QAHO533 - Leading and Managing Effective Teams at Solent University

This essay provides a comprehensive analysis of leading and managing effective teams, focusing on various theories, approaches, and strategies. It evaluates models like Rubin, Plovnick, and Fry's GRPI model and Hackman's Team Effectiveness Model, emphasizing their application in managing multiple and virtual teams. The essay also explores tools and techniques for assessing and developing team capabilities, skills, and experience, such as self-assessment, Team Assessment Report (TAR), Journyx, and AssessTEAM. It highlights the importance of balancing skills and experience and best practices in team management. The final section reflects on shaping core values as an ethical and value-based leader, emphasizing the alignment of personal and organizational values for increased sustainability and effectiveness.

Leading and managing effective teams
Essay

Leadership is all about the capabilities of the person to influence the thought of others
so that they follow them. The success of every company is majorly relied on the quality of
leaders and leading people is considered as one of the scientific methods. Thus, they are very
crucial for managing teams as well. The present report also deals with understanding varied
theories, methods as well as approaches of managing teams effectively. The paper will also
going to evaluate different tools along with methods of assessing and developing current and
future team requirements. Additionally, it will also focus on the balance of skills and
experience and best practices in both the areas. The final section of the report will include
reflection on how these techniques and approaches have shaped core values as ethical and
value based leader along with a summary of key points of all the sections of the report.
Once an organization is formed there is a requirement of group of people generally
referred as team for attaining the goals and objectives. Consequently, their management is
essential for better functioning. Earlier, different theories were being adopted by the
managers for managing and leading teams such as scientific management theory which pays
attention on offering incentives to the workers for increasing production (Boxall and Purcel,
2016). The other one was bureaucratic management theory which emphasized on hierarchical
management structure and division of labour. There were several flaws in these theories from
the source of motivation of team members and failed to increase the productivity and
efficiency. Considering the current business environment, organizations are required to
become more flexible as now they need to lead and manage multiple and virtual teams as
well. For achieving success and team effectiveness, different theories and models can be
adopted by the leaders and these are:
Rubin, Plovnick and Fry's GRPI model – The model is being anticipated in the year
1977 in which the acronym GRPI means goals, roles, processes and inter-personal
relationship. Four major sections are being reflected in this model which are essential for
managing effective team. The first and the foremost is goal. Each and every member of the
teams should know and understand their goals effectively (Armstrong, 2016). It is obligatory
on the part of managers to make sure that the goals are well-defined and clearly
communicating desired outcomes, priorities as well as expectations. The second element is
role, which implies that accountabilities of team members should be again well-defined and
must be approved by the leader. The third one is process. Leader should adopt decision
making processes which are clear and simple and work procedures should not be ambiguous.
As in the present time, most of the workers are working virtually, thus manager or leader
should focus on flexibility and trust to improve inter-personal relationships which is the
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fourth element of the model. Good communication will enhance relationship and motivation
within teams. This model is quite simple and consider great when a new team or multiple
teams are started. Furthermore, if this model is adopted by the leaders of present time then
they can resolve any issue encountered by them due to unknown cause.
The Hackman Model of Team Effectiveness – In the year 2002, Richard Hackman has
projected a team effectiveness model known as “The Hackman Model”. The model being
suggested by him includes five conditions that needs to be present for teams or individuals in
order to work with each other efficaciously (Beer, 2015). Moreover, the study of analytic
teams of Hackman in the United States of America intelligence community has confirmed the
soundness along with usefulness of these five situations and these are described underneath:
Existence of a real team than insignificant team – Each and every team which is effective
have some boundaries which clearly defines who will be a part of the team, who will be not,
who will be the independent members and so forth. The membership of each team member
also remains stable. The direction of the leader or manager should be compelling – This
signifies that leader should set clear, challenging and achievable goals and must be of
adequate importance as through this teams will be motivated to achieve more and work
together for the same. Structure should be empowering which tolerates teamwork – It is
crucial for the manager to develop such structure within an organization that does not
obstruct teamwork rather enable teams together. For instance, if only single person has to
make improvement of the work of twenty people then such type of structure is hampering the
effectiveness of team. Supportive context – Again, it is necessary that the manager should
develop a supportive background within the firm so that teams and individuals can work
efficiently (Compare business products, 2019). In other words, teams should receive
satisfactory knowledge, rewards, possessions, power, support and collaboration for
completing their work or task. Proficient leadership as well as coaching – a team will become
effective only if they get expert advice and coaching. A good mentor can support members
and individuals to resolve issues and problems. Consequently, both of these models are
effective for managing and leading teams particularly when teams are multiple and virtual.
In this altering business environment, each and every company along with their
employees are required to acclimate fast. It is obligatory on the part of the managers and
leaders to understand the type of skills, knowledge, experience and capabilities being needed
by the company to make alterations smoothly. Besides, they must also know what their team
already have and what competencies are lacking in them. On the basis of this, training as well
as seminars can be organized for filling the gap in the skills and experience. Here are some
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tools and techniques for measuring as well as developing team capabilities, skills, experience
and requirements. The very first is self-assessment method, wherein the leader or manager
can send a questionnaire to the team member or individual to fill in by themselves ().
Through this, not only their capabilities will be highlighted however it will show their self-
perception as well. Seeking help from this, knowledge in regards with the skills, abilities and
experience of the team members can be gathered. Another important tool for assessing team
capabilities and requirements is Team Assessment Report (TAR). In situations where
multiple and virtual teams are working together and they have long term ties then most of the
time this tool is being used. It helps in measuring the assessment of the team of each other on
the basis of five behaviours of a cohesive team i.e. results, accountability, commitment,
conflict and trust (Chemers, 2017). The TAR model helps in surfacing behaviours which
needs to be focussed by each and every team member for making improvement in their
capabilities of trusting each other, engaging healthy, gaining commitment, becoming
accountable and driving for consequences in a composed manner.
When employees work in teams, it becomes quite challenging for the manager or
leader to track their progress, effeteness and performance level. Sometimes, they also come
across with problems related to organizing tasks, managing projects and gazing team
requirements. All this is not possible without suitable tools. One of the best option to look
into the performance and requirements of team is modern technology solutions available
these days. The most important among them is “Journyx”. Using this team management
software, manager can automate all time management data, as it helps in filling out all
timesheets, record time and also carries put automatic mobile tracking on its own. Other than
this, members can also track their total time being spent on a particular task or job in a team
(Mastrogiacomo and Osterwalder, 2021). With this, manager can gaze into individual’s
capabilities, skills and experience. Additionally, Journyx also includes Gantt chart which can
be utilized by the leaders for monitoring who is presently working on a particular project and
whether there is a need of more team members or not. Another important tool for measuring
as well as evolving current plus future team capabilities is “AssessTEAM”. This is also
considers as a crucial all round continuous feedback set which is being manufactured for
incorporating different procedure which enables leaders or managers to observe effectiveness
of team members, business and make improvement in their outcomes. Seeking help from this
tool, manager can assess workers, their level of engagement in the team and offer them right
path when found lost. They can even gaze whether the processes being adopted by them are
profitable to the whole business or not. Based on this, they can balance skills and experience
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and analyse team requirements (Zoltan and Vancea, 2015). In addition to this, this tool also
encompasses end number of quantitate analysis which pays attention on 360 degree peer
reviews, yearly appraisals, examination of the project and so forth. In this contemporary
market situation due to pandemic and modern business practices, each and every firm are
constantly racing with themselves and making efforts to make use of their resources in an
effective manner. In simple words, all firms are trying to turn out to be as resourceful as
possible. When emphasis is being given on efficiency, numerous things pop into a manager’s
intellect however one of the crucial capitals that requires to be efficient is nothing but the
team members of a particular organization. Thus, the best practices in both the areas are
AssessTEAM and Team Assessment Report (TAR).
Each and every leader or manager has some or the other values, however they all fail
to exhibit good leadership values. When an individual is in a leadership role it is crucial that
they are aware of the values and ethics being hold by them. The author of this paper will also
shape his core values as ethical and value based leader in the future. Ethical and value based,
both are very indescribable term and theory (Paulus, 2018). Through adopting value based
and ethical leadership, the author will connect with the team members working within the
company. For shaping core values as value based leader, it is crucial for the author to
communicate their team members both short as well as long term goals. Furthermore, leader
should also communicate in regards with the values, relationships, priorities along with trade-
offs. Both personal as well as organizational values should be aligned and team members and
leaders must make efforts to display such behaviour which leads towards increasing the
sustainability, effectiveness, output as well as truthfulness of the organization. For the
purpose of achieving balance of skills and experience in teams, Richard Hackman model
known as “The Hackman Model of Team Effectiveness” can be applied by the author. Thus,
in order to make the teams successful and effective, it is essential for the author to determine
why some of the teams are very successful (O’Riordan, 2017). After determining this, now
researching about the conditions which can help in increasing the chances of success of teams
is very important and all these five conditions are mentioned in the model. Talking in regards
with the first phase i.e. being a real team, the author need to allot shared task, responsibility
and clearly state them their boundaries. For instance, if one of the team member possesses
some rare skill than this kind of stability is not possible because there are dissimilar team
projects which might compete for this rare skill. The second element of the model i.e.
compelling decisions, here, the author needs to allot clear goals to the teams which can be
challenging as well as consequential. For example, setting SMART goals for team members
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to make them more motivated. With regards to the third element of the model which is
enabling structure, it is vital for the author to provide variety to the team members in their
work and activity. This will help in improving the success of the team. For example, making
small alteration in task assignment or maintaining the size of the team small etc. The fourth
factor is supportive context and this can be built by the author through development, reward
as well as information. The author is required to link reward with the performance level of
the team, development through educational or appraisal systems and finally, information
through provision of information and easy access (Poole, 2015). The last one is expert
coaching and this can be done through yearly appraisal system along with management of the
team on a daily basis. As a manager or leader of the team, the author is required to determine
the team members, which needs help with any of the work activities and those who are in
great need to develop their communication or relational skills. On identifying this, it is now a
responsibility of an author to guide the team member with related strategies or methods to
overcome the challenges and must make efforts to develop the skills in which he or she is
lacking. This will significantly help in increasing the success of the team and overall
business. Consequently, for developing core values as ethical or value based leader, the
author is required to make sure that the environment of the team is conducive for attaining
objectives and also need to make sure that adequate support is available to the team ember
along with author’s expertise if in case needed (Kotter, 2017). Moreover, in order to be
ethical the author should ensure that he does not make any false promises to the team
members and must arrange trainings for promoting positive workplace environment by
treating everyone in an ethical manner.
CONCLUSION
From the above analysis, it can be concluded that team work is certainly very
important for the organisation. It is necessary for the leader or manager to manage and lead
teams in right direction so that they can achieve desires results and objectives. The first
section of the report highlighted two important theories that should be adopted by the
managers for managing and leading teams particularly when teams are multiple and virtual
and these are Rubin, Plovnick and Fry's GRPI model and The Hackman Model of Team
Effectiveness. Moving further, the report analysed different tools and techniques to
understand the type of skills, knowledge, experience and capabilities being needed by the
company to make alterations smoothly. However, considering the contemporary market
situation due to pandemic and modern business practices, the recommended best practices in
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both the areas are AssessTEAM and Team Assessment Report (TAR). Finally, the last
section of the paper includes reflection on the ways of developing core values as ethical and
value based leadership by application of the Hackman model by the author itself.
REFERENCES
Books and journals
Armstrong, M., 2016. Strategic Human Resource Management. London: Kogan Page.
Beer, M., 2015. HRM at a crossroads: comments on “evolution of strategic HRM through
two founding books: a 30th anniversary perspective on development of the field.
Human Resource Management, 54(3).
Boxall, P.F. and Purcel, J., 2016. Strategy and Human Resource Management. 4thed. Palgrave
Macmillan.
Chemers, M., 2017. An integrative theory of leadership. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates,
Publishers.
Kotter, J. P., 2017. What leaders really do? Harvard Business Review, 79(11), pp.85-96.
Mastrogiacomo, S. and Osterwalder, A., 2021. High-Impact Tools for Teams 5 Tools to Align
Team Members, Build Trust, and Get Results Fast. Wiley.
O’Riordan, J., 2017. The practice of human resource management. Institute of Public
Administration Research Paper 20. The State of the Public Services.
Paulus, P., 2018. Group, team and creativity: The creative potential of idea-generating
groups. SAGE publishing.
Poole, M., 2015. Editorial: Human resource management in an international perspective. The
International Journal of Human Resource Management, 1(1), pp.1–15.
Online references
Compare business products. 2019. The Top 10 Leadership Qualities. [Online]. Available
through: <http://www.comparebusinessproducts.com/briefs/top-10-leadership-
qualities>. [Accessed on 20th December 2021].
Zoltan, R. and Vancea, R., 2015. Organizational work groups and work teams – approaches
and differences. [Online] Available through:
<http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?
doi=10.1.1.1018.1825&rep=rep1&type=pdf\>. [Accessed on 20th December 2021].
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