Interventions for Helping Metro Company Cope with The Expected Expansion - Essay Sample

Introduction

According to the study carried out, the research conducted by the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI), observations showed that between 1982 and 2005, delay per individual on the systems of highways in America's bigger towns has on average increased three times- that is, from14 hours in 1982 to 38 hours in 2005 (Krol, 2016). Therefore, it was found that congestion wastes about 4.8 billion hours globally, being translates to a total cost of $78 billion. It should be noted that the above charges are direct expenses and therefore indicate that the figure will be much higher if secondary outlays are included. However, these are only costs that are related directly to travel expenses, not the secondary impacts caused to the economy.

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A report by the TTI suggests that the number of travelers increased between 1985 to 2005 in larger cities and metropolitans, while there was an increase of only 45% in the freeways and other streets, with an overall rise in travelers by public means (Krol, 2016). Similarly, the research study points out that there is also a deteriorating situation of reliability. According to Krol (2016), the study argues that in most of metro regions, travelers and freight shippers need to double plan an extra time of travel once they have a crucial trip. This Decreased traffic congestion will help minimize traffic travel congestion and hence save time which makes it possible for travelers to save on time, which can be spent on other economic activities.

Problem Statement

Due to increased traffic congestion, many cities are looking forward to mitigating the congestion by improving public transport means such as trains to ease congestion in cities. Victoria is one of such states which are looking forward to reducing congestion. The state contracted Metro Trains Melbourne (known as Metro) to run the city's rail network in 2009 on a contract that runs up to 2024 (Metrotrains.com.au, 2020). The fleet that is run by Metro is costly as it consists of 220 six-car trains which cover a distance of 965 Kilometers (Metrotrains.com.au, 2020). The Victorian state has, in the recent past, resolved into the construction of a new train tunnel. This anticipated advancement is expected to affect the management of the company and hence the need to institute some of the strategies that will ensure the effective management of the company. This paper studies some of the recommendations to the Metro company for effective management after the expansion of its operation.

Research Question

This study aims to find the most appropriate strategies to be applied at Metro Company to achieve sustainable leadership. The research will, therefore, aim to answer the following question:

How can Metro company build sustainable leadership to achieve organizational goals?

Literature Review

Change management

The success of any organization is heavily vested upon the shoulders of its leadership. When pursuing to bring onboard new changes in operations, it is crucial to factor in the present administration versus the anticipated task implementation. Effective leadership is pivotal in heightening productivity and ensuring organizational goals are realized (Shanafelt et al. 2015). For effective implementation of new organizational policies, it becomes indispensable to do change management.

Change is a constant practice in various organizations as it is motivated by a variety of factors such as new patterns, globalization, social factors, government policies, market trends, and technological inventions. According to recent research, many companies fail to achieve their anticipated plan based on people's potential. Lack of change management can have far-reaching, long-lasting challenges in the performance of any organization. Change is therefore necessary so that the professionals can understand current issues and be equipped with techniques required in support of new initiatives (Ruta, 2005).

The global internetworked dependence upon the flow of resources, products in the market, and business competition necessitates a change in organizations. Computing technology has been at the helm of global fast transactions and informed decision-making among companies making it very necessary to enhance computing literacy for better organizational outcomes. Social and ethical responsibilities also necessitate a change in shaping behavior to that which is anticipated by society. The central focus of expected organizational change revolves around people, tasks, technology, culture, and structure. Planned change is always a response to the already identified existing performance gap. Change that occurs spontaneously without being intrigued by the change agents is referred to as unplanned change. Such changes are such as strikes, plant closure, or interpersonal conflicts.

The planned change goes through three stages. The first step is the unfreezing phase, where the need for change is developed. This stage is followed by the changing phase where the change is implemented with the managers initiating a shift in culture, people, tasks, structure, and technology (Ruta, 2005). The last stage is the freezing stage, where change becomes stabilized and conditions necessary for its long-term sustainability are created.

Team leadership theory

According to Parker (1990), the team refers to a group of members of an organization who depend on each other, share similar goals, and interlinked activities determined to achieve their goals. More effective teams express greater productivity, advanced decision and problem-solving, outstanding quality services and products, and better innovations and creativity (Parker, 1990).

Effective teams are created when the organizational structure and culture are in strong support for the involvement of the employees (Zaccaro et al., 2001). Effective team leadership should be process-oriented. In shared team leadership, team members take on leadership features to rally influence and maximize the effectiveness of the team. The team leadership model depicts distributed leadership roles. For groups that are coordinating virtually, shared leadership is essential. Shared leadership prevents team conflicts, increases trust, and enhances cohesion (Zaccaro et al., 2001). However, it has several risks as it requires members to step up boldly to give leadership besides their formal roles in the team. It also necessitates that individuals be freely willing to share in the leadership role.

The team leadership model empowers team leaders or designated team members with the power to weigh team problems and act accordingly to rectify the issues. The effectiveness of the performance of the team emanates from the leader's mental model of the overall difficulties. The leader reflects upon the details of the problem, and organizational and environmental contingencies (Hackman, 2012). This model is useful based on its goal clarity, result-driven, competence of team members, unified commitment, collaborative climate, and high standard of excellence (Zaccaro et al., 2001).

The team leader has to decide whether to monitor the team they are working with or take action by themselves (Zaccaro et al., 2001). They must establish when to intervene in meeting tasks or rational needs. Their intervention can also be either internal or external. Problem monitoring is the responsibility of the leader, after which he/she rallies to focus on that problem and make appropriate choices to offer timely and accurate solutions to the issues at hand. The effectiveness of leaders is seen by their ability to establish the required interventions to solve particular problems (Zaccaro et al., 2001). All of the team members are at liberty to take part in problem monitoring.

The team leadership approach works by providing a cognitive map that identifies the needs of the group and gives suggestions for the right solutions. It also helps the leaders to understand the complex nature of groups and assist them in improving group effectiveness (Hackman, 2012). Its strengths are evidenced as it is useful in teaching and focuses on real-life organizational group work. It offers a cognitive guide that helps leaders to design and sustain effective teams (Hackman, 2012). It helps establish the changing roles of leaders in organizations and can be applied as a tool while selecting leaders of various groups.

However, this model is insufficient and will require additional skills to implement (Zaccaro et al., 2001). It may be impractical based on its complexity. It doesn't offer solutions to teams with disturbed leadership and cannot harmonize members who have a variety of skills. The model will require the organization to do a lot more in training members and leaders on the necessary skills to diagnose and take action on problems (Zaccaro et al., 2001).

Human resource management

To realize its objectives, an organization must staff itself with committed and able individuals. People are the most valuable assets of any successful organization. In successful organizations, managerial practices such as teamwork, decentralization, job security, good salaries, detailed training, and information sharing are always the top priorities (Khan, 2013). Human resource management theory brings along the diversity of workers, which is always associated with competitive results. It draws variations in talents, experiences, perspectives, and different problem-solving strategies (Khan, 2013).

Human resource management is the process of outsourcing, developing, and managing people in a structured way to realize the strategies, objectives, and missions of an organization (Khan, 2013). It depends on workers with exceptional skills and ensures the required workers are outsourced and found. The process of HRM includes attraction, development, and maintenance of a quality workforce (Khan, 2013). The attraction is done through the recruitment and selection of workers. Workforce development is done through training and orientation of employees while maintenance is achieved through retention, appraisal of performance, and reasonable salary payments.

Strategic HRM uses the HRM process to see to it that the mission of the organization is achieved. It entails the attraction, development, and maintenance of the outstanding workforce in determination to see through the implementation of the strategies of the organization (Khan, 2013). HR planning will identify the organization's staffing needs and come up with the right actions for filling the requirements. HR managers must be able to understand the nature of the jobs they want to be done by conducting job analysis, description, and specification.

According to Khan (2013), recruitment is the first step in attracting competent workers to an organization. It involves job advertisements, initial contact, and initial screening of job candidates. The recruitment can either be internal or external. Selection should be made from the category of the best-qualified applicants (Khan, 2013). The selection parameters should be reliable over time without manipulations whatsoever. The process should be of high validity, and able to forecast exemplary performance by the selected candidates.