Leading and Managing People: An Analysis of Teamwork in Organizations

This report delves into the critical aspects of leading and managing people, focusing on the concept of teamwork within organizations. It begins by defining teamwork and exploring its significance, followed by a critical review of existing literature from various authors and researchers. The report assesses the merits and demerits of teamwork, specifically in a business context, and analyzes the reasons behind team successes and failures. A significant portion is dedicated to examining Facebook as a case study, illustrating the practical application of leadership and management principles. The report also challenges common managerial viewpoints and concludes with recommendations for organizations to enhance their teamwork strategies, emphasizing the importance of understanding employee behaviors and skills when forming teams. This assignment is contributed by a student and is available on Desklib, a platform offering AI-based study tools.

Leading and Managing
People

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TEAM WORK.................................................................................................................................1
Critical discussion ......................................................................................................................1
Literature Review........................................................................................................................2
Evaluation of merits and demerits...............................................................................................3
Reasons of success and causes of failure....................................................................................3
Systematic application of leadership and management at Facebook..........................................4
Challenging managers view........................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Leading and managing employees are two broad and crucial aspects of organisation.
Without effective leadership and precise management, no organisation will able to sustain in the
competitive environment (Ellis and Bach, 2015). With the help of effective leadership and
management style, corporations will be able to attain their expected targets. Topic chosen to
complete the following unit is teamwork. It is an important aspect of leading and managing
people of organisation (Anitha, 2014). With the help of efficient teamwork and coordination,
employees and employers contribute in increasing the productivity and profitability of
organisation. In this context, present report will define the concepts of teamwork in organisations
by critically reviewing literature of different authors and researchers. Various advantages and
disadvantages related with teamwork will be assessed in this assignment which are specifically
related to business organisations and managers. Reasons for success and causes of failures of
team at workplace will be analysed in the present study. Current practices of teamwork will be
assessed by taking example of real organisations which will help in comprehending the concepts
of leading and managing people efficiently. This will eventually help in challenging manager’s
views by demonstrating them their team working styles which are better than others.
TEAM WORK
Critical discussion
Teamwork is defined as the process where group of individuals who have specific skills,
knowledge and competencies come together in order to complete a specific task (Nancarrow and
et.al., 2013). In business organisations, management formulates teams in order to accomplish the
crucial tasks and improve interpersonal relationship in organisation. There are different types of
teams formulated by the management of business organisations (Katzenbach and Smith, 2015).
Some of these are departmental teams, problem solving teams, cross functional teams, virtual
teams and self-managed teams. Each and every team is assigned with specific tasks and roles.
But the main aim of team is to work collaboratively and collectively so that organisational
desired goals and objectives can be attained effectively and efficiently (Wheelen and Hunger,
2017). Teamwork is also one of the three most important principles of total quality management.
Teamwork further assists the management of companies to increase effectiveness in job
efficiencies and minimises job dissatisfaction among employees (Jønsson and Jeppesen, 2013). It
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is the duty and accountability of managers to formulate teams in a way that helps in maximising
interpersonal relationship and reducing conflicts in organisation (Rock, 2014).
Literature Review
According to Michaelson and et.al., 2014 the team is group of individual which are
created by management or leaders of organisation so that their skills, efficiencies and knowledge
can be utilised effectively. It is the most crucial and important aspect of organisation where
managers and leaders guide respective teams in the organisation to fulfil set goals and targets of
company (Benrazavi, and Silong, 2013). Salas and et.al., 2015 states that Bruce Tuckman,
professor of psychology, first developed the group formation theory where he described that
there are five stages of team building. These are forming, storming and norming as well as
performing and adjourning (Sharma and Bajpai, 2014). These stages help the managers of
today's organisations greatly and they can formulate teams efficiently. Chebbi and et.al., (2015)
argues that building team is good but grouping those employees whose interest and thoughts
opposed from each other can lead to create conflicts and disputes in teams. Thus, in this context,
it is important for the management of organisation to formulate teams precisely so that issues can
be minimised and prosperity in company can be increased (Pemsel and et.al., 2014). The
contribution of teamwork has played a major role in successful outcomes for many organizations
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Illustration 1: Teamwork Story
(Source: Rogers, 2015)

in the past. For example: Sony Ericsson mobile phones, Fujitsu-Siemens computers have been
featured as high performing teams (Sakulkijkarn, 2013).
Evaluation of merits and demerits
Merits
Teamwork at workplace helps in managing the tasks efficiently and organisation is able
to attain expected goals and objectives (Dalby and et.al., 2014). Managers formulate teams so
that motivation, interaction and collaboration between employees increases. They'll able to
understand each other and share their skills and knowledge to accomplish the assigned tasks
efficiently (Levitt, 2015). There are various advantages of teamwork like it promotes creativity,
helps in building trust, provides motivation and increases effectiveness in production (Chen and
McDonald, 2015). It helps the managers of organisation to increase productivity and profitability
of company.
Demerits
There are certain disadvantages of teamwork which manager and organisation has to face
(Vegt and et.al., 2015). Firstly, it is a longer and complex process. Managers spend enormous
amount of time to understand the behaviour of employees and then allocates them. Secondly, it
leads to conflicts and disputes at the workplace (Aguinis and O'Boyle, 2014). If teams are not
properly allocated, managers may have to face severe issues. Thirdly, team work decreases the
creativity of workforce as some employees feel hesitance to present their novel ideas (Chen and
Rainey, 2014). Fourthly, there can be issue where some workers become free riders in case if
senior members of team escapes from their responsibilities. Thus, they do not do anything which
results in decreasing productivity and increasing conflicts in teams.
Reasons of success and causes of failure
In order to explain the areas of success and causes of failure in teams, an example of
Facebook will be taken. The description is provided as below:
Reasons of success
The management of Facebook focuses on building efficient teams so that complex tasks
can be attained efficiently and effectively (Silva and Cooray, 2014). It takes strong leadership
and managerial skills to build up a strong team. Management first needs to understand the
behaviour, attitude and beliefs of employees and then allocate them appropriately (Khan, Lodhi
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and Makki, 2010). Further, management and leaders should compare and match the skills,
competencies and abilities of each and every employee before formulating teams (Utley, Brown
and Benfield, 2009). This helps in increasing the effectiveness in teams and thus, they can work
diligently so that desired goals and objectives can be attained.
Causes of failures
There is no perfection in every team formulated in the organisation. Causes can be
erupted which leads to the failure of team (Utley and Brown, 2010). In Facebook, management
aims to build teams who share strong bond and relationship. But many a times, the management
fails to do so. There are causes like employee behaviour, disagreements of thoughts and virtues,
frequent conflicts, etc (Zaharia, Dogaru and Boaja, 2014). If the management is not able to
allocate team precisely, then it will become a major cause in the failure of team. Another cause
can be of distribution of power (Morris, 2008). If the management does not distribute power in
team precisely, then it will lead to increase in stress and tension in team members and thus, result
in dissolution of teams.
Systematic application of leadership and management at Facebook
Facebook is a company that has exploded in growth as well as being synonymous with
unique company culture. The corporate culture of the organisation is efficient which promotes
team work and healthy learning environment (Ralea, 2011). Facebook is one of the biggest
information and technology company and the effective leadership and management style helps
the organisation to become one of the leading IT company in the world. The application and
strategies of leadership and management at Facebook is listed below: Promotes team work and team building in organisation: The management of Facebook
promotes team work at workplace (Best Practices for Working in a Virtual Team
Environment, 2008). This helps to sustain the competitive environment and overcome the
biggest challenges. Worker participation in management: The founder of Facebook, Mark Zukerberg wants
his employees to correct him or to guide him (McGreevy, 2006). In this way the
management allows employees to participate in decision making process.
 Building positive corporate culture: The management of Facebook promotes positive
corporate culture by understanding issues and fulfilling the expectations of employees
(Rolfsen, Ingvaldsen, and Hatling, 2012).
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Challenging managers view
In order to solve issues and overcome challenges, there are various approaches,
techniques, theories and methodologies available which can be helpful for today's managers and
leaders (Ulhassan and et.al., 2014). For example, there are four styles of leadership and it is the
responsibilities of management to select precise leadership style in order to guide the employees
(Ryan, 2012). For some, autocratic leadership style is appropriate and some prefers democratic
leadership styles. Thus, in this context it can be understood that in management and leadership,
there are no right or perfect answers (Richards, Chillas and Marks, 2012).
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be concluded that leading and managing people are
essential component of organisation. Team work is a part of leadership and management of
employees in the organisation. In this context, the report helps in defining team work at
organisations. Further, literature review has been conducted that helps in critical discussion
related with team work. The merits and demerits has been assessed in this report and reasons of
success and failure has been obtained. By taking example of Facebook, the systematic
application of leadership and management has been discussed in the present study. Thus, it is
recommended to the management of organisations to carefully analyse employees behaviours
and skills and then formulate team in order to achieve success.
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REFERENCES
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Anitha, J., 2014. Determinants of employee engagement and their impact on employee
performance. International journal of productivity and performance management.
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Online
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