Leadership Paradox and Inter-team Relations A. What is the leadership paradox? Give some reasons why a leader can encounter difficulty in newly formed teams or groups using a participative management system. Support your discussion with at least two (2) external sources.
B. Present a discussion of the strategies for encouraging participative management in the workforce, and how to implement each of these strategies. Support your discussion with at least two (2) external sources.
C. What serious biases or misassumptions do groups that are involved in inter-team conflict sometimes experience? How do these biases and prejudices affect the ability of teams to accomplish their goals? Support your discussion with at least two (2) external sources.
Expert Answer
The basic assumption of leadership throughout history has been the requirement for leadership to control many by the few. The belief started to change over time with organizations focusing on change. The paradoxical way for understanding leadership is called ‘leadership by self differentiation’. This was proposed by Dr Edwin Friedman in family systems theory.
The leadership paradox provides an alternative view of leadership and gives a model for achievement of defined leadership. It outlines the idea that leadership is an important critical lever that can transform systems of fears into systems of freedom.
The reasons why a leader can encounter difficulty in newly formed teams or groups is based on several factors.
According to the Harvard Business Review the reasons include absence of team identity. This creates an issue of not feeling mutually accountable as members of the team towards one another and the objectives.
There might also be lack of commitment faced by the leader which creates conflict related to the team goals. The problem of poor collaboration and decision making causes problems. This can also be caused due to poor communication and lack of participation by the members of the group. It is necessary to consider useful approaches as a team and if there is ineffective leadership and improper representation for multiple constituencies then there might be problems.
b) There are several strategies for encouraging participative management in the workforce. This includes suggestion involvement, job and organizational involvement and task delegation. There can be an increased hassle for delegation but it can be a useful approach for establishing control and identifying the limits of the work and providing adequate support (Thompson, 2014).
Parallel suggestion is a useful way of inviting the employees and making suggestions for the organizations and procedures. It gives opportunity to the employees for sharing ideas on procedures and policies. It encourages participative management.
Likewise even organizational and job involvement encourages participative management in the workforce by encouraging their involvement.