Developing Leadership Capacities Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Developing Leadership Capacities - Essay Example an seeing the leader as a co-equal of followers Transformational Theory Gives emphasis on the role of leadership in initiating and implementing change Attaches too much importance to the leader as a catalyst of change rather than to all the stakeholders as creators and performers of change Applying Theory U to Cross-Functional Team Leadership One theory of leadership which can help leaders positively transform cross-functional teams is theory U. The first step, going down the U’s left part, is referred to as ‘sensing’ or building up a perceived image of the organization’s present reality that should be understood and transformed (Scharmer, 2009). In a cross-functional team, it is important to develop highly committed members. ... The important questions to answer are: (1) what the team desires to create, (2) why it is important, (3) how to accomplish this, (4) who is responsible, and (5) when and where to perform this. By employing ‘sensing’, the leader of a cross-functional team is able to achieve its goal of improving service to key customers by (Kahane, 2010): (1) discovering shared ideas and perspective by sharing the story and situation that brought highly diverse people together in one team; (2) motivating and being an inspiration to the team; (3) training in deep-dive (‘do what you love, love what you do’ principle) processes and discussion interviews; (4) recognizing key stakeholders that have to be visited and known. Apparently, when relating to the team and the environment, a leader should set in motion and bring in the ‘four channels of listening’: â€Å"(1) listening from what you know, (2) from what surprises you, (3) from empathizing with the interviewee, and (4) listening from her or his authentic source or highest future possibility† (Anonymous, 2012, p. 10). Through ‘sensing’, a leader will be able to uncover the highest potential of every member of the cross-functional team with an open heart and mind. The second step is ‘presencing’, or a more profound understanding of one’s duty and function in the organization; after profoundly engrossing oneself in the perspectives and situations that are appropriate to a setting and its greatest future prospect, ‘presencing’ concentrates on tapping on a more profound source of understanding (Scharmer, 2009). In order for a leader of a cross-functional team to carry out the ‘presencing’ step successfully s/he should form circles where in s/he commits one

Organisations and Behaviour Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words - 2

Organisations and Behaviour - Essay Example The organisational culture plays a very important role in the business and if the culture of an organisation is strong, then the businesses will be faced with a support to face the periods of low business performance. The cultures of an organisation help the business in the overall performance and also permit the organisation to learn from its mistakes and to overcome the challenges. The structure on the other hand refers to the structure of the management and the various levels of management that are present within the organization. Together both these play a very important role in the overall performance of the company and also provide a wide range of impact on the overall business performance. There are a number of factors that affect the individual behaviour at work and these include the MARS Model. Here in this model four interrelated elements have been described as the main cause that affects the employee performance. These include, motivation, Ability, Role Perception and Situational Factors (US Army Handbook, 1973). As explained by Bourassa, 2010, ‘These factors are highly interrelated; for example, a data analyst is skilled in running reports (ability), self taught on how to use the latest tools to extrapolate data (motivation), and understands how this information will help management make decisions (role perception), but does not have the required access to the data files (situational factors). Unless all of the elements of the MARS model are satisfied, employee behaviour and performance will be negatively impacted’ (Bourassa, 2010). Apart from these factors, there are also a number of other factors that impact the employee behaviour at work and these include the leadership styles used within the company and the overall working conditions of the company (Beer, et.al., 1985). a) Michigan Model of