Lean Project Leadership: A Case Study of SINTEF Ltd

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LEADING LEAN PROJECTS.
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................................3
DIFFERENT TYPES OF LEADERSHIP STYLES....................................................................................4
LEADERSHIP STYLE FOR SINTEF Ltd ORGANIZATION...................................................................7
Determine the characteristics that will be required to become a valuable team member of “The A-Team".9
Tools and Techniques that could be implemented in the various departments if SINTEF that will approve
the efficiency.............................................................................................................................................11
CONCLUSION.........................................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..........................................................................................................................................14
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INTRODUCTION
For any organization it is very important to have leaders and sufficient leadership qualities so
that any task can be accomplished on time targets could be achieved. The leader is generally a
guide which helps in providing a path to the organization. The leader should be wise as well as
able to have an impact that employees listen to the leader and work for him. The leader is
responsible for the working and performance of the organization.
For understanding, this purpose, a case study of SINTEF Ltd is selected. SINTEF is an
organization having various departments like IT, marketing, finance etc. The organization is
willing to implement some principles for achieving results for the organization. For
implementing these principles organization has adopted a mechanism named as Agile. Agile
basically works on the principle related to IT but the management team of SINTEF is trying to
expand it for implementing other principles also.
There are various leadership qualities required for the leaders. Leadership Qualities are
distributed according to the particular organization but the motive of leadership qualities is to
obtain the result for the organization. The coordination of team members is also very important
and it is the responsibility of team leaders to maintain this coordination among employees.
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DIFFERENT TYPES OF LEADERSHIP STYLES
Leadership is a quality that is earned from experience and knowledge. The leadership should be
such that all the employees and organization should follow and implement the plans and orders
of the leader. It is the responsibility of the organization to select a leader who is efficient and
smart working (Hilton, & Sohal, 2012). Number of Qualities are required for leadership because
the leader performs its own task and makes others also to perform various tasks. Thus, it is
important that leader should be able to perform multiple tasks at a given time.
The working of leaders varies according to work and principle of organizations but the motive of
leadership is the same in every organization. These different ways of working in leadership are
known as leadership styles. Leadership style is a way in which a leader leads its team or
performs tasks according to leaders. For example, in the following case study, SINTEF Ltd is
selected which has various departments. Hence the leadership style varies according to these
different departments and leaders of all these departments perform different tasks.
For SINTEF Ltd the leadership styles that could be adopted by the managers are-
1. Autocratic Leadership – This type of leadership should be adopted by SINTEF if they have to
give control to an individual person. In this leadership, the main authority and power are
subjected to boss only. Boss can discuss the decisions taken with subordinates of the
organization but the power of implementation of these decisions is totally in the hands of the
particular Leader (Drotz, & Poksinska, 2014).
2. Democratic Leadership – In democratic leadership, the power of taking decisions is given to
subordinates of the organization. It is different from Autocratic Leadership because in this kind
of leadership the decision-making power is given to subordinates and the all authority is not in
hands of the individual person.
3. Strategic Leadership – Strategic leadership is the leadership in which the leader is essential for
a whole organization. This kind of leadership is adopted in cases where the life of the
organization has to be increased and make the organization working for a long time. Strategic
leadership is involved when there is a number of people in the organization.
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4. Transformational Leadership – This leadership is different from another kind of leadership as
it contributes to changes in organization and various other factors. The main advantage of
transformational leadership from other leadership is it contributes to higher performance and
achievement in an organization. It is because this leadership style motivates other employees to
do more and effective work.
5. Team Leadership – Team leadership is the leadership in which a team is selected and then the
leader is selected for that particular team. This leadership is adopted when working and the
future of the team in an organization has to be determined. Thus, for this purpose team leader
has the authority to make decisions for that particular team (D’Andreamatteo, et. al., 2015).
6. Facilitative Leadership – This kind of leadership is the leadership in which leadership depends
on outcomes achieved by an organization. In facilitative leadership, the efficiency and outcome
achieved by the organization directly depend on the given leadership. Hence it is very important
to have leadership proper and efficient so that the organization could achieve a suitable outcome.
This organization should select leadership very carefully in this kind of leadership.
7. Laissez-Faire Leadership – The employees have the power and authority to take decisions in
this kind of Leadership. The given leadership should be avoided mostly and should be adopted
only in serious situations (Shokri, et. al., 2016). It is because in most of the outcome of the case
achieved is not suitable for organizations in the following leadership.
8. Transactional Leadership – Transactional Leadership is the leadership in which leadership is
done in order to maintain the present status of the organization. The different functions of given
leadership are giving rewards and incentives, deciding targets for the employees. These are the
two main functions of Transactional Relationship.
9. Coaching Leadership – Coaching Leadership is that leadership which teaches different
employee’s different tasks. These tasks are decided by the organization, which have to be taught
to the employees (Antony, 2015). These tasks depend on function and motive of the given
organization. This leadership is important because it gives a kind of training to the fresh
employees or sometimes various skills are taught to experienced employees also. The leaders
selected for this type of leadership should be sufficient of giving training to employees and must
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have proper knowledge and skills for the whole work. It is because they can teach to other
employees only if they have proper knowledge and skills.
10. Visionary Leadership – For performing any leadership it is very important to have a vision of
the whole process. If the vision decided is proper then it leads to making the proper planning of
the whole task. This kind of leadership in which Vision is decided for the particular work is
known is Visionary leadership. In this kind of leadership, the leaders first visualize the whole
performance and then the planning is done (Vijaya, 2015).
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LEADERSHIP STYLE FOR SINTEF Ltd ORGANIZATION
SINTEF is the organization having a number of departments like finance department, marketing
department and management department. The motive of the organization is to develop such a
plan so that lean principles can be implemented for making its business operations successful and
impactful (Simon, & Canacari, 2012). As the organization is having a number of departments
thus it is required that leadership required must be sufficient and have a positive impact on the
organization. It can be achieved only if the leadership style is appropriate to make the
organization successful in its goal or task. Hence the leadership style that SINTEF Ltd should
adopt is –
Transformational Leadership – SINTEF is the organization trying to implement lean
principles for making its business operation successful. Hence it is very important the company
should perform effectively so that it can achieve outcomes. If the organization performs well and
achieves outcomes then it becomes easy for the organization to implement any plan or routine on
the organization. Hence in this kind of situation Transformational Leadership is correct
leadership style for the company (Antony, et. al.,2012).
It is because Transformational Leadership is the leadership which performs on the principle of
improvement in the performance of the employees and organization. This leadership makes its
employees working more sufficiently so that the organization should achieve goals and targets. It
makes the employees putting extra efforts for increasing their performance so that the
organization achieves its goals and employees also become more sufficient and skilful for their
work. Thus, if the performance of the organization is improved and are achieving outcomes then
the company becomes more comfortable for implying extra efforts or principles for the
organization.
In the case of SINTEF, the company wants to imply lean principles for their business operations.
Hence Transformational Leadership style is helpful for SINTEF Ltd as it helps in improving the
performance of organization and employees makes extra efforts thus managers of SINTEF Ltd
can think of implying lean principles for their business operations. Transformational leadership
also impacts the internal environment of the organization positively. It is because in
Transformational leadership there is a principle that leaders in power have to control their ego. If
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the leaders will behave with their employees properly and humbly then it makes employees work
with more efficiency and thus the environment of the organization is proper and nice. If the
environment of the organization is proper then it makes easy for the organization to implement
any policy of the organization and thus for SINTEF this leadership style is impactful.
Also, Transformational Leadership has the ability of self-management. This leadership does not
require any external help for the management of the different task. Thus, in the case of SINTEF,
it is beneficial as external help is not requiring which helps in saving the resources for company
and makes easy for the organization so that implementing of principle can be done easily and the
target of business operations can be achieved by the company (Harrison, et. al., 2016). The
sources saved from this part can be used in implying a lean principle for the organization.
It is very important for companies to have the inspiration to imply any principle. In SINTEF as
the policy has to be introduced for making the business operations successful. Thus,
Transformational Leadership is correct leadership in this situation because it helps in inspiring
employees for better performance of the organization. In this way, Transformational Leadership
can be used for inspiring the employees for applying principles for the given organization. It
inspires the employees for putting extra efforts for the organization which helps in implementing
various policies and principles (Vijaya, 2015).
As the SINTEF is the organization wants to make its Business Operations successful thus it is
very important that new innovative ideas should be there for that purpose. Having new ideas is
very important because it helps in bringing innovations for the organization as well as useful for
implementing new ideas or principles. In this situation, Transformational Leadership can
contribute as it provides new ideas for the organization and also helps in preparing organizations
to overcome different situations. It is the responsibility of the leaders to make innovations and
also introduce the company with new ideas. For this purpose, leaders make themselves sufficient
by proper training or by the experience they gain in any particular organization (Antony, 2015).
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Determine the characteristics that will be required to become a valuable team
member of “The A-Team".
There are some of the characteristics that are present in the valuable team member because of
every company trusts and dependent on the good teams. If the team is very active then the
organisation always moves towards success.
The team member shows genuine promises: the quality of the valuable team member is that they
make sure to the organisation to be present in the office whenever there is the need and always
contributes their as much as possible, the valuable team member always dedicated to the cause.
The good team members always struggle for excellence (Kroshus, et. al., 2015).
The team members have don't stop in the dark: this is not the way of a team player to sit quietly
and get the work done. The team members always involve others and it is a good thing. The
valuable team players always come to their teammates and always prepared with clear ideas.
The good team members are always flexible: good team members always give their efforts
instead of sitting and watching the rest of their teammates. They are flexible at all the situations
and always ready to tackle new challenges. Every player of the team wants the see the magic by
their own efforts.
The team member should reliable and responsible: the valuable team player always does their
work with responsibility and reliability because they always try to complete the task according to
the order of their work, not all time they work with their actual order. When the team is not
confirmed with the priority task, they ask their manager.
The good team members always keep their team informed: the valuable team player always share
their opinion with others without a plan for taking the credit, always try to keep informed about
the new things to every individual in the team.
The good team has active listening quality: the best team members always consider the
viewpoints and the ideas of the other individual in the team. The all depends on active listening
and listen to the points of others and try to understand why they said that too ( Dong, et. al.,
2017).
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Helping nature of the good team members: a good team member always helps the other one if
they are facing any issues with the technology or tool and teach them gently about the work.
Recognising the wrong path: the valuable and also the good team player recognises the things
which are wrong and same time back off from the task when the path is not clear. The good team
player always keeps their eyes on the right path if they realise the team will go on the wrong
track then try to find out the right path for a comeback from the issue.
The good team player always respects and support others: the good team member did not laugh
at other ideas and viewpoints they give respect to other’s ideas. It is the most important things
that how you treat others in the team.
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Tools and Techniques that could be implemented in the various departments
if SINTEF that will approve the efficiency.
The company name SINTEF is the one in Europe which is the largest research organisation. In
each and every year they carry out many projects for many customers such as large or the small
one. This organisation has developed many innovations and the solutions for the customers and
also for society worldwide from than sixty years. This is the leading research institute in the
world.
The organisation consists of 2000 employees and they have in the 75 nationalities and at present,
they have about 4000 customers. The SINTEF is defined as the board and they have worldwide
top-level expertise with the multidisciplinary organisation of the research in the technology
fields. The employees who are working in the SINTEF are professional and experienced and
work in a team to achieve their respectful target. They also conduct the research and
development has become the partner for the public and the private sector (Ng, 2018).
In the year 2016, the organisation has carried out 5700 research projects for more than four
thousand customers. SINTEF offers many things to their valuable customers such as the project
execution and also the financial management in a very effective way. SINTEF provides high
standards in HSE and has very effective communication. They have a high level of quality in
technical morality. For their customers, they provide professional protection and also other
knowledgeable property rights. SINTEF is the active shareholders in many of the company and
they also support them or guide them in their running development.
This organisation also offers the world's best laboratory and also the extensive choice of testing
facilities in the technological field. They have also the advance laboratories choices such as on
microelectronics and the Nanoscale types of technologies. They have the world biggest marine
laboratory and the oil and gas laboratory for multiphase transportation. The many of the
investment of SINTEF is for the new knowledge because SINTEF is the non-profitable
organisation the many several investments of organisation is on new skills and the equipment
and on expert. About 1.3 billion is to be invested in the last 10 years in the laboratories section.
In this organisation there are three out of the total of four employees are the researchers (Majeed,
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et. al., 2017). There are 75% of scientist for the research, 12% administrative personnel and the
managers, 5% of the technical members and 8% of the engineers which are working for the
success of SINTEF and this all make in a total of 2000 employees. They have a very attractive
workplace for their employees.
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