Followers in Leadership Theory

Question: The activity I am going to describe is the desert island activity. In this activity we are given a list of items, which we can take to help us survive on a desert island. Our boat was wrecked near the island and we were thrown up on the beach. We were only two in a team; we made a decision who will be a leader. Michael became a leader because he was more knowledgeable how to act in such situation as a leader. We decided to make to separate lists how to survive on desert island and then discuss all offers, and chose the best ones together. I had exactly the same rights for my voice as Michael to chose which offers were better, safer and more efficient. We did not have arguments; we quickly choose what our tasks are in order to survive on the island. Mikhail distributed tasks fairly which we will carry out. We were talking often during the tasks. If I did not understand how to do tasks Michael was helping me. He was always listening to my opinion and did not ignore me. Our tasks were: One of the most important things is to find a water to be able to survive. To find out the food on the island. We need to create the weapon by ourselves, which will help us to protect our lives from wild animals. We need to go around the island and follow the beach to be able to find the village. Ask for help from the villagers. Answer: Introduction The activity associated with this assignment is desert island activity, which deals with evaluation of team building. In this assignment, team building stages and performance indicators will be discussed. Moreover, leadership style will be evaluated for progressing team performance at critical situation. Stages of team building Team Building Every team can be built by the stages described by Tuckmans theory. According to the theory, there are four stages of team building, which are forming, storming, norming and performing[1]. Forming This is the first stage of team building where each of the members of a team tries to relate with each other in terms of communication[2]. In forming stage, members of a team come to know about each other and the backgrounds of the members are understood. Members of a team are generally from different area of expertise and thus they relate with each other in this initial stage. Team members are positive and polite and some are found to be anxious about what the team needs to do. Storming In storming stage, the team comes to know about the actual work that needs to be done in the required period. Each of the team members gets to know about their responsibilities and roles for performing the task. In this stage, maximum teams fail to perform. Team fails because there arises a huge conflict between the members. Different members are having different views and perspectives and therefore at most of the time, conflict arises to perform one particular task. Unforeseen problems are seen among the members and therefore members become frustrated. Often it is found that team members challenge the authority of the leader regarding the decision taken by him at the end of this stage[3]. Norming Norming is this is the third stage where members are able to determine what they need to do regarding their task[4]. In this stage, the weather of the team is normalized as team members are cooled down with set up objectives and goals for performing the task or concerned project. In the storming stage, the members had a lot of ideas but in the norming stage, members get the actual way and procedure to accomplish the task. Performing Performing is the final and forth stage of team building. In this stage the actual performance with regards to the set up goals and objectives are accomplished[5]. This stage gives the idea of how to accomplish the tasks under the guidance of team leader. The team leader is able to delegate tasks and identify the progress of the team in terms of performance. In this way, with the help of four stages, a team is built. Operation of Team My team had only 2 members and among them one was the team leader. Thus, in the forming stage, we came to know about each other, which did not take much time. In the storming stage, some of the ideas were different among the members such as creating weapon for survival and the way to find villagers. In the norming stage, we came to know about the things we need to do such as the most important thing was to find water to be able to survive and then food on the island. After that, we figured out that we need to find weapons for ourselves so that we do not get attacked from wild animals. Finally, we set up that we need to go around the island and follow the beach to be able to find the village and take help from them. Performance Indicators Performance Indicators Key performance indicators are to be set up by the team leader so that the performance of the team is evaluated. With predetermined goal and supporting objectives, KPIs will help the team leader to understand whether the team is able to get the best outcome[6]. Target Setting Setting up target in the required period helps a team to progress. Critical factors are justified against performance and in this way team performance is evaluated in terms of time[7]. For each of the objectives, timeframe is to be designed so that performance is fulfilled. Monitoring Monitoring is one of the indicators that help in identifying the progress of tasks. The objectives of the tasks are understood by the leader and are finally monitored and evaluated by the leader[8]. Monitoring helps in quantifying the outcomes at the tasks at the intermediate stages. Review Performance Against each of the objectives, the team members carry out certain tasks, which are reviewed by the team leader[9]. Any necessary changes that are required helps in extending the quality of performance, which helps in getting the justified outcome in specified target dates. Support and development of team members Team members are to be developed at the time of performance by the team leader[10]. This can be only achieved by monitoring and reviewing the performance of the team members. If necessary changes are to be done, then team members are to be supported so that they get assistance regarding the performance and thereby increasing the performance. Linking to activity Regarding desert island activity, the key performance indicators were to identify water, food, weapon and shelter. The target was set up in this way, where water was to be identified in next 3 hours; food was to be accumulated with 5 hours and after that weapon and shelter determination. Against each of the timeframe, the objectives were analyzed with projected outcome and after the completion of primary objectives, secondary objectives were identified. Against the targets, review was done to assess the outcome. Problem with stages Defining team goals The primary goal of the team was to survive. Therefore, for supporting the primary goal, supporting objectives were determined. These objectives were: One of the most important things is to find a water to be able to survive To find out the food on the island We need to create the weapon by ourselves, which will help us to protect our lives from wild animals We need to go around the island and follow the beach to be able to find the village. Ask for help from the villagers Group Conflict Conflict within the group only arises with difference in ideas. The number of members within a team was just two. Thus, the differences of ideas were very less. The main factor was communication among the team members. With smooth flow of communication among the team members the amount of conflict was very less and therefore, the setting up of objectives were done in least time. On the other hand, the understanding ability between the team leader and team member was fantastic that reduced conflict. Team Leadership Team leadership was following the transformational leadership style. This is because being the only team member the management was very easy for the leader but he did not pressurize the team member. The team member was able to give his response, which was appreciated by the team leader. This helped in building team cohesion. Thus, it can be said that team leadership was very strong. Conclusion While concluding it can be said that Desert Island activity gave the knowledge of team building. The stages of team building was understood and was related with the activity, which helped in evaluating the practical scenario of team cohesion. Moreover, the type of team leadership that is most suitable was evaluated as well. Reference List Ford, J, N Harding, "Followers in leadership theory: Fiction, fantasy and illusion". inLeadership, , 2015. Ganesh, A, "Empirical Evidence on Cross-Functional Team Building". inTrai. and Deve. Jrnl., 6, 2015, 145. Gardiner, R, "Gender, Authenticity and Leadership: Thinking with Arendt". inLeadership, , 2015. Gaynor, G, "Building an innovation team". inIEEE Engineering Management Review, 43, 2015, 7-9. Hekmat, S, R Dehnavieh, R Rahimisadegh, V Kohpeima, J Jahromi, "Team Attitude Evaluation: an Evaluation in Hospital Committees". inMater Sociomed, 27, 2015, 429. Liu, H, "Reimagining ethical leadership as a relational, contextual and political practice". inLeadership, , 2015. Lockhart, L, "The art of team building". inNursing Made Incredibly Easy!, 13, 2015, 51-52. 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