THE EFFECTS OF LEADERSHIP ON ORGANISATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY AND PERFORMANCE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The main purpose of this report is to explore the leadership theory in the context of managing work performance and leading in an organisation. The report critically explores representations of leadership within an organisation on which it is premised and concludes the role of leaders in ensuring excellent organizational performance and the need for adequate motivation, suitable working environment, compensation and the efficient communication between managers and employees are important in promoting excellent organization performance. It also determines the different role that organizational culture and leadership style play in the organisations productivity and its influence on employee commitment to the organization in establishing job satisfaction. It draws together a range of information detailing approaches to leadership, leadership development and leadership/management competency frameworks in a wide range of organisations The report underlines the key points of the review log on managing performance and leadership behaviour, organisational commitment, job satisfaction and service quality. Organizational commitment is indicated by the constructs of affective task performance and job satisfaction is seen in motivated and achievement attributes. Leadership quality was reviewed using the constructs of tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy. 1
Transcript
THE EFFECTS OF LEADERSHIP
ON ORGANISATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY AND PERFORMANCE
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The main purpose of this report is to explore the leadership
theory in the context of managing work performance and leading
in an organisation. The report critically explores
representations of leadership within an organisation on which
it is premised and concludes the role of leaders in ensuring
excellent organizational performance and the need for adequate
motivation, suitable working environment, compensation and the
efficient communication between managers and employees are
important in promoting excellent organization performance. It
also determines the different role that organizational culture
and leadership style play in the organisations productivity
and its influence on employee commitment to the organization
in establishing job satisfaction. It draws together a range of
information detailing approaches to leadership, leadership
development and leadership/management competency frameworks in
a wide range of organisations
The report underlines the key points of the review log on
managing performance and leadership behaviour, organisational
commitment, job satisfaction and service quality.
Organizational commitment is indicated by the constructs of
affective task performance and job satisfaction is seen in
motivated and achievement attributes. Leadership quality was
reviewed using the constructs of tangibility, reliability,
responsiveness, assurance and empathy.
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Based on the outcome of this report, it is commended that the
primary role of leadership that is practiced in organisations,
is to develop satisfied and committed employees to improve
performance and productivity. Leaders need to state their
views clearly and to consider the employees capabilities and
needs that will ultimately lead to better performance and a
more competitive advantage for the organization.
The basis of this report is derived from the reflective logs
as evidenced based information and significantly relates to
the concept of management in an organisational culture and its
relationship to the ideal way to develop leadership
The review log discusses a working relationship involving
differences in personality and values of management and
employees and the consequences of incidents relating to
performance and productivity, encouraging the development of
leadership competencies. It further describes the attempted
management of a situation, of the associated consequences of
the conflict, and suggestions of how it could have been
managed more effectively. Prompted by this experience and to
better inform leaders appointed with similar responsibilities,
this report will seek to examine the features of
organisational performance and identify the influences of
management and handling styles.
Among the objectives of any business organisation is the
profit making and attainment of maturity and liquidity status.
In the pursuit of these objectives, the organisation allocated
scarce resources to competing ends. In the process it provided
employment, provided goods and services, purchased goods and
services and contributed to the growth of the society and
economy at large
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The effectiveness of this process is greatly determined by the
leadership in the availability of and access to personnel,
finance, machinery, raw material and possibility of making
goods and services available to the consumer
INTRODUCTION
Overview
Organizational success is when leadership directs their
energies towards goals, resources, organisation structure and
people (employees). The report widely focuses on leadership as
a recognised critical factor in the success or failure of an
organization. Samuel (2005) suggests that leadership enables
an organisation to translate its potential for good
performance into productivity managers and can no longer rely
on their position and authority to attain organisational goals
To get the best results from employees, managers need to
encourage high morale, a spirit of involvement and cooperation
and a willingness to work by adapting desirable leadership
behaviour (Asuquo, 2007). Supportive and participative leader
behaviours are important in influencing employee behaviour and
commitment towards quality (Forrester, 2000). Leaders need to
involve employees in defining and developing goals, targets
and the organisations vision; the failure of involvement leads
to employee’s being dissatisfied and unwilling to drive the
effort needed to provide higher performance. The very common
autocratic mode of leadership is evident in most of our
organisations here and is unresponsive to the organisation’s
needs, leading to low performance and low quality resulting
from bureaucracy. Although not directly responsible, long
queues in supermarkets and banks are commonly associated the
unsatisfied staff undermining service quality of the
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organisation through poor relations between leaders and their
employees. Therefore management, the organisation and its
culture are inextricably linked to the organisational
effectiveness by which managers are judged by the
organisations performance. Once the efficiency of the
organization is established, management simply has to
maintaining the system, assuming that the environment will
stay the same (Kurt Lewin 1936).
This report explores the organisational foundation of
leadership, focusing on the unique role of management,
leadership and the employee attitudes and beliefs, in
maintaining support for organisational policies. Throughout
this analysis, leadership is used with reference to the
environmental context in which organizations exist and
operate. Similarly, the terms leadership and management,
refers to the power that is derived from the position you hold
and accountability for achieving organizational objectives
through the actions of subordinates
Leadership and management are both important functions, but
they have different purposes and they seek to obtain different
outcomes. Kurt Lewin (1936) put it this way, “Every
organization structures itself to accomplish its goals in a
way that is in tune with or responsive to its environment.”
Once the efficiency of the organization is established, people
go about simply maintaining the system, assuming that the
environment will stay the same. Management is the main focus
because it keeps the organization going well with little
change. But the thing is, the environment for any organization
is always changing and require organisations to think in terms
of leadership.
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Leaders seek to bring their organization in line with the
realities of their environment, which often necessitates
changing the very structures, resources, and relationships of
their organization (Lewin, 1936).
Prompted by the reflective log in Appendix 1 that refers to a
workplace situation within a small team, managing performance
and interpersonal conflict, this report will seek to examine
the features of leadership development and organisational
culture that identify the influences it has on management and
leadership styles with the attainment of goals. It further
describes the attempted management of a situation, the
associated consequences of the conflict and suggestions of how
it could have been managed more effectively
THE EFFECTS OF LEADERSHIPON ORGANISATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY AND PERFORMANCE
1. Leadership at Work
1.1 Leadership and Employee Engagement
Leadership is seen as a determinant of several aspects in the
way employees behave, so its impact cannot be overlooked
(Randeree & Chaudhry, 2012).
Positive business results depend on bringing emerging leaders,
developing leaders and strategic leaders to the peak of their
potential with maximum efficiency. In a world of work in which
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new challenges are confronting leaders at a rapid pace, no
organization can afford to overlook leader development.
Leaders face an increasingly complex challenge understanding
what motivates employees and drives job satisfaction,
commitment, pride and advocacy (employee support). An
employee’s willingness to work for the success of his or her
job and organization consists not just of traditional notions
of job satisfaction but of an active commitment to doing the
job well and helping the organization achieve its goals and
strategies. Engaged employees take pride in their organization
and work, they take ownership of their projects and talk
positively about themselves and their employer and the goods
and services they help deliver; they view working for their
organization as a career, not just a job; and, above all,
perform better. A highly engaged workforce is excessively more
productive than an unengaged workforce, a critical measure of
alignment between the individual and the organization and a
key determinant of organizational effectiveness.
1.2 Engagement drivers for leaders
These approaches were mindful and attentive during the logged
interviews, workshops and inductions of new managers and
employees:
1. Value employees
2. Lead by example
3. Have the capability to make the organization successful
4. Leaders are visible to employees
5. Encourage feedback across the organizations
6. Ensure that projects are completed
7. Behave consistently with organization values
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8. Communicate effectively about change in the organization
9. Implement change effectively in my organization
10. Respond appropriately to changing external conditions
11. Make decisions consistent with my organization’s strategy
In relation to the logged interviews and workshops, the
intention is to empower others to increase their area of
competence and support employees by providing guidance and
feedback; to assume roles such as being a sounding board, role
model, or shoulder to lean on, while ensuring that
organizational structures and systems enhance collaboration
and accountability. It’s not just making sure that your
employees have the right software or enough office supplies;
you also have to meet their psychological and social needs.
Many people need to be validated by others and desire to be
part of something. A leader must try to meet the different
needs of the many individuals with whom they work on a daily
basis. Make sure your team has a clear purpose, strong
support, and effectively shares information among the group
and with important stakeholders outside the group.
Reflecting on experience, many managers move up through the
ranks of their organizations based on their technical skills,
such as finance, information technology or marketing. They
tend not to be evaluated for their ‘people-handling’
abilities.
If their people skills are weak or underdeveloped, this lack
of competence is overlooked or downplayed by senior management
in favour of the other ‘‘harder’’ skill sets they may have.
Having a strong background in financial matters may well be a
key competency for managing a department or even a company,
but so is the ability to manage staff effectively. When such
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managers don’t handle their people well, the toxicity they
generate can be highly debilitating for their staff.
Some managers are control-freaks who micromanage their staff,
and in the process rob them of their initiative and their
enthusiasm for performing creatively.
Often the problem lies in the inability of managers to
recognize the boundary between their strategic role and the
operational roles of their subordinates. They fail also to
register the investment of feelings and of effort that others
need and want to make to get a job done well.
1.3 Leadership and performance
One of the main key points of the logged interviews was
Performance Management. It represents the continuous process
of identifying, measuring and developing the performance of
employees and aligning performance with the strategic goals of
the organization (Aguinis, 2009). Here leadership is viewed as
one of the key driving forces for improving an organisations
performance
There is a positive correlation between leadership and
performance. Performance management is at the centre of
leadership success. According to Manning and Curtis (2003) it
is important to have a vision, values and leadership qualities
such as vitality, persistence, and concern for others and
having performance management skills. Effective leadership
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requires the art of clearly communicating goals, coaching
others to succeed, and correcting poor performance.
For the purpose of this report it is important to clearly
define the concepts of efficiency and effectiveness within the
scope of employee performance, as major outcome of the logged
interview, and the understanding of the concepts of efficiency
and effectiveness within the scope of performance.
Efficiency is a concept based on the physical, and the
relationship between inputs and outputs. In organisations, the
inputs are the human, physical, and financial resources
available to the manager. Efficient managers achieve high
levels of output (goal accomplishment) with a given base of
inputs. When managers are able to minimize the cost of the
resources used to attain goals, and still attain the goals,
they are functioning efficiently. Effectiveness represents the
degree to which the goal of an organization is met. In
essence, effective managers have selected the correct
approaches and therefore have achieved their goals.
The manager’s personality has a significant influence on theway they think, feel and relate other people. Too much
emphasis on control and rigidity serves to influence
motivation and morale negatively rather than produce desired
results. Leaders share power rather than keep it to
themselves; they find ways to increase an organization’s power
by making everyone in the organization involved and committed.
The elements of performance management system include:
Setting of objectives
Measuring the performance
Feedback of performance results
Reward system based on performance outcomes
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And amendments to objectives and activities
Leadership behaviours adopted by managers, influence the
effectiveness of the service delivery process, resulting in
greater levels of service quality being provided to
Strong Transformational leadership perform exceptionally well
in crisis and have a vision of what a new organization can be.
They cultivate strong bonds between the leader and the
subordinates, where the followers willingly subordinate
themselves and develop strong emotional bonds over time
Transformational leaders have charisma, a well acknowledged
characteristic that provides vision and sense of mission and
instils pride that earns respect and trust. These leaders
inspire and communicate high expectations and expresses
important purposes in simple ways.
Transformation leadership also inspires intellectual
stimulation that promotes intelligence and rationality and
shows excessive consideration for the development of employees
with personal attention, coaching and advice
Although there are distinct differences, there is a positive
relation between transformational and transactional leadership
and other constructs such as organisational commitment, job
involvement, job satisfaction and organisational citizenship
behaviour
In stark contrast to contemporary management, the Classical-
Scientific management style known as the Autocratic leadership
style, based on leadership power where workers and low levels
of management have no participation in decision making in the
business. This style may sound effective but fits very few
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managing situations and is limited in its level of success due
to poor worker relations. Workers and low levels of management
are the participants working to achieve the business' goals
with many different ideas on how to improve productivity; by
limiting their decision making power will result in negative
attitudes of workers towards their work that will limit the
organisations growth through the business cycle.
3. Systems Leadership
A system is a perceived whole whose elements stay together
because they continually affect each other over time and
operate toward a common purpose (Senge 2001).
Systems leadership takes us out of the realms of
organisational boundaries, into leadership that takes place in
multiple systems, so any organisational member is a member of
that system (the organisation). Leadership is exercised in
systems in different ways on the complexity of the systems
work. It provides a framework for visualizing internal and
external environmental factors as an integrated whole. It
allows recognition of the proper place and function of
subsystems. The systems within which businessmen must operate
are necessarily complex. However, management via systems
concepts fosters a way of thinking which, on the one hand,
helps to dissolve some of the complexity and, on the other
hand, helps the manager recognize the nature of the complex
problems and thereby operate within the perceived environment
(Johnson, 1984).
Systems managers have a major impact on organisational
development because they are able to conceptualize
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interrelationships among complex phenomena and integrate them
into a systematic whole
4. Knowledge Management
The construction of the log reviews is clearly intertwined and
relevant within the framework of Knowledge Management and
worthy of inclusion. Knowledge management is the planning,
organizing, motivating, and controlling of people, processes
and systems in the organization to ensure that its knowledge-
related assets are improved and effectively employed.
It is also important to note that Knowledge Management (KM) is
based on the premise that, just as human beings are unable to
draw on the full potential of their brains, organizations are
generally not able to fully utilize the knowledge that they
possess. As a consequence of Knowledge Management,
organizations seek to acquire and create potentially useful
knowledge and to make it available to those who can use it at
a time and place that is appropriate for them to achieve
maximum effective usage in order to positively influence
organizational performance. The goal of Knowledge Management
is significantly Organisational Learning (OL), by helping the
organization embed knowledge into organizational processes so
that it can continuously improve its practices and behaviours
and pursue the achievement of its goals.
Comparative to the log reviews illustrated concerns of
management’s relationship with employees, (Probst, 2000)
defines organisational knowledge as the whole body of
cognitions and skills which individuals use to solve problems.
It includes both theory and practical every day rules and
instructions for action. The knowledge is based on data and
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information and bound to a person. It is constructed by
individuals and represents their beliefs about organisational
relationships. To further clarify and confirm its relevance,
knowledge is specific and it depends on a particular time and
space. Without context it is information, and does not exist
independently of the employee’s experience, instead it
develops through social creation of meaning and concepts
(Sabherwal & Becerra-Fernandez) establishing a bridge between
individual knowledge, collective knowledge and organisational
knowledge.
5. Organisational Culture
Culture matters because it is a powerful, latent, and often
unconscious set of forces that determine both of our
individual and collective behaviours, ways of perceiving,
thought patterns, and values. Organizational culture in
particular matters because cultural elements determine
strategy, goals, and modes of operating (Schein, 1999).
Change is nearly constant in modern society. While an
organization’s culture is deeply rooted, it is not and should
not be immune to change. Lewin (1952)
Culture may develop from organisational groups, but the leader
is still a central figure, because they hold a unique position
of power within the organisation group, they set the tone,
their values and subsequent actions influence or enable their
followers. Chatman and Eunyoung (2003)
If an organisation possesses a strong culture by demonstrating
a well-integrated and effective set of specific values,
beliefs and behaviour patterns, then it will perform at a
higher level of productivity (Dennison 1984)
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This view illustrates purposely that leaders are both the
architects and the product of organisational culture. They
shape identity, determine how the organisation makes sense of
its work and its environment, what relationships matter, what
feedback counts, what information is available and their view
and behaviour is shaped by the organisational norms and
boundaries. When cooperative effort is aligned with
organisational goals, performance will tend to follow
Managers refer to culture as the climate and practices that
organizations develop around their handling of people, or to
the practiced values and credo of an organization.
In this context, managers speak of developing the right kind
of culture, a culture of quality or a culture of customer
service, suggesting that culture has to do with certain values
that managers are trying to inculcate in their organizations.
Also implied in this usage is the assumption that there are
better or worse cultures and stronger or weaker cultures, and
that the right kind of culture will influence how effective
the organization is. Having a culture is necessary for
effective performance, and the stronger the culture, the more
effective the organization.
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CONCLUSION
The report has demonstrated the committed role of leadership
in organisational change and performance directed, as opposed
to other roles of autocratic management style still in common
practice in South African organisations and other countries
The log review in conjunction (joined) with this report,
illustrates the complexity of the underlying aims and intended
organisational contributions of competence based development,
and determines the concept of efficient and effective
management in demonstrating its objective nature
The phenomenon of leadership is probably the most extensive
recognised social process known to behavioural science; it is
believed that leadership plays a crucial role in organisations
and has a direct influence on organisational processes and
outcomes
The concept of managerial leadership permeates and structures
the theory and practice of work organizations. In the
management concept, leadership has been defined in terms of
traits, behaviour, contingency, power and occupation of an
administrative position. Most of the definition reflects the
assumption that leadership involves a process whereby an
individual exerts influence upon others in an organization
context. The general opinion that is well supported is that
leadership style in an organisation exerts a major influence
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on the structure, strategy and the well-being of the
organisation.
The report highlights the significance of leadership
illustrated as a fundamental factor of organizational success
in achieving its goals and objectives implicit in leadership
styles.
Human resource is a primary asset of any organization and
commitment to it is the organizations competitive advantage.
Organizations need to develop a relationship with their
employees to sustain the competitive advantage. The main
rationale for the talent management programme, rather than to
improve the quality of the leading of staff in the
organisation, is to identify and prepare front-line and middle
managers for succession to senior management
Leaders form, shape and embed culture and are formed by the
organisation culture, how things are done, its customs,
language, ideology and behavioural norms
Performance management is a continuous process of identifying,
measuring and developing the performance of individuals and
aligning their performance with the strategic goals of the
organization (Aguinis, 2009).
With reference to the interview logs within the framework of
this report, it is acknowledged that leadership effectiveness
is to do with behaviour and affected by the situation in
transforming the way people feel about themselves
Despite the increasing awareness of management style,
effective leaders have certain qualities in common,
intelligence, dependability, sense of responsibility,
energy and sociability and the extent to which they emphasise
the task objectives; the ability to get people to want to
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change and to lead change. Within this context, participative
leadership is the extent to which the leader share decision-
making with subordinates
Setting work objective and performance standards, waiting for
problems to arise and reacting to them reluctantly, or
monitoring for deviations and errors and correcting them,
enforcing rules and procedures; leads to continuing status
quo, lack of initiative, and avoidance of risk taking by
subordinates
Despite the multitude of ways that leadership has been
conceptualised, several significant elements of leadership can
be identified as being central to the phenomenon of
leadership.
Due to its destructive characteristics, all leaders should
expect judgment on their behaviour, actions and language. They
are in an official role to guide a department, business unit
or entire organization. What you do and say matters. This
spotlight becomes brighter in an organization with strong,
shared beliefs. Service to customers is a shared belief.
Imagine a store manager ignoring a customer. That store
manager should expect judgment by all store associates for
failing to act in accordance with a shared belief.
Additionally, because of the manager’s official leadership
role, they must also recognize that their failure to abide by
the belief gives others license to do the same. In the
interests of both company and employees, it is recommended
that interpersonal conflict is managed in order to enhance
productivity and organizational success
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APPENDIX 1: REFLECTIVE LEARNING LOG
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LOG 1
Title of Entry Managing organisational performance and
productivity
1: Meeting with supervisor on the assessment
of the teams low productivity performance
from January 2009 to February 2010 (18
October 2011)
Meeting with Cedric Van
Zyl, a senior production
supervisor to discuss the
low rate of production and
team performance issues
Cedric works as a production supervisor for
the company for 4 years and 3 months with a
prior 3 years’ experience as a team leader
for business development projects. When the
post became vacant for a production
supervisor due to increased high volumes of
turnover, the company profiled characters for
a manager with strong communication skills
and able to instruct as well as they listen.
Also passionate and enthusiastic and inspired
by connections with people and ideas. Cedric
was chosen on merit for being naturally
attuned to the big picture of the company
goals, the ability to see how everything is
interconnected and the concern with
explicating the underlying connections and
the cause and affect relationships within the
production of products.
The meeting started by explaining that the
production reports indicated that 84 percent
of costs were related to reduced performance
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while at work, and absentees that may be
connected to employee motivation. Cedric
listened tentatively, tucked at the
protruding collar, and without hesitation,
explained that there were no organisation
specific motivational devices being utilised
for employees who performing well, “the
company have a policy of treating all
employees equally and no performance
incentives are implemented in management
systems in meeting performance information
needs”. Leaning back slowly while reflecting,
I explained that the company’s primary
responsibility of strategic leadership is to
create and maintain organisational
characteristics that reward and encourage
collective effort. It was determined that
Cedric’s views were based on equity in
relation to the goals of the department that
fostered the morale of employees, and
further explained that Cedric’s management
skill needed to coordinate effort and the use
of each person’s ability, and will need to
reward merit without arousing jealously and
disturbing harmonious relations. I then
proceeded and ask what would be the solution
to the rising production costs? With
introverted intuition and deep perception, he
meticulously explained that happy employees
are more productive and enjoy work and feel
more empowered in recognising their
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contribution. He sternly believes that an
employee’s productivity is determined by
their relationship with their manager. “We
need to give credit when due”, he emphasised.
I interjected immediately, realising that he
had confined the problem to employee
behaviour and failed to analyse the problem
completely before he tried to solve it. I
think that part of this can be attributed to
the complexity and unpredictability and the
general uniqueness of the employee, ‘you tend
to react to biases and assumptions about
human nature without perceiving the complex
environment in which they occur’. ‘Is poor
performance only due to the result of poor
motivation’, is the question I considered.
Cedric defended his position by stating that
the employee’s capabilities were matched to
the job requirements and each employee had
the knowledge and training for the job
expected from them. He vehemently denied that
lack of personal motivation and low morale in
the department was the cause of their
performance. I reaffirmed that
underperformance should be dealt with
promptly and appropriately by him as the
employees are not aware that they are not
performing well are and are unlikely to
change their performance.
I slowly stood up and peered through the
window, overlooking the workplace, and
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reiterated that we have identified the
problem that had existed for some time,
almost a year, and it was serious, we are
organising a meeting with the employees to
discuss the problem. The meeting should be an
open discussion and the employees should have
an opportunity to have their point of view
heard and duly considered. We will explain to
the employees why the problem occurred. In
this meeting Cedric will facilitate
discussion to refer to recent positive things
that the department has done to show that
they are also recognised and appreciated for
their strengths.
Reflection on outcomesThe problems were clearly identified and
understood. My main assessments were the
production efficiency and the meeting of
deadlines and would evaluate the quality of
work, including absenteeism and extended
breaks. Disciplinary discussions and action
was taken and the positive contributions to
the work effort, and finally, details of the
significance of personal interactions with
the employees. I explained to Cedric that
employee performance is daunting yet a
critical function of his job and an
opportunity to give important feedback. His
response was calculated but too general than
what was required in my analysis. While
listening to his comments I reviewed his job
description and discussed the correct
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performance required
Reflection on process Cedric was serious and concerned; I knew he
will not hesitate in going outside his
comfort zone exploring innovative solutions.
As he used the system more often, he became
more effective, like doing more with less. I
felt we would progress in the next stages of
the process and was satisfied with the
outcomes. He understood the problem and would
therefore meet my expectations of efficiency
in production. I reiterated to Cedric the
advantages of using a systemic method of
finding solutions that viewed the entire
organisational system and processes and not
just an isolated part of the whole system
Reflection on the experience of others
I discussed the low productivity performance
with senior executives of the company and
received interesting responses. The
operations manager was meticulously precise
and detailed in relating his experience to
the problem. He mentioned that technology may
play a supporting role in enabling the
organisation to become more productively
efficient and that technology should function
as a change agent in the use and adoption of
process sharing so that we can improve on the
use of critical data. The sales manager
believes that part of the problem is the fear
of change in the production system even at
the risk of cannibalising our existing
systems. Although their response was diverse,
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it presented a systemic view and analysis of
the problem.
Reflection on personal experience
My experience and the responses from senior
management have given me a positive
perspective of the problem relative to the
meeting with Cedric. I agree with the
operations manager that technology is
certainly a way of reducing cost and
improving productivity but would also take
cognisance that ineffective management
practices decrease productivity in many ways.
My personal experience is that some managers
don’t see and take steps to implement the
most productive way to complete a task and
some employees don’t have the freedom and
training to reach their full potential and
don’t get as much done. My experience of
sales management is that there will be some
methods that may be outdated to carry out its
desired goals and updating should be
considered. And finally, my experience
informs me that dissatisfied employees are
generally unproductive. People have a natural
tendency to prioritise tasks they like and
dissatisfied employees will be less
productive; getting the right employee for
the job will lead to increased productivity.
Learning from reflectionsReflecting on this experience has exposed the
complex nature of my inquiry, it is
reasonable to expect new team managers to
feel some trepidation and alarmed at the
30
onset of their departments low productivity
performance. Although this was a
preliminarily investigations, the paradigm’s
emphasis on interpretation and emergent
action provides no precise formula on how to
succeed. Each project is unique and
ultimately it is up to the team manager to
determine what works best for his team.
Although many of the benefits of the meeting
were apparent while I was engaged in the
initial inquiry, before interviewing Cedric
on the low productivity in his department, I
did not appreciate the extent to which his
skills and work ethics had pushed that
project forward. In addition, this reflection
had led to significant new insights,
profoundly influencing my growth as a
manager. Meeting milestones is not the only
primary determinant of the success in
managing staff and team performance, it also
involves ensuring the employee’s capacity to
adapt to and work effectively and
efficiently. As senior manager, I realised
that my real experience was my engagement in
problem solving within business operations.
People’s capacity to change can be influenced
by how I presented change to them. I
established appropriate structures, roles,
and responsibilities for the change that
engage team leaders and staff support to
affect positive change to achieve our goals.
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Through my experience as a manager, I learnt
that the key to good performance is in
building a strong working culture that make
average workers perform well and achieve
their goals consistently, and are committed
to their work and feel that they own part of
the organization.
Action plan I need to revise junior management targets
relative to organisational objectives and
set-up a monitoring and evaluation system.
Change has to be more fundamental and more
systematic, it has to produce results that
satisfy the expectations of increasingly
sophisticated and demanding environment and
regain our competitive edge. This will
require transforming systems that had been in
place for years and changing firmly
established culture and modifying behaviour
that had long been rewarded with success Key Learning Points 1. Establishing clear goals and structuring
incentives for new junior management
recruits
2. Identifying the capabilities needed for
new recruits to compete successfully
3. Taking appropriate actions to transform
the new management recruits performance
relative to organisations objectives,
defining goals, roles and
responsibilities
4. Their attitude, beliefs and views as
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managers influence how their
relationships within the systemic whole
are seen and related
5. Communication should not be primarily one
way from team leader to team membersSignature Date: 19 December 2014
LOG 2
Title of entry Managing Group and Team performance2: Workshop for new management team who didnot perform well in their new management position (22 March 2012)
Workshop with new managementrecruits (junior managers) after reviewing their performance and goal achievement results from February 2011
After my promotion from production manager
to operations manager after three years, one
of my pet projects was the development,
assessment and mentoring of new management
recruits, induction and living our corporate
culture. Out of a total of six junior
managers, only one had shown any signs of
developing into future senior positions.
Over the past year or so, our organisation
had developed into a distinctive social
discipline, a body of thinking that
describes and explains and influences what
goes on in the organisation. It provides the
underpinning body of knowledge that enables
the staff to explore and develop management
and leadership theory and practice. The
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workshop was a medium through which to
communicate the necessary management skills
and performances required to be successful
in the organisation. Reflective thinking
when done in discussion with others is very
free and unstructured and very useful.
Specific tasks were shared amongst the new
management recruits. Initially the tasks
were not seen as equally difficult by all
the recruits. I asked each junior manager to
introduce themself and describe their
management and leadership skills and their
role in the developing the organisation
towards achieving our goalsReflection on outcomes The organisation faces increasingly critical
challenges in an unprecedented South African
economy. We are desperately searching for
capable managers and leaders. There is a
need for our organisation to develop,
nurture and grow our junior managers into
leadership positions and identify the
factors that positively contribute to the
growth within the organisational hierarchy.
The workshop showed that for management and
leadership development, individual and
personal traits are extremely critical for
development when you progress up the
hierarchy in the organisation. This proved
to be a valuable tool for conceptualising
leadership skills required across
organisational levels. It was important to
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build a model that would help in leadership
development programmes.Reflection on process The new management recruits results and
performance were not up to standard and
effected negatively on annual results, the
cost of skills development posed an
important challenge to the organisation
about management issues such as the
relationship between the organisation
control and freedom, and the nature of power
and authority in the organisation. The
processes were influenced significantly upon
the way in which the organisation is
designed in the development of our
understanding of the organisations culture
as a means of control and a vehicle for
development. Management incubators serve as
a vital process for successful development
of new recruits.Reflection on the experience
by others
To move forward requires our senior
management and our CEO to balance the
management and leadership in our
organisation while envisioning a different
future for the organisation and the need to
grow management into leadership. When I
asked the senior managers where they learned
their leadership abilities, they tell me
that their job experiences and their
managers have contributed the most. The CEO
was exceptionally informative about the
matter, he emphatically stated that more
35
attention to structuring job experiences
should be implemented to furnish appropriate
role models and provide ongoing
reinforcement and support for the skills and
competencies supported in training.Reflection on personal
experience
From my experience, relative to the problems
experienced by the new management recruits,
some may prefer less demanding
responsibilities and may wish to avoid the
hardships that accompany the leadership
roles while others may feel uncomfortable
challenging the status quo and prefer to
conform and be accepted rather than take
risks and push limits. The workshop program
had placed these developing managers in team
based experiential exercises aimed at
solving real work problems with immediate
relevance to our organisation and offer
practical solutions applicable to their
current performance difficultiesLearning from reflections Reflecting on my experience, I recognised
the significance of creating dialogue,
common vision, and shared commitments was
necessary to facilitate effective
organizational change and enhance management
performance that is orientated toward the
bottom line, also imparting relevant
knowledge through the management workshop
demonstrated that practical solutions can
be applied immediatelyAction plan I need to better align management and
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support systems to promote and reinforce
ongoing leadership development by providing
mechanisms and opportunities for self-
development. The workshop program should
focus principally on leadership: contact,
clarity, and impact on competencies that
involve leadership ability to perform
successfullyFinal reflections My mentoring of the new management recruits
was based on an informal relationship
between myself, a senior manager and the
junior protégés, that is an important
influence in professional development in our
organisation. It also served as a component
of different types of development, including
comprehensive career development, goal
setting and management by objectives.
Key Learning Points1. Skills enhancement enabled experience and
