BU7039Understanding and Managing People Assignment Sample
Introduction
People management has become an increasing concern for organizations that needs to be developed. It is essential that leadership theories are approached and implemented so that organizations can come up with policies that would help them in achieving their goals and objectives better. Effectively managing people means an in-depth analysis of employees working in Airdri- their strengths and weaknesses, their personalities, motivation needed. This will also help in giving them regular feedback on their performance and generating scope for development. In order to develop an effective leadership program, the management should come up with a leadership program that would focus on employee development and encourage them to take up greater levels of responsibility. This will help in achieving greater positions in Airdri and upgrade them in order to meet goals and objectives catering to Airdri. The study here focuses on leadership strategies implemented by Airdri, an organization manufacturing hand dryers, and their effectiveness in implementing them.
Identification of a workplace challenge
Airdrie was founded in 1974 by Peter Philips and Peter Allen and they came up with beautifully designed hand dryers designed for every type of bathroom and explore new areas of growth (Airdri.com, 2021).http://BU7039Understanding and Managing People Airdri has been in the market for 46 years and has come up with various strategies that have enabled them to create effective leaders for the future. They have been effectively managing leadership strategies until recently when they have been facing troubles regarding the attitude of their employees in dealing with changes required. The root cause of this problem is that employees are not getting motivated or inspired for adapting to the necessary changes. This in turn has resulted in their lack of commitment to their work thereby hampering the work culture and the functioning of the entire organization. Lack of effective communication among management and employees has hampered their level of trust thus making it difficult on the part of employees in adapting to changes in the leadership program catering to Airdri (Bratton & Gold, 2017).http://BU7039Understanding and Managing People There has been a lack of balance between management procedures for encouraging leadership programs and allowing employees to take responsibility for improving their attitudes and effectiveness. This has created a lack of zeal among employees for adapting to the necessary changes.
Critical understanding of approaches to leadership
Approaches to leadership refer to various leadership styles that can be incorporated in Airdri so that they can effectively plan policies that would prove to be beneficial for employees (Grint, 2009). http://BU7039Understanding and Managing people they can come up with the below-mentioned leadership styles that would enable them to better people management and create effective leaders for the future.
Value-based leadership style
Value-based leadership helps employees to act in accordance with the core values framed by Airdri. Airdrie can use this leadership style for creating a positive change in the attitude of their employees and help them in developing their own strategies for leadership (Sousa & Rocha, 2019).http://BU7039Understanding and Managing People They can then co-relate this with the goals and objectives of Airdri so as to incorporate effective leadership values for growth and development.
Transformational leadership
Airdrie can come up with influential leaders who would act as role models for employees as well as inspire and motivate them to perform better. This would help in boosting up the morale of employees and improve their job performance (Downey, 2004).http://BU7039Understanding and Managing People This kind of leadership style helps in connecting the identity of employees with that of Airdri thus promoting a sense of leadership and commitment towards their job (Turnnidge & Côté, 2018).http://BU7039Understanding and Managing People This kind of leadership promotes critical thinking for bringing about innovation.
Situational leadership
Managers of Airdri managers can use this for matching their behavior in accordance with the performance of employees they are working to influence. In order to achieve this, the leaders of Airdri must have abilities for judging the performance of employees and their readiness for completing specific tasks given to them and quickly adapt to the leadership style based on their survey (Bosse et al. 2017).http://BU7039Understanding and Managing People They should also communicate it in a manner that would be easier for employees to understand and accept it. This kind of leadership influences employees for making the right move for advancing toward higher performance.
Theories of leadership
Trait theory of leadership
Figure 1: Trait theory of leadership
(Source: Influenced by Wyatt & Silvester, 2018)
The trait theory of leadership helps in the identification of specific personality traits that helps in the distinction taking place between leaders and nonleaders. This theory is based on the belief that leadership is something that is acquired from the very beginning rather than something that has been developed with taking help of learning procedures. This model of leadership is based on the characteristics catering to both successful and unsuccessful leaders and is used for predicting the effectiveness of leadership (Wyatt & Silvester, 2018).http://BU7039Understanding and Managing People The resulting lists of traits that are obtained are used for comparing traits catering to potential leaders in order to access their rate of failure or success. This theory helps in giving essential information about leadership and hence can be applied at every level of Airdri. The trait theory of leadership helps in understanding the potential strengths and weaknesses of employees and helps them understand ways to increase their leadership qualities (Rees and French, 2013).http://BU7039Understanding and Managing People Employees also get an in-depth understanding of their identity and the way it will impact others working in Airdrie. But there are limitations to this theory too as there might be subjective judgment for determining as to who would prove to be a successful leader and which traits would effectively judge a successful leader.
Power and influence theory of leadership
Figure 2: Power and influence theory of leadership
(Source: Influenced by Saito & Ruhanen, 2017)
This theory was formulated in 1959 by John French and Bertram Raven and focuses on the way leaders can motivate their team using their power or influence (Chernykh, Doyle & Power, 2017).http://BU7039Understanding and Managing People Five forms of power are identified in this theory:
Coercive power is the least effective but most commonly used. By applying this kind of power, leaders usually threaten employees for doing something which they do not want to opt for.
Reward power is where leaders use rewards as a form of motivation for employees in order to get the work done (Saito & Ruhanen, 2017). http://BU7039Understanding and Managing PeopleThe major backdrop to using this power is that leaders need to constantly increase their reward system so as to motivate employees for better performance failing which employees might not be interested in getting the work done.
Legitimate power takes place as a result of a team feeling responsible for obliging and completing the work given by management (Alvesson & Sveningsson, 2003).http://BU7039Understanding and Managing People This is usually accompanied by a rewarding and punishment system for motivating employees
Referent power where leaders usually make their employees feel accepted or develop a liking for the work done by them thereby helping to generate useful work (Hawkins and Smith, 2006)
Expert power comes as a result of a proficient amount of knowledge and expertise in the required field thereby convincing employees for respecting and seeking help from their leader.
Management Theory of Leadership
Model 3: Management Theory of Leadership
(Source: Influenced by Tseng & Levy, 2019)
Management theory of leadership focuses on the role played by supervision, organization, and group performance of employees. This theory is based on the system catering to punishment and rewards (Tseng & Levy, 2019).http://BU7039Understanding and Managing People This is one of the most commonly used theories for motivating employees to perform well as well as upgrade themselves so that they can perform better and earn rewards as well as get a chance to proceed further in their leadership program (Caplan, 2003).http://BU7039Understanding and Managing People This theory helps in prioritizing the order and structure of an organization and less importance is given to creativity here making it a more formal approach toward employees.
How leadership approaches can be used for employee retention and success and people management challenges
Employee retaining
Employee retailing is one of the major critical issues that need to be dealt with as employee turnover and skilled manpower comes into shortage (Garvey, Stokes & Megginson, 2014).http://BU7039Understanding and Managing People It is essential to come up with strategies that would potentially help in employee retention and come up with new policies. For becoming an effective leader, it is essential that they possess the ability to learn new things and have a communicative nature that would help in motivating and guiding employees for coming up with better leadership qualities.
People management challenges
People management challenges would also become easier if the theories stated above are applied and formulated in a manner that would help in generating better productivity (Thibault Landry, Schweyer & Whillans, 2017).http://BU7039Understanding and Managing People Being a manager at Airdri, the above-mentioned leadership theories will definitely help in employee retention and people management and help in bringing about more success for the organization.
Trait theory of leadership
It helps in the identification of specific personality traits that help in making potential distinctions that take place between leaders and non-leaders (Northouse, 2012).http://BU7039Understanding and Managing People This would definitely help in employee retention by focusing on developing traits of employees that would help them in becoming effective leaders. Since this theory is based on the belief that leadership is something that is natural and cannot be achieved through the learning process, subjective judgment as to who should be considered as a potential employee remains a major question. On a regular basis, Airdri uses this kind of leadership to promote the well-being of employees and to make them work more efficiently (Carleton, Barling & Trivisonno, 2018). http://BU7039Understanding and Managing People This explains that employee retention can be made possible by predicting the effectiveness of their leadership and helping employees with an in-depth analysis of their leadership qualities. People management would also become much easier as this theory would help in understanding the weaknesses and strengths of employees thereby allowing for better organizing policies (Schulze-Cleven, 2020).http://BU7039Understanding and Managing People This explains that traits in relation to effective employees can be easily predicted using this theory but the effective judgment of leadership trait in accordance to this theory is completely subjective.
Power and influence theory of leadership
It helps in explaining the way power can be effectively used for promoting leadership. This kind of leadership theory is not ideal in any organization as it becomes stressful for employees if they are forced to work beyond their willpower (Luo et al. 2017). http://BU7039Understanding and Managing PeopleThis theory of leadership convinces a leader to use power as a punishment as well, as motivation to employees in order to get the work done. The biggest advantage that this theory possesses is that it can help leaders to get the work done by employees either way. Airdrie uses this type of leadership for meeting deadlines and for making employees understand the importance of leadership. This theory also effectively explains that the power of leaders is such that they can be used in a manner to generate better productivity at work and manage employees at the same time (Riaz Akhtar & Aslam, 2018).http://BU7039Understanding and Managing People Power can be used for retaining potential hardworking employees by rewarding them for their work and at the same time they can be managed by giving workload and getting it done within a stipulated time period.
Management theory of leadership
It focuses on group performances of employees and the role of supervision in organizations. Punishments and rewards are used in this theory for motivating employees (.Rezvani, Khosravi & Dong, 2017).http://BU7039Understanding and Managing People This also helps in employee retention as employees are keen on getting rewarded for their good work making it easier for organizations to retain them. On the other hand, prioritizing order and structure helps employees to upgrade themselves to precede further (Meredith, 2010).http://BU7039Understanding and Managing People This increases the chances of employee retention and people management can be done in a better manner by giving them ample scope for improvement.
Designing a personal learning plan
| SMART Objective | Measurement | Expected Outcome | Activities | Resources | Constraints | Timeframe
|
| I will give more concentration on improving communication with employees on a professional level and get a detailed idea about their strengths and weaknesses | In order to improve communication among employees, they will be given group projects where they will have to communicate with each other in a clear way so as to get the work done | This initiative will help employees better understand the leadership program and simplifying the process would help in better training procedures and encourage better productivity | This would require me to watch more videos on leadership management programs and attend seminars promoting the importance of leadership programs along with debate shows and programs like Josh Talks | Watching videos on various social media platforms like Facebook, youtube that would have lots of videos in accordance with leadership programs. For detailed study books from libraries can be consulted and one-to-one communication can be resorted to | Workload and job pressure would be a major constraint for me as it would be difficult every day to take out time and do a detailed analysis as well as lack of communication would also hamper the process | 14 months |
| I will concentrate on improving the productivity rate of employees so that goals and objectives catering to the organization can be better achieved | This would be measured by giving targets to employees on a regular basis so as to see their improvement as well as increase the sales of the organization | This initiative will help employees in achieving their professional goals and provide me with a better scope to enhance my skill as a manager as well as help the organization in generating better profit so as to increase their customer base | I will have to do a detailed study to oversee the personal and professional needs of employees in the long run like cases pertaining to salary, yearly increment as well as promotional prospects that will help in improving performance | Watching videos on how to improve employees’ productivity as well as arranging regular meetings with the management team to discuss policies that would help in increasing the productivity of employees | Lack of proper feedback from employees and management about workload, excessive pressure of deadlines for getting a job done along with little or no flexibility for better understanding would be major constraints. | 12 months |
| I will concentrate on people management and ensure better employee retention along with hiring more potential employees that would help in better achieving the goals and objectives of the organization | In order to increase people management, they are to be given timely goals to be achieved within a stipulated time period like working on projects which require 6 months to be completed but instead they are given a deadline of three months to complete the same | Achieving this objective would help me in getting a clear idea about the backlogs currently and help me in framing policies that would help in better functioning of the organization as well as improve my skills as a manager. | I would need to focus on providing employees with a flexible working environment that would enable them to work freely and provide them with ample opportunities for growth in the future. New policies can be framed so as to help new employees get adjusted to the work environment | I can read books that would enlighten me about factors that would help in understanding the psychology of employees in order to retain them and opt for better people management. Journals can be read as to how to employ efficient employees in an organization for promoting its growth | Inaccurate knowledge about employees and their needs along with the absence of a constructive feedback system would be a major barrier in this process | 2 years |
Personal Development Plan
(Source: Created by Author)
Critical Reflection
In this critical reflection, I would be focusing on the learning outcomes which I have come across while doing a detailed analysis of the leadership program and improvising ways in which improvement can be done in order to avoid any problems ( Alkhateri et al. 2018).http://BU7039Understanding and Managing People Here I have asked myself some questions that are important for a manager to know about, like “What did I feel” or “What did I think about the leadership program?” It probed me to think about the mental models that I was thinking of like “Warren Buffett’s two list system”, and the “Inversion Mental Model” for generating experience and the ways it has helped me in going to a deeper extent to learn about the experiences incorporated.
These questions helped me in coming up with a clear perspective about the roles and responsibilities that I have as a manager and helped me to formulate strategies that would help me in bringing about a change (Vidgen, Shaw & Grant, 2017).http://BU7039Understanding and Managing People As a manager, it is my sole responsibility to ensure that my employees can work effectively for generating better results. Using the trait theory of leadership I can measure the effectiveness of my employees and use rewards in order to motivate them to perform better or even use punishment as a means if I feel that they are not concentrating on their work. Providing a flexible work environment, setting up goals and objectives, and incorporating leadership training programs would not only help in improving the potential of employees but also help me in improving myself as a manager (Clutterbuck and Megginson, 2005).http://BU7039Understanding and Managing People Trait theory will also help me in getting information about the strengths and weaknesses of employees thereby allowing me to incorporate changes in the leadership management program (Jensen, 2019).http://BU7039Understanding and Managing People The power and influence theory of leadership can be used at the time of crisis when there is a pressure of deadlines for getting the work done at a faster pace. Management theory of leadership can be incorporated for generating better team performance along with providing motivation to employees to perform better than before (Rubens et al. 2018).http://BU7039Understanding and Managing People I have experienced immense pressure on my part for managing employees and retaining potential employees and at the same time balancing the overall functioning of the organization. A crisis that arrived at certain situations probed me to undertake the power and influence theory of leadership for getting the work done (Lim, Loo & Lee, 2017).http://BU7039Understanding and Managing People However, experience has helped me in excelling my skills as a manager and motivated my employees better. In the future, if a situational crisis arises I would be able to better handle things and try my best that such a situation does not arise.
Conclusion
A leadership program has a huge impact on the working environment of an organization and impacts the overall performance of employees. Effectively managing people and creating scope for employee retention will help in generating better output and increase profit generated in organizations. Airdrie, one of the leading organizations in this industry can develop a personal learning plan mentioned above for better achieving their goals and objectives. A personal learning plan would also help me as a manager to increase my capabilities and strive for better performance. Trait theory, power and influence theory, and management theory will not only help in better understanding potential strengths and weaknesses of employees but also employ ways for achieving better performance. Effective leadership styles will motivate employees to upgrade themselves and achieve their personal goals and objectives in accordance with the goals and objectives of the organization.
References
Airdri.com, (2021). About Airdrie. Retrieved on 18 January 2021; from: https://airdri.com/
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Alvesson, M., & Sveningsson, S. (2003a). Good visions, bad micro-management and ugly ambiguity: Contradictions of (non-) leadership in a knowledge-intensive organisation. Organization Studies, 24(6), 961-988.
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