Integrated Social Sciences
Over the years, there have been many empirical studies on quality management in different organizations especially businesses. These studies have examined empirically and critically the achievements of both global and domestic businesses over the years. It is common knowledge that these organizations and businesses had different systems of management, organization and leadership. One among these forms of leadership is team-oriented leadership, organization or management. It has been a question of interest to figure out whether team-oriented organizations improve streamlined processes in institutions and business, and worker productivity or not ("Leadership Theories and Studies - organization, system, style, manager, definition, model, type, company, workplace, business," n.d.). Therefore, this paper identifies and analyzes some empirical studies on quality management and the achievements of global and domestic businesses, all of whom employed decentralized and team oriented leadership organization, and evaluates the relationship that exists between team-oriented management styles and increased competitive advantage, worker productivity and optimized organizational performance.
Firstly, an empirical examination was conducted in Israel on a culture of quality. This study examined the relationship between performance, quality management standards and organizational culture in the public sector. The question of the study was to determine whether effective implementation of quality-related changes led to higher customer satisfaction and better organizational performance. A theoretical model was proposed and empirically evaluated in a field study that comprised of 103 units from 12 public organizations including the army, health institutions and government ministries in the country. The study revealed that the more coordination and effort between team members, the higher the quality of reporting and data will be (Isaak, Vashdi, & Vigoda-Gadot, n.d., p. 08). Results of this study also revealed that nurturing the teamwork value was of primal significance to organizational performance because it influences customer satisfaction, reporting and quality data. Moreover, the study suggested that it is elemental to nurture the quality of teamwork in organizational units first to improve the performance of that organization. From this study, it is with no doubt evident that team-oriented organizations and leaderships optimize organizational performance and worker productivity.
Despite being two different regions with different policies and rules regarding social work, there are certain distinctive roles and functions of social workers in the two areas. Firstly, the social workers employ a distinctive range of social and legal skills and knowledge to assist individuals to make significant choices and changes in their lives and realize or be satisfied with their intended outcomes. Social workers are uniquely skilled to access a wide range of emotional and practical services and support to meet the aspirations and needs of individuals. The social workers are also a collaborative profession that works alongside other relevant professionals but take the lead in assisting families, adults and children to gain control and improve their lives when their ability or safety to take part in their societies is restricted. Social workers have a lead role in the safeguarding of individuals who may be excluded socially, at risk of neglect or abuse, or who may be vulnerable for a number of reasons. They balance protection, safeguarding and support roles carefully while keeping the specific circumstances and needs of a family or an individual, taking the required protective action within the legal frameworks and roles contexts. Social workers have adequate education and training to engage with individuals whose ill health, mental incapacity or age constrains their capacity to protect others or themselves.
In another study that involved more than 1,000 CEOs and around 5,000 top management team members in 24 countries across the world to determine the linkage between behavior of CEOs and the effectiveness of leadership across cultures, there was a significant result on the effects of CEOs with a team-oriented behavior to their organizations. Firstly, there was recognition of team-oriented leadership as one of the most influential leadership behavior globally. The study acknowledged that team-oriented leadership, especially where the leader is a team-integrator is an effective form of organization. The study revealed that in a team –oriented leadership, administratively competent and team integrator dimensions were more primal in predicting an organization’s competitive performance than collaborative and diplomatic dimensions (House & Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness Research Program, 2014, p. 285). Discussion of the results from this study suggested team-oriented leadership especially the team integrator dimension of the leadership is critical and an active component of organization because it gets the team members to work together, communicate and explain what is expected, and integrate the members into a cohesive and working whole. Therefore, this study supports the fact that team-oriented leadership with competitive advantage and worker productivity.
Consumer behavior is an integral part of every business operation. It determines the overall consumer relationships with different organizations. Clanning is an example of a consumer trend that is significant to businesses. It is a situation where the consumers seek reinforcements and comfort of those who share their values, beliefs and interests.
The Harley Owners Group is one example of a clanning trend. According to a blog by Amanda Gubbins of SEMA, the HOG gathers the interests of their customers and invests in listening to their beliefs, interests and values, which attributes to the success of the organization. Moreover, the HOG uses a customer-focused philosophy in its operations by engaging the staff regularly with the customers, which facilitates a keen understanding of the needs of the riders and placement in front during rallies and events. The group binds all people who have a passion to ride and who own Harley-Davidson motorcycles. The HOG provides benefits to members, including motorcycle services to the members. The World Tea Club is also another example of clanning. The club brings together tea lovers in different regions. This club collects different types of tea from different tea producing countries processes it. After processing, members of the club receive three different types of tea in tins on a monthly basis. Moreover, they get a ten percent discount on their orders.
Ergonomics, which is also another trend, undermines cleaning because it advocates the wish of individualizing oneself through experience and possessions unlike in clanning where common values and interests define comfort. However, evolution trends surface in clanning where marketers seek to build strong relationships with women customers who make more than 82% of all the retail purchases.
A third empirical study provided relevant information on the impacts of the culture of an organization on process quality. In this study by Grau and Moorman of the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, there was a discussion of organizational performance of business processes like business management and their influence on the entire business. The researchers said that the organizational culture was a crucial factor supporting maintenance and achievement of efficiency and effectiveness in business operations. One among the dimensions of organizational structure discussed in the study was cooperation and teamwork. This dimension represented the characteristics of team-related interactions in an organizational setting. While discussing the study findings, the researchers observed that there was a positive impact of teamwork and cooperation as a dimension of leadership and general management on the process quality (Corinna & Moormann, 2014, p. 06). Particularly, cooperation and teamwork was influential because of employee involvement in decision-making. Moreover, provision of relevant information to employees and building of confidence in them was decisive for high-quality process. Despite study results revealing the insignificant influence of teamwork and cooperation on process quality because of implicit distinguishing of aspects by participants in the survey, a strong assumption was made stating that team-oriented dimensions by employee involvement and participations was crucial for implementation of processes in an organization. Therefore, it is clear from the study that team-oriented leadership is important in optimizing organizational performance.
In another study that involved 14 women-owned companies among the top 500 in the United States, there was an analysis of the personality assessment and team performance of the owners of those firms. The study aimed at investigating three major questions. The first question sought to find out whether successful women business owners managed and led their organizations in a team-oriented dimension. The second question was investigating whether highly successful women entrepreneurs had team-oriented personalities. The third question sought to draw a relationship between team-oriented personalities and team-oriented leadership styles among women entrepreneurs. The fourteen women involved in the study owned medium-sized and small firms. From the results, it was evident that most of the women entrepreneurs employed team-oriented leadership styles in their organizations. The study also reveals that these women had team-oriented personalities, which contributed to their success. These team-oriented personalities enabled them to be non-directive, sociable, cooperative and trusting in their actions towards others. Most of their management styles had a competency approach, and they sought to lead by example, which is an aspect of teamwork orientation (Cantzler & Leijon, 2007, p. 08). Data presented in the study shows clearly that most of the women entrepreneurs were successful because of the adoption of the team-oriented leadership style that enabled them to be cooperative, sociable and non-directive towards their employees. This information affirms that indeed team-oriented leadership is efficient for the success of businesses whether domestic or global because it optimizes competitive advantage, worker productivity and organizational performance.
In conclusion, there are many empirical studies on quality management and the impact of team-oriented leadership styles on the overall performance of businesses. From the results of most of the studies, it is evident that a team-orientation is an elemental tool in strategic management and organizational performance. Team-oriented leadership acknowledges the significance of cooperation and participation in achieving a common goal. Most global and domestic businesses thrive because of the implementation of team-oriented leadership styles in the organizations (Huszczo, 2004, p. 16). The success of team-oriented leadership styles is visible through implementation because there is clear optimization of organizational performance, competitive advantage and worker productivity. Therefore, it is very important for domestic and global organizations, institutions and businesses to embrace teamwork leadership styles because they positively influence the overall performance.
References
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House, R. J., & Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness Research Program. (2014). Strategic leadership across cultures: The GLOBE study of CEO leadership behavior and effectiveness in 24 countries.
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