Transition teams, alert managers, and positive employee results

Transition Teams Matter & Alert Managers-Positive Employees Results

"Transition Teams Matter" & "Alert Managers-Positive Employee Results"

Christine Gibbs-Springer (2009) commences her discussion of transition teams with the entrance of Barack Obama into the White House, and the adjacent necessity for a strong and committed team to ensure the successful transition. She argues that the underlying principles of a successful team are responsibility and accountability, but that there are several other forces which influence the success of a team, including:

The diversity within the team

The ability to understand the external threats, opportunities and other external forces, as well as their complexities

The ability to manage the team

The ability to effectively implement change

The ability to learn from past events and adapt to present conditions

Leadership skills (including vision and motivation)

Constant, open and fruitful communications

Adequate empowerment.

Aside from these skills, the success of a team depends directly on the quality of the members. In order to be a good team member, it is necessary to possess the following three: good listening skills, conflict management skills and convincing skills (Gibbs-Spinger, 2009).

Traci Foster and David Milen (2010) also approach a managerial issue, but do so through less political lenses. The two editors commence their article by revealing the hardship to which economic agents are subjected as a result of the internationalized economic crisis. In light of the new challenges, it is even more so difficult for the managers to maintain high morale among the staff members. Employee morale is well-known for its direct relationship with organizational performances. In times of crises then, it is required that the managers improve and maintain high employee levels of employee morale. This can only be achieved through a combination of various managerial skills, which includes:

An adequate balance between control and freedom

Empowerment of the employee

The manager's becoming part of a team

Open communications and the ability to listen to one another

Constant collaboration between management and employees

An adequate managerial balance between leadership styles (autocratic, democratic and so on)

Support of the employees' professional growth and the elimination of demotivators, such as bureaucracy

The two articles are seemingly different at a first look. One deals with the instatement of the Obama administration into the White House, whereas the other deals with the troubles economic agents face as a result of the economic crisis. In essence however, the core of the two articles is represented by the discussion of managerial efforts to create strong, solid, reliable and winning teams. The economic crisis and the instatement of the Obama administration only represent the lenses through which the managerial issues are presented. Additionally, the two articles are extremely similar in the message they send -- adaptation to the existent and emergent needs, empowerment, respect, example and communication.