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Abstract
In today’s highly competitive business world, companies face new challenges daily. Good Sports is not the first company that changed their strategy in order to better manage the organization. The company’s organizational structure, culture, conflict management and emotional intelligence were analyzed. Good Sports’ strategies were compared and contrasted with Microsoft and Xerox. When faced with issues similar to Good Sports, both Microsoft and Xerox opted to change strategies. Realizing the problem and implementing change helped both companies move toward becoming more successful. Good Sports, too, can make this move by implementing strategies that strengthen the organizational culture and structure.
Introduction
In Managing across the Organizations simulation, Good Sport’s group dynamics added to the overall objectives of keeping up with the latest trends of their marketplace. The senior manager of research and development continued to excel in his job functions as high standing performance was achieved. In each organizational level, he encountered challenges in structure and culture as his roles changed, encouraging him to find adaptable strategies. The organizational dynamics of interpersonal and various conflict management sources were pervasive from sales to production and finally upper management. “Conflict management refers to interventions that alter the level and form of conflict in ways that maximize its benefits and minimize its dysfunctional consequences. This sometimes means increasing the level of constructive conflict.” (McShane & Von Glinow, Ch. 13)
The previous CEO’s management style did not encourage independence, initiative, and creativity, rarely promoting talent or motivating employees. The new CEO found staff morale, productivity, and performance suffering from a cultural environment previously mismanaged by controlling information to limit support, coordination and confidence of employee capabilities to gain influence over success of organizational objectives. He chose to respond by empowering each managerial level and distribute decision making ability to successfully achieve Good Sport’s objectives to excel in their marketplace. He provided each level the ability to be responsive for quickly making decision to effect change, accountable for their actions to evaluate objectives and offer fresh perspectives on vision and through empowerment of new roles an increased respective function, building stronger levels of trust with interdependency.
Comparatively, Microsoft and Xerox recognized their management teams needed assessing to determine readiness and adaptability for their ever changing market. These CEO’s were convinced management was not prepared nor receptive to changes headed their way or that either company would emerge as leaders of their industry.
Xerox has always prided themselves as a customer-focused and employee-centered organization. Their rich heritage has helped with the company’s profitability and growth. Currently, Xerox is a $22 billion annual revenue multi-national business services and document management organization (Xerox, 2014). The mission statement for Xerox is “to become change agents and innovators - using Xerox Lean Six Sigma to constantly search for a better way to meet our customers' challenges and to create business process outsourcing, IT solutions, new technologies, products and services for world class commercial and government clients that enable better results” (Xerox, 2014). Throughout the years, the company has succeeded through the satisfaction it has provided to its customers. They provide quality and excellent product and services. The company values and empowers its employees to be the best in everything they do. Xerox has created inclusion in all aspects of its organizational culture. The current CEO; Ursula Burns, is the first African American woman to be appointed to the position. This promotion at that time was unheard off in the company. She started as a summer intern and worked her way up to her current position. She is a true meaning of diversity in the work place in modern America. Diversity at Xerox means success. This success has placed the company on the fortune 500 list (#131) of company for the year 2013 (Cable News Network (CNN), 2013).
In this assignment, both control in the workplace and work satisfaction dimensions will be analysed at length. Relating them both to the case study of the Sports Direct Company and other relevant organisational theories; such as scientific management. Sports Direct was founded in 1982 by Michael Ashley in Maidenhead. In 18 years, ‘Mike’ Ashley expanded internationally opening stores in Belgium, and just seven years later listed his company on the London stock exchange. It was that listing that really kick-started Sports Directs’ exponential growth. 2 years later in 2009, Sports Direct established market leadership after their sales exceeded £1.0bn (Sports Direct, no date given). This information presents Mike Ashley as an entrepreneurial genius,
Leading teams today is a unique opportunity. Interaction between managers and employees has changed so much over the last few decades (Robbins, Decenzo, & Coulter, 2013). Leaders of the past used an autocratic theory, meaning that employees did was their boss asked and did not question why. The employee did not participate in any decisions or give any input to new ideas. The leaders of today understand that if they want to maximize their employee’s performance they must be a leader that influences their employee. It is a different relationship of the past.
Leadership constantly presents challenges to the leader’s abilities. Changes occur in the organization environment, disrupting the equilibrium. The approach a leader uses to handle and manage challenges effectively, greatly determine the success of the organization (Hall and Hord, 2006). In the modern-day organizations, challenges come in the form of people and obstacles that prevent the organization from reaching its goals. Moreover, there are a lot of complexity and unpredictability. New set of skills is required for the organization to stay competitive and achieve the set goals. Hence, the life of a modern-day leader is more demanding than ever (Kouzes and Posner, 2006).
Change is the process of making things different. As trends change, the way that an organization conducts business is also subject to change. The pace which organizations experience change has been accelerating as economic changes fluctuate and technology changes continue to advance. As changes progress, “organizations will be forced to change in a way for which there has been no precedent” (O’Brien & Robertson, 2009, p. 371). Organizational leaders are pressed with the demands of change while continuing to hold the responsibility of ensuring that the organization reaches its goals of maximum productivity, leading to increased profits. Leadership strategies will be explored by this analysis. The major challenges managers face and the competencies needed to effectively complete their jobs will all be examined.
According to the Theorists as groups turn into teams, most conflict happens in the “storming” stage of team development (De Janasz, Dowd & Schneider, 2001). First, one must understand what conflict is. Capozzoli (1999) cites Boulding’s 1962 definition of conflict as “a situation of competition in which the parties are aware of the incompatibility of potential future positions and in which each party wishes to occupy a position which is incompatible with the wishes of the other.” Conflict can be either constructive or destructive to the team and can be created in several ways. Conflict must be analyzed and understood for the team to resolve it.
For a team to be successful there are several factors that have to be addressed in order for a fluent, functioning group of individuals combined to achieve a certain goal. This goal can be a variety of different endings from producing minor results to making decisions that create a major impact on a large scale. Within a team environment conflict is always presence. Conflict is essential to the advancement of teams and must be managed in a proper way to avoid destruction and division amongst the group of individuals. From sports, to education, and the workplace teamwork is present in everyday life. As a human race we all work in different team oriented situations in order to accomplish a variety of tasks.
According to Kotter, leadership is about coping with change and setting the direction of that change is fundamental to leadership. Setting direction is never the same as planning or long – term planning. The direction setting aspect of leadership does not produce plans; it creates visions and strategies. These describe a corporate culture in terms of what it should become over the long term and articulate a feasible way of achieving the goal (Kotter 41). In sports, we are seeing contrasts in leadership. What seems to be clear with the public is that they expect strong leadership a proactive response from those who run sports organizations. Professional sports commissioners are expected to make change and use power in ways that will have lasting
Conflict as defined by Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary is a competitive or opposing action of incompatibles: antagonistic state or action (as of divergent ideas, interest, or persons), Mental struggle resulting from incompatible or opposing needs, drives, wishes, or external or internal demands. Simply put conflict is the disagreement and disharmony that occurs in groups when differences are expressed regarding ideas, methods, and/ or members (Engleberg, Wynn, and Schuttler, 2003). Conflict among teams or groups develops in many ways. In developing an effective team, members will generally experience the five stages of evolution: Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, and Adjourning. The storming and norming stages deal with the process of conflict (storming) and resolution (norming). During the storming stage, exact conflict has not yet been identified and therefore chaos, disorganization, and disputes are apparent. The Norming stage is where conflict is identified and dealt with and resolutio...
The significance of leadership style is a subject that has drawn much contentious discussions. The term “leadership” has various meanings that are relative to the educator (Stogdill, 1974). This paper defines leadership as the process through which a person, a manager in this case, manipulates the others towards the realization of a certain objective (Stogdill, 1974). Most studies in leadership have been directed towards government agencies, the military and business organizations with little attention directed towards sports. However one generally accepted conclusion is that the style of leadership used by an organization has an effect on its performance outcome. Leadership style has a direct impact both on the employees and the general success of the organization (Eisenbeiss, Knippenberg, and Boerner, 2008). It influences the effectiveness and execution of institutional strategies. Leaders are common actors, usually referred to as managers, in any institution including Golf club organizations. Leaders manipulate employees around them so as to obtain the utmost benefit from the resources of an organization. To achieve this they employ the use of various styles including autocratic, bureaucratic, democratic, charismatic, situational, transactional, and transformational leadership styles. These management styles can either impact on the employees positively or negatively. This essay therefore seeks to examine the impacts of these leadership styles on employee with reference to golf club organizations.
Many people enjoy working or participating in a group or team, but when a group of people work together chances are that conflicts will occur. Hazleton describes conflict as the discrepancy between what is the perceived reality and what is seen as ideal (2007). “We enter into conflicts reluctantly, cautiously, angrily, nervously, confidently- and emerge from them battered, exhausted, sad, satisfied, triumphant. And still many of us underestimate or overlook the merits of conflict- the opportunity conflict offers every time it occurs” (Schilling, nd.). Conflict does not have to lead to a hostile environment or to broken relationships. Conflict if resolved effectively can lead to a positive experience for everyone involved. First, there must be an understanding of the reasons why conflicts occur. The conflict must be approached with an open mind. Using specific strategies can lead to a successful resolution for all parties involved. The Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument states “there are five general approaches to dealing with conflict. The five approaches are avoidance, accommodation, competition, compromise, and collaboration. Conflict resolution is situational and no one approach provides the best or right approach for all circumstances” (Thomas, 2000).
We have chosen the Xerox Corporation and evaluated the strategic importance of innovation in its role. Xerox from its inception has always been regarded as an organisation that thrives on innovation and diversification. The introduction of the their xerographic office copier in 1959 is seen as one the main technological advancements in the 20th Century. Even as late as the 1990's Xerox has been boldly reinventing itself from a predominantly black and white, light lens copier company to a digital, colour and document solutions company. Even the release of their third quarter results for 2000 in October last, showed despite a 5% drop in revenue, the organisation still looks forward to improving its overall strategy by revealing a new turnaround program
Organizations are collections of people that work together and coordinate their actions to achieve a wide variety of goals and for a positive outcome. Conflict is a matter of perception. Managing and resolving conflicts are key factor which group needs to use to be productive. All stages in team development require the ability to negotiate and resolve team conflict. In the beginning stages, it would mostly be the manager negotiating with the employees. In the latter stages of team development, team members to negotiate and resolve conflicts amongst
Organisations today face many challenges and threats in the rapidly changing and highly competitive global environment , one of these challenges is organisational conflict. Conflict is an inevitable and normal phenomenon between individuals and groups in each organization (OJO and ABOLADE,no date). There is growing recognition of the importance of conflict in the organization (Garcia-Prieto, Bellard, and Schneider, 2003) . According to Hocker and Wilmot in 1995,quoted by Henry(2008),said that not all conflicts can be easily regarded as good or bad. This essay will critically discuss both functional and dysfunctional organisational conflicts and their good or bad consequences. As a general rule, not all conflicts should be eliminated.
Conflicts can occur in different forms and to varying degrees. In organizations, conflicts are mainly because of differences in expectations, values, goals, and personalities. A group pursuing their interests at the expense of others results to a conflict. According to Rahim (2010), there are three ways in which a conflict can occur in an organization; it can be between management and management, management and employees, or employees and employees. Conflicts need to be diagnosed and managed before they can have severe effects to the organization. It is the role of the management to address the conflicts with research showing that an average manager spends 24 percent of their work time