Impact of Leadership on Teamwork: STAR Model Application and Analysis

This essay delves into the critical relationship between leadership and teamwork, emphasizing the vital role of effective leadership in building successful teams. It introduces the STAR leadership model, a framework designed to guide leaders in identifying strengths, fostering teamwork, aligning objectives, and achieving results within an organization. The essay then applies this model to Marks & Spencer, analyzing how the company's leaders utilize the STAR model's principles to build effective teams and achieve specific objectives. The analysis includes specific strategies, such as setting clear objectives, taking incremental steps, adapting the environment, and maintaining an optimistic outlook. The essay concludes that strong leadership and team management are intrinsically linked, with leaders leveraging employee strengths to achieve organizational goals.

Individual Essay

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Understanding of Theory............................................................................................................1
Application of Theory in an Organisation..................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
A Team refers to group of people who come together to achieve a common goal. Without
an effective team no organisation can succeed. To create an effective team which will be able to
achieve their goals efficiently is the work of a leader. Leadership plays a vital role in the
establishment of an effective team as a leader will put the members together who will be able to
give the best to the organisation. A good leader is not afraid of conflicts, but is afraid of
repercussions that these conflicts will show if continues in the long run. So, it can be
implemented that leadership plays a vital role in teams and team work and will be established
with the help of an example in this report (Bai, Lin and Li, 2016).
MAIN BODY
Understanding of Theory
A great leader have plenty of functions to perform in order to build an effective team and
have a huge effect on the team. To understand a better relationship between leadership and teams
as how an effective leadership can affect team work it is necessary to establish and understand a
relationship between them which will be studies with the help of STAR leadership Model.
STAR Leadership Model
This STAR model is a leadership theory which suggests the what leaders need to do in
order to be successful in an organisation. This model offers tips and tricks to leaders that can be
implemented (Ellis, 2018). It includes study of stages, surroundings and situation to understand
team work. It provides on which a leader should focus on in order to achieve goals and
objectives. The STAR Model of leadership focuses on following segments:
 Strengths: It suggests that a leader should identify the strengths of an individual and then
assign them in the teams that will help them in improving and enhancing their strengths
so that organisation can achieve their goals and objectives. Every individual posses some
kind of strengths that differentiate them with the others as these will help them in
building their career and their growth and development. The role performed by leader
here is to assure that the person's strengths are put into good use as the strengths will
improve easily and effectively in areas they are already good.
 Team Work: It refers to combining the strengths of different individuals in order to
create a team that will be effective and efficient enough to meet with the objectives and
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goals assigned to them. It is necessary for a leader to identify the individual strengths of
the person so that they the strengths of different individuals can be merged in order to
build an effective team in the course of an organisation (Kouzes and Posner, 2017).
(Source-STAR Team Model, 2019)
 Alignment: It refers to aligning all the other elements like Strengths, Team work and
results. This task is performed by a leader in the course of their leadership so that the
desired results are getting out of them. The role of leader is to align the strengths of an
individual to the vision of an organisation (Salas and et. al., 2015).
 Results: It refers to outcomes experienced by the leader after taking all the necessary
steps in the process to build an effective team keeping the course of strengths. This model
suggests if the leader will be able to establish above mentioned points in the workings of
organisation than that would be able to experience sure success.
 Other Factors: It refers to other factors that have an influence on the workings of a team
and the organisation. It suggest factors like other teams in an organisation, vision and
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Illustration 1: STAR Model

mission of an organisation, outside influences organisation experiences regarding to
price, competitors, government and many more. These factors have direct influence on
the organisation.
With the implementation of following model in an organisation it will be able to achieve success
by identifying core strengths of the employees and implementing it in team work (Stander, De
Beer and Stander, 2015).
Application of Theory in an Organisation
To establish a relationship between an effective leadership and its impact on team work
on practical world, organisation chosen is Marks & Spencer.
Marks & Spencer Group Plc is a British Multinational company who deals in retail sector
of the country. It specialises in selling food products, home products and clothes. It was
established in year 1884 by Michel Marks and Thomas Spencer. This company operates in
number of countries, so, it is very crucial for managers and leaders to identify the core strengths
of the individuals working in Marks & Spencer to build an effective team.
Application of STAR Model on Marks & Spencer
Managers and Leaders follows the applications of STAR Model in their working in order
to establish an effective Team. The principles followed by Marks & Spencer here is:
Target Specific Objectives
Take Small Steps Towards achieving objectives
Alter the environment to facilitate taking action
Cultivate a realistic optimism about the challenges of implementing new behaviours.
 Target Specific Objectives: Rather than having difficult, Marks & Spencer believes that
in putting specific objectives that are easy to achieve and have complete details. A leader
knows what strengths the employees endorse and allot the work accordingly.
 Take Small Steps Towards achieving objectives: Here, leaders and managers need to
establish small steps that will lead the organisation to achieve their goals and objectives.
These small steps can be referred to building an effective team in regards to their abilities
and capabilities.
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 Alter the environment to facilitate taking action: It refers to identify the necessary
steps that need to altered and align in an order so that the organisation can achieve their
goals and objectives. It considers external influences before taking a decision.
 Cultivate a realistic optimism about the challenges of implementing new
behaviours: It is necessary for managers and leaders to be positive towards their outlook
for employees, goals and objectives as it is not in the hands of a manager or leader that
everything goes around the plan, so, it is crucial to maintain optimistic attitude to
motivate employees (Swanwick and McKimm, 2017).
CONCLUSION
From the above study, it can be concluded that leadership and team management goes
hand in hand as managers try to create an effective team that will the help the organisation in
achieving their goals and objectives. An effective leadership have a huge impact on team work as
a leader will be aware of all the strengths, abilities and capabilities showcased by the employees
and implement them in the workings of an organisation.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Bai, Y., Lin, L. and Li, P. P., 2016. How to enable employee creativity in a team context: A
cross-level mediating process of transformational leadership. Journal of Business
Research. 69(9). pp.3240-3250.
Ellis, P., 2018. Leadership, management and team working in nursing. Learning Matters.
Kouzes, J. M. and Posner, B. Z., 2017. The Leadership Challenge Workbook Revised. John
Wiley & Sons.
Salas, E. and et. al., 2015. Understanding and improving teamwork in organizations: A
scientifically based practical guide. Human Resource Management. 54(4). pp.599-622.
Stander, F. W., De Beer, L. T. and Stander, M. W., 2015. Authentic leadership as a source of
optimism, trust in the organisation and work engagement in the public health care
sector. SA Journal of Human Resource Management. 13(1). pp.1-12.
Swanwick, T. and McKimm, J., 2017. ABC of clinical leadership. John Wiley & Sons.
Online
The STAR Model. 2019. [Online.] Available Through
<https://executiveeducation.wharton.upenn.edu/thought-leadership/wharton-at-work/
2015/11/the-star-model/>
Leadership theory. 2019. [Online]. Available Through
<http://www.defining-leadership.com/leadership-theory/>
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