Understand The Importance Of Leadership Styles And Behaviour Management Essay

Understand The importance Of leaders Styles And Behaviour steering EssayHersey and Blanchard developed a Situational lead Model of perplexity and lead tendencys in order to present the exemplification progression of a group from immaturity (stage 1) through to maturity (stage 4) during which management and leading agency progresses from directing(1), through the stages of increased management involvement of coaching frolic (2) and support(3) to the final stage where the film director becomes relatively removed delegating (4). This is the get at which the group is al nearly self-sufficient and possibly contains at to the lowest degree iodin managerial/leadership successor.I live applied a Hersey-Blanchard type questionnaire to desexualise my sustain leadership style. The analysis of the responses showed that I perk up a slight tendency to be directing above supporting and delegating with a lesser inclination towards a coaching style of management.Four situations w here different leadership styles would be appropriate for your squad directive style this is gener bothy applied when staff in the group argon extremely incite to do their turn but do non welcome oft experience. It is characterised by the manager providing wet supervision and prominent specific instructions on what penurys to be done.This style would be suited, for example, to a new starter to the squad who may lack substantial guidance relating to the kneades and procedures which the team applies in the first instance.Coaching style this is most appropriate when staff have begun to develop in their whizz-valued functions and hence have grown in pipice which has possibly lowered their level of motivation. In this instance the manager takes on a more consultative persona, enquire for questions and ideas, but ultimately makes the final finis.I would expect to fall in this leadership style to staff who have perhaps been in their role nearly 6 months, trying to micturate thoughts and ideas from people to show that their opinions make palpate and ar valid.Supporting style applied when staff have progressed to a mellower level of competence and to a fault have key ideas and enter which they like to be heard. However, these staff may still lack confidence with respect to taking fashioning decisions. This style is represented by a reduced level of supervision and the manager becoming more busticipative, forming percentage of the group and give uping the group to reach its own decisions and implement them.I would apply this leadership style when staff have progressed to cosmos fully adequate in their role, but perhaps there is still near diffidence to take the final step to make a key decision i.e. they still require a level of re-assurance that the actions they atomic number 18 taking are the correct ones.Delegating style this is used where staff are highly competent and are also solid performers, where the team is self-mana ging, i.e. it fag end devise its own score, clip through its own problems and take its own decisions.This style is appropriate when the team have reached the stage of being high-performers. This would be the pourboire where I could step-back from day-to-day management of them, considering strategic management instead, and make up come back about progression to the near step in their/my own careers.Feedback from opposites victimisation appropriate leadership modelAs I currently do not have any direct reports (va squeeze outcy being progressed). I request 3 of my colleagues to complete a similar questionnaire (responses were anonymous). The analysis of the responses was quite change as followsFirst respondent pointed a fit use of all of the 4 stylesSecond respondent suggested directing was my least-preferred style and that I preponderantly preferred a supporting leadership styleAnalysis of the third base respondents questionnaire showed a strong preference towards direct ing and coaching styles with the opposites to a much lesser extent.Possibly, these responses are not straightforward to analyse, as these individuals are not my direct-reports and had to use only their knowledge of my behaviour from working alongside me to determine how I would react in different situations suggested in the questionnaire.I suggest that my own hypothesis of a directing leadership style is (semi-) support by the analysis of my collegues responses. Certainly, it has been an approach I have used when conducting Management System inspects in the past.How leadership behaviour can be alter in the context of the model cardinal domain I need to develop is an appreciation of the benefits to be gained from being able to s transport from one management style to another depending upon the situation (i.e. a occurrence depute, come across or challenge). A directing approach, if applied in any case oft ms can be demotivating in that staff may feel that they are unavailing to be left alone to get on with their work, and also that they are also not asked to come up with their own ideas.My own leadership behaviour could be enhanced if, where the situation merited it, I took a more consultative or coaching approach to try to draw ideas out of the team and make them feel as if they are making a positive contribution. Eventually, I would like to reach the point where I am applying a participative or supporting approach i.e. still being the leader of the team but with a greater degree of desegregation so that planning and decisions are made collectively. The biggest shift that I need to make is away from a mindset which says no-one can do the job as comfortably as I can and micro-managing people so that they deliver products to my exact specification and towards a philosophy where I admit staff more freedom to think for themselves and come up with their own (possibly better) solutions.Understand how to build the groupRecognised model to explain how gro ups are formedTuckman (1965) devised a model to explain the behaviour of groups of individuals in a variety of environments. The model suggests 4 unique stages that all groups experience and what is more Tuckman states that a group has to experience all 4 phases to operate at their maximum authority.The progression is Forming Storming Norming and Performing.As a team matures in name of its development and ability, the team dynamics change as do the inter-personal relationships betwixt the team members. The leadership style of the team leader also modifies to suit, this has close parallels with the Hersey Blanchard model discussed earlier.I will relate examples of the formation of Central impudence aggroup for Investment Projects to each stage of the Tuckman Model, as an illustration The team was formed as a consequence of a re-organisation of the whole of the Health, Safety, environment and Quality (HSQE) function inwardly Infrastructure Investment (now called Investment Pro jects), nearly 18 months ago. It is a combination of four sub-teams Audit, Systems, Reporting and Licensing.Forming stage- Team domiciles high level of dependence on its leader for both guidance and direction, including the aims and objectives of the team. The roles and responsibilities of the team members at this stage are unclear. The leader may be frequently questioned on what the teams purpose is and its relationships with key stakeholders. The team members much test the gross profit level of the leader and they may also ignore process. As is suggested in the Hersey-Blanchard model, the leader applies a directive management approach.The forming stage for the Central authority Team ( beep) can be related to a four-day team build exercise which took place off-site, the purpose of which was for everyone to get to know each other and to understand what the role of the team was going forward. At this time, there was a certain amount of wariness among team members with respect to which role each individual was in the team for and indeed, as time progressed, some of these roles actually changed.Storming stage- The team members try to establish a pecking order at heart the group with respect to each other and the team leader, they may even challenge the leadership of the group. The teams purpose becomes clearer, however there is still primal uncertainty. The team may split into cliques and power struggles ensue. The leader will receive a coaching style of management to focus the team on its goal and avoid unproductive distractions. Very often progress may require compromises.The CAT at this point, was trying to understand a dodging of how they would deliver what was expected of them from the Investment Projects Programmes. The four sub-teams spent time indite up strategy and functional-plan type documents to clarify their own roles and objectives. People were piercing to get started on the day-job.Norming stage-The leader adopts a more participative style at this stage, and his/her main task are to facilitate and enable. The team starts to experience both cartel and concensus and their roles and responsibilities become clear. Big decisions are made by agreement between the group, smaller ones are delegated to sub-groups in spite of appearance the team. The team is highly act and there is a sense of togetherness, processes are developed as well as a way of working. The leader is generally well reckon at this point and some of his responsibilities are shared by the team.For the CAT, this was doing melodic phrase as usual. As part of the inspect team, this meant drawing up an audit plan (in- var. with the strategy), producing a briefing pack, designing audit protocols and the forms and templates which form part of our day-to-day work. Then there was the actual auditing activity itself, working with the Programmes to tally that the activity was adding value and learning lessons from each audit so that the process was melio rated each time.Performing stage- At this stage the team has strategic awareness, i.e. it understands not only what it is there for but why. The team has a shared vision and is independent of its leader. The team take most of its decisions in line with the criteria set by its leader, they also focus on over-achieving on their goals. The team is highly autonomous and disagreements are dealt with in a positive manner, often resulting in changes to processes and structure. The team works towards achieving its goal but also concentrates on style and process issues whilst doing so. The leaders role is to delegate and oversee tasks quite an than instructing and assisting directly.With only 18 months of experience behind it, it is herculean to say whether the CAT has actually reached the performing stage in its development. As far as the audit team goes, we are still developing a semipermanent vision and assessing how the audit plan will be adapted to the client/stakeholder requirements year on year. Without doubt, each member of the team is committed to producing high- prime(prenominal) work, it is a question of harnessing this towards a common direction.The benefits of understanding preferred team rolesThis was an landing field explored by Belbin in the late 1970s. He demonstrated that a proportionalityd team, consisting of members of differing capabilities would consistently perform better than a less-balanced team. Belbin identified 9 roles, which, if they are all present in a team, nominate good balance and increase the likelihood of success.An individuals team role(s) can be determined by the use of a Belbin-style questionnaire, examples of which are available via the internet. It is not necessary for the team to consist of 9 people, each one filling a single role, but for all of the roles to be represented by the team.When looking at the Central Assurance (Audit) team, it can be seen that, among 5 people, all 9 roles are in existence, although some are bo ught-in from outside of the team to erect the full complement. For example, we utilise specialists from outside of the team where we do not have an in-depth knowledge of a particular subject. The plant is seen as the elderly manager who has responsibility for all four legs of the Central Assurance function as a whole.The team has a very strong completer-finisher bias. This is because the job dictates a great attention to detail and the closure of issues once identified. Additionally, the implementer role is in strong evidence as the team must convert an audit plan into reality and one senior member of staff within the team acts as the co-ordinator.Belbins study concluded that individuals are more motivated and perform more orderively when they are working in accordance of rights with their own natural style. Hence it is a benefit to the manager to allow individuals to work to these strengths to improve team productivity and the cohesion between the team members.Know how to handl e negateWhat may have caused the conflictOne conflict situation I was directly involved in was during my time on the Network cut West Coast Route modernization Programme on the Lichfield Trent Valley 4-Tracking project (TV4).The project management team were concerned about whether the Network Rail Field Engineers were signing off a sufficient quantity of review and Test data sheets. The watch and Test plan document is effectively proof that Network Rail has accepted the construction contractors work as being of sufficient quality and acts as a sign-off document for a particular section of work.As the Quality Engineer on the TV 4 project, I was responsible for providing assurances that these sign-offs were taking place (or that a sufficient proportion were being completed). In one particular geographical area of the works, it was discovered that very some of the Inspection and Test sheets had been completed by the Field Engineers. One of the reasons for this was that the work was spread over a 2-mile stretch of track and it was very difficult for such a small team of Field Engineers to be in place and witness the works and sign it off in the lead the next section of works began.I reported the data to the TV4 Management Team and, unfortunately, this caused a conflict between myself and the Network Rail Field Engineers for that area as they saw the exercise that I had undertaken as something of a witch hunt resulting in a great deal of criticism of them from senior management.Effects of the conflict on individual and team performanceThe effect that this had was to make me very unpopular amongst the Field Engineering team and also to limit the degree to which they were prepared to assist me in future. They were also agile to make the news known to other staff working on the project However, the exercise did highlight to management that there were resource problems if they were to provide anywhere near a significant proportion of signed Inspection and Test documents going forward.Recognised techniques to minimise and resolve conflictsIn a paper called Resolving Conflict in Work Teams by the Team Building Directory, the authors state that conflict can arise from numerous sources within an team setting and generally fall into 3 categories Communication Factors geomorphological Factors and Personal Factors (source Varney 1989). Barriers to communication are some of the most important factors and can be major sources of misunderstanding as in the example I have given.The communication barrier that has been noted here is a discrimination between interpretation and perception i.e. the team are not producing the mandatory output and are therefore lazy and need to be warned to improve their performance. When perhaps the more likely conclusion was that they were drastically under-resourced to achieve the task required. The approach taken was to enforce the rules and this typically brings about hard feelings towards those who propel it.Wh en negative conflict occurs, there a 5 accepted methods for intervention it Compete Collaborate Avoid Accommodate or Compromise (Thomas and Kilman). to each one can be used effectively in different circumstances. For the particular example cited, possibly the best technique to apply was a compromise approach where a bargaining position could have been sought between two parties who had differing ideas on a solution but could not become a common ground (i.e. and agreed target for signing the certificate until the resourcing issue could be resolved).Creating a positive atmosphere and minimising the effect of conflictNegative conflict can be avoided by examining the 6 potential areas described by Nelson in the paper Interpersonal Team Leadership Skills (Hospital Management Quarterly, 1995).Administrative procedures a good groundwork for the effective coordination of workPeople resources adequate resources to do the job to avoid some carrying too heavy a load.Process for cost over runs proper resources in place so that the team knows what to do when cost becomes a problem and superfluous funding needs to be sought. This way the problem is resolved before it becomes a problem for management.Schedules the project schedule should be visible. The team should work together so that everyone achieves their deadline.Responsibilties what areas are assigned and who is responsible for them?Wish lists shell to the project in hand, avoid being side-tracked to try to fit other things into it. Do the other things youd like to after the original project is successfully completed.