Many people belief that leaders are God Chosen. Leadership has been defined as that process of social influence, in which a person can help others in achieving a given task. In Lehman’s language, leadership is organizing people in groups, with an aim of achieving common goals. For any project to succeed there ought to be appropriate leadership. Such leaders are then given the responsibility of decision making on crucial matters such as resource allocation among others. However, leadership without cooperation from group members is just like a passing wind. To achieve an effective system of leadership, there must be teamwork amongst the members. In this paper, we are going to argue out on the importance of being a team leader over being an ordinary team member. It is worth noting that a person chosen as a leader should be trustworthy, and able to represent all the members equally and without favoritism.
There have been arguments revolving around the theme teamwork, and being a team leader. Some people believe that being a team member is much better than leading that same team. Many people have argued out that for a team leader to be in existence, there certainly needs to be members of the team. Before digging further into the aspect of teamwork and team leadership, it is worth taking time to understand the definitions of the two terms. To begin with, teamwork has been defined as that process whereby a group of people collaboratively comes together and works jointly towards achievement of common goals. On the other hand, a team leader refers to that individual in charge of other members, usually appointed to represent a particular team, or rather to mobilize a given department. In most cases, a team leader does not necessarily have control over his/her subjects, but instead appointed to make some crucial decisions within an organization should there be no agreement.
Studies indicate that teamwork plays an enormous role, and forms a crucial part of any business organization. In order to attain both short-term and long-term goals within an organization, each and every member of the organization has to be given a role to play. That act of assigning the employees role to play thus constitutes teamwork. Having teamwork mentality, colleagues within a given department of an organization will work together, with each individual striving to provide his/her best in any circumstance. People will cooperate despite any existence of personal feuds. They will always jointly use their skills and try as much as possible to provide constructive feedbacks that would boost the continuity of an organization.
Apparently, wherever there is teamwork, team members have been identified, by researchers, to have similar traits. The members usually have a common and a well defined approach towards work. In addition, the same members have common purpose and well defined goals towards the achievement of the organizational vision. In addition, another trait found amongst team members is that there is always availability of skills and resources. People have different talents, and through their level of education, different professional skills. This therefore implies that an organization is spared the hustle of contracting professionals from outside, hence saving on expenditure costs. Research further reveals that team members built trust and support amongst themselves. Working as a team also enables them to willingly take full responsibility for the team actions.
A problem however crops in when one is positioned as a team member rather than a leader. The major challenge facing a team member is that of encounter with unreasonable expectations. This is certainly because a team member is not actually his/her own boss. Instead, the brand is the boss. An example is hereby given, where if you want to serve coffee (due to customer demand), but the organization you are working for is against selling the coffee brand, certainly you cannot sell that coffee. There is also a potentiality of social loafing, as a result of being a team member in a teamwork environment (Raatma, 2003, p.66). By social loafing we mean a situation whereby an individual does less work in a team, contrary to what he/she could have done had he been assigned individually. Having mentioned the disadvantages aligned to being a team member in a teamwork environment, am therefore compelled to believe that being a team leader is more important than only being a team member.
Furthermore, a team leader plays a role in representing the entire team aligned to him to the next higher reporting level. Most importantly, a crucial role that a team leader plays is that of decision making in cases whereby members fail to reach an agreement. A team leader is actually part of the team members, but he is governed by different regulations and work which cordially depends on the member’s performance. As a team leader, one uses his best time thinking on strategies to put forth, so as to ensure positive development of the organization. Research indicates that most individuals who are only team members have a habit of time wastage. On the other hand, a team leader strives as much as possible to perfect everything he/she does for the benefit of the entire team and the organization at large (Burns, 1978, p.56).
Usually, many organizations have management hierarchies. It is through such hierarchies that crucial decisions are made. Each and every level has a leader to whom the employees under that department are answerable to. This therefore implies that a team member cannot go directly to the organization’s top management without consulting the team leader. This therefore brings in the importance of a person as a team leader, since he/she is responsible of channeling the views, suggestions and/or grievances to the relevant authorities.
A team leader also ensures that his team is allocated adequate resources that will enable them run their day in day out activities. Without the existence of a leader, there could be chances of inequitable distribution of resources. Mitigation of conflicts within the organization is usually carried out by team leaders. This is because good team leaders usually take a neutral ground whenever there is a misunderstanding amongst the members, and tries as much as possible to resolve the conflicts. Without team leaders, most organizations would have already fallen as a result of frequent misunderstandings.
Remuneration package is always a central focus to many employees. People are always interested in the remuneration package they get from their employers. In fact it is a desire to many to have a good salary, a good job title and also a good working environment. When one is appointed as a team leader, he or she stands better chances of enjoying all of the above mentioned goodies, among others not mentioned. In essence, a team leader has an advantage of being promoted both money wise as well as structure wise. The appointment as a team leader also portrays a good image of the person appointed to that position. This is because he/ she is looked upon, both within and outside the environs of the organization, as a responsible person. Furthermore, the title one is given as a leader greatly boosts the CV of that person. The implication of this is that the person with the leadership title stands many opportunities of being promoted, and even hired by other reputable organizations.
Compared to just being a team member, a team leader is in a better position to understand the organization and its daily operations. He/ she is also in a good position to know what the staff does daily in terms of their overall performance. Furthermore, a team leader is always ready to react, embrace and manage change, unlike an ordinary team member who is always reluctant to change. As a team leader, one is always ready to take any challenge that comes his way. This will automatically make him a scrupulous person who will then command group followers.
It is also important to be a team leader than a team member, since being a leader; an individual is furnished with skills such as multitasking and prioritizing. Usually, a good leader should have the ability to handle more than one project at a time. Being a leader calls for proper time management since one is given more responsibilities and is expected to deliver within the stipulated time frame. It is therefore the duty of the team leader to organize him or herself, delegate duties to his or her team members and mobilize them towards provision of quality work. Depending on the urgency of the work at hand, a team leader has the ability to choose which tasks to start with and which ones to come last. Any ordinary member may not actually have such opportunity and freedom to make such crucial decisions within a company (Parcells & Coplon, 1995, p. 34).
In a nutshell, being a team leader is more advantageous over that of being a team member. However, to be a good team leader calls for an extensive teamwork, or rather a role play by each and every member of the team. Research has it that Good Managers Lead through a Team. By managing through a team, one should be in a position to use the aspects of social dynamics of the team to have control over individual members, rather than managing members one -by -one. We should have it clear in our minds that every group is not a team. A team is a collection of people who collectively does work and are committed towards a common purpose. This therefore defines a team and attributes it to productivity and innovation, unlike other mere groups. A team is held by purpose and goals. A team leader ought to clarify both the purposes and goals, without which all the objectives will be seen as nothing but a dream. A team leader ought to clarify the roles and responsibilities of each and every member, having in mind that not everyone can do everything. Also, a leader should be in a position to highlight and prioritize the feedbacks needed to measure advancement levels. In addition team leadership entails ability to define the norms, standards and values defining what members expect from each other. In so doing, conflicts amongst the team members will be minimized. Chairing decision making within an organization is also a crucial responsibility of a team leader. This is because a team leader is always there at the interest of all the members. This statement “always there at the interest of all the members,” automatically disqualifies an ordinary member from playing the role of making crucial decisions, since his/her judgments might be aligned to one side while oppressing the other (http://blogs.hbr.org/hill-lineback/2012/04/good-managers-lead-through-a-t.html).
Other than representing the interests of the team members and the organization at large, a team leader has an opportunity to grow and advance to higher heights of his career. As a leader, one earns respect both from within and outside the environs of the organization. A team leader is in a position to interact with other leaders from various groups and departments, thus nourishing his social life. Since a leader has to live an exemplary life, one would be compelled to improve his or her standards of living, the kind of people he/she hangs out with among others.
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