The Role of Leadership in Fostering Teamwork

This article discusses the importance of leadership in fostering teamwork within organizations. It explores the impact of effective teamwork on employee performance and organizational success. The role of communication, coordination, and collaboration in building strong teams is also highlighted. The article concludes with recommendations for leaders to promote teamwork and create a positive work environment.

Running head: LEADERSHIP
Leadership
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1LEADERSHIP
Question One
Before joining the CCA in the year 2001 in the month of November, Terry Davis had a
huge experience in other organizations like Beringer Blass Wines and Foster’s. Terry Davis
joined the Coca Cola Amatil and found out that the company had not been able to gain much
momentum in the industry. Davis went on to find out the fact that the last product launch of the
company was in the year 1983 when they launched the product Diet Coke (Ccamatil.com, 2019).
This is why it turned out to be a huge problem for Coca Cola to make huge marks in their non-
alcoholic beverage industry. After he joined the company, he made some changes that had been
instrumental for the overall success of the company. Amidst these problems, his steps proved to
be very much fruitful. The company gained around 39% profit growth and they improved 34%
on the return on capital that was employed. The net profit had also increased to $127.7 million
(Ccamatil.com, 2019).
In two years, Coca Cola had been able to launch 29 new products and they were very
much successful in this as well. They were also able to enter the non-carbonated beverage sector.
This is why it must be said that the teamwork had been a huge factor in the organization’s
success. The perspective of innovation has also been one of the most crucial things for the
overall success of Coca Cola n these two years. Davis understood that communication between
the teams and the customers were very much integral in this scenario. Therefore, the integration
between the team members and customers based on trust and faith is extremely important to be
noted. He stressed on the fact that direct communication with the customers was the most
effective thing. He was a great visionary leader and he wanted to achieve his vision by creating a
centralized call center that would be helpful for all managers in the head office to keep track
about what is going on in the market (Reeves, Xyrichis & Zwarenstein, 2018).

2LEADERSHIP
He simply removed half of employees from the head office and drove them to face
customers. He wanted to get an idea about the desires of the customers and how these desires
could be fulfilled. He wanted less people to be in the back office and more people in the front
office. This was very much important since he wanted the customers to feel the change in their
company (Reeves, Xyrichis & Zwarenstein, 2018). Thus his steps were very essential to bring in
the change re-establish Coca Cola in the Asia Pacific region. People in the front office would be
able to work with more responsibility and report it to head office. So, managers would surely
cater to the needs of the customers.
Question two
The competition between states was an important decision made by Davis so that Coca
Cola could earn better outcomes in the midst of this high competition. This competition between
the states would yield higher productivity for the company in the overall market. This was the
belief of Davis. This competition among the states was aimed for providing better customer
services for the people. This is why employees had gained the relative faith and trust on the
people whom they worked for. Definitely this is needed because trust and motivation are very
crucial factors for the organizations to succeed in the competitive work environments (Reeves,
Xyrichis & Zwarenstein, 2018).
This polarization of team work has been depicted within the operations of Coca Cola in a
large manner indeed. This is why employees might feel disheartened and de-motivated at
different times (Derry, Schunn & Gernsbacher, 2014). They have experienced several challenges
in the organization that could be seen as quite crucial for the overall well being of the
organization. According to davis, this kind of competition among between states will be healthy

3LEADERSHIP
and it would not hurt their emotions. He has focused on the fact that this kind of competition
between the states will surely be helpful for the concerned state as employees of that particular
state would try relentlessly to beat that other state. Therefore, it would increase their productivity
to a high level as well.
On the other hand, this kind of teamwork between the states could prove to be highly
dangerous at some times (Derry, Schunn & Gernsbacher, 2014). Probably, the morale of some
teams might go down if they are not being able to perform in a high manner like other teams. If
the distribution of employees in the teams is not perfect, problems are sure to arise. This
competition between teams is encouraged by some managers so they can gain recognition and
added bonus. This might be helpful for them to thrive in the competitive work environments.
Critics have argued that this kind of competition can de-motivate a team that has not done well
during a month or for consecutive months.
If penalty is imposed on that team, it would be highly disheartening for their members.
The positive side is teams doing well will be motivated and that they will put more effort in their
works. One of the dangers is that in urge to win the competition, some teams will try to use
unethical means to stay ahead of their competitor teams (Derry, Schunn & Gernsbacher, 2014).
This will not be a good thing for the reputation of the organization. On the contrary, teams that
lag behind can suffer from anxiety and finally lie to customers to sell their products and services
effectively (Cha et al., 2015). Thus, it is very apparent that competition plays a crucial role in the
overall productivity of the company. Often times, this kind of competition between employees
and teams could turn out to be negative for productivity if employees do not like this
competition.

4LEADERSHIP
Question Three
The given statement “involvement in sporting teams by employees is positively
associated with more effective employees”. Most of the companies think that their employees
are the ultimate resources for their profitability and overall production. They always want more
efforts from their employees since this is the ultimate thing for getting competitive advantage in
the society (Cha et al., 2015). Many critics are of the opinion that managers and employees
would like this kind of teamwork in organization. This kind of competition within the teams
would be effective. When an employee is unable to utilize the opportunities in the organization,
they can seek the help of the other team members. One team member can definitely have
shortcomings but this can be overcome by the assistance of others.
This is why sporting teams in an organization would surely improve the efficiency of the
employees. The teamwork has a relatively big influence on the performance of the employees.
This can surely be enhanced by the help of other team members (Galegher, Kraut & Egido,
2014). Evidently, this is the only manner in which organizations can make effective employees.
In turn they would serve for the company to gain better results and overall success. These teams
will work with integration and they will definitely come at the top. A single employee is not
efficient enough to face all the challenges in the organization. Therefore, they will have to team
up and fight against all problems together. This kind of team building can prove to be effective
when innovation is needed to save the company (Galegher, Kraut & Egido, 2014).
In the case of Coca Cola Amatil, this same thing happened. When Terru Davis stressed
on the need of better team performance, innovative aspects were included in this scenario as
well. Different people have different innovative approaches to work in the organization. When
all these innovative approaches would assimilate, it would really yield the best results possible.

5LEADERSHIP
This innovation would surely work as per plans of the managers. Effective employees will surely
help the organizations to proceed further gaining the competitive advantage with the help of
these sporting teams (Njoroge & Yazdanifard, 2014). The more teams will participate in
mitigating several challenges for the organization, the more they will be in the good book of their
employees. This will surely create a flexible performance for the teams and organization can
gain the profits of this. This flexibility among the team members and helping each other to gain
good results will be needed so the managers can allocate tasks for those teams working in
different shifts. Thus effective employees will cater to the betterment of the organization in
various ways.
Question four
It is definitely important to increase the teamwork within the organization for better
results. Instead of the actions by the leader Terry Davis to increase state competitions, he might
have taken some other ways as well (Njoroge & Yazdanifard, 2014). These factors would really
be highly important for the overall betterment of the organization. Some threats have already
been pointed out in the previous sections (Rusu & Avasilcai, 2014). This is why some other ways
could be tried by Davis in order to foster teamwork within Coke.
It can be recommended in this scenario that employees should have greater
communication among themselves that would lead them to understand each other. Sometimes, it
has been seen that team members have conflicts between them regarding some matters. The
proper team work between them would surely remove all these conflicts and they can work
together with high spirits (Rusu & Avasilcai, 2014). The internal competitions between the teams
would give rise to these kinds of conflicts within the teams. This is why all these conflicts should

6LEADERSHIP
be completely mitigated. Proper coordination can only be made when employees would
understand each other and a deep sense of brotherhood will exist between them.
Davis could have also arranged for holding group meeting among members of all the
teams within the organization (Taylor, 2015). All of them would put up their stream of thoughts
and best thoughts would be implemented. Davis should have noticed that employee morale was
not at all at its highest position so he should have increased mutual respect and trust among those
team members. The leaders of teams should guide the team members by creating a vision around
them. He should have also urged all team members to know about strengths and weaknesses of
each other.
Therefore, employees could seriously help each other instead of getting in competition
against each other (Taylor, 2015). The behaviors of team members should always be kept on
watch. The communication between the teams and leaders should always be open and honest.
This highly needed since all problems and challenges should be discussed with the leaders. The
collaborative goals should have been integrated within the employees so they could have worked
for overall betterment of the organization (Goetsch & Davis, 2014). These are the probable ways
how Trry Davis could have approached to foster teamwork within the employees of Coca Cola.
Finally, success of the company was needed to be celebrated.

7LEADERSHIP
References and Bibliography
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8LEADERSHIP
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