Promoting more Integrative Strategies for Leadership Theory

Questions: Task 1A) Using Myers Briggs theories identify the different types of personality in the Marketing meeting and briefly explain which would have been useful to get the most of the people involved.B) Critically explain using the Attribution Theory how you think Toluwa, Ralph, Suzzane, Emeka, and Temitope perceptions of each other have resulted to an unproductive meeting.Task 2Modern management has emphasized the importance of team work to achieve organsiation goal. However, due to individual differences, it could prove difficult, if not managed appropriately. Managers are expected to manage difference through communication, training, motivation and job allocation. In relation to the above statement, explain any FOUR ways in which managers should manage individual differences at work.Task 3In any organisation, each department is expected to work together to achieve the organisations goals. However, this might not be best achieved due to challenges which may arise.A) Discuss how each depa rtment can contribute in achieving the Strategic goal (Marketing goal) set by the organization. Students should first consider the key functions of each department provided in the case scenario, and then discuss how they work together to achieve the strategic goal (Marketing goal) set by the organsiation.B) Explain any TWO challenges faced by the organization in achieving companys Marketing goal. Students should identify any TWO relevant challenges, for example; Functions, structure, communication, personality differences, resources, unclear strategic goal, peoples motivation and so on. Answers: Introduction In the modern business world, the success of the organization would depend on the productivity of employees. Today, organizations have developed, and employees have to work as part of a large team. The success of the team would depend a lot on the way different employees work together. It would further depend on the personality traits and the motivation level of employees. It is important that people should have an open personality, and they should be willing to share and to learn. This paper discussed the three tasks related to the case study of Mullins, personality and motivation, and modern management. Task 1 (A) Myers-Briggs provided a theoretical framework to judge the personality of individuals (Ornoy, 2013). The marketing meeting of Mullins was not successful as department heads have different personality types. Davido Banks, the employee of operations department opened the meeting with the remark that he did not want to spend the whole day in the meeting. It can be said that Davido reflected leadership skill that is necessary to get the maximum out of people. The personality style of Davido is Extraversion as he was the first to present his ideas to other people in the meeting room. Tokunbo was the second person to comment. He already came with the plan and he wanted that the other people should stick with the plan. The personality trait of Tokumbo is Thinking as he came with a plan in hand. Gloria Brown is the head of the engineering department and she came with the test data. She was of the opinion that the mop should be marketed with the focus on its technology capabilities. The perso nality trait of Gloria is Judgement. She backed up her decision with the results of the test data. She also planned for the things and her decisions reflects the personality trait of Thinking. Zainab Smith is the head of the design department. She wanted that the promotion should be based on the creativity and design. Her decision making reflects that she has the personality type of Intuition and Feeling. Among all these personality style, the Extraversion, Judgement and Thinking are the most important personality types that would have been useful to get the most of the people involved (Lloyd, 2012). It is the combination of these personality types that could define a successful leader. Task 1(B) Attribution is the process by which individuals explain the causes of behavior and events. Attribution theory is the study of models to explain those processes. Attribution theory is concerned with how individuals interpret events and how this relates to their thinking and behavior (Weiner, 2010). The case reflects that the meeting between the employees from different department was unproductive. However, it can also be inferred that the meeting between the heads of different departments and the head of the company was also unsuccessful. The main driver of the unproductive meeting was the pre-conceived notion of think Toluwa, Ralph, Suzzane, Emeka, and Temitope or different perception. The department heads, Ralph, Suzzane, Emeka, and Temitope entered the meeting with the notion that their employees are best. These department heads were not willing to accept that their employees was the reason of a failed productive session. Their perception was strong about their employees and these strong perception again resulted into unproductive meeting with Toluwa. This is a classic case where the organization is not able to achieve its goals and objectives due the difference in the perception and attitude. The problem is that all the employees are best but they are not willing to listen to others. The attribution theory is concerned with how and why ordinary people explain events as they do. In this case, Ralph, Suzzane, Emeka, and Temitope have their own explanations of the events. None of these employees was willing to accept that his or her team member could be at fault. Therefore, Toluwa was not able to reach any conclusion with the meeting and his concerns increased. It is important that all department heads Ralph, Suzzane, Emeka, and Temitope should understand the importance of team work and should ensure that organizational goals and objectives are meet. Task 2 In an organizational setting, the team work is much more important than the individual work of employees. For managers and leaders, the difficult task is to bring all the people together (Harding, 2010). In the organization, different employees have different expectations and managers could have hard times to fulfill the expectations of different employees. It is correct that due to individual differences, team work could be difficult to achieve. Managers are expected to manage this difference through communication, training, motivation and job allocation. These four ways to manage the individual difference at work place can be discussed as: Effective communication: It would be correct to say that the effective communication is the key for managers to manage the employees. The individual differences between the employees could be sorted out with effective communication (Crawford, 2004). The individual differences between the team members exist due to the difference in the expectations. It is important that the manager should personally discuss the expectations of team members. The communication should be two-way in nature. It means that the employees should be encouraged to reach out to management in case of any concerns. It is also important that the managers and leaders should use both formal and informal method of communication. Training and Development: The training and development programs are absolutely necessary to manage the individual difference at work place. It is important that the leaders and managers should develop the training programs that could address the training needs of people. With the training programs, the employees would be able to understand the bigger picture. With the training programs, the employees would understand the organizational goals and objectives (Laskin, 2011). The training and development programs would also impart the interpersonal skills to employees that would help them to learn the ways to work with other team members. Therefore, training and development is a powerful tool manage the individual difference at work place. Motivation and perception of employees: It would be correct to say that one of the major drivers of individual difference at work place is the motivation and perception level of employees. The employees may lack the motivation to work with high productivity levels. The individual differences in the employees would be high when the motivation levels of employees is limited and the individual differences among employees would be low when the employees are motivated to work and achieve organizational goals and objectives (Gabrielsson, 2007). It is also important that the employees should not have negative perception about other employees as it would increase the chances of individual differences. Job allocation: Job allocation is the way to allocate the jobs to different candidates. It is important that the management should have the ability to assess the job-fit for different employees. It is important that the jobs should be allocated on the basis of internal capabilities. With this, the employees would be able to have job satisfaction. It can be said that high level of job satisfaction would have very less chances of individual differences among the team members. Therefore, the managers and leaders should focus on job satisfaction so that individual difference at work place could be managed. Task 3 (a) The strategic or the marketing goal of the Mullins Company is to launch then new mop in the market. Toluwa Adnike, the president, told the companys four department heads he wanted the best person from each department to work on a marketing committee for the new mop. Toluwa felt if all the departments worked on the project then all the departments would feel a sense of ownership and involvement. The role of each of the department to achieve the strategic or the marketing goal of the organization can be discussed as: Operations department: The operations department has to ensure that it can maintain the inventory the mops across the retailers and distribution center. The product is a new product and the sales data is not available. It is expected that the operations department would make forecasting about the future potential sales and would ensure that inventory levels are maintained. The operations department would take inputs from the Engineering department to understand the product lifecycle of the product (Roome, 2009). Marketing department: The marketing department would have the responsibility to focus on the promotion of the product. It is expected that the marketing department would take the inputs form design and engineering department about the specifications and the unique features of the product. Design department: The design department shall focus on the creative and innovative design that would be an important inputs for the promotions strategies carried out by the marketing department. It is important that the design department should work closely with the Engineering department and the marketing department. Engineering department: The Engineering department would be responsible to bring the breakthrough in the product. The Engineering department would provide the inputs to Design department about the designs that the mop can support. Task 3(b) Generally, the organizations would face both internal and external challenges to achieve the marketing goals (Fedor, 2008). The management and leaders can have a control over the internal challenges. However, the external challenges are not under the direct control of management. One of the challenges to achieve the marketing goal is the communication challenge. There would be cases when the marketing department would set the marketing goals but these marketing goals and not communicated to other stakeholders in the organization. Any marketing plan or the marketing objectives would be successful only when all the internal stakeholders are aware of the marketing goals. The marketing managers would set the communication plan; however, the communication is not effective and as a result the employees are not aware of organizational marketing goal (Avolio, 2007). This eventually has a negative impact on the organizational growth. Another important challenge faced by the organization in achieving companys marketing goal is peoples motivation. There are cases when the executives or the employees would not want to work as they lack the motivation. The motivation could be high at the top management layer. However, it is important that this motivation should be transformed to mid-level management and low-level management layer. In an organizational setting, the productivity of employees directly depends on the motivation of employees. The employees would not be able to work with high productivity and would not be able to contribute in the marketing plan unless and until they are motivated (Reichard, 2011). The people motivation would depend a lot in the incentives and the rewards. It is observed that people are motivated to meet their personal goals and objectives and they may not be motivated to meet organizational goals and objectives. The employees can have high level of motivation when the personal goals and o bjectives of employees match with the organizational goals and objectives. Therefore, it is important that the marketing goals and objectives should include to reward people if the product is successful. Conclusion With the above discussion it can be said that people should learn to work with other team members. The organization or the group would be able to achieve its objectives only when different people can work together. The differences of the opinions and different perception of the people is a challenge for team to work together (Soekijad, 2011). It is important that leaders should realize the personality differences between different employees and should create a culture where employees can work together towards a common organizational growth. References Avolio, B. J. (2007). Promoting more integrative strategies for leadership theory-building.American Psychologist,62(1), 25. D'amato, A. A., Roome, N. (2009).Leadership of organizational change toward an integrated model of leadership for corporate responsibility and sustainable development: A process model of corporate responsibility beyond management innovation(No. 2013/164611). ULB--Universite Libre de Bruxelles. Darling, J., Gabrielsson, M., Serist, H. (2007). Enhancing contemporary entrepreneurship: a focus on management leadership.European Business Review,19(1), 4-22. Cohen, Y., Ornoy, H., Keren, B. (2013). MBTI personality types of project managers and their success: A field survey.Project Management Journal,44(3), 78-87. Gardner, H., Laskin, E. (2011).Leading minds: An anatomy of leadership. Basic Books. Herold, D. M., Fedor, D. B. (2008).Change the way you lead change: Leadership strategies that really work. Stanford University Press. Harding, T. (2010). Fostering creativity for leadership and leading change.Arts Education Policy Review,111(2), 51-53. Lok, P., Crawford, J. (2004). The effect of organisational culture and leadership style on job satisfaction and organisational commitment: A cross-national comparison.Journal of Management Development,23(4), 321-338. Lloyd, J. B. (2012). The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and mainstream psychology: analysis and evaluation of an unresolved hostility.Journal of Beliefs Values,33(1), 23-34. Serrano, S. A., Reichard, R. J. (2011). Leadership strategies for an engaged workforce.Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research,63(3), 176. Soekijad, M. (2011). Leading to learn in networks of practice: two leadership strategies.Organization Studies, 0170840611410834. Weiner, B. (2010). The development of an attribution-based theory of motivation: A history of ideas.Educational Psychologist,45(1), 28-36.