Executive Summary
This study is an attempt to evaluate the various steps that can improve the quality of leadership and teamwork success of an organisation. It starts by a brief description of leadership, leadership development and teamwork success. The study examines the various steps taken by DSP BLACKROCK INVESTMENT MANAGERS PVT. LTD. to improve their leadership quality and teamwork success. I am assuming that the organisation, which has come to me for advice, is of similar nature of business and size. The steps taken by DSP BLACKROCK were successful as the bottom line of the company justifies the same.
Data Collection Methodology
The primary data collection methodology adopted to obtain DSP BLACKROCK’s leadership development and teambuilding improvement steps have been the company’s internal HRM documents. DSP BLACKROCK has an intranet website DSPBR Intranet which is only accessible by its employees. Access to these materials has been negotiated with Ms. Sharma who was an employee of DSP BLACKROCK. In analysing the efficiency of these practices I have drawn upon Ms. Sharma’s personal experiences, which has proved valuable. Few discussions were conducted over the phone to analyse these steps. The sources used have been referred as DSP2009 followed by the alphabets, the title and the intranet software from where we obtained the information.
Introduction
Leadership can be defined as the role of leaders to influence their team in a desired manner to achieve organisational goal (Yukl, 2006). The central theme in leadership process is the personal qualities of the leader, perception of the leader by the team members and the relationship between the leader and the team (Locke, 2003).
There are two equally elite views regarding leadership:
1. Leaders are born (Grit, 2000) and that their qualities are natural.
2. Leaders are not born but made by hard work (Henrikson, 2006; Kakabadse and Kakabadse, 1999; Kakabadse and Meyers, 1996).
The great man theory (James, 1880) supports the first view and is concerned in the personal qualities which leaders fundamentally possess (Kakabadse and Kakabadse, 1999). This approach assumes that a ‘great man’ as expected holds the indispensable skills which allow him/her to work as a leader. By identifying these crucial qualities, others can follow them through replicated vision of leadership (Lawer, 2005).
Since 1990s, the need to enhance leadership competence amongst organisational managers has been on the rise. The major reasons for the rise, in such needs, are the initiation of the quality movement with heavy reliance on team work, and the increasing commonness of organisational flattening which resulted in removal of many middle level managers.
According to Klagge, J (1997) “Today’s organisational managers need leadership skills to develop high performing teams and to cover the wider spans of control left in the wake of downsizing”. Organisational managers started facing new challenges when the quality movement was initialled in the 1990s.
It was the emphasis on, what is now known as, Total Quality Management (TQM) that changed the focus of managers. It comprised of:
1. Quality Control (Deming, 1985).
2. Customer Focus (Crosby, 1979).
3. Performance Measurement (Bouckaert, 1993).
4. Continuous Improvement (Juran, 1979).
Moreover, with the focus on team building new leadership responsibilities were added to managers (Larson and LaFasto, 1989). Klagge, J (1997) quotes Riggs (1992) “Managerial performance criteria related to leadership, motivation, communication and team building, were quickly added to the emerging number of 360-degree performance review process”.
This led to the need for leadership development amongst managers. Downsizing of organisations was another challenge to managers. Klagge, J (1997) quotes Pinsonnealut and Kraemer (1993) “This dispersion of managerial focus, coupled with the dilution of organisational ability to respond to complexities and dynamics of today’s organisational environment has made managers less productive”.
Nowadays, organisations need to have dynamic leaders with new skills and abilities to match up to the competition in the industry. As the world is fast changing organisations are focussing on training and developing their leaders to increase the productivity of their organisations.
The main approaches to leadership development are as follows:
1. Skill building – the decision making process.
2. Concepts of leadership.
3. Outdoor Adventure which involves team building.
4. Feedback – leadership framework ranking.
A big hurdle in leadership development is Organisational Politics which brings a huge gap between aspirations and achievements of leaders.
The delivery of leadership development is fast shifting from traditional training approach to an action based approach. According to Hernez-Broome and Hughes (2004:2) state, “action learning is a set of organisational development practices in which important real-time organisational problems are tackled”. To improve the quality of leadership managers needs to be trained keeping in the real environment, solving realistic business problems. The quickest way to improve the quality of leadership is to engage in finding way out of real issues through action based learning (Giber et al, 2000).
Other ways to improve the quality of leadership is Job Rotation also known as the provision for challenging job assignments (Zenger and Folkman, 2003). Such assignments are selected to give exposure to managers in various verticals of organisations. Apprenticeships and off-site retreats are conducted by organisations to enhance leadership quality and improving team bonding.
Team can be defined as a small group of individuals, with a group of performance targets, who have a dedication to a common function and an approach for which they hold themselves equally accountable (Katzenbach and Smith, 1993).
As a consultant I would advice recommendations which are discussed in depth below. The advice is supported with example from DSP BLACKROCK INVESTMENT MANAGERS, India.
The organisation I would be discussing is DSP BLACKROCK INVESTMENT MANAGERS, India. This company is a joint venture between DSP Investments, India and Blackrock, USA.
To improve the quality of leadership the following steps were taken by DSP BLACKROCK INVESTMENT MANAGERS PVT. LTD, INDIA:
1. Management Development Programmes (DSPBR Intranet 2010a)
These programmes are designed either at internal level for organisation managers by the company or at national/international level by professional consultants.
At DSP BlackRock the human resource department in collaboration with the top management had designed ‘FAST TRACKER’ management development programme, also known as classroom training, to develop the quality of leadership of existing managers. It is organised in the head office and is a 5 day event. Since DSP BlackRock had branch offices all across India, managers from all these branches assemble at the head office in Mumbai for this event. This is an annual event wherein top leaders from within the company as well the industry give talk about improving the quality of leadership, recent trends etc. Since management is dynamic such programmes are very helpful in keeping the managers up-to-date with recent market trends. This helps them in their decision making process which is their foremost function. Team management is also a very important function which is discussed in depth in such events.
The advantage of such events is the fact that it keeps the managers informed about the trends of the industry which assists them in their decision making. Managers get equipped with the best team building practices which are being followed. The only disadvantage in organising such events is the cost involved in conducting it. The human resource team at the company conducts quarterly performance reviews. This helped to judge the impact of conducting such events. Overall DSP BlackRock has positive impact with such events and probably that is the reason why the company still conducts it annually.
The same type of an event was organised at International level in New York. The four Zonal managers of the company attends this event. This event was organised once in two years to enhance the business development of managers. Other areas discussed in depth were achievement of organisational goals through team building, improving quality of leadership in the dynamic field of management and how to cope with market competition. Such events provide the managers with international exposure which is required for growth especially in a country like India which has come under global radar.
The company also sponsor’s two managers every year to pursue executive MBA in reputed business schools with the contract that such managers would have to work for 3 years with the company post their studies. This is a very effective way of acquiring professional skills but at a slightly higher cost. Only large corporations execute such methods.
Managers were also sent for several other management development programmes organised by well know human resource consultant or institutions like Indian Institute of Management (IIM, India), Indian School of Business (ISB, India) and other such events. In these programmes several real life case studies were discussed which criticized how organisations handle business challenges. All these programmes were custom designed to enhance the quality of leadership skills of managers.
2. Mentoring and Coaching (DSPBR Intranet 2010b)
Mentoring is process wherein a senior employee supports the development of a junior employee (Hernez-Broome and Hughes, 2004). It is a long term relationship. In DSP BlackRock it was known as mentor-mentee programme. In this programme, senior manager level employees are made mentors and are given the responsibilities of grooming new or employees with very little experience (mentees). As leadership is also about handling a team in a manner to achieve organisational goals it is essential for leader to understand employee and their development in the organisation. Leaders have to build the trust to improve the overall productivity. At DSP BlackRock mentors used to train mentees on the working of the organisation. With the expertise of the mentors the mentees used to get better and more realistic insight of their roles. Consequently, it improved the trust level between mentor and mentee and also the perception which mentee’s had about the mentor. This helped improve the quality of leadership which was reassured with improved performance of leader and the team in the quarterly review process.
The same model is also followed by Colgate-Palmolive. According to Leskiw. S and Singh. P (2007:455) “The private relationship built through both mentoring and coaching have been found to be very beneficial in transmitting the organisation’s value and accelerating the transfer and learning of the necessary leadership capabilities”.
3. Job Rotation (DSPBR Intranet 2010c)
Job rotation is a process wherein managers are made to work in other vertical of the same department in an organisation. At DSP BlackRock the marketing and sales department was divided into three parts- institutional, banking and retail clients. Earlier for every part of this department it used to be managed by separate managers. Now managers of one part are also given responsibilities of other part. This way, managers were equipped with the skill required to lead the entire sales team as they would be having sufficient knowledge and experience of the marketing and sales department. This was a very successful step taken by the human resource department of the company as the two new zonal managers of marketing and sales had much wider knowledge and expertise of the entire department than other two existing zonal managers who had experience in only one part of the department. Therefore, this is an effective way to enhance the quality of leadership.
4. Extensive Feedback Mechanism (DSPBR Intranet 2010d)
An extensive feedback mechanism was adopted by DSP BlackRock to evaluate the overall performance of the leaders and their team members. Through this mechanism they also evaluate the effectiveness of the management development programmes, mentoring and coaching etc. Even though data is not quantifiable Kirkpatrick’s four-level training evaluation theory was used to measure the efficiency of such programmes. This model evaluates managers at four different levels as can be seen from the diagram 1. The only drawback of such model is that the cost increases at each level but the return can be seen by measuring the programmes impact on the company’s bottom line.
Even academic journals reassure the same. According to Leskiw. S and Singh. P (2007:458) “Individual outcomes of leadership developments are best assessed by daily evaluations, end of initiative evaluations, learning and change surveys and behavioural observations. Team outcomes are best determined through dialogue and focus groups, while organisational outcomes are best determined through return on investment analysis, document analysis, workplace statistics and customer satisfaction results”. Therefore it is a very efficient way and should be incorporated by most organisations.
A performance review is conducted every quarter by the human resource department to assess the overall performance of employees and managers. This helps in keeping a track of the improvement or reduction in performance. This measure is also pertinent to improve the quality of leadership and teamwork success.
To improve teamwork success the following steps were taken by DSP BLACKROCK INVESTMENT MANAGERS PVT. LTD, INDIA:
1. Team Building Exercises (DSPBR Intranet 2010e)
At DSP BlackRock several team building exercises are conducted to improve the efficiency of the teams. The Human resource department conducts an annual offsite retreat where they organise several team building games and sports. The main motive of such events was to improve the understanding within the team, reduce conflicts within the team and organisation, generating greater commitment and improving coordination amongst team members and leaders. Organisations face certain problems like lack of clear goals, conflicts within team and with leader and job dissatisfaction. Most issues can be sorted out with the help of such exercises. For other issues the team leaders have to understand the problem and sort it out. Therefore team leader also plays a crucial in teamwork success. Another problem in team work success is the lack of understanding with the team leader. Team leader should involve team members in decision making process and should not only allocate them work. Such events are also essential to motivate the employees and are arranged twice a year. Costs involved in conducting such events are high but the return on investment can be measured through improvement in bottom line of organisation. Therefore such events should be conducted to improve the teamwork success.
2. Training for team members (DSPBR Intranet 2010f)
At DSP BlackRock extensive training is given to employees to enhance their knowledge and understanding of their role. Once the employee is clear about their role, they are able to perform efficiently. These trainings are conducted by the human resource department of the organisation. Such trainings are particularly given to new employees. According to Argote and McGrath (1993: 337) efficient team work requires “a balance between autonomy and decentralisation of power on one hand, for the sake of both motivation and flexibility, and centralised control on the other hand, for the sake of coordination and predictability”.
3. Reward and Recognition (R&R) (DSPBR Intranet 2010g)
DSP BlackRock has a well designed reward and recognition structure in place. This structure links performances with compensation. Practically thinking, employees work for financial gains. Linking performance with compensation is very essential for all the above steps to work effectively. Until the above mentioned steps are linked to performance team member and leaders won’t be motivated to work efficiently. A snapshot of some of the R & R activities are mentioned in table 2. Such structures should be initiated to improve the teamwork success and improving the quality of leadership in organisations.
Table 2: A Snapshot of the Reward and Recognition Structure
| Mechanism | Objective |
| Employee of the month | To encourage individual employee performance |
| Team of the month | To encourage efficient team work |
| Team of the quarter | To encourage consistent efficient team work. |
| Manager of the quarter | To encourage efficient managerial work. |
| Zone of the quarter | To encourage efficient zone performance. |
| Project Milestone Parties | To encourage efficient completion of projects. |
| Best PIP Award | To encourage innovation and continuous improvement. |
Source: DSPBR Intranet 2010
Conclusion
As management is now being considered as dynamic, leadership quality and teamwork success improvement is an ongoing process. The above mentioned steps are being followed by DSP BLACKROCK INVESTMENT MANAGERS PVT. LTD. and are successful. Even though there are certain drawbacks like the cost involved and quantifying performance the overall return on investment is positive and hence I, as a consultant, would recommend similar steps for the company.
References
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