DYNAMICS OF LEADERSHIP - Reflection Week 10 (Team Leadership)

 Reflection Week 10 (Team Leadership)

The tenth class of Dynamics of Leadership was held on Tuesday, 28^th May 2024. Today, I was a bit late due to some consequences on travelling to Shah Alam. Fortunately, I could reach when Prof Jamilah explaining for the breakout session to building a storyline. The story begins with one whole sentence and one incomplete sentence from the first member. For instance, “Danial’s car broke down on his first day at his fantastic new job.” The following member completes the preceding line and adds another sentence that was left unfinished. We have to complete a short story and to make sure everybody has a chance to give their opinion using own imagination. Member are encouraging to listen to one another and develop good teamwork. I joined breakout session 3 with Amirah, Liusa Hassa, Mariyam Seema, Hafizah, Tan Lean Chuen, Pei Yee Chua, Syukri Hadafi Hamdan, Wanglan & Sun Qianzhi. After entering the breakout session, I am asking in the chat, to know what we are going to do since I have entered the class late and Nurhafizah help me explaning what Prof Jamilah want us to do in breakout session. Thank you so much Hafizah! Then, we continue to discuss among us by selecting our group leader first. All of us have agreed Nurhafizah to be our group leader. Maybe we can see Hafizah capabilities and her confidence level in the class before. Mariyam Seema will be presented the outcomes from this discussion.

During the breakout session, Prof Jamilah has observed that we are dividing into group, but we are not such a team. Some of us are not participated in the discussion as well. What we are going to learn today is about group and teamwork. What are the advantages and disadvantages in group and as a teamwork in organization.

Prof Jamilah started with opening slide about the ‘Team Leadership’. What is teamwork? Teamwork is a way of life in the postmodern organizations. It has become basic structure through which work is done in organization. This means that every team is a group of individuals working together towards a common goal, but not every group of individuals can be considered a team. A team implies a higher level of collaboration, coordination, and shared responsibility among its members compared to a regular group. According to research by (Reimer, Russell, & Roland, 2017), groups and teams are defined as collections of interdependent individuals who work together towards common goals. They can be categorized based on their main tasks and functions, with one common taxonomy being task-based versus relationship-oriented teams. The distinction between teams and groups is based on their main tasks. Groups can be defined as collections of individuals who work together towards common goals. Teams are a subset of groups that are composed of interdependent individuals who share some basic goals and have assigned team roles. Moreover, teams in this article are embedded within an organization, which means that they are interconnected and not isolated entities.

Teams in the context of paper (Reimer et al., 2017) are defined as groups of interdependent individuals who share some basic goals and have assigned team roles. Teams can be found within organizations and often function as essential building blocks for many organizational tasks. They may be part of a multilevel system, meaning that they are not isolated entities but embedded within an organization which influences and is influenced by them. For the next slide from Prof Jamilah discussed about the advantages of teamwork. Below are the summarize listing that I did.

 

Teamwork advantages:

1) To achieve synergy - Collaboration and synergy are better in teams, leading to improved outcomes. 

2) To avoid major errors. 

3) Contribute to faster and better decisions.

4) Contribute to continuous improvement and innovation. 

5) Create work environment that encourages people to become self-motivated, empowered, and satisfied with jobs.

6) Can satisfy more needs such as affiliation, security, etc.

Prof Jamilah explained item no 4, about contribution to continuous improvement and innovation, where she asked us about the first handphone model features and compared to current handphone. What is the design look like? My answered was black and white screen, heavy and big (answered by Khair), looks like water bottle (answered by Cher Han), look like box (answered by Intan Bidayu), look like walkie-talkie (answered by Luisa Hassan), bulky (answered by Syukri Hadafi Hamdan), huge big button block like item with slow connection (answered by Lynnate Nazziwa), and very big with no touch screen and not smart (answered by Mohammaed Mustafa Hussein).

Next slide Prof Jamilah discussed on the disadvantages of teamwork. There are five items as per below list:

1) Member face pressure to conform to group standards. 

2) Creating resistance to team effort

3) Social loafing – avoid responsibilities

4) Groupthink – when members of cohesive group tend to agree on a decision.

5) Inter-group conflicts, where team extreme cohesive can become source of conflict with other teams.

I added other items to strengthen the statement

6) Time-consuming - Effective teamwork requires time for communication, coordination, and decision-making.

Next slide is about the components of team effectiveness, which consist in 3 elements.

1) Task performance (output meets the needs) – High team performance due to clear of task performance. Each member knows the right direction to focus what to achieve.

2) Group process (member’s interaction) – When each of group member have a good relationship and can communicate well.

3) Individual satisfaction - Fulfil for each individual satisfaction. All the member of the team feels satisfied.

Further discussion is about the 7 characteristics of effective teams, including team’s norms, team leadership, team cohesiveness, team composition, team structure, organizational support and creativity driven.

Prof Jamilah then discussed about ‘Types of Teams’ which divided into 3;

1)  Functional team (Need for traditional leadership)

2) Cross-functional team

3) Self-managed team (Need for team leadership)

	Functional team	Cross-functional team	Self-managed team
Composition	Functional teams consist of members who share similar roles or functions within an organization. They typically work within the same department or area.	Cross-functional teams include members from different departments or areas within an organization. Their diversity enhances problem-solving and creativity.	Self-managed teams consist of employees in interdependent roles. They take on managerial tasks, such as problem-solving, scheduling, and supplier interactions.
Purpose	These teams focus on specific tasks related to their function (e.g., marketing, finance, IT).	These teams collaborate on complex projects, combining expertise from various functions.	These teams operate autonomously, making decisions collectively.
Communication and Coordination	Communication is straightforward within functional teams due to their shared expertise. However, creativity and adaptability may be limited.	Communication can be more challenging due to diverse perspectives, but creativity and adaptability are higher.	Trust is crucial within self-managed teams. They may select their own members and evaluate each other’s performance.
Leadership	Functional teams have a formal leader who oversees their work.	Cross-functional teams often have a facilitator or coach rather than a formal leader.	No formal leader; leadership emerges based on members’ skills and knowledge.
Example	A marketing team, an accounting team, or an engineering team.	A product development team with members from design, engineering, and marketing; a project team with representatives from different departments.	Agile development teams, where developers, testers, and designers collaborate closely.
In summary, functional teams focus on specialized tasks, cross-functional teams leverage diversity for complex projects, and self-managed teams operate autonomously with shared accountability.

 

Additional explanation about the self-managed team, Prof Jamilah give a metaphor of ‘Roundabout’ function in the roadway. ‘Roundabout’ is design to improve the traffic flow and also safety. The analogy of roundabout with self-managed team is self-managed teams operate like roundabouts. Instead of a traditional management structure (like a four-way intersection with a traffic cop), team members follow shared rules, contributing to smooth workflow. In term of Collaboration: Just as vehicles navigate roundabouts based on rules, team members collaborate to achieve goals without strict hierarchical control.

Driving Roundabout is like a self-managed team

 

Additional types of teams after Covid-19 are Virtual team. Virtual teams are collaborative groups within online workplaces. These teams are typically fully remote 100% of the time, though teammates may occasionally meet, or the team may be hybrid and include a combination of in-office and virtual members.

Next is about ‘Team Creativity’. It shows (in the slide) it is about the process of generating new ideas, products, processes, or services. The creation of valuable, useful new products, services, ideas, procedures, or processes by individuals working together in a complex social system. Team creativity can solve common workplace issues or develop creative content. Prof Jamilah stated that if no creativity, it might not have handphone technology like today and we are still using the ‘big’ handphone with no technology and we still watch black and white television.

 

So, how do we need to encourage for team creativity? Below are 4 organizational practices that support team creativity (by providing team:):

1)  Adequate resources – HR, budget

2) Support climate and culture – i.e in school, a teacher has to conduct action research. As a leader we have to support by inviting a coach to give the support and help the teacher to do the action research.

3) Flexibility - flexibility encourages creativity by providing the right environment, diverse inspiration, and personalized work schedules.

4) Recognition and rewards - boost their self-esteem, confidence, and motivation, which lead to increase productivity and employee engagement.

Next slide is about the 4 criteria for leader practices that support the creativity, which consist member attached, autonomy for members, protection against creativity blockers and adequate time and money.  

 

For the next discussion is about the Leader’s Role in Group Discussions; refer below table:

Leader’s Role in Group Discussions
Traditional Approach (Person-centric leadership)	Team-centred approach (Collaborative Leadership and shared decision making)
Authority: The leader holds formal authority and makes decisions.	Shared Leadership: Team members actively participate in leadership roles.
Direction: The leader provides guidance, sets goals, and directs team members.	Facilitator Role: The leader acts as a facilitator rather than a dictator.
Communication: Communication primarily flows from the leader to team members.	Inclusive Decision-Making: Decisions are made collectively, considering input from all team members.
Decision-Making: The leader often makes decisions independently.	Open Communication: Team members engage in open dialogue and contribute ideas.
Example: In a traditional approach, a project manager might lead a team by providing instructions and overseeing the discussion.	Example: In a team-centred approach, team members collectively discuss and decide on the best course of action during group discussions.

 

The info from above table is from my personal research. From Prof Jamilah slide, traditional approach focusses on task and ignore the personal feeling. Different from the team-centred approach, leader is aware member’s feeling and needs.

The last slide from Prof Jamilah today is about the ‘Meetings’. Prof Jamilah asked class how long should meeting be held? I response at the chat box, from my own experience is after office-hour, 5pm to 8pm. Actually, it is depending on the boss or from the management instruction. For my case, it is happened after the audit session from management level, and all staff were instructed to attend the meeting, for discussion on the findings. I think, the findings audit should be discussed later with the key person in the branches and actually the audit findings will give us a time frame to reply within 2 weeks. The meeting should not involve the whole staff from the branch and it wasted time for staff to go back home and have a family time.

From Prof slide, ‘Meetings’ are a fact of organizational life that well planned and led meetings are valuable in good accomplishment. Leadership is responsible to ensure the effectiveness of meeting purpose. A meeting has 3 parts, which first part is to identify the objective, the second is cover the agenda and last part is to summarize and review. It is good to have target to end meeting on time. Advantages of meetings include faster decision-making, staying up to date, and improving collaboration. However, there are also disadvantages, such as wasting time, going off track, and creating unnecessary tasks.

For this week group presentation, Group 5 will be presented on title, ‘Dyadic relationships, Followership & delegation’. The group presentation starts with Mr.Syukri Hadafi Hamdan, Ms Zhang Shuyao, Ms Siti Halimah Zakaria, Mr Teo Ching Siang, Ms Wan Emily Shazelyn and Ms Wanglan. Overall presentation was great.

Last but not least, in the end of class, Prof Jamilah ended the class with quotes, ‘In the world you can be anything, be kind, in life always remember, what you give, you get back’. Thank you, Prof Jamilah, for keep reminder to always be kind in whatever we do in life.