Essay Example. Java Been Job Aid

Managers ensure that organizational strategies and goals are achieved. Java Been, its growth plan includes opening a branch in a new location and expanding its online presence. For the effective implementation of these strategies, the firm aims to recruit additional staff. It is the manager’s task to ensure the effective implementation and success of the two growth plans and ensure he has a team fit for the achievement of these goals. To do this, the manager gathers a capable team through a robust human resource process in hiring, integration, training and development, and job allocation. His authority and leadership qualities must also come into play for the success of these initiatives.

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Management Roles and Function

Managers are tasked with a role to achieve both the short and long-term goals of an organization. To influence growth, the firm's managers must align individual employee goals with that of the firm to achieve the company's overall objectives. In addition to these, the managers at Java Been will be tasked to oversee the firm's daily operations, set both long and short-term goals for the firm in line with its mission and vision, and evaluate performance. To ensure the firm's human resources are in line with its need, the manager will facilitate human resource activities such as hiring and training, carrying out the administrative function, and corresponding with other firm lines.

As a manager at Java been, embracing effective communication will key to achieving any organization's goal. Gudykunst (2004) suggests that businesses must figure out the importance of emotional intelligence in their various human resource undertaking, for instance, during training and development, hiring, job allocation, etc. According to him, the emotional intelligence of an employee influences their ability to make decisions, communicate with others, and solve the problem. It is also vital for solving employee conflict, training and development, job allocation, and understanding employee dynamism (Kozlowski and Bell, 2012). Therefore, when deciding the best practices to frame communication with employees in support of the firm’s initiatives and goals, a company must consider this aspect of emotional intelligence if any communication is effective. The practice adopted must be able to perceive, reason with, understand, and manage emotions. To achieve this, the communication must be;

Framed for a precise result or purpose- If the message is unclear to you, it will be vague to the employees too, and to avoid this, the communicating manager must resonate with the message until its clear enough.

Also, the message should be framed to the situation and the audience. Business communications should be targeted, and therefore, when deciding the message, consider the impact it could have on the workforce. For instance, if it goes against their values or beliefs, consider addressing the issue. Also, the prevailing situation should influence how you pass the message. It can affect whether to deliver the message through an email or a meeting, whether to give it now or later, whether the feedback is necessary etc.

Additionally, communication must be framed to develop content understanding. Managers will aid their audience to understand issues at hand by communicating information to their most exquisite detail.

Finally, frame the content for a desired emotional intelligence. This will be done by learning or appealing to the values of the listeners. For instance, when communicating on the need to take new responsibilities by the new employees whose aim may be to career advancement, the new duties must be framed as a chance for career growth.

Decision Making

Numerous decision-making tools can be used to make strategic decisions. While some of these tools, for instance, SWOT analysis and market research, are widely applied in expansion decisions, others such as cost-benefit analysis and feasibility study are essential to forecast the possible returns and implications of undertaking growth or expansion decisions (Barnabè, 2011).

For Java Been, its goal is to open another outlet in a new location and expand its online presence. To facilitate this, the firm can undertake market research on the new site and conduct a SWOT analysis. In addition to these, the firm can carry a cost-benefit analysis to make a more informed decision. By market research, the firm should gather information about the potential customers, the state of the new market, competitors, size of the market, etc. This will provide insight into the new market, which should, in turn, help formulate strategies and goals for the new outlet. On the other hand, the cost-benefit framework can be used to access whether to invest more in opening a branch or expanding the firm's online presence and by this option, the instance with the highest benefits and few costs.

Commonly Encountered Team Development Issues When Working With New and Emerging Teams

Team development issues often arise when working with new and even emerging teams. This is mainly as a result of the dynamism and complexity that the team could be comprised of. A manager must evaluate some potential team development challenges and develop a way to deal with them before they occur (Kozlowski and Bell, 2012). Some of these challenges include;

Role confusion- This may be common due to the thinking that employees work for a common goal. Even though this is the case, ease workers have a specific role to play, and managers must spell each employee's tasks.

Poor communication- Communication at every stage of a project or essential and ineffective communication is likely to lead to project failure. To address this issue, managers at Java Been must hold regular team meetings and encourage group and individual discussions.

Other common challenges include a lack of skills and interest, especially if the job requirement doesn't match employees' desires (Woodcock, 2017), lack of leadership as people shy away from extra responsibilities etc.

How Team Development Models Inform Management Approaches in the Initiation of the Team and Throughout Projects

According to Bruce Tuckman, there are five stages that teams progress through; forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning. As per the Tuckman team development model and others such as the Patrick Lencioni five-dysfunction, communication is the key to transitioning from one stage to the next. Through each of the above steps, management approaches are informed. Managers must be human, focus on clarity, promote accountability, ensure commitment, and be derived by team outcome. According to Lencioni, this can be achieved if a manager eradicates fear among team members, and create accountability and checks between individuals in the team.

At the forming stage, new employees are introduced and oriented at both the personal and professional levels. Whereas at the storming stage, team members contribute ideas that form the basis of the project and, besides, learn the strengths and weaknesses of their group members. For the management, this stage is essential as it helps them harness conflict before the team can proceed to the next level. In the norming step, management specifies individual employee roles, expectations of the group, and overall team roles and goals.

Communication Strategies for Reducing Common Barriers to Collaboration in Diverse Teams

Collaboration is essential for the success of any business objective. However, the success of any collaborative approach is based on how effective communication is between team members as ineffective communication creates barriers to collaboration (McInnes et al., 2015). In Java Been, some communication strategies for reducing communication barriers in diverse teams will include;

Communicating expectations where team members are given clearly defined individual and group roles and responsibilities expected of them. This way, conflict and overlapping of roles will be avoided or reduced.

This can be furthered by creating a clear and compelling cause of action, establishing team goals, leveraging the strengths of each team player, fostering cohesion between group actors, keeping promises, encouraging socializing beyond the healthy work dynamics, recognizing, rewarding, and celebrating collaborative behaviors, etc.

References

Barnabè, F. (2011). A “system dynamicsbased Balanced Scorecard” to support strategic decision-making. International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management. https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/17410401111140383/full/html

Gudykunst, W. B. (2004). Bridging differences: Effective intergroup communication. Sage. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=B9LReJA44WwC&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=Gudykunst,+W.B.,+2004.+Bridging+differences:+Effective+intergroup+communication.+Sage.&ots=SIXtOgLjy3&sig=02pU85IZT0DCkfgt-miXG0vivzQ

Kozlowski, S. W., & Bell, B. S. (2012). Workgroups and teams in organizations. Handbook of Psychology, Second Edition, 12. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9781118133880.hop212017

McInnes, S., Peters, K., Bonney, A., & Halcomb, E. (2015). An integrative review of facilitators and barriers influencing collaboration and teamwork between general practitioners and nurses working in general practice. Journal of advanced nursing, 71(9), 1973-1985. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jan.12647

Woodcock, M., 2017. Team development manual. Routledge.