Importance of Teamwork and Leadership in the Public Sector



Bournemouth universityImportance of Teamwork and Leadership in the Public SectorPublic Sector Resource ManagementBy Alex MacphersonIntroduction This report will look at multiple activities that were undertaken to emphasise the importance of teamwork and leadership in the outdoors. The sessions will be carefully analysed and a reflective diary will be supplied to support views and recommendations; furthermore this reflective diary will be backed up by theorists and models such as McGregor’s Motivational theory, John Adair, Tuckman’s theory and Situational Leadership. The report will then look at the importance of outdoor activities in the public service and how this can influence the execution of situations trained in a real environment. (Surridge.M Et al. 2004)The report will then look at a case study that debates the positives and negatives of Outdoor activities and training in the Public Sector. The case study chosen will be the breaking of the Geneva convention by a Royal Marine while on a routine patrol in Helmand Province, Afghanistan in 2011 (BBC NEWS. 2013).Task 1 “Outdoor recreation or outdoor activity is leisure pursuits engaged in the outdoors, often in natural or semi –natural settings out of town” (QORF.2014).This definition shows the fundamental basics of what is an outdoor activity; however this definition fails to determine why an individual or organisation relies on outdoor activities. A great example of a user of outdoor activities is the British Military, more specifically the British Army. The Army call outdoor activity training; Adventurous Training (AT) and they use AT to prepare personnel for rigorous operations and rapid deployment (ARMY.2015).Referring to figure 1 Tuckman’s theory of Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing; Adventurous Training can be closely linked to this theory. Without AT an individual or group may find it hard to reach optimal performance levels and as such be stuck in the Norming or storming phase of Tuckman’s theory. However with proper training in the outdoors an individual or group is able to closely simulate a situation and practice recommended manoeuvres (Business Balls. 2013).An example of this is riot training in the Police Force; By implementing riot simulations the Police Force are able to carefully replicate the challenges personnel might face in real situations and therefore be more prepared and perform when needed; hence the relation to Tuckman’s theory (Business Balls. 2013).Looking at Figure 2 and situational leadership; Adventurous Training is able to help individuals in leadership roles to know when to implement different types of leadership styles in different situations. For example in a performing and well organised group a leader can trust team members to be delegated with tasks to undertake and so the leader is in the delegation stage. On the other hand if the leader is situated with a group that is unorganised and un helpful; the leader must use autocratic force to organise the scenario; this helps with unorganised occurrences such as traffic collisions or plane crashes in which a leader must step forward and take control (InformIT. 2011).Reflective Diary Plane CrashThe First Task I took part in was the Plane Crash it involved myself, Alex Huntley and George Spicer. The idea behind the task was to successfully obtain objects from a centre of a circle with the objects dragging or touch the floor using only a piece of rope and any object you could gain from the inside of the circle. As a partaker in the task I can only assume that the aim was to identify a leader and analyse the type of leadership necessary for the different types of occurrences. This ties in with figure 2 and situational leadership; I found the natural leader was Alex Huntley due to his use communication and mannerism’s that suggested he was in charge of the situation. During the task Alex Huntley showed signs of autocratic leadership which allowed a previously uncontrolled group to start working together. As the task continued Alex H allowed delegation to occur and signalled tasks to each of us to help objects out of the circle (InformIT. 2011).Eventually our group was unable to retrieve all the objects from the circle; this was mainly down to lack of democratic communication. Although Alex H brought control and initiative to the group the flare eventually faded and near the end communication was one sided and poor and the group focused on a bottle instead of getting other easier objects out first. This was a clear case of autocratic communication and shows the importance of situational leadership in which different situations desire different styles of leadership (InformIT. 2011).OrienteeringThe Orienteering task involved everyone operating together to follow trails and locate numbered posts throughout moors valley. Ultimately the task was a success however many problems occurred and significant motivational factors hindered the experience.The aim of the task was to improve communication within the group and emphasise the importance of teamwork. However teamwork only occurred in a select few individuals in the group. From the start myself and Liam took control of directing due to our experience of orienteering and general map reading. This was due to lack of motivation within the group. Using figure 3 McGregor’s X and Y motivational theory, the group suffered from lack of intrinsic motivation and I and Liam had to treat the individuals in the team as theory X. Theory X consists of individuals not wanting to work and the leader having to make them work essentially an extrinsic style of motivation (VectorStudy. 2013).This task also saw scenes of situational leadership located in figure 2. I and Liam had to delegate people to locate certain check points and the group split for a short period of time in order to efficiently collect all the check points within an appropriate amount of time (InformIT. 2011).A negative of our leadership experience can be explained using figure 4 John Adair. Due to our lack of patience and focus on the task the importance of working as a team decreased and also our care of the individual was over taken by our drive to complete the task. This led to an unbalanced team environment. (Program Management. 2011)I believe the skills that were tested are communication and leadership; due to a lack of communication leadership suffered and the result was an elongated time to complete the task. Next time a more direct and autocratic approach should be taken and the communication of the team should be just as important as completing the task.River of LavaThe River of Lava was a task that Liam and I ran. The idea behind the task was for the group to cross a distance while standing on beams and tyres while collecting objects. If a member of the team fell of then they would have to complete 10 press ups as punishment. The aim was to improve communication skills, team work skills and innovative thinking.Strength of the task is the fact that it allowed the team to think and communicate on a level that only a handful of other tasks offered. This allowed experimentation of John Adair’s Team theory in which an equal balance between Task, Individual and Team should occur. Using figure 4 we can analyse the situation. During the start there was a good balance, however later on the task seemed to outweigh individual and team need and the team member’s communication began to become unhelpful. The team completed the task in 19 minutes 38 seconds (Program Management. 2011).A weakness of the task was the fact gender crossing was not considered; this could have affected the outcome as the two genders may have felt uncomfortable in the close proximity. In relation to Figure 3 McGregor’s Theory X and Y the team had a a largely Intrinsic style of motivation in their aim to complete the task; however throughout the task all motivation was quickly lost especially by Phil which consequently degraded the rest of the teams motivation. A thought for future task running is to consider ways to increase motivation and maintain motivation (VectorStudy. 2013).The task gave an opportunity to analyse the rising of a leader and the improving of communication; although no leader arose many candidates showed potential but were quickly degraded by the rapid loss of motivation (VectorStudy. 2013).Finally looking at figure 1 it is apparent that the threat to the task is the team remaining in the storming phase, this was apparent due to the large amount of negative communication and unsuccessfulness of the task. The team were unable to transform into the performing stage (Business Balls. 2013).EvaluationAdventurous Training (AT) challenges people in a controlled risk environment; this experience builds self confidence, decision making and teamwork. Furthermore AT gives practical experience in building leadership skills (ARMY.2015).“Adventure training has grown me as a person; most definitely as a leader. Some of the situations I have found myself in I had to make serious leadership decisions similar to those made in a real warfare environment.” – Major William “Molly” Macpherson 2IC Khumbu Challenge 2009In the quote above Major Macpherson emphasises the importance of Adventure Training not only for himself but also for the military. By putting military personnel in decision making environment during training the struggle of making decisions is easier in real warfare environment. This mitigates the risk of failure and also the harm of the individuals involved.The debate with Adventure Training is to what extent does adventure training prepare the individual for real occurrences and is AT useful if an individual’s natural personality negative. For example the Royal Marines were able to train Royal Marine A for warfare and to operate under stress; however in 2011 Royal Marine A acted unlawfully and shot an unarmed individual, consequently breaking the Geneva Convention. The main negative of the situation is the fact Royal Marine A stated that he had “just broken the Geneva Convention”, this shows a significant lack of morals and the military simply cannot train the nature of an individual (BBC NEWS. 2013). This problem shown by Royal Marine A; emphasises the issue with some individuals, the military cannot fully prepare certain personnel for real life situations and the true personality of an individual is shown in real time situations and not in training. The training is dependable to the type of person, In one case Royal Marine A would not benefit fully from AT whereas Major Molly Macpherson seems to have benefited greatly and the training has prepared him for a real warfare environment (BBC NEWS. 2013). The Military do have ways of mitigating issues such as Royal Marine A. Through vigorous physical and mental training an individual is able to be pushed to the limit and analysed on how they react, this helps prevent weak minded individuals from operating in the military. There are always exceptions and Royal Marine A is an exception, although he went through training and successfully completed the tasks he still had bad morals and a bad nature that led to him committing first degree murder in a combat environment (BBC NEWS. 2013.)Looking at figure 5 the national decision model; the entire model is surrounding the fundamental attribute of values and ethics. Royal Marine A failed to obtain this fundamental key element to decision making and as a result was unable to make clear decisions; his lack of values and ethics was something that could not be trained (College of Policing. 2014).ConclusionIn Conclusion the Public Services show great reliance on Outdoor Activities in order to develop teamwork and Leadership. Through analysing self run tasks such as plane crash and River of Lava our group was able to learn firsthand the implications of outdoor activity on teamwork and leadership. The development of an individual in gaining and improving new skills is only effective when the individual shows motivation and has good fundamental core ethics. This is emphasised through case studies such as Royal Marine A and the breaking of the Geneva Convention. Furthermore the quote from Major Molly Macpherson shows the importance of AT in preparation of the military for combat environments and decision making. (BBC NEWS. 2013.)APPENDICES Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 1 (BusinessBalls.2013)Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 2 (InformIT.2011)Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 3 (VectorStudy.2013)Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 4 (Program Management.2011)Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 5 (College of Policing. 2014)APPENDIX 1The ActivityThe leadership task which me and Alex where in charge of planning and running was the “river of lava”. This required the team of ten to cover fifty meters by using three tyres and a plank of wood. Over this course there where objects which the team where required to pick up. If an object is dropped or one of the member fell off members would have to carry out a punishment, which was 10 push ups. The aim of the exercise is To build team trust and communication skills by imposing certain barriers to relegate the difficulty which the public services experience on their daily duties.The objectives of this exercise are:To develop the teams trust with one another to help each other through the course.To develop the individuals communication skills while under pressure from other barriers. To improve the teams problem solving skills thinking about carrying equipment and moving across the course without falling off the objects. This is the action plan for the outdoor exercise, this breaks down how me and alex will run the session. Action plan Timings Actions 5 minutes Explain the aims and objects of the exercise20 minutes Undertake the activity 5 minutes Debrief- evaluate how the team did and what could be done betterThe team completed the course in 19 minutes 38 seconds, during the exercise a few members fell off the objects, they mainly took carried out the punishment, but one member who became frustrated with the exercise refused to do the punishment which had effect on the teams motivation, but other members of the group continued to give encouragement to the whole team. The team also showed a good level of communication, they gave clear instructions to each other in passing the objects up and down the line. They also efficient in the way they planned the exercise thinking of the quickest route to take. During the debrief the team stated that they were satisfaction of pushing through tough barriers to achieve the objective and that the negative feelings portrayed by certain individuals didn’t affect their motivation to complete the task. This de-brief did highlight some negative factors towards our planning, failing to see the cross gender issues which could have caused some members uncomforted effecting their motivation for the task. Members being forced to work with the opposite sex could feel their “safety needs” of Maslow’s hierarchy being denied (steers, et el, 6th ed, 1996). If members are unmotivated during the task it will have an effect on the whole team along with their outcome. Determining the consequences for falling off an object was another area which wasn’t planned for, Liam came up with the idea of a physical punishment (push ups) a few members where uncomfortable in doing this, which again relates the “safety needs” Maslow’s theory. If I was to do this again I would have a more effective plan thinking about team members ability and level of motivation. I will also focus on developing motivational skills by giving encouragement throughout the exercise which will be measured on the satisfaction of the team in a debrief. BibliographyArmy. 2015. Adventurous training. Accessed 16/05/2015BBC NEWS. 2013. Marine guilty of Afghanistan murder. Accessed: 16/05/2015Business Balls. 2013. Tuckman forming storming norming performing model. Accessed on: 16/05/2015College of Policing. 2014. National Decision Making. Accessed: 16/05/2015InformIT. 2011. Leading agile developers : the seven levels of authority (Part 2). Accessed on: 16/05/2015Program Management. 2011. Action centred leadership: John Adair. Accessed: 16/05/2015 QORF. 2014. What is outdoor recreation. Accessed: 16/05/2015Surridge.M, Gillespie.A. 2004. AS Business Studies. Oxon. Bookpoint Ltd.VectorStudy. 2013. Douglas Mcgregor Theory X and Theory Y. Accessed: 16/05/2015Macpherson, W. (2015) Interviewed by Alexander Macpherson. 17/05/2015 ................
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