Monthly Archives: March 2017

292Blog#6: Natural Leaders (Based on Mariana’s Blog)

Most people are eager to be leaders on their teams since leadership brings them money, status, reputation and power. However, we normally choose to be blind to the drawbacks of being a leader. This topic is touched upon by Mariana in her blog post “it gets lonely at the top”,(https://blogs.ubc.ca/mcmartinezrubio/2017/03/28/it-gets-lonely-at-the-top/ )and I would like to analyze it and give my own opinions.

Mariana indicated that opportunities come with a certain cost. Leaders have to help and motivate their subordinates and take responsibility for them, while no one is there to help leaders if they have problems. They need to make final decisions on their own, motivate themselves and find a balance between work and personal life. It is also true that some of them are isolated and conflicted with the personal relationship in workplaces.

From my view, I would say that not everyone was born to lead since he or she does not have the traits and the behaviors that can differentiate them from regular people. Unlike normal staff, leaders are supposed to know how to guide and manage others, which requires skills and abilities that not everyone has, such as public speaking skills and coping with stress by their own rather than take care of themselves only. Though some introverted people can deal with the relationship issues, it makes them uncomfortable somehow. Hence, leaders who do not have traits may feel helpless and stressed when they are in high positions. However, people with traits and behaviors that leadership requires may find these jobs easy, so they are not likely to feel lonely or overly challenged, and they are able to bear the burden of difficulties that leadership brings.

I am not saying that people with no leadership potential cannot be a leader; they can definitely get rid of their disadvantages by hard work and then be a good leader. However, this takes more energy and effort than it takes for natural leaders. Therefore, people should be aware of the disadvantages of being a leader and consider if they can deal with them easily, otherwise they will feel lonely at the top.

(Word count: 352)

Reference:

“It Gets Lonely at the Top” – Mariana’s Blog. (n.d.). Retrieved March 31, 2017, from https://blogs.ubc.ca/mcmartinezrubio/2017/03/28/it-gets-lonely-at-the-top/

292Blog#5: Note and Vote (Based on Jake Knapp’s blog)

It is quite frequent that many people do not have chances to express his or her opinion in a group discussion, and they tend to agree with the decision made by the majority even though they have different ideas. Google has applied ‘Note and Vote’ in its meetings and discussions in order to solve the problem. I would like to analyze the ‘decision making in a group’ and the ‘Note and Vote’ method based on Jake Knapp’s public blog post on the Internet. (https://www.fastcodesign.com/3034772/note-and-vote-how-google-ventures-avoids-groupthink-in-meetings)

The phenomenon I described at the start of my blog is called “Groupthink” in OB; people want to minimize doubts and achieve unanimity in a team by the agreement to group ideas. In order to get rid of groupthink, Google chose to apply “Note and Vote”. Basically, employees have a quiet time to write down their own opinions and then share them to the team. After all team members sharing their ideas, each member commits their votes for the idea on paper and explain why. Finally, the manager of the team makes final decision.

In this way, all the members can get involved into discussion and they are not likely to be influenced by others thoughts so groupthink can be avoided. Even though the final decision is made by the manager, everyone’s voice is heard so the decision may be more rational. In addition, the discussion can be more efficient. Managers set time limit for each part of discussion and require responses from everyone, which helps get more significant results compared to discussing together since people may rely on others and make no contribution.

Groupthink is a common issue that almost every team has, which impacts team’s decision making and development negatively. Though ‘Note and Vote’ is not a perfect solution, it helps avoid groupthink effectively. People can make slight changes to this method according to different situations, then apply it in discussions to get better results.

Word count: 321

Reference:

Knapp, J. (2014, August 26). “Note And Vote”: How Google Ventures Avoids Groupthink In Meetings. Retrieved March 31, 2017, from https://www.fastcodesign.com/3034772/note-and-vote-how-google-ventures-avoids-groupthink-in-meetings

292Blog#4: The Organizational Culture of Toyota Motor Corporation

Toyota Motor Corporation is a Japanese automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota, Japan. It is the world’s first automobile manufacturer to produce more than 10 million vehicles per year. In 2012, Toyota was the largest automobile manufacturer, ahead of the General Group. Many business students get to know Toyota from its famous production method called “Just in Time”. Most people think that the success of Toyota has benefited from this original way of production. From an OB view, I would say that the success is also related to its leadership and organizational culture.

Toyota pays much attention to the identification of organizational culture and the long-term goal of the company. New workers in Toyota are guided by an experienced current worker; they are told what to do and what the goal is, and they can get support from their mentors whenever they need it. This indicates the “Path-goal theory”: it is the leader’s job to assist followers in attaining their goals and to provide necessary direction to support and ensure that their goals are compatible with the overall objectives of the group or organization. Hence, employees are trained to keep the “Customer First” and “Quality First” principles in mind and work towards the company’s goal. In addition, leaders are selected from the internal recruitment rather than externally, to ensure the new leaders already know much about the company’s concepts, and they are able to transmit the concepts to subordinates.

The transmission of organizational culture can be an effective way to increase efficiency and quality. Once employees are assimilated to the culture, they are more willing to put effort into production, both for salary and faith in the company, and they are likely to get themselves involved into the company’s development. Therefore, organizations need to have a clear concept of culture to show both people and workers what they are working for.

Word Count: 308

Reference:

https://www.otherpapers.com/Business/Toyota-Motor-Corporation-Leadership-Style/33732.html