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Managing Groups’ Skill Development Report

Organizational leadership and management remain among the most important elements in ensuring the industry achieve its goals and objectives. They are also important in ensuring the effective implementation of organizational culture and structure. Organizational heads are tasked with developing a wide array of leadership and management skills which will assist in steering the industry towards achieving the set aims. Broadly, leadership and management entail the ability to supervise individuals in the fulfillment of goals and completion of tasks (Hew, Khe Foon and Wing 45). There are several transferable skills related to leadership and management which are critical to an individual. One of the most important skills is managing groups which involve coordinating and directing several individuals. Essentially, teamwork in organizations is critical to the achievement of goals and objectives through sharing of tasks which simplifies the roles of an individual (Nesbit et al. 915). However, managing these teams may be challenging based on several factors such as different types of group member members, poor communication, and resistance to the group leader directives. In this report I evaluate the development of managing group’s skills through an online course, reading books and actual practice.

Online Course

The current learning sector is dynamic which has been reflected through the introduction of new and profound approaches to acquiring knowledge. Characterized by numerous merits, online courses have been identified as a convenient, cheap and suitable approach in obtaining vast information regarding a specific topic. Considering learning about managing groups, Athabasca University which offers several courses for free will be of great importance (Anderson 2). The first course will be ‘Leadership in Organizations.’ In this course, it is centered on enhancing the learner’s skills through teaching them on leadership theories and management. While covering the broad course of organizational behavior, this course will be important in developing a deeper understanding of leadership approaches and skills in organizations. Among the important topics I am interested in include leadership trait and behaviors, communicating and leader-member/follower relations and the most important topic of team leadership and self-management teams.

Another course related to my transferable skill is that of ‘Organizational Behavior’ which is the foundation of other organizational management concepts. This course covers a wide array of applications and theories including decision making, motivation, negotiation, leadership and team dynamics. In the lessons and topics of this course, they build on each other from an individual to a team level perspective. Specific lessons of great interest to me are leadership in organizational setting and team dynamics. In these two courses, they offer a variety of skills essential for managing groups which are applicable in both organizational and community setups. Comparing the two courses, the merits of leadership in organizations outweigh those of organizational behavior. In the first course, it provides a range of lessons related to the group management skills from leader-member relationship to team leadership. Another merit is that it integrates other leadership attributes such as effective communication and problem-solving in team management. The downside of this course is that it does not provide the dynamism in teams which is provided in the second course of organizational behavior. The disadvantage of the second course is that it limits the information on important skills in team management.

My preference will be for the first course, leadership in the organization. This is based on the fact that it provides numerous topics and lessons that are related to this skill. Specifically, the topic of the relationship between the leader and follower is important in understanding how one enhances their interaction with the group members. Another merit is that it provides the lesson on trait and behaviors that are important for a team leader. Important to note is that groups are challenging to lead as a result of different members’ attributes and personalities. For an effective group manager, it is imperative to understand how to relate to the different members regardless of their strengths and weaknesses (Magie and Deborah 2). This course further provides the topic of team leadership which is central to my transferable skill. This course primarily equips the learner with the group management skills and not only does it provide the theoretical understanding but also the manner in which they can be implemented in the actual practice.

Reading Books

Another approach in developing the group management transferable skills is through books which offer profound and wide knowledge on the topic. Two of the books which I would source in this regard are “Drive” by Daniel H. Pink and “The One Thing You Need to Know” by Marcus Buckingham. In the first book “Dive” by Daniel H. Pink, it is centered on understanding why there are challenges in overcoming the command-control and face-time models in businesses (Landau 1). This book also provides realistic-based knowledge on how companies need to adopt the hybrid adopting managerial behavior to the diverse employees. Pink notes that the implementation of the hybrid model is challenging to implement. The author further identifies some of the critical points related to his book’s topic such as the change in time yet companies remain static, failure to move from conventional motivation world and the wide variation in what the business does and the scientific knowledge. Considering the first point, Pink identifies the change in time and stagnation in the business mode of operation. This is further explained in the motivation point. Apparently, the conventional approach to organizational management and leadership is still applicable such as incentives as forms of motivation rather than the use of mastery, purpose, and anatomy as the current approaches. The central objective of Pink’s book is that organizational managers need to establish the strengths of diversified employees and build on them while developing effective strategies aimed at averting their weaknesses, an important concept in managing groups. 

The second book which is also my preference in enhancing my knowledge on managing groups’ referable skills is that by Marcus Buckingham “The Only Thing You Need to Know.” Buckingham centers his book on three main attributes about effective managers (Buckingham 3). These include the primary responsibilities of an effective manager being to set standards and enhancing high-performance teams rather than enforcing quality. The other point is that efficient managers should turn employee’s talent into better performance. Also, great managers should improve the interaction between employees and the organization while assisting them in achieving the organizational goals. Buckingham further identifies some of the group management skills critical to enhancing team performance. These include selection of good individuals, setting clear expectations and objectives, recognition of excellence among the group members and praising it, showing care and respect to the team members and building on the group members’ strengths while reducing their weaknesses. My selection of this book is further based on Buckingham identification of three levers that group managers should employ in effectively managing team members. These include their strengths and weaknesses, triggers and learning styles. According to this book, every team member strengths require a precise trigger with the most powerful approach being recognition although the type differs. In the learning styles, they are three which are related to group management. These include analyzing, doing and watching. This book is also beneficial in providing examples of practical approaches related to the information it contains.

Practicing the Skills

Once an individual has obtained the theoretical knowledge regarding a particular course or topic, the next approach is practicing the knowledge in the actual process. Several approaches exist through which one can practice these skills. These include volunteering and engaging in activities related to the particular topic such the community and organizational setups across various realms from the religious to political (Nesbit et al. 917). Learning through experience is considered among the most effective approaches. In managing groups, for one to obtain a deep understanding of various concepts, there are specific aspects which should be ensured. These include presence of teams to manage and opportunities to practice these skills while acquiring new ones

In volunteering to various settings for learning and practicing managing groups’ transferable skills, the approach is centered on working with organizations and the community without expectation of any form of reward. In an organizational setup, I am passionate about assisting the disadvantaged. There are several organizations with such platforms for instance homes for the aged and children. In these organizations, teamwork is essential such as coordinating various individuals in achieving the central goals of enhancing the welfare of the people. Volunteering to work in these organization is important to both the organization and me. To me, this volunteering will be critical in understanding how organizational managers work with groups to achieve the set goals (Boezeman and Naomi 161). In the community setup, there are various team setups which are aimed at performing various activities in the society. Such include organizing training and education programs for different people. An example is training people on drugs and alcohol abuse and HIV and AIDS. In such programs among others such as cleaning the streets, people work in groups where there is the sharing of roles and coordinating how these activities will be performed. Engaging in these activities will be essential in not only learning how groups are managed but also the implementation of skills I have obtained in my online courses and reading of various books.

The next approach in practicing these skills is through seeking opportunities in various organizations from religious to the corporate sector. Regardless of whether I will be volunteering in these organizations or getting a reward for my contribution, it will be important in enhancing my skills and putting them into practice. The corporate sector presents an ample opportunity to implement one’s skills in the management sector. As mentioned earlier, businesses operate through teams (Magie and Deborah 2). Participating in leadership and management in these organizations will assist in providing an opportunity to implement the acquired skills while obtaining new ones. Religious organizations also have numerous opportunities for practicing my skills such as their programs. Examples include development and implementation of training programs to the community and assisting other organizations in their operations such as the prevention and treatment of communicable diseases by the Center for Disease Control (CDC). Working with these organizations will provide opportunities for implementing my skills while obtaining new ones. The corporate sector also provides opportunities for enhancing my skills such as organized workshops on leadership and management in managing groups setup.

Table 1: Skill Development Plan

Conclusively, leadership and management are essential in any organization as they assist in the achievement of the industry’s goals and objectives. One of the main aspects of management is the team based approach in conducting organizational operations. As a result, organizational managers are tasked with understanding how to manage groups as well as leading them to achieve their goals and objectives. Numerous challenges exist in managing groups which include conflict among members, the need for effective communication and resistance to change. Leaders are therefore prompted to develop effective strategies for coordinating their teams. Various approaches have been developed in this regard which includes identification of the group member’s strengths and building on them to enhance performance and establishing one’s weaknesses and developing approaches to which they can be mitigated. The above discussion is centered on developing my transferable skills of managing groups. Three of the main approaches I will use in this regard is enrolling for an online course at Athabasca University. This course will be ‘Leadership in Organizations.’ The other approach will entail reading a leadership book “The Only Thing You Need to Know” by Marcus Buckingham which provides vast information on team leadership and aspects that organizational managers need to consider in leading groups with diversified members. The third approach will involve volunteering in organizational and community activities which will be important for practicing my skills while obtaining new ones. The integration of various activities in a comprehensive plan is as presented in table 1.