Working with and leading people - Essay Example

? Working with and Leading People Introduction A recruitment and selection process must be effective in terms of helping to identify the most suitable candidate for a job, from a pool of applicants. In other words, the process must be effective in identifying the candidate with the best qualifications, competencies and attitude for a specific position. Hiring the right person, for the right position, and at the right time is important as far as the success of an organization is concerned. Making mistakes during the recruitment and selection process might be extremely costly for the organization i.e. might destroy its reputation. Selection and recruitment documentation During the selection and recruitment of an employee, an organization must prepare some documentation and follow some procedures. The first step would involve preparation of a timetable. This entails allocating reasonable time to activities within the recruitment process i.e. advertisement for the position, short listing, and interviews among other activities. The second step would involve putting together the applicant’s park with some documents including a copy of the job description, the person’s specifications copy, an application form, as well as, the monitoring form. The third step would involve ensuring that the internal preparations are in place. For example, the recruiting personnel must ensure that there is a trained panel, as well as, making sure that there is an effective system for the short listing activity. The third step would involve advertising the post. The advertisement document must be effective in terms of attracting the best talents in the labor market to apply for the position. After the advertisement, the recruitment team should shortlist the qualified candidates. After short listing, the recruitment team should conduct the interviews and then select the best candidate for the position (Arthur, 2005). Legal, ethical, and regulatory implications in the recruitment and selection process In the recruitment and selection process, there are both legal and ethical implications that the recruitment team must put into consideration. Failure to comply with the legal requirements could be too costly for an organization, for example, it might result to litigations. Unethical practices, on the other hand, entails actions or activities that are morally wrong during the recruitment process. The recruitment team must implement key laws to ensure that the recruitment and selection process is equal and fair, absence of discrimination based on sex, age and ethnicity, and every applicant has the right to work in the country. For example, when the recruitment team is placing job adverts, it must ensure that it does not discriminate any applicant based on color or sex. There are sex discrimination laws, as well as, race relations laws. Other key laws include disability discrimination laws. On the other hand, there are unethical practices during the recruitment and selection process. For example, child labor is not only illegal, but also unethical. Some organizations utilize child labor because of the fact that it is less costly. This may hurt the organization i.e. destroying the reputation and legal penalties (Martin, 2010). The selection process The selection process entails choosing the best candidate from a pool of applicants. An effective selection process helps in the selection of the most suitable individual from the applicants’ list. The recruitment team must comply with all legal, as well as, ethical requirements. Screening during the selection process is critical as far as identifying the best applicants based on the job requirements. During the screening process, the recruitment team goes through the applicant’s documents i.e. the curriculum vitae to identify the academic and working history of a specific individual. If the recruitment team is convinced that a candidate is qualified it shortlists him or her for the assessment tests or for the oral interviews. At the assessment centers, the recruitment team gives the selected candidates some activities i.e. teamwork activities or aptitude tests. The top scorers are then shortlisted for the oral interviews. An effective selection process is important as far as the success of an organization is concerned. This is because it helps in the selection of the right people, at the right time, for the right position. Selecting people with the right attitude for the job is important since they are productive that people lacking the right attitude towards the position. Productivity, translates into excellent performance, which in turn translate to the success of the organization (Kumar, 2010). Leadership Skills and Attribute Leadership attributes entail the personal qualities, which contribute to effective leadership. One of the most important attributes is integrity. Integrity is very important as far as the effective leadership is concerned. In today’s business world, the level of competition is ever increasing. Therefore, actions that are not integral may adversely affect the success of the business. For example, fraud may adversely affect the company’s profitability and competitiveness, causing it to pull out of the market. This shows the importance of integrity as far as effective leadership is concerned. Another key attribute as far as effective leadership is concerned is emotional intelligence. This is the ability of a leader to recognize not only his or her feelings, but also other peoples’ feelings. Emotional intelligence is one of the most effective leadership attributes as far as implementing change within an organization is concerned. A key to effective leadership skill is effective communication skills (Zaccaro, 2013). Communication is one of the key elements in the leadership that dictate if a team would be successful or not. An effective communication skill enables a leader to communicate the goals of the team effectively. When the members of a team are aware of the organization’s goals and objectives, they work very hard towards achieving them. Every individual within a team is aware of what the team expects of him or her. Every member recognizes the fact that his or her contribution is important as far as the success of the entire team is concerned. Additionally, the leader is able to collect feedback from the team members, and helping them to improve on their performance if wanting. Inspiration and confidence are as well important. For example, the fact that the team will always experience ups and down makes confident and inspiration important. An effective leader always inspires the team members to work towards achieving the team’s goals and objectives (Wilson, 2006). Differences between leadership and management There has always been a debate relating to the relationship between these two key concepts i.e. leadership and management. The two concepts relate in a couple of ways, but as well differ in some ways. For example, leadership entails an individual’s ability to motivate, influence, and to enable the team members contribute towards the success of a team. On the other hand, management means giving directions, as well as, controlling a group of people with an aim of coordinating the team towards achievement of specific goals. A leader and a manager are different in terms of personality styles. Leaders have a great charisma and are always willing to take risks. On the other hand, managers always focus on objectives and goals, structures, laborers, as well as, availability of resources. A leader focuses on leading people while the manager focuses on managing work. Their approach to tasks is as well different. For example, a leader identifies the problems that the team is facing and through creativity, charisma, as well as, commitment comes up with viable solutions. On the other hand, a manager designs strategies and policies that he or she utilizes to get the work done. While leaders have followers, the managers have subordinate. Leaders are facilitators while the managers are involved. Different leadership styles in different situations Different leadership styles are applicable in different situations within an organization. One of the key applicable leadership styles is the authoritative style. It focuses on the goals and the adjectives and means do not necessarily matter. It mobilizes the people towards a sole vision. It is applicable when a leader wants to introduce a new vision for the team. A new vision is necessary following the changes in circumstances. For example, if a company would like to introduce a new technology that employees do not support, the leader must apply the authoritative leadership style. Coercive leadership style is also commonly applied. It demands an immediate compliance amongst the employees. It is more effective in a crisis. For example, when there is an imminent takeover, the leader may apply this leadership style. In situations of an emergency i.e. fire the style would be effective. Democratic leadership style as well is commonly applied. In democratic leadership style, the leader involves the team members in the decision making process and designing of goals. The style is applicable in situations of uncertainty whereby the leader expects new ideas within the organization or a team. It is not applicable during an emergency (Benincasa, 2013). Benefits of teamwork in an organization Teamwork is important is every organization as far as its success is concerned. Effective teamwork allows every member within an organization to make a valuable contribution towards its success. Teamwork is important within an organization in many ways. For example, it helps in ensuring that members work together towards a common goal. Members are always willing to assist each other, which is critical for the entire organization’s success. Teamwork helps in ensuring that resources i.e. time are, utilized optimally. Without strong leadership, an organization would end up wasting a lot of its time, which would adversely affect the success (West, 2010). Demonstration of leadership The contribution of a leader or a member is important as far as the success of the team is concerned. It is the responsibility of the leader to ensure togetherness within the team. It is the role of a leader to communicate the organization’s goals and vision effectively amongst the team members. Communicating the organization’s goals is important because it compels every member to focus on achieving the goals. A leader must understand every member needs and wants within and outside the organization. Meeting the members’ needs and desires is important because it motivates them to work hard towards the team’s success. On the other hand, a member as well has key responsibilities. For example, a member within an organization must be aware of what is, expected of him or her, and the importance of his or her contribution to the team’s success. A team member must always be willing to assist other team members in efforts of ensuring that they make a valuable contribution. During conflicts and difficult situations, a leader and members have key roles to play. For example, it is the role of the leader to identify the source of conflict and to employ his or her key conflict resolution skills to solve the conflict (Giuliani & Kurson, 2003). Effectiveness of a team in goal achievement For a team to be effective in term of goals achievement, it must possess a couple of traits. For example, unity is important as far as the success of the team is concerned. This helps in ensuring that the team works towards a similar direction. An effective team meets regularly to deliberate on its progress. During the meetings, the team leader informs the members about their actual performance compared to the set standards or the expectation. The team identifies the challenges it is facing and looks for solutions. For a team to be successful in goals’ achievement, it must design effective plans and set reasonable standards that the team members’ should work on (Rouillard, 2008). Monitoring and assessment of work performance While planning the monitoring, as well as, the assessment of work performance, a couple of factors must be, considered. For example, the ability of employees to execute a specific task is an important factor. The standards should be high if the ability of the employees is as well high. The planning team must as well consider the environmental factor. For example, the team must put into consideration the availability of resources. With availability of resources, the standards used in the monitoring and assessment process must be of high standard. Knowledge and skills are as well important factors. Assessing the individual’s development needs The assessment of the individuals’ needs within a team is important as far as the success of the team is concerned. The team’s leadership must understand the development needs and desires of every team member. After understanding the developmental needs, the leader must work on equipping the members with the necessary skills and competences, which would enable them, to perform their duties well. Different members have different needs, which would enable them to perform. One of the key ways of developing the team members is by designing effective training programs that would satisfy the member’s needs and desires (Kane & Mitchell, 2013). The assessment process’ success The success of the assessment process would depend on a couple of factors. For example, it would be important for the team’s leader to involve the members in planning the monitoring and assessment mechanism. The team leader must as well put into consideration the above key factors in an effective process including the ability of the team members, their knowledge, skills, as well as, the environmental factors i.e. the available resources (Kane & Mitchell, 2013).. Conclusion Effective leadership is important as far as the success of a team or an organization is concerned. Selecting the right members of a team is equally important. The recruitment team must ensure that the recruitment process is effective in terms of identifying the best candidates for specific positions. It is important for a leader to use different leadership styles in a different situation for the success of the team. For example, in an uncertain situation, the leader must employ the democratic leadership style. Additionally, it is important for the leader to identify the developmental needs of the team members to ensure that they participate effectively to the success of the team. Reference list Arthur, D., 2005. Recruiting, Interviewing, Selecting & Orienting Newf Employees.. New York: AMACOM. Benincasa, R., 2013. fastcompany.com. [Online] Available at: http://www.fastcompany.com/1838481/6-leadership-styles-and-when-you-should-use-them Giuliani, R. W. & Kurson, K., 2003. Leadership. New York: Hyperion. Kane, M. B. & Mitchell, R., 2013. Implementing performance assessment : promises, problems, and challenges. Mahwah: Erlbaum Associates. Kumar, R., 2010. Human resource management : strategic analysis text and cases. New Dehli: I.K. International. Martin, M., 2010. Human resource practice. 6 ed. London: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. Rouillard, L., 2008. Goals and goal setting : achieve measurable results. New York: Axzo Press. West, M. A., 2010. Effective teamwork : Practical lessons from organizational research. N.Y: Blackwell. Wilson, A., 2006. Leadership Qualities and Management Competences for Corporate Responsibility. [Online] Available at: http://www.ashridge.com/website/IC.nsf/wFARATT/Leadership%20Qualities%20and%20Management%20Competencies%20for%20Corporate%20Responsibility/$file/LeadershipQualitiesAndManagementCompetenciesForCorporateResponsibility.pdf [Accessed 2013]. Zaccaro, S., 2013. Leader Traits and Trait. [Online] Available at: http://www.corwin.com/upm-data/5014_Antonakis_Chapter_5.pdf [Accessed 12 12 2013]. Read More