Team Management
Leadership and Management
Having analyzed current leadership practices, I would like to express an opinion that despite being aimed at gaining crucial goals, they cannot be considered effective. Authoritative and results-based approaches are primarily concerned with discipline and structure (Vähämäki & Verger, 2019). However, under such conditions, there is too little space for creativity and positive development. It is evident that team members feel dissatisfied with such a state of affairs since they report that managers are being insensitive and inflexible. To solve these problems, I suggest implementing participative, coaching, and collaborative leadership and management approach. With their help, managers will be able to increase creativity and arrange a positive atmosphere in their departments. This way, we will pursue the organization’s mission, culture, and goals, which include, among others, the increase in workplace efficiency and the appreciation of friendly relationships within the organization.
Followership
Undoubtedly, when planning how to strengthen the team’s effectiveness and culture, I must start with myself. To develop followership within the team, I should manifest myself as a leader willing to collaborate and negotiate. Once I demonstrate that I am attentive to the team’s ideas and ready to fulfill their needs, their followership will enhance. As Sackmann (2021) remarks, every person working in an organization is “a culture carrier” and can affect the existing culture (p. 260). However, leaders and managers play a crucial role in “maintaining and shaping” that culture since their position is more visible (Sackmann, 2021, p. 260). Thus, I will strive to maintain the effectiveness and culture by showing the team how much I support the organization’s vision and how much I care for employees’ interests. My major strength in this regard is the focus on diversity. I realize that team members, especially in collocated or remote offices, appreciate flexibility and freedom for creativity. Other strengths I will utilize include self-awareness, negotiation skills, and willingness to collaborate.
Decision-Making Models
In the current situation, rational and creative decision-making models will be the most suitable. The rational approach will be useful since it involves gathering sufficient information about the problem. Also, this decision-making model presupposes that the decision is very important, which is exactly the case as we are trying to improve the current state of affairs. Furthermore, the use of the rational model is recommended when one is trying to maximize efficiency. Meanwhile, a creative model is suggested for situations when solutions are not clear yet, and new ones should be generated. Since I am about to try and find the most optional solutions, this model will be useful.
Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence (EI) is highly important for a leader since one must be able to understand and regulate one’s emotions in order to be able to understand those of others. Incompetent leadership strategies can lead to poor performance and increased workplace stress (Kerns, 2021). Meanwhile, managers with a high degree of EI realize what their feelings and emotions mean and are well aware of how those can influence others. To ensure that my management practices are emotionally intelligent, I will work hard on my self-awareness and self-regulation skills, empathy, motivation, and social skills. By making my management practices emotionally intelligent, I will gain a better inclusion of diverse perspectives and roles within the team. Specifically, it will be easier for me to understand employees’ needs, notice their attitudes, and figure out how to deal with uncomfortable situations. These practices align with the organization’s goals since the latter include increasing efficiency and employee satisfaction.
Communication and Collaboration Across Functions
Forms and Functions
Various forms and structures can influence not only the relationships between the team members but also the effectiveness of production. A hierarchical structure, for instance, can interfere with innovation due to excessive bureaucracy. Meanwhile, a functional structure organizes employees according to their skills, which enables better communication and boosts efficiency.
Communication Practices
Both employees and managers report that they frequently receive information too late, which undermines the overall effectiveness of their work. Hence, I suggest conducting a survey that will identify the preferable ways of communication and stick to those which the team members consider most convenient. Also, I recommend eliminating the number of briefs and reports that employees and managers have to prepare and read because it takes too much time and is rarely necessary.
Organizational Mission and Vision
The organization’s mission and vision indicate that the SNHU Pet Supply Company cares about its consumers and employees and strives to provide the best options for both of the mentioned stakeholder groups. That is why it is necessary to arrange the workflow within the departments in the most favorable way so that each employee can contribute to pursuing the mission and vision and could benefit from their work.
Organizational Goals
Organizational goals indicate that to meet them successfully, each employee should do their best, whereas managers and leaders should arrange the most favorable conditions for workers. Without quality products, we will not be able to satisfy our customers. Meanwhile, without making employees happy with the environment, we will not encourage them to do their best. Therefore, we should start with improving team leadership and management in order to eventually attain all the goals we have set.
References
Kerns, C. D. (2021). Bad leaders: Some realities, reasons and remedies. In A. Ă–rtenblad (Ed.), Debating bad leadership: Reasons and remedies (pp. 219-237). Palgrave Macmillan.
Sackmann, S. A. (2021). Culture in organizations: Development, impact and culture-mindful leadership. Springer.
Vähämäki, J., & Verger, C. (2019). Learning from results-based management evaluations and reviews. Web.