The Role of Teamwork and Leadership in Outdoor Activities

In this essay, the key focus is to find out why leadership and teamwork is so vital in the public services. There are many responsibilities and challenging situations that they face and to succeed in these situations, the team needs to be structured and everyone needs to have their roles and responsibilities, Belbin's theory dives into this idea. The leader is what makes the team, so it's vital they take the right approach to ensure the team's success.

The Importance of Leadership and Teamwork in the Public Services

The public services work in a hierarchy style and a lot of responsibilities fall on to those that find themselves at the top. Those that sit further down the ranks rely on those that are higher above to guide and assist them through their career. This is essential for correct functioning of the service. In regards to the army, competent leaders of character are necessary for them to be able to meet the challenges in the dangerous and complex security environment currently faced. An ideal military leader has strong intellect, physical presence, professional competence, high moral character, and serves as a role model to all those they lead. A leader that leads by example is normally also very highly respected. A lot of the time a link is shown that if a leader is to misbehave and break rules then those that look up to them will also feel as if they can do the same and this will lead to a topple of the service. Those of lower ranked are also trained to adapt to become a leader when the situation arises. Having a lot of members at high ranks and levels does not always mean the service may run efficiently. The main factor to a successful service is communication. All members of the service are responsible for clear communication to ensure everything runs smoothly. This is more vital than ever in a public service scenario due to the fact that people's lives are more often than not on the line. Those of high ranks are normally responsible for making final decisions, sometimes they may need to take an autocratic style of leadership to ensure the right choices are made to combat the situation at hand. From the writer's perspective, to round off, they think that the most important part of being a leader is to take on board the opinions of those below them as there is never not enough room for more points of views and opinions and in some cases, those that are lower down actually have better suggestions than those in charge

Analysis of Leadership Theories

Kurt Lewin's Leadership Theory

The Kurt Lewin leadership styles are some of the oldest leadership approaches there are. The styles originated from the 1930s and consist of democratic leadership, built on empowering and engaging team members to endeavour in decision-making, with an aim toward consensus. The appealing climate welcomes all opinions, leading to a firm solution. However, the democratic leader still has the final say on any decisions. This style is sometimes slow moving but generally very productive. Autocratic leadership, when the leader takes hold of all the decisive power and rarely consults others. Autocratic leadership is unpopular, has many disadvantages, and leads to low engagement and occasionally to an unpleasant environment to be in. Autocratic leadership can be useful and sometimes necessary in a crisis, when control and fast decisions are crucial. Laissez-faire leadership is a more hands-off style of leadership where team members are free to make all decisions. Laissez-faire leadership leads to low productivity and a perception of a disengaged leader. This style of leadership can work with capable, highly skilled and self-motivated teams. According to the Lewin experiments, autocratic leadership is the most productive, followed by democratic leadership. Those that experience an absent leader, productivity remains in democratic leadership, but drops rapidly in autocratic leadership. Laissez-faire is deemed the least productive of the three leadership styles. The strengths of Lewin's leadership styles are as follows: They are very easy to perceive, the extreme differences between laissez-faire, democratic and autocratic make it alot easier to understand your personal leadership in comparison and the significant difference can boast some good and worthwhile decisions in a group.

The Great Man Theory

The great man theory of leadership became popular during the 19th century. The mythology behind some of the world's most famous leaders, such as Abraham Lincoln, Julius Caesar, Mahatma Gandhi, and Alexander the Great, helped contribute to the notion that great leaders are born and not made. In many examples, it seems as if the right man for the job seems to emerge almost magically to take control of a situation and lead a group of people into safety or success. One of the key problems with the Great Man theory of leadership is that not all people who possess the so-called natural leadership qualities actually become great leaders. If leadership was simply an inborn quality, then all people who possess the 'necessary traits would eventually find themselves in leadership roles'. Research has instead found that leadership is a surprisingly complex subject and that numerous factors influence how successful a particular leader may or may not be. Characteristics of the group, the leader in power, and the situation all interact to determine what type of leadership is needed and the effectiveness of this leadership. Strengths of The Great Man Theory has certain qualities like, persuasiveness, charm, demanding personality, increased perception, courage, intellect, aggressiveness and be action orientated which skills that they cannot be taught or learned. The Great Man theory does not have a scientific basis and experimental legitimacy. The theory is more of a provisional perception. The limitations of the Great Man Theory, apart from the unlikelihood of characteristics being passed through genes, is the ridiculous belief that some people become successful and great leaders based on their surrounding situations.

Hersey and Blanchard Situational Theory

The Hersey-Blanchard Model suggests no single leadership style is better than another. Instead of focusing on workplace factors, the model suggests leaders adjust their styles to those they lead and their abilities. Under the model, successful leadership is both task-relevant and relationship-relevant. It is an adaptive, flexible style, whereby leaders are encouraged to consider their followers, individuals or a team and then to consider the factors that impact the work environment before choosing how they will lead. This ensures they will meet their goals. Leaders who live by the model must choose the leadership style that most suits the maturity of followers. As an example, if follower maturity is high, the model suggests the leader is to provide minimal guidance. In contrast to this, if follower maturity is low, the leader might need to provide explicit directions and supervise work closely in order to ensure the group has clarity on their goals and how they are expected to achieve them. The maturity level of followers are separated into three categories: high, moderate and low. Those that are considered high maturity include highly capable and confident individuals who are experienced and work well on their own. Moderate maturity is generally divided further into two groups: the first are workers who are capable but lack enough confidence to take on the responsibility to do so, the second group has the confidence but is not willing to do the task at hand. Low maturity workers are genuinely not skilled enough to do the task but are normally very enthusiastic.

One advantage of an adaptive leadership style is leaders can change their style at their own discretion at any time. Secondly, employees may find a leader who adapts to shifts in the workforce as a desirable trait. It is also a simple and easy-to-apply leadership style, meaning a manager can quickly evaluate a situation and make decisions as they see fit. On the downside, situational leadership may put too much responsibility on the manager, whose decisions may be flawed. Also, the model may not apply to every work culture. The model may also prioritize relationships and tasks, as opposed to a company's long-term goals. In the writer's opinion, the most effective style of leadership is Hersey and Blanchard's situational leadership. The reason for this is because it is very important, especially in the public services, for those of high ranks to be able to make decisions based on the situation at hand. Due to the varying nature of calls, it is important each leader can change to adapt to the situation and their team around them to ensure a smooth execution of the situation.

Belbin and Maslow's Theories

Meredith Belbin undertook in depth research to find out how people work together in teams. The key point to take away from his findings is that effective teams must have certain key roles fulfilled. Everybody has a tendency to behave in a particular way when working with other people, which doesn't mean, of course, that they'll always behave like that. Belbin's theory states that there are nine roles which need to be occupied within any team. These are: Coordinator, Plant, Resource Investigator, shaper, Monitor Evaluator, Teamworker, specialist, Implementer and Completer Finisher. Although there are nine team roles, this doesn't mean that a team needs nine people in it to be effective. Everybody seems to have a preference for one or more of these 'Team Roles' when behaving naturally in a group. If you have more than one 'natural role', then you can switch between them if you choose, and this is useful knowledge if you ever need to fill a different role in a team. Advantages to Belbin's theory are: Identification of behavioural strengths, Identification of behavioural weaknesses, Individual team member development, Improved internal communication and Improved collaboration between multi-functional teams. On the other hand, the negatives are: Specifically designed for teams, Designed to be used in a work setting and it only measures behaviors not personality.

Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a theory of motivation which claims that five categories of human needs are the cause of an individual's behavior. Those needs are physiological needs, esteem needs, love and belonging needs, safety needs and self-actualization needs. Maslow's theory presents his hierarchy of needs in the structure of a pyramid, basic needs being at the bottom of the pyramid and more important, intangible needs at the top. A person can only move on to addressing the higher-level needs when their basic needs are completely fulfilled. In addition to these needs, He also thought that we as humans have a need to learn new information and to better understand the world around us. This is partly due to the fact that learning more about our environment helps us meet our other needs. As an example of this, learning more about the world can help us feel safer, and developing a better understanding of a topic that one is passionate about can contribute to self-actualization, which is Maslow's goal. However he also believed that to understand the world around us is an innate need as well. Maslow's hierarchy of needs represents part of an important shift in the way we think. Rather than focusing on abnormal behavior and development, Maslow's humanistic style of psychology was focused on the development of healthy individuals.

Critically Review the Benefits of Outdoor Activities to Public Services

The public services value the use of outdoor adventurous activities highly and in the majority of them across the globe, it is mandatory. One of the aims is to develop individuals' courage and leadership skills through controlled exposure to risk. More often than not, in a situation involving danger, natural team leaders will emerge. By using these controlled activities, those that do not emerge can be encouraged and those that do emerge can be practiced and taught on how to improve. Some of the known benefits to the public services are improved sleep, which can be important, especially on exercise or long shifts. Improved mental health, this is one of the most important things in the public services due to their exposure to challenging situations and finally, staff absence. Due to the ever growing number of short staff in the public services, it is important to keep the number of absences as low as possible. The use of these activities can also build good team cohesion. In the military primarily, recruits normally train, eat, sleep and work together for a long period of time. This genuinely leads to building trust and reliance upon each other. On the flipside of this, the use of outdoor activities can be a great way to rehabilitate and wind down those that have just either come off a military tour. Many soldiers can struggle to return to day to day life after a long tour so by having time to wind down, it can be very beneficial. Another benefit is that it can help with the likelihood of post traumatic stress disorder which is very common among those that have experienced a traumatic situation. PTSD in the military is normally referred to as combat stress. It is often linked to individuals that are fearing for their life or witnessing others killed and wounded in explosions. However, they are often also called in to help during the worst human relief situations and the bleakest of natural disasters.

Conclusion

To conclude, in the writer's opinion, the most effective style of leadership is situational leadership. The reason for this is because in the public services, they are confronted with sometimes major situations such as terrorist attacks or in contrast, small situations like robberies. At both ends of this spectrum, it requires different types of leadership in order to manage the situation effectively. As a leader, being able to vary your leadership style is vital. Followers also tend to respond well to situational leadership due to the fact it has leeway. This style should be used a lot more. Another key thing to take into consideration is the importance of outdoor activities for soldiers returning from tours. It is vital that soldiers have an opportunity to be able to return to civilian life gradually.

References

• Army, (2020), Rank Structure, [Online], Available at: https:www.army.mod.ukwho-we-areour-peopleranks, [Accessed 210921]
• CMI, (2019), How Army defined leadership, [online], Available at: https:www.managers.org.ukknowledge-and-insightsarticlehow-the-british-army-defined-leadership, [Accessed 261021]
• Tilk, J. (2021), ‘Why is healthcare leadership important?’, Healthcare consultant, [Online], Available at: Why is Healthcare Leadership Important? · Healthcare Consultant, [Accessed 241121]