A few days ago, I was browsing other students’ blogs and encountered my group member Eric’s post about team-building exercises. His blog post was about an article explaining how team-building exercises are always a poor solution for team’s problems because many of the problems lead to results of poor leadership.

As well as Eric and the author of the article, I believe there are more losses than gains from team building exercises. Due to different personalities and skills in team members, some of them may not be sociable or good at performing enough. As an introvert person, I have more bad memories of humiliation and embarrassment rather than building team spirit and feeling of unity with my team members.

Team cohesion is important for optimal team functioning, and common organizational problems addressed on articles; lack of communications, organizational culture, leadership, and acknowledgment cannot be solved by only encouraging team building exercises. About this misattribution problem, Eric suggested sharing of the leadership responsibilities amongst members as a preferable alternative of team building exercises. I also would like to suggest the concept of an authentic leader. According to the textbook, authentic leaders share information, encourage open communication, and stick to their ideals . People trust them and this can create a positive energizing effect of increase in team performance.

I also believe that companies should adapt work-related team building activities which allow the team to have the real work done. By doing this, team members can actually learn and practice work-related skills and work effectively with each other. The general meeting to build a strategic plan and clarify the roles and accountability of team members would help as well.

More importantly, I believe team building exercises should happen voluntarily by team members, not by the force. Team building exercises without force can be a lot more fun and be more successful in helping to create team spirit and a positive work atmosphere.eve team building exercise should happen voluntarily by team members, not by the force. Team building exercises without force can be a lot more fun and help to create team spirit and positive work atmosphere.

References

1. The Failure of Team-Building Exercises
2. Langton, Robbins, Judge, Organizational Behaviour, 7th edition, p. 400.
3. Liz Ryan, “The Ugly Truth About Team-Building”, Forbes Magazine, Sept. 22, 2016, http://www.forbes.com/sites/lizryan/2016/09/22/the-ugly-truth-about-team-building/#76f4318e597a

” Leadership is a choice. It is not a rank. – I know many people who are at the bottoms of organizations who have no authority and they are absolutely leaders, and this is because they have chosen to look after the person to the left of them, and they have chosen to look after the person to the right of them. This is what a leader is.”

As part of our 292 in-class exercise, I was asked to think about attributes of a good leader. I couldn’t say anything at that moment because I had nothing on my mind. From that moment, it triggered me to start thinking about the attributes of a good leader.
Simon Sinek’s TED lecture suggests a good leader is someone who makes their group members (employees) feel secured and creates an atmosphere of trust. I agree with the main point that trust and cooperation are essential to create an efficient work environment that will lead to increase in morale and productivity in the group.

Exhibit 8-1. Continuum of Responses to Power

I was able to relate this suggested leadership style with several other concepts that we have learned so far. It emphasizes the importance of the referent power among all five bases of power types (formal, coercive, reward, legitimate, and referent) and suggests reducing the power distance in the organization. It also supports the behavioural theory of leadership because the leader must first demonstrate appropriate action to make others feel safe and think that he/she is reliable. According to the exhibit 8-1, usage of referent power is positively related to employees’ satisfaction with supervision, their organizational commitment, and their performances. Eventually, this would empower them(employees) and create a strong organizational culture and positive work environment.
This style of leadership which is based on trust is hard to apply in real life because creating trust and safety means taking up a big responsibility. Implementation of this leadership becomes especially hard in the business environment because individuals are fostered to look out for themselves instead of taking care of others. More than that, feelings are hard to measure and there are no clear instructions for leaders. Therefore, I will define a good leader as a person who takes actions based on politeness and consideration for others. I believe that it is the basic attribute of this leadership.

References

1. Langton, Robbins, Judge, Organizational Behaviour, 7th edition, p. 278-280.
2. Sinek, Simon. “Why Good Leaders Make You Feel Safe.” TED. Mar. 2014. Lecture.