Blog7

What are the qualities of an effective leader? Cite examples from current day leaders. 

            According to Hoffman, Woehr, Maldagen-Youngjohn, and Lyons (2011), there are two theories as to what makes a good leader. One of them is called the “Great Man” theory, which involves the concept that leaders are born and not made. According to this train of thought, a person possess certain trait-like qualities that contribute to their natural ability to lead. The authors identified 16 of these qualities. The other theory of what makes a good leader is the possession of state-like qualities. These are learned or acquired qualities that contribute to a person’s ability to effectively lead, and the authors identified nine of these qualities. They found that both types of leaders are effective.

Meng, Berger, Gower & Heyman, (2012) discuss important leadership characteristic. The participants in their study identified what they considered to be the three most important: effective decision-making, problem-solving, and knowledge and expertise. Two of those fall under the category of state-like qualities that Hoffman, Woehr, Maldagen-Youngjohn, and Lyons (2011) talk about. I think a person who displayed those qualities well and had a huge influence on modern technology is Steve Jobs. Many people today are benefitting from his excellent leadership skills. He was a brilliant man who led his company to the top, and Apple products are one of the leading products in terms of number of sales and best in technology.

Steyrer (1998) discusses charisma as important quality in effective leadership. Charisma is trait-like quality that is effective in winning people over and contributing to overall likability. Tom Hanks is a charismatic leader who contributes to philanthropic organizations and tells the public about certain causes involving animal rights. Tom Hanks is very well-liked, so people are willing to listen to him. Another quality that is important for effective leadership is communication (de Vries, Bakker-Pieper & Oostenveld, 2010). The ability to communicate well is crucial in order to get people to listen to you. Andy Stanley is a well-known pastor that leads a mega-church in metro-Atlanta. His church has created church plants all over the Southeast. He is popular because of his amazing ability to communicate. I think it is hard to pin down a few specific qualities as being the most important. I think that all of the qualities mentioned in the article by Hoffman, Woehr, Maldagen-Youngjohn, and Lyons are important; I think it just depends on the type of leader.

References:

de Vries, R. E., Bakker-Pieper, A., & Oostenveld, W. (2010). Leadership = communication? the relations of leaders’ communication styles with leadership styles, knowledge sharing and leadership outcomes .Journal of Business and Psychology, 25(3), 367-380.

Hoffman, B. J., Woehr, D. J., Maldagen--‐ Youngjohn, R., & Lyons, B. D. (2011). Great man or great myth? A quantitative review of the relationship between individual differences and leader effectiveness. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 84(2), 347--‐381. Doi: 10.1348/096317909X485207

Meng, J., Berger, B. K., Gower, K. K., & Heyman, W. C. (2012). A test of excellent leadership in public relations: Key qualities, valuable sources, and distinctive leadership perceptions. Journal of Public Relations Research, 24(1), 18-36.

Steyrer, J. (1998). Charisma and the archetypes of leadership. Organizational Studies, 19(5), 807-828.

Blog 6

Describe and give examples of why team building works as if you were speaking to a community--‐based service club (e.g. Rotary).

            Klein et al. (2009) discusses the efficacy of team building and defines it as formal and informal group level interventions that aim to advance social relations, clarifying roles, and solving task and interpersonal problems. Team building works by helping individuals and groups to observe, identify, and act upon their behavior and relationships. Four major components that make team building work are goal setting, interpersonal relationships, role clarification, and problem solving.

            Goal setting can help encourage group motivation and strengthen group development (Klein et al., 2009). It can unify a group of people with a common cause.

Senécal, Loughead & Bloom, (2008) said that goal setting can help with group cohesion. Athletes have discovered that this is the most effective in team building process and it creates greater team focus.

Good interpersonal relationships build teamwork skills. Through interpersonal relationships, group members can learn to better communicate, support each other, and be more open to sharing feelings or personal information. Group members also develop greater trust in group members and the group as a whole. Teams with good interpersonal skills tend to have fewer conflicts. Interpersonal relationships can also encourage a greater sense of cohesion.

Role clarification helps better communication within groups concerning their role within the group. It also helps group members to have a clearer understanding about their responsibilities within the group and what is expected of them. This reduces uncertainty about what members’ roles and expectations are (Klein et al., 2009). I thought this was really interesting; I had not really thought about how this might influence team building. Aritzeta, Ayestaran & Swailes, (2005) talk about group member’s preference in roles. They found that group member roles can have an influence in resolving conflict with in the group.

            Finally, problem solving skills contribute greatly to team building. These skills involve team members’ ability to recognize task-related problems and improve organizational skills. Also, possession of good problem solving skills can include having good critical-thinking skills. Buller & Bell (1986) discuss how problem solving skills help the team to solve problems more effectively. This also helps encourage group cohesion. All four of these components are crucial to team building.

References:

Aritzeta, A., Ayestaran, S., & Swailes, S. (2005). Team role preference and conflict management styles.International Journal of Conflict Management,16(2), 157-182.

Buller, P. F., & Bell, C. H. (1986). Effects of team building and goal setting on productivity: A field experiment.Academy of Management Journal, 29(2), 305-328.

Klein, C., DiazGranados, D., Salas, E., Le, H., Burke, C. S., Lyons, R., & Goodwin, G. F.  (2009). Does team building work?  Small Group Research, 40(2), 181--‐222. doi:10.1177/1046496408328821

Senécal, J., Loughead, T. M., & Bloom, G. A. (2008). A season-long team-building intervention: Examining the effect of team goal setting on cohesion. Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, 30(2), 186-199.

Blog 5

Design a work team based on three teamwork dimensions you deem to be most important. Why did you choose these dimensions?

While there are many dimensions of teamwork that are very important to a work team performing and getting along well, but there are three that I would single out as being the most crucial. Those are interpersonal relations, adjustment, and communication.

Interpersonal relations are very important in terms of solving conflict and working to maintain socioemotional relations. A positive team environment will help promote agreement among group members and a greater sense of group satisfaction (Drikell, Goodwin, Salas, & O’Shea, 2006). Wiatr Borg & Johnson (2013) said that the ability to listen and to have empathy are a big part of possessing interpersonal skills. They argued that there is a link between interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence in a business-to-business sales setting. Good interpersonal skills can help one infer others’ feelings and intentions and to then act on this insight. This would be important in group functioning.

Even though it is not widely acknowledged, adaptability is very important to a group’s functioning. It involves a team’s flexibility to adapt to the type of problem or task at hand. A task may require a group to reallocate resources and to mutually adjust to the situation at hand (Drikell, Goodwin, Salas, & O’Shea, 2006). Marin, Nejad, Colmar, & Liem (2013) talk about adaptability as being both cognitive and behavioral. Good adaptability involves anticipating the unknown

Communication is crucial to a work team’s functioning. All members must exchange ideas in an effective way, and this is a determinant of how well the group will function overall. Some aspects of effective communication include trading information in a time-sensitive way, acknowledging others’ ideas and input, checking to see that information was received and understood, and the usage of nonverbal communication, (Drikell, Goodwin, Salas, & O’Shea, 2006). Erozkan (2013) says that communication is the cornerstone of good relationships and that interpersonal relationships grow from healthy communication.

References:

Driskell, J. E., Goodwin, G. F., Salas, E., & O'Shea, P. G. (2006). What makes a good team player? Personality and team effectiveness. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, 10(4), 249--‐271. doi:10.1037/1089--‐ 2699.10.4.249

Erozkan, A. (2013). The effect of communication skills and interpersonal problem solving skills on social self-efficacy. Kuram ve Uygulamada Eğitim Bilimleri,13(2), 739-745. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=14&sid=02afe680-b1c3-41fa-b678-a798b61c5573@sessionmgr4&hid=26&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ==

Martin, A. J., Nejad, H. D., Comar , S., & Liem, G. A. D. (2013). Adaptability: How students’ responses to uncertainty and novelty predict their academic and non-academic outcomes. Journal of Educational Psychology, Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=20&sid=02afe680-b1c3-41fa-b678-a798b61c5573@sessionmgr4&hid=126&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ==

Wiatr Borg, S., & Johnston, W. J. (2013). The ips-eq model: Interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence in a sales process. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 33(1), 39-51. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=14&sid=02afe680-b1c3-41fa-b678-a798b61c5573@sessionmgr4&hid=26&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ==