Importance of Leadership in High Performing Work Teams

This essay discusses the importance of leadership in high performing work teams and analyzes three leadership theories in relation to high work performance teams.

Running head: BUSINESS MANAGEMENT 1
Business management
Name
Institution
Word count: 1556

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Business management
Introduction
A high performing work team is a group of goal-focused people who have specialized
expertise and complementary skills. The team innovates, collaborative, produce compatible
results. The team pursues achievement through collaboration, open communication, shared
leadership, communication, clear team rules and expectations, a strong sense of accountability,
and easy conflict resolution. The high performing work team has features that keep its operations
running. The first characteristics are team goals, purpose, and roles. The team s work together to
achieve both short term and long term goals. The teams’ members perform well when there are
clear roles. They start by recruiting and retaining their best talent while assisting low-performing
members. The common types of high work perfuming teams include work teams, parallel teams,
project teams, management teams, and virtual teams. Therefore, for a high performing work
team to function best, it needs a leader as discussed below with the aid of three theories which
include behavioral, path-goal, and relationship theory. This essay will discuss the importance of
a leader with a high-performance work team and the second part will analyze the three leadership
theories in relation to high work performance teams.
Leaders are always important people in organizations. However, different leadership also
influences the performance of an organization. Leaders contribute to the choice of the right talent
for the right job requirement (Barnwell, et al., 2014). On the other hand, a leader in a high
performing work team assists team members in attaining the best fit between the people and the
job. Every organization has a culture that should be followed. The presence of a leader in such a
work team will facilitate the right culture for the team and high the right people who suit into the
culture (Wang, Waldman & Zhang, 2014). The leader will contribute to the mutual climate, open

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communication, collaboration, and trust which will lead to the successful achievement of the
organization’s goals. In order to encourage this state of interdependence and collaboration, the
team leader should give the members the required support and structure for the team through
grouping the right people together.
A leader will assist in selecting the team members and assigning tasks since not every
member of a high performing team is capable of doing every job. A leader should ensure that the
members have enough resources that will assist them to develop their skills that are needed to
handle different tasks in the work environment (Langfred, 2007). The leader facilitates cross-
training. This type of training gives members an awareness of how jobs are interdependent,
raising the team’s flexibility and enhancing response. However, the response of the team is
highly based on how fast a leader gives the team feedback. Timely feedback is important to the
effectiveness of a team (DeVaro, 2008). The leader, therefore, ensures that the feedback reaches
the general team on its metrics and goals as well as feedback that gets to each team member.
Delayed feedback may be useful in future planning but it may delay immediate corrections that
are supposed to be made. Therefore, a leader is important in ensuring that the high-performance
team gets feedback on time.
A leader will create an environment that encourages problem-solving. Poor organization
or team structure may lead to the creation of negative and ineffective behaviors in members
which may impede communication. When members see mistakes as chances for enhancing the
teams’ process and results, it shows that the leader had successfully developed an environment
that encourages problem-solving (Bernstein, et al., 2016). The leaders should guide and allow the
members to create their own solutions rather than dictating solutions for them assists the team
members to become more involved and proactive. The presence of a leader encourages problem-

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solving among the members through allowing them to create their own solution hence creating a
feeling of dependency among the members.
Team structure may result in poor performance and failure to achieve the designed goals.
Therefore a leader will enable the members not to feel that they are pitted against one another to
compete for recognition and rewards (Erez, epine & Elms, 2002). If the members feel so, they
might keep information that might be useful to the whole team or the entire organization. The
presence of a leader among the high work performing team will aim at the team’s structure
before aiming at individuals.
Moreover, teams undergo four developing stages. The team goes through simple team
building exercises where a leader may clearly see how teams form, norm and perform. A leader
is important in supporting high work performing teams through each of the developing stages.
The leaders may offer emotional and even financial support to make sure that the teams develop
well (Stewart, outright & Barrick, 2012). On the other hand, the leader will monitor and identify
if the members backtracked off the performing stage hence taking them back to norming or
storming. This means that in a high performing group is important in directing the group through
the development stages.
Another importance of a leader on a high work performing team is to facilitate discussion
of performance at the team level and to generally determine how the team will demonstrate
operationally those competencies (Latham, 2014). The competencies that each teach person is
supposed to demonstrate also affects the ability of the team to perform. Therefore, the leader
needs to assess which competencies can be demonstrated well by a high performing team and the
ones that need improvement.

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Theoretical perspectives
Path-goal theory
This theory combines two familiar theories which are goal setting and expectancy. The
theory states that an effective leader assists those members that are in the right direction to
achieve their goals (Malik, 2013). This theory also states that leaders have the mandate to ensure
that their subordinates have the information and support that is required to achieve the set goals.
Moreover, according to this theory, leaders should create clear paths to assist their member’s to
achieve goals and work towards removing obstacles. According to a high performing team is
goal oriented (Alanazi, Alharthey & Rasli, 2013). This means that the team has a direction.
Therefore, according to the path-goal theory, it is easier for a leader to lead the group in the right
direction that will lead to the effective achievement of the business goals. The availability of a
leader in such a team will create clear paths which will assist the team embers to achieve the
organization's goals and do away with destructive that may hinder them in achieving their goals.
Behavioral theory
This theory argues that bets leaders are born not made. These type leaders possess
characteristics that which are rooted in behavior. According to this theory, the actions of a leader
matters most in leading an organization. The behaviors of a leader may model the characters of
subordinates in a positive or negative manner. Therefore, a good leader in a high performing
work team may be effective in modeling (Raes, Bruch & De Jong, 2013) the behavior of the
team. If the leader is determined and possess that characteristics of a good leader, the members
will imitate the behaviors hence greater achievement of the organization's goals. However, this
may be disadvantageous where the leader does not possess the right qualities of a leader. All the

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born leaders may not possess good leadership feature. This may shape the teams’ characteristics
in a negative way hence leading to failure in the achievement of the set goals.
Relationship theory
This theory puts focus on the connections formed between the leaders and their
subordinates. This theory takes in place the different types of leaders and their management
theory. A high performing group is effective to an organization but if not managed it may reduce
the company’s outcomes. This is because of the type of leaders that are assigned to a different
high-performing workgroup (Muduli, 2015). A leader is important but the type of leadership
style may lead to the poor achievement of goals. Example, transformational leaders inspire and
motivate members by helping them to see the significance of the task. This kind of leaders focus
on the performance of group members and they are also concerned in full filling their own
potential as leaders. This kind of leaders has high moral and ethical standards which may
positively affect the working environment. Contrary, leadership styles such as dictatorship may
impact the working of a high-performing team negative. This type of teams should be allowed to
make their own decisions or have their own opinions. However, dictatorship leadership styles
believe that a leader is the final decision maker. Therefore, a high performing team should be
allowed to make their open opinions and decisions and the leader should direct only direct the
members.
Conclusion
High-performing work team’s functions best in the present leaders contribute to the
choice of the right talent for the right job requirement, assist in selecting the team members and
assigning tasks since not every member of a high performing team is capable of doing every job,

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and creating an environment that encourages problem solving, Therefore a leader will enable the
members not to feel that they are pitted against one another to compete for recognition and
rewards. More so, a leader will assist in selecting the team members and assigning tasks since
not every member of a high performing team is capable of doing every job.

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