Determining Your Perfect Position

Determining Your Perfect Position

The company I work for is a software company that supports hundreds of companies that use the software. Each of these companies has their own clients who use our software. This means that my company has millions of end users that will see the way our software functions. My company is split into different departments that focus on different aspects of the software (client support, development, quality assurance, product development, information systems, etc). I believe that my company needs these departments to better interact with each other and that both the company and I would benefit if I were in the role of a manager who can link these multiple departments together.

Leadership Style

The reading explained that there are “three types of leadership behavior differentiated between effective and ineffective managers” (Yukl, 2006, p. 54) – task-oriented behavior, relations-oriented behavior, and participative leadership. A task-oriented leader will need to have skills in planning and organization. This is a key part of being an effective leader and making sure different departments can work together on projects. Scheduling productive meetings for different department members and ensuring constant communication will be a part this type of role.

Relations-oriented skills are needed to support and instill confidence in the members from different groups. These skills will also help in recognizing the accomplishments of different cross-department projects and goals that are completed. Another positive aspect of relations-oriented behavior is “keeping subordinates informed, showing appreciation for subordinates’ ideas, and allowed considerable autonomy in how subordinates do the work” (Yukl, 2006, p. 54). Ensuring that different departments are always communicating and listening to different ideas is important to making this kind of operation work effectively.

As stated in the book: “Group meetings facilitate subordinate...