Managing a Team “I have just been assigned to head a new product design team at my company. The division manager has high expectations for the team and me, but I have been a technical design engineer for four years since graduating from college. I have never ‘managed’ anyone, let alone led a team. The manager keeps talking about her confidence that I will create a high-performance team.” What advises you would give someone in the above situation.
Strategy and Influence Identify and explain at least four strategies of managerial influence. Give examples of how each strategy may or may not work when exercising influence, both downward and upward, in organizations. Give examples of each. Strategies to Manage Team Product design team is developed in order to produce the innovative products for the customers. In such a product design team, the team leader should attend the workshops and seminars in order to gain knowledge about the effective management. Further, the team leader should also adopt the participative approach in decision making. With the help of this, they will be able to gain different ideas and opinions from their team members in handling the overall team (Duarte & Snyder, 2011, p. 125).
It is identified that creating and managing the effective team in the workplace will lead to the effective outcome. In addition to this, a leader should also understand different skills and knowledge of employees and allocate them accordingly. This will be useful in making improvement in overall performance of employees. The team leader should also conduct a meeting with division manager and consult with them about his competent skills and knowledge. The company should move towards having the high-performance team and create the competitive advantage for the company. In order to do this, the team leader should identify the features of a high performing team, so that they will provide guidance to their team members in an effective manner and fulfill the needs of division manager (Dyer & Dyer, 2013, p. 320).
Therefore, the team leader has to analyze the overall organizational structure. Further, they should analyze the working of different departments and their team members. Through this approach, the team leader will formulate the strategies and policies accordingly. He should also take the guidelines of the team leader and implement these in its product design team.
Strategy and Influence
There are four strategies which organization uses for managerial influencing. These are friendliness, coalition, bargaining and assertiveness, through which organization can influence the behavior of managers and employees. Friendliness is the strategy in which organization uses the cooperative and supportive behavior in order to influence the behavior of employees (Raile, 2008, p. 2-3). On the other hand, assertiveness is the strategy in which organization uses the direct and forceful approach in order to make improvement in the performance.
In the bargaining strategy, an organization uses the negotiation through the exchange of benefits. Lastly is the coalition strategy in which organization involves the people from different companies in order to attain the goals and objectives in an efficient manner. The organization uses these strategies in influencing the behavior of employees for the achievement of goals and objectives in an effective manner. These strategies are useful in influencing the superiors and subordinates. It is identified that friendliness and the coalition is the strategy which can be used in the upward influence (Heinemann, 2008, p. 63-64). On the other hand, bargaining and assertiveness are useful in the downward influence. For example, the organization uses the friendliness approach in influencing the behavior of managers at the upward level. Managers at upward level understand the overall working of the organization. Therefore, top-level managers discuss with these managers and influence them to motivate the employees at downward level.
In addition to this, lower level employees fulfill their requirements by passing their requirements to the upper-level managers through friendly behavior. In case of coalition strategy, lower level managers take the permission from upper-level managers to acquire the employees from other companies for improving their performance (Flannes & Levin, 2005, p. 2-5). Each of these strategies is useful for the manager in a downward influence attempt. On the other hand, attempt to upward influence is limited in case of these strategies. Top-level managers have to influence the lower level employees for the achievement of organizational goals. For example, upper-level managers use the bargaining approach in order to provide a suitable salary to the employees. Bargaining approach is mainly used in the salary structure of the organization.
This approach is useful in motivating the employees for better performance and fulfilling their basic needs and wants (Raile, 2008, p. 2-3). On the other hand, assertiveness is the concept in which top-level managers force the lower level managers to complete their work efficiently. In this concept, an organization uses the autocratic approach in which they implement rules and regulations on the employees, which they have to follow.
References
Duarte, D.L. & Snyder, N.T. (2011). Mastering Virtual Teams: Strategies, Tools, and Techniques That Succeed.
USA: John Wiley & Sons. p. 125. Dyer, W.G. & Dyer, J.H. (2013).
Team Building: Proven Strategies for Improving Team Performance. USA: John Wiley & Sons. p 320. Flannes, S. & Levin, G. (2005).
Essential People Skills for Project Managers. USA: Management Concepts. p. 2-5. Heinemann, P. (2008).
Power Bases and Informational Influence Strategies: A Behavioral Study on the Use of Management Accounting Information. USA: Springer. p. 63-64. Raile, A.N. (2008). Managerial Downward Influence Tactics: Considering the “why” of Employee Commitment. USA: ProQuest. p. 2-3.