Developing and Managing Effective Teams - Coursework Example

Developing and managing effective teams Submitted to (INSTRUCTOR’S NAME) (INSTITUTION NAME) (ADDRESS) October 6th, 2014 By (STUDENT NAME) (INSTITUTION NAME) Introduction Various organizations apply different management and leaderships methods that are based on theoretical perspectives. Major management theories include scientific and humanistic theories, and in leadership, there are transformational and situational leadership. With these, direct applications remain largely elusive as no single theory applies completely without borrowing from another or applying contradictory principles. As such, in this report, the goal is to analyse management of the sales department in accordance to the various theories applied and the differences arising in application. In addition, there are recommendations as to how best the department can be run to increase efficiency and incorporate best practice for achievement of organizational goals. Besides this, it includes deviations from the theory and he reasons for their existence, all based on various management and leadership theories. Analysis Working for the sales department reveals certain aspects of effective and defective management that are often backed by various theories. Sales departments often bear part of the largest burden in an organization due to their requirements to meet quotas divided amongst employees. As an employee, the most effective method applied in the department required that each employee in the department focus on the work process and not on personal matters and characteristics. The above emanates from scientific management theories by Taylor (2007) suggesting that entire work process should be bound to efficiency in productivity to the needs of the employees. As such, the department tends to focus on this by including in the service charter that the organization goals come first and must be met at any given time. Similarly, the department follows this up by exploiting the individual characteristics of the employees through the application of various extra qualifications for the job. For example, based on the job description, as a salesperson, one is made to make calls to French speaking clients. This is where the employee only has basic qualifications in French lingual competence. In addition, the department’s needs come first before the needs of the employee, in that at no given time may employees take leave without having a replacement and making up for lost time. The above is also based on scientific management, where work must logically flow from one person to the next (Guillen, 2006). As a salesperson, my role involved pitching products, cleaning products to clients, and this boiled down to making calls based on the rest of the team identifying potential buyers. Without a logical flow, there exists no single best way to reach out to the clients since the job would be left to the salesperson to identify and makes calls to the potential clients. The single best way was centralisation of work to the entire department with individuals set to their roles and each has to follow the path set out lest disrupt the working of the entire department. According to Singla (2001) the above management theory in practice remains effective due to the working conditions it advocates. As such, scientific theory of management calls for the running of an organization of departments only after the best conditions of work have been met to increase efficiency. The department in question had reward schemes based on the number of calls made beyond the designated quota per employee. The proceeds to the respective employees in an effort to exert motivation on those lagging behind on successful call quotas. As For those seeking potential buyers, call quotas are shared between them and the callers. In addition, there is little wastage in the department with regard to time due to good quality equipment and integrated systems that ease work from identification to call centres, and all the way to monitoring individual sales. The above also applies to job attendance and leave application systems to ensure appropriate replacements and scheduling of duties. However, the sales department does not fully implement scientific management theories as it borrows significantly from humanistic theories, as well as behavioural leadership theories and situational leadership. Humanistic models of management bear characteristics in that workers should not be taken as pessimistic and selfish beings that are incapable of working hard unless motivated (Goshal, 2005). In effective team management based on the above statement, the department did particularly pay attention to individual needs for efficiency purposes. This is in spite of the previous statement refuting this in that leave is granted to meet personal needs, but depending on company regulations. Failure to do so could ultimately lead to dissatisfaction with organizational culture and citizenship and this is met with incentives to ensure that positive organizational citizenship behaviour is developed. With this, the department employs both humanistic and scientific theories of leadership and management, where a balance does not exist between the two in management. This is because the needs of the organization come first as per Taylor (2007) but personal needs are only catered to after they occur (Mele, 2003). Based on humanistic theories, decisions are not made by the leaders directly, but rather based on the input of the employees meaning that each employee gets an opportunity to give an opinion. This creates an inclusive environment for all employees as per Brady et al (2008) in that although the best way possible is mapped out already, deviations remain holistic and integrated for all employees to follow through agreement. In the department, in the event of a leave request, affected parties could request other team members to cover for them in return for similar favours in future. It is on such cases that situational leadership comes up in the department emanating from the management heading the department in that each individual had specific needs and these have to be met based on the current situation. The above creates a close knit team as per Whitney (2007) who states that situational leadership in such an organization defines the abilities of each worker and the amount of supervision. The theory as mentioned and in practice assists greatly in improving efficiency rather than offering micromanagement and overemphasis on the humanistic practices. Consequently, most of the department is in a position to overcome its challenges and meet the needs of the organization collectively This is in comparison to following individual theories and creating room for discord between the needs of the department and employees. Altogether, there exist disparities in the theoretical and practical frameworks of the sales department in the different leadership and management theories, especially with specific reference to scientific and humanistic management, as well as situational leadership. The differences mentioned above point to integrationist practices resulting in a hybrid management theory, particularly theory Z (Ouchi, 1993), which includes a mix of aspects from both scientific and humanistic management, as well as situational leadership to create positive organizational citizenship behaviour and organizational culture (Leonard, 2002). Recommendations As an organization and department applying the hybrid theory Z, the best manner in which the managers and leaders in the sales department can foster teamwork involves employment of humanistic approaches to management more intensively. This is based in the presence of scientific management in place ensuring that work place environments are in perfect conditions to ensure that employees are efficient. Consequently, humanistic management allows direct and immediate participation through application of emotional intelligence, which will bets ensure that there is a positive atmosphere at the work place without having to run communication diagnostics whenever there is a breakdown in instruction and service delivery (Murray, 2010). With this, the department and the organisation as a whole gets into a position where best practice and efficiency in pitching products to potential clients is at its peak and employees realise their room for further personal development. Similarly, further emphasis on humanistic management in the department will ensure cessation of perception towards employees as machines that need repair whenever they are broken as depicted by scientific management, thus serving as a non-monetary and intangible incentive (Daft & Marcic, 2012). The above occurs as a result of appreciation directed towards individual talents and capabilities of each employee and work done. Application of this recommendation in the call centre is most likely to develop job satisfaction based on personal relationships cultivated between leaders and employees, as well as employees and the clients they call. Similarly, focus on humanistic management would serve as the perfect means of evaluation of individual and departmental performance. Farahmand (2011) states that unlike focus on overall performance effected by scientific management based on repetitive practices of the best manner, humanistic management could monitor individual performance per employee. In addition, they could also provide feedback directly to their respective team leaders thus they do not have to be based on the overall output of the department, which creates an unstable environment as already observed in the department earlier. Further recommendations point to the need for individualization of organizational goals rather than separating them from personal goals. Bass & Riggio (2005) state that when individual goals and organizational goals are harmonised, there is increased efficiency in productivity and increased motivation to fulfil both goals. As such, personal vestment in organizational goals find the best ways to solve problems including giving more of their time as organizational success reflects well on their personal goals. In the department, this could be effective in building positive relationships between leaders, employees and clients improving sales and creating job satisfaction for employees. In addition to deal with issues of leave that require the leave applicant to find a suitable replacement, promoting collective decision-making, as already in place could eliminate inferiority complexes. This is in that employees when forced to seek suitable employees creates a bias amongst employees in that some appear unqualified for work. Although this serves as a strategy to prevent unnecessary leave times, it could lead to employee squabbles diminishing productivity, thus the need to integrate this with other department such as human resources. According to Hayes (2007), integrating all departments ensures down-top communication especially in the call centre in that fosters trust. This is in addition to preventing cases of mistrust between employees who perceive each other as rivals rather than teammates working for a common goal. This is however, not to say that competition is discouraged as it serves as part of motivation towards self-actualization in the workplace and individually (Maslow, 1973). Moreover in leadership, besides applying situational leadership, transformational leadership could also be used when demanded. The earlier mentioned integration of organizational goals with personal goals should be handy. With this Goleman et al (2002) suggests the need for employees to identify with their leader, which is essential in issuing instructions. As such, the department would be in a better position to achieve its set goals due internalization of objectives and best practices rather than conflict with leaders. In addition, the employees in the department are able to develop positive organizational citizenship behaviour to meet organizational and personal goals. Conclusion Altogether, scientific management theories take precedence over any other theoretical framework applied in the sales department. As such, the integration of other theories indicates the application of Ouchi’s theory Z, which is widely used with respect scientific aspects. This is in that the sales department perceives employees as machines suited to their jobs as per their qualifications and exploits their abilities. However, there are other aspects of humanistic practices through provision of leave days to handle personal issues and use of situational leadership advocated by humanistic management. However, there are recommendations revolving around the weakness of theory Z in application in the sales department. The above revolve around emphasis on humanistic practices to promote motivation and cultivate positive organizational citizenship behaviour rather than evoke quantity driven performance. Similarly, individualization of organizational goals to promote commitment and motivation, as well as trust amongst employees, leaders and clients. The above should also eliminate the need for employees to make difficult positions resulting in trust issues, while building relationships in the organization collectively. As such, the sales department could benefit from hybrid integration of leadership and management practices provided it can strike a balance amongst them for the sake of its employees and organizational goals. References Bass, B.M & Riggio, R.E 2005, Transformational Leadership, London, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Brady, C., Bolchover, D & Sturgess, B2008, Managing in the Talent Economy: The Football Model for Business, California Management Review, Vol. 50, No. 4, p. 54-73. Daft, R. L & Marcic, D 2012, Understanding management (8th ed.), Australia, South-Western Cengage Learning. Farahmand, N 2011, Humanistic strategic factors as organizational important principle. Human Resource Management Research, Vol. 11, No. 1, p. 8-17. Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R. E & McKee, A 2002, The new leaders: transforming the art of leadership into the science of results, London, Little, Brown. Goshal, S & Bartlett, C 1995, Changing the role of top management, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 73, No. 2, p. 86-95. Guillen, M.F 2006, The Taylorized beauty of the mechanical: scientific management and the rise of modernist architecture, Princeton, Princeton University Press. Hayes, J 2007, The theory and practice of change management (2nd ed.), Basingstoke, England, Palgrave Macmillan. Khurana, A 2009, Scientific management: a management idea to reach a mass audience, New Delhi, Global India Pub.. Leonard, D.C 2002, Learning theories, A to Z, Westport, Conn., Oryx Press. Maslow, A 1973, On Dominance, Self-Esteem, and Self-Actualization, Richmond, Maurice Bassett. Mele, D 2003, The challenge of humanistic management, Journal of business ethics. Vol. 44, p. 77-88. Murray, A. S 2010, The Wall Street Journal essential guide to management lasting lessons from the best leadership minds of our time, New York, Harper Business. Ouchi, W. Gn1993, Theory Z: how American business can meet the Japanese challenge, New York, N.Y.: Avon. Singla, R 2001, Business management, New Delhi, FK Publication. Taylor, F. W 2007, The principles of scientific management, Minneapolis, MN: Filiquarian Pub., LLC. Whitney, C.M 2007, The Application of Path Goal Theory of Leadership to Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance: An Investigation Within Small Public Corporations, Bethesda, ProQuest. Appendix: sales department structure Read More