Team Performance and Leadership

Question

What is your leadership goal and how does it fit into your overall leadership journey? How will you use your strengths to support you to achieve this goal?

(50–75 words)

Start writing here: My leadership goal is to be able to establish effective teams and groups, and motivate them towards the accomplishment of various goals. It is important to note that this particular leadership goal fits into my preferred approach to leadership, which is participative leadership. In addition to being an effective communicator, I also happen to be broad minded. These are the skills I will be deploying on this front to ensure better connection with team members.

Question 2

Identify and share at least three ideas for initial experiments you could create to support you to achieve your leadership goal.

(50 words per idea)

1. Start writing here:

I could seek to establish whether participative leadership has any effect on overall team performance. In this case, I would be interested in finding out whether my preferred leadership style could positively influence the performance of teams – with the said performance being evaluated on basis of the ability of a team to fulfill its mandate.

2. Start writing here:

I could seek to establish whether participative leadership has any effect on team cohesion. Team cohesion could in this case be described as the ability and willingness of members of a team to establish and maintain strong interpersonal connections. A cohesive team is more likely to work together towards the accomplishment of various set goals.

3. Start writing here:

I could seek to determine whether participative leadership has an effect on organizational commitment (i.e. the bond/connection between employees and the organization). Organizational commitment is key to the achievement of organizational goals. Teams could contribute towards the achievement of organizational goals if individual members have a high level of commitment to the organization.

Question 3

Select one idea described in Question 2. Explain the hypothesis you would test in this experiment. Your experiment should strike the balance between providing rigorous, useful data that can disprove a (null) hypothesis while at the same time remaining as simple, cheap, and small as possible. Highlight any possible alternative explanations and contrary information that could account for your hypothesis.

(85–160 words)

Start writing here: The idea selected in this case is whether participative leadership has any effect on team cohesion. Thus, an ideal hypothesis that I would test on this front could be: participative leadership results in improved team cohesion. To a large extent, there are a number of alternative explanations that that could account for the stated hypothesis. For instance, team cohesion could be enhanced by other factors independent of the kind of leadership style embraced. The said factors are inclusive of, but they are not limited to, the personality of team members, team size, nature of team objectives, etc.

Question 4

Using your idea from Question 3, design an experiment to test this hypothesis by completing Table 1.

Remember:

To get the best insights out of your experiment, it should be realistic and achievable. Initial experiments should be small and cheap, and should be able to easily indicate lessons about your assumptions.

Table 1: Design an experiment.

Design an experiment to meet your goal

What resources do you need to test your hypothesis? What are your resource constraints and how can you ensure that your experiment is as low cost as possible?

(Write 50–75 words)

Start writing here: Some of the resources that will come in handy in my efforts to test the hypothesis are inclusive of; time, funds, and the relevant survey tools. Time and funds are scarce owing to the fact that I have multiple other commitments that require both. Thus, I intend to embrace a low cost approach by, amongst other things, reaching out to those I would wish to engage via phone and email, as opposed to physically.

How will you control the effects of external factors to ensure more reliable results for your experiment?

(Write 50–75 words)

Start writing here: I will control the effects of external factors by maintaining flexibility and planning ahead. This is especially important as it will give me sufficient time to make the relevant adjustments if, and when, necessary. Further, there will also be need to embrace professionalism and ethical conduct in all my engagements.

How will you make your experiment reflect reality and real circumstances as closely as possible, while maintaining a small scale?

(Write 50–75 words)

Start writing here: I will be selecting an adequate sample size for the survey. Various authors have in the past made an assertion to the effect that larger sample sizes are ideal. This is more so the case in efforts to further enhance or promote the reliability of research results. To maintain a small scale, however, there will be need to ensure that the sample size is not too large.

Which aspects of the experiment will require feedback and where will the feedback come from? How will you incorporate the feedback you receive into your experiment and test again?

(Write 75–100 words)

Start writing here: Feedback will be sourced from; persons serving in managerial positions in a select number of small and medium enterprises as well as employees within such enterprises who function as part of a team. Some of the aspects of the experiment that will require feedback are: the leadership approaches that those surveyed deploy, the nature of the teams under consideration (i.e. in relation to size and how long they have been in operation), etc. The feedback sourced from the individual teams will be compared with those of other surveyed teams.

Will you adopt a radical or an incremental approach to your experiment? Does your experiment explore new possibilities or improve existing ideas?

(Write 50–75 words)

Start writing here: I am in favor of an incremental, as opposed to a radical approach. This is more so the case given that an incremental approach will permit the relevant adaptations going forward. The experiment improves existing ideas as it is essentially an insight into management/leadership approaches and their influence on work teams.

What is the first step you would take to execute this experiment?

(Write 50–75 words)

Start writing here: The first step that I would take in executing this experiment is familiarizing myself with all the key aspects of the said undertaking. This I could do by, amongst other things, consulting all the relevant resources (.e. books and related texts) as well as research done on the subject in the past. This will provide me with a strong basis to conclusively assess and examine all the crucial aspects of the experiment.

4. Rubric

Unsatisfactory

Limited

Adequate

Accomplished

Exceptional

Question 1

The answer clearly articulates a leadership goal and explains how this goal aligns with the participant’s leadership journey. The answer explains how the participant’s strengths can support them to achieve their goal.

No submission.

OR

The answer fails to address the question. (0)

The answer identifies a leadership goal but does not contextualize the goal in terms of the participant’s leadership journey. The answer does not mention the participant’s strengths, nor does it explain how these strengths can support them to achieve their goal. (5.5)

The answer identifies a leadership goal and contextualizes the goal in terms of the participant’s leadership journey. The answer does not mention the participant’s strengths, nor does it explain how these strengths can support them to achieve their goal. (7)

The answer identifies a leadership goal and contextualizes the goal in terms of the participant’s leadership journey. The answer references the participant’s strengths but does not explain how these strengths can support them to achieve their goal. (8.5)

The answer identifies a leadership goal and contextualizes the goal in terms of the participant’s leadership journey. The answer references the participant’s strengths and explains how these strengths can support them to achieve their goal. (10)

Question 2

The answer identifies at least three ideas for experiments that the participant can create to support them to achieve their leadership goal.

No submission.

OR

The answer fails to address the question. (0)

The answer identifies three ideas for an experiment but does not explain how any of the ideas will support the participant to achieve their leadership goal. (5.5)

The answer identifies no more than two ideas for experiments and only explains how one idea will support the participant to achieve their leadership goal. (7)

The answer identifies three ideas for experiments and explains how two of the ideas will support the participant to achieve their leadership goal. (8.5)

The answer identifies three ideas for experiments and explains how all these ideas will support the participant to achieve their leadership goal. (10)

Question 3

The answer selects one idea from Question 2 and explains what hypothesis is being tested in this idea. The answer explains how the participant will ensure that testing the assumptions of the hypothesis is low cost and happens on a small scale.