were only a few qualities that differentiated someone from being a leader or a follower, but according to Martin and Fellenz, research conducted in the 1950s found that only 5% of these favorable traits were common. This theory exclusively views these leadership qualities as innate and cannot be learned, but in modern society it has been seen that within organizations these traits can be learned, that is why this theory is not very relevant today in the workplace because For each individual to become the best at something, they must have the opportunity to acquire skills that would then benefit their business. Another theory that explains leadership is the Functional/Group approach. This theory suggests that leaders should make sure their group's needs are met as a top priority because they have done their job successfully and have put in the effort to ensure the group functions effectively and cohesively. It is also assumed that leadership is a set of skills that can be learned and not necessarily innate. Action-Centered Leadership: Balancing Task, Team, and Individual Adair's action-centered leadership is the best-known theory for functional leadership because it suggests that great leaders should have full control over the three main areas of the action-centered model that they are Tasks, Team Maintenance, and Individuals. Each of these elements overlaps with each other, so if one is weak, for example the individual, this could affect the performance of the team and how well the task is carried out. It is essential that in order for balance to be maintained, the leader has fullpower over all three elements because when they do it gets the desired results, increases motivation and also productivity. In my personal experience regarding the Traits approach, I believe that some people are born to be leaders because they naturally represent the qualities that a great leader tends to have. When working through a simulation at university I was placed in a group with several others to complete the task at hand, but many of us didn't know each other before. In the midst of this individual led us all through the simulation by giving us tasks and roles to perform and we all complied, but we never chose the individual as the leader. It was a silent agreement among everyone that this individual would be the leader because of the qualities he naturally possessed and represented that we automatically thought he would be the best to lead us. Although some might say that Management and Leadership are more or less the same thing, they are actually not because managers make things happen because they achieve these goals that leaders set through the efforts of their employees and are said to be Martin and Fellenz , 2010, p.190 &p. 196 “A process that involves the main functions of planning, organization and deployment of resources to achieve objectives”. This shows that managers ensure that the goals and objectives set are achieved by individuals, but they are also there to ensure the well-being of their employees and McGregor's Theory X and Y will support this. He developed two theories that clarify managers' beliefs and how this would influence their management styles. The Theory They tend to adopt an authoritative style so they can force/control their employees to complete the set goals and intentions and offer incentives to their employees because they feel they need to be attracted to achieve the goals because they have no motivation to work . In recent times theory employees and are given strict deadlines that must be met. Theory Y explains that managers believe that their employees take pride in their work and do it more effectively on their own, so they tend to trust them to do it themselves precisely and this is known as participative management style. Organizations using Theory Y always provide employees with frequent opportunities to improve their skills because they encourage open communication with their employees rather than controlling them. McGregor explained that this theory has become more popular among organizations in the past and has proven effective even in recent times and this is because when this approach is used employees tend to choose more meaningful careers that offer them more than just money. However this McGregor's Theory Superdrug I I can say that my manager had a participative management style. This is because she would never force us to carry out the activities that were given to her to use, but she trusted that thewe would have completed according to our capabilities. This was effective because being able to solve problems in my own way made me more motivated to complete tasks and I enjoyed taking responsibility for my work which then allowed me to be promoted to Team Leader. William Ouchi's Theory Z: A Cultural Experience Management Approach Another management theory that will be discussed as an approach to management is William Ouchi's Theory Z Management Style, also known as the Japanese management method. His theory explained how the norms and values ​​of one's culture formed their clanculture-like management style. He suggested that cultural values ​​instilled in employees would increase their commitment to their work, and the main characteristics of Ouchi's theory were collective decision making, long-term employment, strong relationships, and informal control. In an organization, it also runs smoothly, so employees win. There is no sense that, being forced to do a job, managers must involve their employees in decisions regarding their work. When this happens, they feel 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 made is held to the standard that it needs to be. Long-term employment simply states that if employees feel that 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 because they have to take into consideration that their employees have a personal life of their own. Concern for the health and happiness of their employees should be one of their priorities because they need support in difficult circumstances they may have. Finally, informal control suggests that organizations should work cohesively as a team so that everyone can share their resources. . This would then give the employee their own accountability, which previously mentioned in Theory Y is essential because they are more motivated to complete goals. Ouchi's theory is still very relevant in today's workplace, even though it may be long-standing, because it emphasizes how managers should connect with their employees to achieve the optimal level of employee satisfaction. Finally, teamwork is necessary in an organization because it allows people to understand how well people work as a team. Teamwork is said to be “groups of two or more people who interact and influence each other, are mutually responsible for achieving common goals, and perceive each other as a social entity.” Organizations find that when their employees work in teams, more work gets done effectively because they come together to share their ideas and solutions to problems they may be facing. Elton Mayo's human relations approach and Bruce Tuckman's team training model Elton Mayo's human relations approach highlights the importance of social relationships between employees and managers because productivity did not depend on how much work they were doing or by how much they were paid but by how well they interacted with their colleagues in the workplace, which therefore advised managers to take more interest in their employees. This explains how teamwork is effective in the workplace because as human beings we tend to need a sense of love, according to Maslow's hierarchy, because we want to belong to a certain group and those feelings therefore increase an individual's motivation Thatrepresents a certain behavior. Bruce Tuckman presented the five-stage model of group training: Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, and Adjourning so that individuals can improve themselves as a group. This was important because a team takes time to form because members need to familiarize themselves with other team members and understand what they will do. From this the roles and responsibilities that the team will have to follow will then begin to form and it is also important that the team leader involves everyone and ensures that they understand what is expected of them. Once these roles and responsibilities are established this is usually when the storming phase begins because the individual tends not to follow the boundaries established in the training phase and this leads to conflicts between members which can risk failure of the team, for example one member might not agree on who leads the team, so they might try to take that role away from the current leader. The team leader needs to take control of this situation and restore the balance because if the conflict is not resolved, members' motivation will decrease and this will sometimes cause teams to have difficulty completing the project. In the normalization phase members usually start to resolve their conflict and respect each other. Once this happens, they tend to socialize with each other and share information and ideas for the project which increases team morale and their commitment to the goal. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper 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 because one factor can be the undoing of the other. Organizations need to understand that managers need to socialize more with their employees because this increases productivity, leaders should know how to influence their employees to complete 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. Having the perfect balance of all three factors is a difficult but not impossible task to achieve. Bibliography Abudi, G., (2010). THE FIVE PHASES OF TEAM DEVELOPMENT: A CASE STUDY [online]. Projectsmart. [Viewed April 29, 2019]. Available from: https://www.projectsmart.co.uk/the-five-stages-of-team-development-a-case-study.phpBarnett, T. (2006). Z Theory [online]. ReferenceForBusiness. [Viewed April 22, 2019]. Available from: https://www.referenceforbusiness.com/management/Str-Ti/Theory-Z.htmlBratton, J et al (2007) Work and organizational behaviour. Basingstoke, Palgrave MacmillanBusinessballs., (2019). 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