To: Louise Smith (Louise@premierlandf.co.uk)
From: Karl Frankland (Karl@premierlandf.com)
Subject: Key Attributes needed for new centre manager
Date: 18/11/2014
The Leeds branch is currently experiencing a de-motivated workforce, possibly due to the poor group dynamic and lack of clarity regarding job roles, this is causing a drop in standards and reputation which, if it continues, could be detrimental to the company. I feel this is due to the Laissez-faire approach from my successor at the branch (Avoli & Bass (1990) describes Laissez-faire as an absence of leadership, with delayed decisions and an absence of rewards feedback and motivation).
To affect change within the company we need someone who can join us and become a leader to the group. “Leadership is the art of influencing others to their maximum performance to accomplish any task, objective or project” (Cohen, 1990). As well as being highly organised, communicating well, being strong with their decisions and possessing all the qualities we would expect from a quality manager, we should be focusing on someone who is people focussed, approachable and a visionary looking forward. Leaders are risk takers, seek and create opportunities and inspire others. The difference between a leader and a manager according to Abe (2011) would be that leadership is the ability to create and bring about changes, and management is the ability to manage others. To maximise long term success we should be looking for the candidate who possess’ both sets of skills, a managerial leader. A managerial leader will be able to both lead and manage an organisation in an ethical way, Welch (2005) describes a managerial leader as a manager who “resolve problems, assume responsibility, offer valid criticism, and set an example by pursuing high quality and acting with integrity” which relates back to the leadership attributes we should be looking for. It is vital that the person selected has both these sets of skills as we not only need someone to set out the goals we have but also to inspire and motivate the deflated workforce. I feel it is important that we select a candidate who is a democratic leader, someone who will not dictate but will try and get the team working as one, making them feel involved, rather than to go forward with an authoritative leader which could result in many of our employees feeling spoken down to and this could lead to a further de-motivated work-force(Marriotti (2014) explains that democratic leadership is about making people realise their own wants and need and to stick within the limits to achieve these). We also need someone to take a transformational approach to leadership, rather than a transactional, possibly by implementing an affordable bonus structure as we are trying to bring about change not remain things the same, also leaders who take a transformational approach are usually motivational in their leadership (this person-oriented leadership style has been found to be especially effective in times of uncertainty and change (House et. Al., 2001)) If we find a candidate who can achieve all this he will certainly be able to improve the dynamics of the group.
Group dynamics are “Group dynamics are the influential interpersonal processes that take place in groups.” (Forsyth, 2006). Forsyth (2006) also describes a good group as a selection of individuals with similar interests and a common fate. We have a secondary group within the work place this makes us quite a formal group, these are not family members, they are a larger group with little emotional attachment and define more our place in society (Bales et. Al., 1953). What we are looking to do is transform this secondary group of individuals into a team all working towards the same end goal, “A team is any group of people organized to work together interdependently and cooperatively to meet the needs of their customers by accomplishing a purpose and goals. Teams are created for both long term and short
