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Assignment Topsheet

Your Name: Sulaiman Mahmood Al Nadabi Student ID: 1513429

Unit Title: LEADING AND MANAGING PEOPLE Unit Code SHR012-6

Unit coordinators name: Janice Johnson Submission due date: 10/12/2015

Assignment Title: Making the case for LMP

Signature: Sulaiman Al Nadabi Date 09/12/2015

Please note that for students studying at Majan College the deadline for submission
of an assignment is 12 noon local (Oman) time on the assignment submission date.
Submissions will not be accepted after this deadline unless prior agreement has been
granted by the Mitigation team. Please ensure you allow adequate time for
submission to resolve any technical issues you may encounter. If you are unable to
submit to Turnitin for any reason then assignments must be emailed to mba-
admin@beds.ac.uk BEFORE the submission deadline.

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EFFECT OF LEADING AND MANAGING PEOPLE ON TEAM
MANAGEMENT IN A COMPANY

(A CASE STUDY ON APPLE, MUSCAT, OMAN)

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To,

The Senior Manager,

Apple,

Muscat,

Oman.

Sub.: A critical analysis of the effect of team working on the development of leadership and
managerial goals concerning the employees of Apple, Muscat, Oman

Respected Sir,

Abiding by your requirement about a detailed analysis of the effect of team working on the
leadership and managerial policies of our company, I have tried to explain the concepts at my
best possible knowledge. I have utilized some theoretical models in order to provide a
realistic approach to the topic. I have also related some cases without company for your better
understanding.

Regards,

The HR Manager,

Apple,

Muscat,

Oman.

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Table of Contents

Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Importance of Team Working in Developing Effective Leadership and Management Practices
....................................................................................................................................................5
Dilemmas of Implementing Effective Team working in Developing Leadership and
Managerial Qualities among Employees...................................................................................6
Conclusion and Recommendations............................................................................................7
Reference List............................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
The present assignment is a report that explains the importance of leading and managing
employees in an organization. The present topic Leading and Managing People is important
in any organization because it helps in organizing and distributing work among the
employees. By leading and managing employees in an organization, managers can enforce
proper co-ordination of resources. Moreover, mangers can constantly correct the employees
and monitor their work. This helps in reducing errors at the preliminary stages and the
performance of the team members is improved. The managers can link ideas of all the
employees in the group and results are consequently formed by a collaborative approach.
This reduces time and increases work efficiency of the team members.

In this report, out of the factors mentioned by the manager: motivation, team-working, ethics
and social responsibility and organizational change; the learner has based the research on
the motivation of the employees. The learner has chosen team-working as the subject of the
case study on Apple, Muscat, Oman because team work is extremely important in handling
various types of complex projects that the company undertakes from time to time. The
manager has sought to understand the ways in which team work would lead to the
development of employees. Hence, the learner explains the effectiveness and characteristics
of effective leadership. The learner discusses the importance of team working in developing
an effective leadership and management practice.

Background of the Company

Figure 1: Official Logo of Apple Inc.

(Source: Apple.com, 2015)

Apple Inc. is an international company that manufactures electronic goods like mobile
phones, watches, etc. In Oman, the company has its retail outlet that is located in Muscat.

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This store sells various types of Apple products like Mac book, iPhone, iPad, etc. for the
inhabitants of the country. The share capital of the company that was required to set up its
business in Muscat, Oman was approximately $1.5 million (Apple.com, 2015).

Leadership and its Importance


As per the comments of Doz and Kosonen (2012), leadership defines the tactic of heading a
group of people with the purpose to accomplish a common goal. In Apple Inc Muscat,
Oman, the importance of leadership in business organization is realised while handling big
projects that have to be delivered in short time.

Doz and Kosonen (2011) mentioned that an effective leadership practice has the following
advantages:

Action Initiation- A leader guides the team members about the aims and objectives of the
project. The leader therefore, acts as a communication medium between the organizational
goals and the team members.

Motivates the Employees- The leader motivates the employees by praising them for their
hard work and dedication towards their work. This keeps employees focussed on their work.

Instils Confidence- Encouraging employees and considering their ideas boosts their
confidence. This is reflected in their performance level and quality of results of their efforts.

Creates Positive Working Environment- Effective leadership practices create amiable


relationships between managers or leaders and their sub-ordinate workers. Thus, environment
of the workplace should be positive, wherein hard work is encouraged and mistakes are
corrected. Such a positive working environment leads to quick results and the job is
completed within time.

Maintains Co-ordination of Work- Under effective leadership and management practices,


employees are able to co-ordinate their professional and personal lives, properly. It is the
responsibility of the leader to pay attention to various problems of the employees that might
affect their performance level.

Lewis Leadership Model

The leadership model designed by Kurt Lewis explains various types of leadership models
that are applicable in different types of organizations.
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Autocratic Leadership- In this type of leadership style, the leaders do not consult team
members and take decisions on their own. This type of leadership does not motivate team
members and creates bad impression about the leaders among them. This type of leadership is
disadvantageous for any business organization as it would not generate the required level of
performance from the employees of Apple Inc in Muscat, Oman.

Democratic Leadership- In this type of leadership, the leaders listen to ideas of all the team
members and take their consent before taking project related decisions. Thus, the team
members realise their importance in the team and are motivated to work for the betterment of
the organization. Given its positivity, this type of leadership should be adopted by Apple Inc
in Muscat, Oman.

Laissez-Faire Leadership- In this type of leadership framework, the leaders do not take any
decision and leave everything on the employees. This type of leadership is however,
ineffective as it would lead to conflict of ideas among the employees and solving them would
kill a huge amount of time. This leadership style is ineffective in business organizations,
where the team members are inexperienced and inefficient in handling multiple tasks at one
time.

Importance of Team Working in Developing Effective Leadership and Management


Practices
The manager of Apple Inc in Muscat, Oman has to undertake operations under various
teams in order to deliver effective results that are important for the business growth of the
company. As opined by Ferrell and Fraedrich (2014), the characteristics of an efficient team
are as follows:

Common Goal: All the team members of an efficient team are acquainted with the common
goal that the project has to accomplish The team leader has to communicate well with the
team members in order to clearly explain the intention of the project to them and the
necessity of working in the team for the selected project.

Clarity of Roles: Once, the goal of the project is identified, the leader has to designate
specific tasks to each team member. For example, Apple has developed a new product and it
wants to sell that product in Oman. The responsibility of marketing in the country is given to
the retail outlet located in Muscat. In such a case, the marketing manger constructs a team in

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order to devise a specific strategy for marketing the device in various areas in an around
Muscat.

Acceptance of the Leader: The team members should accept the leader and this will happen
only if the leader is able to establish good relationship with his members. The leader should
understand the problems of all the team members and try to help them to resolve the issues.

Good Employee Relationship: A team that comprises of good team members witnesses good
relationships among all the team members. The employees should discuss work related issues
and other issues to maintain good relationship with one another.

Excellence in Communicating Ideas: A team that has good relationship among employees is
able to witness wonderful communication among them. The team members are able to
understand each other and can help each other in delivering optimum results.

Dilemmas of Implementing Effective Team working in Developing Leadership and


Managerial Qualities among Employees
According to Gardner and Laskin (2011), implementation of effective team work practices in
organizations is not an easy task. There are various types of ethical and behavioural dilemmas
that occur during working in a team.

According to West (2012) the ethical dilemmas that organizations have to face is due to the
variations in emotional capabilities of the employees. The mental adaptability and intellect of
different employees, working in a team, is different. In order to avert problems that might
occur in the later phase of the job, the leader should explain the entire aspect of the project,
its requirements and goals in the beginning. Problems also arise during division of tasks as
the efficiency levels and area of specialization is different for different employees who work
together in a team. Dilemmas would occur if the leader fails to understand the intellect of the
team members and fails to allocate the correct job to a suitable employee.

As per Schalteggerand Burritt (2013), behavioural dilemmas are the ones that occur when
the employee fails to learn through observing a particular scenario, effects of social
gatherings and inability to work in a team. If an employee fails to learn by observing a
particular scenario, this means that the employee has some problems in understanding the
scenario. A persons social gatherings affect the behaviour towards work, as these gathering
can either discourage or encourage a person about any phase of life. If a person is unable to

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communicate with other team members then it hinders proper communication and resolution
of problems that might occur during the work process.

Conclusion and Recommendations


After completing this assignment, the learner is able to understand various issues that might
arise while working in a team. The learner has placed a clear view on the importance of
leadership and management for growth of business. In this context, the learner has outlined
the dilemmas that occur during working in a team. In order to resolve the dilemmas, the
learner has proposed two recommendations:

Presenting the Goal through Visuals- The manger can take help of PowerPoint presentation
in order to clarify the intentions, aims and goals of the project. The manger can present
pictures and models to explain the nature of work that should be carried out.

Seeking Opinions of the Team Members- The manger should seek opinion of the team
members regarding the skills possessed by each one of them. This will help the manger to
allocate work according to the capabilities of the employees.

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Reference List
Books

Brown, D. R., and Harvey, D. (2011). An experiential approach to organization development.


Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Ferrell, O. C., and Fraedrich, J. (2014). Business ethics: Ethical decision making and cases.
London: Cengage learning.

Gardner, H., and Laskin, E. (2011). Leading minds: An anatomy of leadership. UK: Basic
Books.

West, M. A. (2012). Effective teamwork: Practical lessons from organizational research. New
Jersey: John Wiley and Sons.

Journals

Ainscow, M., and Sandill, A. (2011). Developing inclusive education systems: the role of
organisational cultures and leadership, International Journal of Inclusive Education, 14(4),
pp.401-416.

Cummings, G. G., MacGregor, T., Davey, M., Lee, H., Wong, C. A., Lo, E. and Stafford, E.
(2010). Leadership styles and outcome patterns for the nursing workforce and work
environment: a systematic review, International journal of nursing studies, 47(3), pp.363-
385.

Daim, T. U., Ha, A., Reutiman, S., Hughes, B., Pathak, U., Bynum, W., and Bhatla, A.
(2012). Exploring the communication breakdown in global virtual teams, International
Journal of Project Management, 30(2), pp.199-212.

Doz, Y. L., and Kosonen, M. (2011). Embedding strategic agility: A leadership agenda for
accelerating business model renewal, Long range planning, 43(2), pp.370-382.

Doz, Y. L., and Kosonen, M. (2012).Embedding strategic agility: A leadership agenda for
accelerating business model renewal Long range planning,43(2), pp.370-382.

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Schaltegger, S., and Burritt, R. L. (2013). Sustainability accounting for companies:
Catchphrase or decision support for business leaders?, Journal of World Business, 45(4),
pp.375-384.

Thistlethwaite, J. (2012). Interprofessional education: a review of context, learning and the


research agenda, Medical education, 46(1), pp.58-70.

Voegtlin, C., Patzer, M., and Scherer, A. G. (2012). Responsible leadership in global
business: A new approach to leadership and its multi-level outcomes, Journal of Business
Ethics, 105(1), pp.1-16.

Website

Apple.com, (2015). Apple (Oman). [online] Apple. Available at: http://www.apple.com/om/


[Accessed 22 Nov. 2015].

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