Managing people in team Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Managing people in team - Essay Example Problem-solving skills are essential in this case since the team is made up of individuals with different views and interests thus bound to conflict. One question though that lingers on most organisations is how to manage a teams performance. Who should be credited for team’s success, is it the manager or the workers? This is an issue that has received considerable debate over the years. Adam Smith considered managers as ‘principle clerks’ thus assuming away any role for managers (Berri, Leeds, Leeds & Mondello, 2009). The workers were believed to be the ones contributing to success. Early researchers differentiated managers from entrepreneurs and viewed entrepreneurs as more active in ensuring productivity. However, recent studies have started acknowledging the role played by managers in improving productivity and ensuring workers are always motivated. Another crucial role is that of team leaders. These are entrusted with leading the group to success and as such have a big role to play in ensuring team effectiveness. The aim of this report is to evaluate the role of managers in overseeing performance as well as the importance of leadership role in team performance. This will entail interviewing managers of two organisations to find out their views on how they manage and lead their teams in eliciting excellent performance. Marks and Spencer is one of UK’s leading retailers of clothing, food, home products and financial services. It has an employee base of 78,000 employees in the UK and abroad and serves 21 million customers. It has more than 700 UK stores and a turnover of  £8 billion. It is committed to offering superior quality products to its customers at attractive prices (Corporate.marksandspencer.com, 2013). This is enhanced by its various teams which are headed by sectional managers as well as retail managers. Bluebird Garments is a textile company situated in the UK. It has a total of 2000 employees who are involved in