Leadership Skills Evaluation: A Case Study of Dr. Wood's Research Team

This report examines the leadership skills of Dr. Wood, the principal investigator of a research project, and analyzes his effectiveness in managing a team of 11 colleagues. The report highlights Dr. Wood's technical competence but identifies shortcomings in his human and conceptual skills, particularly in communication, change management, and problem-solving. The analysis reveals how his frustration with budget constraints and team performance led to strained relationships and demoralization within the team. The report evaluates Dr. Wood's leadership qualities, identifies areas for improvement, and proposes strategies to enhance his leadership effectiveness, focusing on communication, team dynamics, and the ability to remain calm under pressure, offering a comprehensive assessment of his leadership approach within the context of the research project. The report concludes with a discussion on the importance of adaptability and effective communication for successful team leadership.

Running head: A STRAINED RESEARCH TEAM
A STRAINED RESEARCH TEAM
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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Table of Contents
Answer to question 1:.....................................................................................................2
Answer to question 2:.....................................................................................................4
Answer to question 3:.....................................................................................................6
References:.....................................................................................................................8

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Answer to question 1:
Every leader in any kind of organization needs to follow some certain skill
approaches. Skill approach is basically the idea which is possessed by a leader that reflects
certain abilities and enables the leader to serve as guide head of a group of people under him
or referred to as a team (Shapiro & Stefkovich, 2016). The three skill model that is developed
by Robert Katz summarizes the technical, conceptual and human skill ability has an effect on
all the management sectors like Top, middle and supervisory management (Sekaran &
Bougie, 2016). Leadership is both a research area and a practical skill that encompasses an
individual or organization's ability to "lead" or guide other people, teams or organizations
(Sharma & Jain, 2013). From this report we will be establishing the characteristic quality of
Dr. Adam Wood on his leadership ability and quality on a team on the basis of his technical,
human and conceptual skill (Flin & Maran, 2015). In the above mentioned case study, we can
asses that Dr Wood currently being the principal investigator on a three year based research
on elder health care is very well known and renowned researcher of London (Noe,
Hollenbeck & Wright, 2017). He is the best researcher in the field of health education
research. He serves on national review and also the advisory boards. He also advises others
regarding research design and methodology questions. Despite of being such a competence
researcher who has the ability to see the big picture on research projects and completing them
with intense success and quality, Dr Woods lacks in having good leadership qualities. He has
often worked on the projects alone or with a maximum of one or two members extra on his
projects and researches. But in the current scenario where he is researching on the elder care
project, he is in charge of leading a team of total of 11 colleagues. The group consists of co-
investigators; there are two co-investigators along with four staff for intervention, and five
members are from the general staff category. This time Dr Woods faced problems in
managing such a big team. The team members are very dedicated and motivated towards the

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research work they are doing. But from the beginning of the project, there are specific
barriers that are obstructing the progress of the project for which the whole team along with
Dr Woods had to suffer. Within one year of progress in the research project, it was apparent
to Dr Woods that the project is under budgeted and has very less resource. All through the
team members are committed to the project and are working hard under all circumstances.
They have to spend twenty to thirty percent of more time on the project of research and still
they were unable they have failed to meet the expectations of the project leader. This is
directly imposing negative remarks on the research competence reputation of Dr Woods
which is getting reflected in his behavior with the team (Zulch, 2014). He is worried about
the fact that the team is not devoting sufficiently on a great deal of work. He has shown
frustrating behavior to the team as they were unable to meet the day to day task on the
research (Hackman & Johnson, 2013). On a certain day, he has passed remarks with much
anguish about his unfortunate working experience with the team which has disturbed the
mentalities of his coworkers. This can be clearly evaluated that the communication skill that
should have been, maintained by a leader is not present in Dr Woods. The fact that not all
scholars can be a good leader is clearly proved by this incident. Relationship building is a
prime concern that all leaders should follow in virtue of receiving successful results from the
team even on the toughest consequences (Yang et al., 2012). Dr Woods did not put the effort
in establishing the proper communication with the team and his frustrated remarks created a
negative impact on his relationship with the team. The employees found his style of leading
the project team very frustrating in nature. The comments with negative words delivered on
the meetings that were held for the staffs were very negative and demoralizing which is not a
good sign of an efficient leader. The leader must be confident on the team which Dr Woods
was not. He was not respectful to his team members and did not try to influence in core areas
where he has no willingness to delegate (Robert, 2013). On evaluating the leadership quality

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of Dr. Wood and his ability in working with research projects we can conclude with the
matter that although there are too many problems that have created barriers in the progress of
the research and his behavior towards the team has deteriorated creating a negative impact on
the team, the project will be successful by the end as Dr Wood has successfully managed to
obtain some small pockets or funding that will help them to proceed with the task more
swiftly and quickly.
Answer to question 2:
The skills that are needed to be an efficient team leader comprises and includes in being self-
aware with the topic and incidents happening during the project progress. The second is the
trustworthiness and then comes empathy and process of a delegation with feedbacks and
communication skills and consistency (Paglis, 2013). Communication means listening well
and reading between the lines to have excellent communication skills. Good leaders are
always considered as good listeners, enabled by good questioning to listen actively and obtain
information (Jiang, 2014). They are probably used to demonstrate assertiveness that follows
high levels which it allows them to create non-aggressive points and remarks, but firmly.
People must know the ways to build relationships quickly and effectively so that they can
maintain and keep right and grow a strong relationship with others (London et al., 2017). An
effective leader understands and can read signals from team members. These skills are
combined to create the glamour and the brightness quality. This quality instigates people
wanting to follow a leader. Good leaders are also speaking clearly and consistently. Dr Wood
has failed to communicate well with the team members. The main reason behind this is the
tension going on due to the over budgeted research process which has caused a delay in the
progress of the research project (Wears, Hollnagel & Braithwaite, 2015). Overall, Dr Wood
was depressed with the matter of getting defamed due to the project as he is known as one the
best researcher in London. He had a fear of his image getting tampered for a project

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(Hackman & Johnson, 2013). This frustration resulted in bad communication and delivering
frustrated remarks to the team which ultimately de-motivated the team. To lead an
organization through the process, a leader needs to understand change management. Change
in control requires a fascinating vision to be created and communicated. Firmly driving the
move forward is also needed, the main objective remains with leadership to make it stick to
the plan so that if the organization is undoubtedly unable to return within a concise span or
period, it continues to stick to the project with the leader. The case clearly shows the fact that
he is not a clear communicator and this lacks in having strong organizational skills (Abdullah
et al., 2014). He did not show any kind of confidence in the team. Although the team
members were very respectful to him but as the situations became tough for him he lost his
temperament and started passing frustrated remarks to the team. This is a negative point for
Dr Wood for being an efficient team leader (Sharma,Jain, 2013). Being influential in the core
areas is a vital part of being an effective leader. When the situations were getting worse, Dr
Wood lost his temperament and delivered frustrating comments that de-motivated the
employees. Whereas, a leader should have been influential in influencing the de-motivated
staffs and managing them in such a manner that the worse conditions cannot affect the
progress in the work or the ongoing project. The research team needs a more motivated leader
who can keep his calmness even in the toughest situations. Here is one thing that is known to
organizations, and the only constant is Change (Shapiro, Stefkovich, 2016). To keep
companies competitive, they need to be agile and have innovative leaders. Also, effective
leaders must be able to adapt their approach to meet the demands of a continually changing
environment. Dr.Woods did not possess such qualities despite being an outstanding
researcher in the health domain. He lacks the ability to analyze the problems and deliver the
task in assistance of the whole team. Leaders who can analyze information and make good
decisions are more efficient than their counterparts (Wears et al., 2015). It is one of the most

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basic, across-the-board skills all of us need during our careers to develop and refine.
Communicating information and ideas are consistently classified as one of the most important
skills for successful leaders (Landis, Hill & Harvey, 2014). Hence we can conclude the
matter that Dr Woods lacks off the skills which are necessary for being an active and good
leader in the research team.
Answer to question 3:
The third approach of the leadership studies is known as leadership skills.
Considering the fact that the trait approach has taken the personality of the leadership, the
behavior is accounted as the approach or the beginning of getting the knowledge of the
leadership knowledge and skills. The people feel comfortable to work in an environment that
is maintained and created by the leader as a human capacity allows people to work (Yang et
al., 2013). The technical skills that are involved in working with things are different in this
case. Hence, the skills that are described in the report help the employees or team members to
get acquainted and get along with the people that help to communicate in teams. This
communication creates a bond between the employees which further enhances the work
quality in the team. Conceptual ability is the ability to work with ideas and concepts (Frich et
al., 2015). These skills of leadership enable us to know and understand better the knowledge
which in turn helps to take the decision in making the action. The capabilities also will allow
us to measure the activities that are needed to be taken in the very specific field of the given
work. The Problem-solving skill is a multi-faceted skill that uses other skills discussed
throughout the section Leaders Are Clear Thinkers, including conceptual thinking, planning
and organization, and creativity (Daft, 2014). The leadership experience. The competencies
that will be done by me considering me to coach Dr Wood will be followed in individual
steps. The problem solving skills will be evaluated in such a manner that does not hamper the
research work of Dr Wood. He has to be trained so that he does not panic in tough situation

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conditions. In the above case, we have noticed that the low budget problem has created a
severe tension on him. That has directly created problem in his research work. He has
delivered frustrated and insulting comments to the team. Though the team has much respect
for him but the relationship that must be maintained is hampered. He needs to be guided to
keep his mind in a calm situation and maintain it during the work process. Maintain the
calmness is very important for him to lead the teams in future. There are three types of
competencies. These three types of competencies are known as namely problem solving
competencies, knowledge enhancement competencies and social justice competencies.
Problem solving skills is the creative ability of a leader to solve a problem, irrespective of
circumstances. Skills in social judgment are skills used to understand individuals and social
systems or situations. As we already know that human ability is the concept that allows the
people of the organization or the team to work. It is not similar to the technical skills that are
involved in working with things. These skills are very helpful in getting along with different
people so that the work is done successfully, and enhances better communication skills
throughout the team (Day et al., 2014). For the definition of the conceptual skill it can be
stated that the ability of a person, generally a team leader who can work with different
concepts and ideas is known as conceptual skills. The behavioral theories of the leadership
are classified and differentiated in this way because they only focus on the particular and
specific behaviors of a leader (Zulch, 2014). These behaviors focused approach which is
discussed above benefits and offers huge marketing potential because the conditioning of the
behaviors is done in such a way that particular stimulus is only responded to the leader. In
this case, the leader is Dr Woods. So Dr Woods is needed to be coached efficiently to let him
know about the skills that he has to be obtained regarding the judgment skill part of the
leadership skill management program. He needs to understand the social activities, and the
social image is essential for managing the team.

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