Background
In section three, which starts in chapters 9 to 15, Robbins and Judge emphasize the importance of employees in an organization working as a team. The authors describe how organizations can achieve this objective which will help them in their journey to success. They also outline the expected challenges of teamwork and how to overcome them. This paper entails a response to each of the chapters in section 3 of the text.
Foundations of Group Behaviour
This chapter of the text describes different types of groups identified according to their functions. Robbins and Judge noted the five stages of group formation; forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning. The authors also describe the challenges that a group may encounter in the formation stages. In this chapter, I made an exciting discovery that every group has some properties that govern its proper functioning.
Some of the defining group properties include roles, norms, status, size, and cohesiveness. In the group decision making section, Robbins and Judge describe the pros and cons of the process. In my view, the cons outweighed the cons thus prefer individual decision making. But to address my devastation, the authors provide remedies to ease the cons of group decision making such as reducing the size of the group, having impartial leaders, nominal group technique, and use of discussion enhancing techniques.
Understanding Work Teams
It was interesting to find out that there is a difference between workgroups and work teams from the textbook. The different types of teams noted in the chapter are; virtual teams, self-managed teams, cross-functional teams, and problem-solving teams. I learned that effective teams have several characteristics; contextual, composition, work design, and team processes components. In my view, the contextual components such as enough resources, structure and leadership, an environment where people trust each other, and reward systems form the basis of any effective team operations. I noted that we are not necessarily team players by nature, rather, there is a process of training people to become effective team players.
Communication
Communication is key for any successful interaction process. However, I learned from the book that not all communications can achieve set a goal. The book divides the communication process into four steps; sending, encoding, interpreting, and feedback. A message is transferred through a medium or channel. I was surprised to find out that a communication channel differs according to the nature of the type of communication. There are formal and informal forms of communication that apply diverse channels. Using the wrong channel may hinder effective communication. The authors noted other barriers of communication such as language, selective perception, emotions, gender differences, and filtering among others. In an organization, there are downward, lateral, and upward types of communication.
Leadership
First, I noted there is a difference between management and leadership according to the definition in the text. A leader motivates, inspires, and encourages others to achieve a set goal. Leaders formulate strategies while managers supervise their implementation (Tasselli et al., 2018). From the above description, I aspire to become a leader. However, Robbins and Judge explain the theories used to define a leader. The book notes an interesting debate in the behavioural theories; some state that leaders possess inborn characteristics while others note that leadership does not have to be inbuilt rather, one can acquire it through training.
I agree with the contingency theory which states that leadership skills vary according to situational factors such as behaviour and capabilities of followers. On the other hand, the leader-member exchange theory encourages the formation of a relationship between a leader and subordinates.
Contemporary Issues in Leadership
As leadership is a broad topic, the authors of this text note several contemporary issues in leadership such as charismatic, transformational, and authentic leadership. From this chapter, I concluded that leaders should possess the power to influence their followers with ease. The author describes this art as framing where one can change people’s perceptions, comprehension, and interpretations.
According to McShane and Glinow (2017), charismatic leaders are visionary, risk-takers, sensitive to the needs of subordinates, and have unconventional behaviour. I was astonished by the problems of charismatic leaders such as misuse of the company’s resources, prioritizing individual interests over organizational interests, and being ego-driven. Contemporary leaders include mentors, online mentors, and self-leaders. I realised we can all be leaders by motivating others on any platform. A leader can be constructed through two theories; attribution theory and neutralisers and substitutes for leadership.
Power and Politics
The connection between power and leadership is obvious as leaders use power to manipulate others in the achievement of set goals. The book notes several types of power such as formal and personal power. Formal power can be rewarded, coercive, and legitimate power. In my opinion, personal power is most significant in establishing leadership skills. Personal power includes expert and referential power (McShane and Glinow, 2017). I noticed that the existence of power establishes a dependency relationship from subordinates due to the importance and scarcity of resources that may lack substitutes. This nature of resources establishes organizational politics as people scramble to benefit from them. As I expected, the book confirmed that organizational politics have negative results such as less job satisfaction, reduced performance, increased turnover, and stress and anxiety.
Conflict Negotiations
Conflict arises when two parties engage in a disagreement or one party pursues to negatively affect the other. However, I realised that there are functional conflicts; which profit a group, and dysfunctional conflicts; that negatively affect a group’s operations. Robbins and Judge explain the process of conflict in stages; incompatibility, personalisation, intentions, behaviour, and outcomes. To resolve a conflict, the authors suggest several negotiation measures; distributive, integrative, and third-party negotiations. I learned that communication and negotiation processes differ in diverse cultures.
References
Robbins, S. P., Judge, T. A., & Vohra, N. Organizational behaviour by Pearson 18e. Pearson Education India. Web.
McShane, S., & Glinow, M. A. V. (2017). Organizational behaviour. McGraw-Hill Education. Web.
Tasselli, S., Kilduff, M., & Landis, B. (2018). Personality change: Implications for organizational behaviour. Academy of Management Annals, 12(2), 467-493.