In this assignment, I will define the attributes and skills needed by a team leader.
A team leader is someone who provides guidance, instruction, direction and leadership to a
group of other individuals for the purpose of achieving a key result. The latter is required to
represent the team to the next higher reporting level, resolve conflicts between team members
and coordinate team efforts.
Theories:
Tannebaumn and Schmidt:
This theory is a simple model of leadership theory which shows the relationship between the
level of freedom that a manager chooses to give to a team, and the level of authority used by
the manager. As the team's freedom is increased, so the manager's authority decreases. This is
a positive way for both teams and managers to develop. This theory suggests that the manager
in order to develop their team they should delegate and ask a team to make its own decisions
to varying degrees according to their abilities.
John Aldair:
This theory states that leaders are responsible for three functions; the task, the individual and
the team. John Adair's Action-Centred Leadership model is represented by Adair's 'three
circles' diagram, which illustrates Adair's three core management responsibilities:
achieving the task
managing the team or group
managing individuals
Douglas McGregor:
This theory states that there are two ways of leading people theory x and theory y.
McGregor's ideas suggest that there are two fundamental approaches to managing people.
Many managers tend towards theory x, and generally get poor results. Enlightened managers
use theory y, which produces better performance and results, and allows people to grow and
develop.
Theory X is the authoritarian management style and involves the following:
The average person dislikes work and will avoid it if they can.