Human Factors and Leadership Team Organization

 Human Factors and Leadership Team Organization

Motivation:

Motivation is the psychological feature that provokes an individual to action toward a desired goal. Motivation can also be the reason for an individual's action or that which gives purpose and direction to behavior. In other words, motivation is an incentive that generates goal-directed behaviors. Motivation comes in many forms and what motivates one individual is not necessarily the same for their team members. Team members must be able to fulfill their higher level needs to be motivated to be committed to the team. 

 

Teams that lack motivation will rarely reach their full potential or perform to the best of their ability. In most cases, it is not the entire team that lacks motivation, but individuals on the team that lack motivation. To motivate a team and team members a leader needs an understanding of the team members, understanding of the team goals, and providing consistent leadership throughout the project or life of the team.

®    Understand Team Members: When the team is first formed, the team leader needs to pay careful attention to the type of person that is selected for the team. Selecting two individuals, who may be similar in many aspects yet are motivated by two contradictory methods.

®    Understand Team Goals: Team goals can be short-term task-specific goals, long-term organizational goals, or any combination thereof. In addition, these goals may be constantly updated or changed, especially short-term task-specific goals, as the business environment changes or as tasks and goals are accomplished. Different types of goals may require different types of motivation. 

®    Provide Consistent Leadership: Because there is so much change with team members and associated team goals, providing consistent leadership is essential to motivating team members. If possible, keeping the same individual in charge will keep the team members focused on their goal rather than on determining what a new leader expects of them.

 

Communication

Teamwork offers advantages such as increased productivity, a heightened sense of morale, and improved staff efficiency. One of the key elements in creating a good team is proper communication. To develop effective team communication, you need to understand how communication affects teamwork positively and negatively.

®    Increases Interaction: When communication channels in a team are properly established and information flows easily between teammates, it increases the ability of staff members to interact and they are better able to understand the strengths and weaknesses of each teammate.

®    Conflict: Poor communication within a team can cause misunderstandings that lead to internal conflict. A team that spends its time misinterpreting information and creating conflicts is not able to be a productive work unit. Developing a strong system of communication eliminates misinformation and cuts down on the possibility of conflict.

®    Responsibilities: Members of a team need to understand their individual responsibilities to the team's success and they also need to understand how the duties of their team help the company to move forward. Good communication gets all of the necessary information to each team member on their responsibilities, and it also keeps the team updated on the company's progress. 

®    Training: A team with an effective communication system can be easily trained by the the company, or by the team manager. When communication is not functioning properly within a team, training information does not get distributed to the entire team. 

 

 

Handling Difficult People

For properly identifying and addressing difficult team members, managers need to follow the following tips:

®    Stay Cool

®    Listen

®    Observe the trouble makers

®    Pinpoint the reasons they are being difficult

®    Talk to the Team

®    Wait

Leadership and health safety

Protecting the health and safety of employees or members of the public who may be affected by your activities is an essential part of risk management and must be led by the board. Failure to include health and safety as a key business risk in board decisions can have catastrophic results. Health and safety law places duties on organizations and employers, and directors can be personally liable when these duties are breached: members of the board have both collective and individual responsibility for health and safety.

'Health and safety are integral to success. Board members who do not show leadership in this area are failing in their duty as directors and their moral duty, and are damaging their organization. An organization will never be able to achieve the highest standards of health and safety management without the active involvement of the director. Board-level involvement is an essential part of the 21st-century trading ethic. Attitudes to health and safety are determined by the bosses, not the organization’s size.'

 

Conflict Resolution

Conflict is a situation of competition in which the parties are aware of the incompatibility of potential future positions and in which each party wishes to occupy a position which is incompatible with the wishes of the other. Conflict can be constructive and healthy for an organization. It can aid in developing individuals and improving the organization. However, if the conflict is not managed properly, it can be detrimental to an organization by threatening organizational unity, business partnerships, team relationships, and interpersonal connections. Deconstructive conflict occurs when a decision has not been found and the problem remains, energy is taken away from more important activities or issues, the morale of teams or individuals is destroyed, and groups of people or teams are polarized. Five modes of conflict resolution are Confronting, Compromising, Smoothing, Forcing, and Avoiding:

Confronting involves the conflicting parties meeting face-to-face and collaborating to reach an agreement that satisfies the concerns of both parties. Therefore it is described as a win-win style.

Compromising is also described as a "give and take" style. Conflicting parties bargain to reach a mutually acceptable solution. Both parties give up something in order to reach a decision and leave with some degree of satisfaction.

In smoothing, the areas of agreement are emphasized and the areas of disagreement are downplayed. A party may sacrifice its own concerns or goals in order to satisfy the concerns or goals of the other party.

Forcing occurs when one party goes all out to win its position while ignoring the needs and concerns of the other party. As the intensity of a conflict increases, the tendency for a forced conflict is more likely. These results in a win-lose situation where one party wins at the expense of the other party.  

Avoiding is viewed as postponing an issue for later or withdrawing from the situation altogether. It is regarded as a temporary solution because the problem and conflict continue to reoccur over and over again.