Applying Leadership and Management Theories in a Student Team Project

Introduction

Leadership and management are important aspects to develop strong team for achieving the common team goal where the leader and managers try to collaborate with each other to perform better and meet the working objectives in the organisation (Norris, 2017). In this paper, a group of five randomly selected undergraduate students held a meeting to introduce each other through Zoom, and then they selected a team leader. We started to gather information to write a case study. Once we had chosen the case study from the five which were presented by the members, we then embarked on the research of the leadership and management theories that we could apply to resolve the problems and challenges raised in the case study. At the initial stage, there were conflict and confusion over the goals and allocation of tasks. During the subsequent meetings, the group began to function as a team, and at that stage, we had a meaningful discussion which enabled us to compile our assignment successfully. Throughout this process, we found that seeking undergraduate dissertation help was invaluable in guiding us through the research and writing stages.

Management style

Management style refers to the practices of the managers in order to develop strong team so that the team objectives can be met efficiently. the managers try to adopt a good management style so that it is possible to motivate and handle the team members for better working practices and in this regard, the team member aim to work collaboratively to meet the strategic objectives (Wickramasinghe, 2021). There are several management styles such as demographic, visionary, coaching and commanding management style. In this context, the coaching management style is being adopted in order to develop strong team work in the institution. Coaching management style refers to the practice where the managers try to guide and support the followers or team members continuously through adequate learning resources and training, so that the team members can gain in depth knowledge and understanding for performing better (Hallinger, 2020). The managers under coaching managerial styled provide learning environment for improving the skill set and abilities of the team members successfully (Oplatka and Arar, 2019). A strong desire to help the employees for growing personally and professionally is there under coaching managerial style with continuous guidance and support. Additionally, strong listening and feedback skills are there under this managerial style where the managers also show empathy and the ability to connect with the team members. Problem solving skill and decisions making skill set are also crucial for coaching managerial style, where the managers are involved with the team members for analysing the existing problems as well as exploring alternative solutions for better performance. The managers also have the ability to build trust and meaningful relationship with the team members for working collaboratively in order to meet the ultimate organisational objectives.

Our group consisted of five members who had been randomly selected from the undergraduate students pursuing the social care degree at the university to complete an assignment. We initially carried out brief personal introductions and then proceeded to develop a plan on how best to complete our assignment in five weeks by exploring the appropriate communication system, the analytic and the problem-solving approach and the presentation format. In this particular context, through group discussions, with the appointed leader, members made presentations successfully with creative ideas through identifying suitable managerial style. The arguments and facts put forward by every member were recorded on the WhatsApp group. So every member had the responses, and at the end of the meeting, the leader asked the participants to post their views on the group WhatsApp and post their reactions to the leader. Then the leader would compile a document which would be posted on WhatsApp and be the agenda of the next weekly meeting. Through coaching, managerial style, we try to progress in the allocated tasks and work collaboratively for information gathering and sharing skill for meeting the working objectives.

For enhancing communication, we began our first meeting on Zoom, because of the lockdown, by carrying out brief personal introductions. Since we had to complete the assignment in five weeks - the effective management of time was very important in order to meet the deadline. We are agreed to communicate with each other through WhatsApp and hold weekly group meetings on the Zoom platform. At that stage, the management approach was indifferent or impoverished. However, it dealt with the concern for people vis-a-vis concern for results which dovetailed into the development of our plan, method of execution and completion of the assignment (Ololube, Agbor and Agabi, 2017). We had created a template to use in order to develop our plan to tackle the assignment. We agreed to break the assignment into portions, i.e. development of the case study, research of the management approaches, and leadership styles theories to be used in confronting the challenges raised in the case study and the compilation of the information and writing of the assignment. Every member had to write a case study based on a residential care home, describing the issues and challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic and the government policy had affected the care personnel and the service users. At the initial stage of our group interaction, the management style was indifferent or impoverished. If we had used coaching management style throughout our assignment, we could have eventually developed an effective team. It would be beneficial for us to adopt coaching managerial approach to work with other team members and ensure continuous support and guidance to each other for meeting the group aim.

Leadership, management and change

Leadership is important to manage the team members and lead them towards achieving the team objectives (Wollmann, Kühn and Kempf, 2020). The situational leadership style is the practice of adopting each situation and continuously supports the members for working efficiently. Coaching leadership style is suitable with highly supportive and highly directive environment as compared to delegating leadership style. During group discussion, the group members developed norms that began to mould us into a team led by an elected leader to achieve a specific goal - i.e. to complete the assignment. For the next three meetings, the leader could have applied the situational leadership approach developed by Hersey and Blanchard. Using the vertical axis – the supportive and the horizontal axis – the directive – the leader would have been able to apply the delegating style (Wollmann, Kühn and Kempf, 2020). Through situational leadership style, the leader can guide and support the members working as a team, where they would be highly motivated in tackling the assignment. After each meeting, the leader delegated a task to each member to complete and then post it on to the group WhatsApp for assessment and feedback by other members. This also enabled the leader to compile a draft for the members to discuss and amend in the subsequent meetings.

I could confidently comment that the group from an indifferent management style, through an autocratic or directive style to a democratic style – where the contribution of every member was recognized and appreciated through the participation and feedback in the group WhatsApp and Zoom meetings. After completing the development of the case studies, we We had a group discussion in a meeting on Zoom, where we chose one of the case studies to focus on. In this regard, the leader must choose coaching leadership style for better coordination and team work, where the leaders can support the team members with adequate knowledge and information as well as direct them to work efficiently. In view of the short period in which to complete the assignment, I would have suggested more meetings in the first week in order to enable members to evaluate each other’s strength and weakness using the situational leadership by Hersey and Blanchard (1969) and the skills approach by the Katz (1955). This would have enabled us to have a better picture of each of the members’ competency, commitment and skills before selecting a leader. Through such an approach, the most competent leader would have emerged by observation through the participative interaction of the members in order to carry out a meaningful democratic election. For continuous improvement and skill enhancement among the team members, it is hereby necessary to adopt new changes of working collaboratively and sharing information for better knowledge management and performance in near future.

The model by Lewin (1939) is made up of three stages, unfreezing, change and freezing. The unfreezing stage refers that the leader must recognise the need for change and encourages the replacement of team working activities, behaviour and other necessities in the organisation for meeting the team objectives (Shoup and Hinrichs, 2019). Ensuring strong support from the team and managing their doubts are also essential in this unfreeze stage of change management model (Shoup and Hinrichs, 2019). For making effective team, the leader hereby must focus on clearing the doubts of the team members and also share important information about the need for change. The second stage is change where the leader plans for change and implement the changes for achieving success. The team members must be informed about the changes and technological advancement in the organisation for managing the team member’s roles. The refreeze stage is the last stage, where the leaders try to integrate the changes, empower the members and develop the ways to create values for them to celebrate the success of changed initiatives. It is hereby important to change the managerial style and the ways that the leader led the group towards achieving the future success. I would like to improve communication through group discussion and interactive session, so that each team member can share their perception and they feel empowered in the meeting. Additionally, it is essential for the leader to share all the important information with us so that we can improve personal and professional knowledge to participate in the projects and management the activities successfully.

Leadership, management and ethical decision making

Decision making practice is mandatory to make unique solutions in the team and meet the organisational objectives efficiently. After creating a team, there would be a team spirit which would enhance cooperation between the members. Power theory in decision making is effective to understand the power of the individual in influencing others to adopt new changes by controlling the behaviours, attitudes, opinions, objectives and values in the organisation (Wollmann, Kühn and Kempf, 2020). I as a team member developed the strategy of sharing information and enhancing communication through WhatsApp group for assessment and feedback by other members. During this pandemic situation, it is not possible for us to attend the general meeting and develop group discussions, hence, I decided to create WhatsApp group for information sharing and knowledge gaining activities so that each member can share adequate information and data ain the group for better project management. At this point, the leader could apply transformational leadership by facilitating the exchange of ideas and information between the members to resolve the issues, problems and challenges from the case study. Transformational leadership style is one of the effective ways to develop good decision for the benefits of the organisation and the team members (Willis, Clarke and O'Connor, 2017).

In order to make good decision, the collaborative decision making practice is effective for the team. I would like to adopt the collaborative decision making practice to achieve the team objectives, where each member can be empowered and feel free to share their knowledge and perception in front of others. I face several issues in making decision in the team which are lack of understanding, misinterpretation, poor management, mistrust and lack of respect for each other’s, non-cooperation and lack of communication as well as internal conflicts that hamper the decision making practice in the organisationgroup. In such situation, the practice of groupthink and the collaborative decision making behaviour are the suitable strategy to make the best solution for meeting the team objectives (Azad et al., 2017). We try to work collaboratively to complete the assigned tasks and also improve personal and professional skill through research and critical analysis. In this context, the cooperative decisions making behaviour provides equal opportunity to each member in the team to share their perceptions and decision in front of others and the ultimate decisions are made cooperatively through communication and negotiation. It further enhances the quality of the decision making and improves the working practices in the team. In such context, the power is equally distributed and all the team members in the group are feeling valued and free to share their opinion so that cooperative decision can be made. The transformational leadership style with continuous motivation and individualised skill development are also helpful to identify the best solution to work as a team. Under the transformational leadership, the team members can motivate each other and encourage others creativity to make ethical decision. The team members also can share all the necessary information to make the best solution. Creative ideas and continuous motivation are hereby beneficial under transformational leadership, to manage the team members and lead them towards achieving success.

On the other hand, the coaching managerial style is also considered as good managerial principle in making collaborative decision in the team (Holzer and Schwester, 2015). We try to work as a partnership working practice so that each member can participate equally and share information and knowledge for managing the project efficiently. Under transformational leadership, it is possible for the leaders to continuously motivate the team members and encourage their creativity to perform better (Holzer and Schwester, 2015). I also prefer to adopt transformational leadership style in order to improve the working activities and enhance the efficacy of the team members in long run through continuous improvement and enhancing own creativity. I would like to mitigate the barriers in making decision in the team and develop suitable environment with harmony and freedom to work in the organisation, so that the members can feel valued and share freely about their opinion and knowledge to explore alternative solutions. In this context, for enhancing communication, online seminars and group meeting must be arranged so that the team members can cooperate and interact directly with each other for working proficiently (Thompson and Glasø, 2018). This further provides them a scope to improve their personal knowledge and professional skill set including decision making skill, critical analytical skill and problem solving skill to manage the project efficiently (Piccolo et al., 2012). All the members must be empowered equally during the changes so that it would be possible to create collaborative decision for achieving higher. Hence, the transformational leadership and coaching management style are beneficial for us to develop strong team by engaging all the team members where the members can share information and knowledge to make good decision for managing the project and completing it successfully.

Conclusion

Leadership and managerial style are hereby beneficial to guide the team members and provide them the opportunity for personal and professional development in order to achieve the future success. Through coaching managerial style, the managers can maintain strong team ethics and provide them the scope of improving their knowledge and skill set for working better. Through situational leadership, the leader can understand the situation and cooperate with the team members for better guidance and direction so that the team members can work under effective supervision and control. It is important to adopt change management practices to lead the team members efficiently and fulfil the team objectives and in this regard, the practice of sharing the information about need for change, sharing the organisational resources with the members as well as empowering each team members in the changed process and enhancing cooperation and communication during change would be beneficial to lead the changed initiatives and achieve future success.

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