MN7000 Leading and Developing People Research Paper 1 Sample

MN7000 Leading and Developing People

Assignment Details

This assessment encourages students to carry out independent applied research into a specified topic, theory or issue related to Leadership and Business organisations in the UK or around the world using a literature review and secondary research.

The choice of topic should be applied to a specific organisation (or firm). The organisation should be real and could of small or medium scale that produces/sells a product or delivers a service.

• Students will present this research proposal concisely in the form of an academic document (Max: 1500 words), and

• Will reflect on the exercise in order to develop their own Personal Development Plan (200 words).

Topics to choose from are:

1. How does organisational culture, specifically focusing on factors such as values, leadership style, and work environment, influence staff retention within a medium sized service organisation?

2. How do servant leadership principles within a small production company impact on employee engagement levels?

3. What are the key virtual leadership practices that significantly influence team performance in remote work environments.

In addition, students should submit a reflective and development plan based on their own learning on the topic they have covered (200 words). This plan should relate to students’ own skills and capabilities and set out their plans of what they need to do to develop as a manager and leader.

Research Proposal

Research proposals are widely used within the academic community at conferences and other events where research and ideas are discussed. They can act as an introduction to your work or as a stimulus for debate.

Here, the proposal is presented and submitted as a WORD document to be submitted on Turnitin. The link for the submission will be made available on Weblearn in due time

You may wish to bear the following guidance in mind when preparing your proposal.

1) Consider who your audience will be for this proposal and use relevant material. In this case, the audience could be managers, co-workers at an organisation, or other interested researchers. They may not be familiar with the technical language or concepts to do with leadership theories or organisational structure. Make sure your narrative is clear and not too technical.

2) Consider the purpose in producing this proposal and its impact on the audience. A proposal needs to be easy for the audience to digest. It must therefore be clear in its concepts and ideas. It will also require precise and economical use of words. Your proposal should identify and explore at granular level a theme that you have covered in the module and that you have found relevant and valuable in advancing your own leadership and development capabilities.

This proposal is an academic tool, so you need to include citations and references.

3) Before Submitting:

Check your draft proposal for spelling mistakes. Print and invite someone you know to give you feedback on it (asking them questions to explore whether it is effective in conveying its message).

Solution

Introduction

Measom Freer & Company Ltd., a professional services firm, distinguished for its expertise and unique background which is embedded in more than one hundred years. The company has been established in 1912, and built a reputation of integrity and quality, has sustained an unflinching dedication to its employees. Measom Freer & Co. Ltd. is a comprehensive provider of auditing, accounting, taxation, and business advisory services to organizations across different industries. It is gaining more trust with each day that passes and more and more companies are considering it a partner they can rely on.

In recent years, Measom Freer & Company Ltd. has opted the opportunities provided by remote work and telecommuting conditions in its business mold, recognizing the need for the company to evolve in accordance to new work conditions. JAM has set a target on nurturing reliable virtual leadership skills through creation of a conducive digital work environment that will assess the remote teamwork, communication, and productivity in the workspace.

After COVID-19 pandemic, the world has taken a major shift towards the digital integration organisations and business have shifted their work process to online platforms and led to work from home policy or hybrid policy. This trend has obviously contributed to the organizational processes and to team management. Virtual leadership has established its importance as firms adopt virtual work environment and performance efficiency cannot be guarantees without effective virtual leadership (Garro et al., 2021). Way of virtual leadership implies the use of different methods and approaches which are viewed as steps for enhancing coordination, communication, and motivation among geographically separated teams. Raising concerns technology, and building communications that are clear, trust, autonomy, and virtual team building are the main direction for MBA assignment expert.

Aim and Objectives

The aim of this research is to analyse the key virtual leadership practices which strongly impacts and inferences the team performance in remote work environment with the help of Measom Freer & Company Ltd. company’s case study.

• To identify the primary virtual leadership practices implemented at Measom Freer & Company Ltd. in remote work settings.

• To evaluate the influence of virtual leadership practices on team cohesion within remote teams at Measom Freer & Company Ltd.

• To assess the impact of virtual leadership practices on team productivity and overall performance in the remote work environment of Measom Freer & Company Ltd.

• To provide actionable recommendations for enhancing virtual leadership practices to optimize team performance in remote work settings at Measom Freer & Company Ltd.

Research Significance

This research offers a number of crucial notions for Measom Freer & Company Ltd. as well as the business field in general. The faster the remote work trend sets in, the more important it is for organizations to understand the impact of virtual leadership styles on the team performance. Through exploring the concrete practices that Measom Freer & Company Ltd. utilizes, this study will make possible the giving of concrete suggestions on virtual leadership relying on the company's needs and culture. The outcome will be to inform the decision-making process and as such a result of the organization being able to tune up its virtual leadership practices, improve its communication and collaboration within remote teams and optimize the use of technology tools to foster virtual team dynamics (Lee, 2021). Furthermore, a successful remote work team may experience advantages in terms of higher employee engagement, productivity, and overall team performance by identifying challenges and implementing targeted strategies. In addition to this, the research will contribute to the growing pool of knowledge about virtual leadership and remote team management. This will be beneficial not only to Measom Freer & Company Ltd. but also for other organizations that need expert guidance during remote work arrangements. Such research will create the path to more wide usage of the excellent practices which subsequently will lead to a more engaged, productive, and successful remote workforce across the different industries (Garro et al., 2021). 

Literature Review

Virtual Leadership in Remote Work Environments

According to Chamakiotis et al., (2021), the human factor in virtual leadership becomes essential in the work environments that are remote and especially in the modern times. While remote work has started to be employed in large numbers, leadership strategies that are effective for keeping team cohesion, communication, and productivity in order have gained great importance. Studies demonstrate that virtual leaders are required to adapt their leadership styles to integrate various challenges of a virtual environment, such as limited face-to-face interaction and substantial reliance on technology. Researchers show that open communication, explicit expectation setting, and making sure that remote employees have adequate support, is the way to go (Garro et al., 2021). Also, virtual leaders should create an environment in which team members will mutually trust and be accountable for their work for the teamwork and achievement of goals. Through the use of technology and application of virtual communication channels appropriately, leaders can address the problem of geography and develop a suitable work environment for the team members who work remotely. In sum, the literature highlights the vital part that virtual leadership plays in motivating staff efficiency and performance in the remote working setting (Lee, 2021).

Remote Work Dynamics and Team Performance: Current Perspectives

The nature of remote work and how well teams perform has received an expansion of focus over the recent years, as remote work formats have become more frequently implemented. The study of remote team’s aim is to investigate several variables which engender their effectiveness under remote conditions. Research shows that remote work provides us with some advantages just like increased flexibility, reduced commuting stress, and an overall better balance between work and life. Collaboration, accountability, and communication become tough to uphold sometimes (Larson and DeChurch, 2020). A strong remote working relationship has two prerequisites: effective lines of communication, regular online meetings, and clearly outlined objectives to respond these challenges. In addition to the mentioned aspects, namely technology infrastructure, organizational culture, and the leadership’s style, the performance of a team in a remote setting is also influenced by these factors. From the scale of businesses with highly developed and supportive e-technology support and a flourishing remote work culture through to teams with higher performance levels, the evidence is undisputed (Yang et al., 2022).

According to Chamakiotis et al., (2021), the leadership role in remote working dynamics would assume a great importance. The virtual leaders significantly impact team unity, guideline implementation, and keeping track of team members since the individuals are working remotely. In short, the present approaches to remote work team dynamics stresses the role of overcoming communication barriers, exploiting technology well and at the same time exercising supportive leadership to ensure that remote working does not affect team performance negatively. More analysis is needed in this sphere for continuous study of evolving relations which will allow the management issue of remote work task force be cold down (Yang et al., 2022).

Technology Adoption and Its Influence on Remote Team Collaboration

According to Ferreira et al., (2021), technology adoption has a substantial impact on remote team collaboration because it determines how team members interact, share information, and collaborate on joint tasks. Adopting the right technology promotes accessibility, allows for quick communication, and enables geographically dispersed personnel to collaborate on work. The quality of the user interface and the integration possibilities of technological platforms such as Zoom, Google Meet, and others are critical considerations when collaborating remotely. Simple interfaces, together with reduced components, play a key role in increasing adoption and improving productivity. Furthermore, collaboration tools with project management systems and workflow platforms enable to integrate communication and task coordination, resulting in better performance and productivity of team members (Bagga et al., 2023). In the end, technology adoption determines the team collaboration in the remote area through providing the necessary tools and infrastructure to overcome the barriers of geography such as Wifi, modem, etc., knowledge sharing promotion and virtual environments teamwork effective. The knowledge base should be still expanded in this area so that to identify the best tactics and to improve technical adoption strategies to improve the cooperation of remote teams.

Methodology

This study will employ a secondary research approach to investigate the influence of virtual leadership practices on team performance in remote work environments within the context of Measom Freer & Company Ltd. This research method is not a first-hand research method as it involves analyse the existing data collected from number of sources instead of collecting first hand data (Bouchrika, 2021). This research's data will be generated through secondary sources, such as academic journals, industry reports, online depositories and any other officially availed information about Measom Freer & Company Ltd. and their activities. Sources will be found via keyword searches using tools like Google Scholar, JSTOR and ScienceDirect databases while they can also be found via older works referencing and citing.

Impact

I am aiming to obtain an overview of the virtual leadership assuming Measom Freer & Company Ltd. and to analyze the potential effects on the team cooperation, communication, and the final work results, working in long distances conditions. The results of this study will bring out important technological tools and sources that have contributed to the smoothly manage virtual teams. Further, the study is designed for revealing that virtual leaders and teams may encounter certain challenges; therefore, it will outline the respective solutions. With knowledge about these factors, Measom Freer & Company Ltd. will bolster its virtual leadership methods, utilize technology more efficiently, and implement dedicated strategies to improve remote team functionality so as to achieve a spike in the outcome of their performance that will result in the company’s overall success in this world of remote work.

Discussion

The implications of this study underline the vitality of virtual leadership in developing team collaboration and channels of communication in the remote working setting of Measom Freer & Company Ltd. As a result of multiple efforts such as regular virtual meetings, clear cut goals’ setting, and using of video conferencing tools team performance and productivity are propelled. Nevertheless, there are challenges such as separating work from life and building trust in virtual workspaces that have also been mentioned. The research clearly shows that continuing training, enhancing flexibility, and allowing autonomy are the mechanisms that should be adopted in order to resolve these obstacles (Garro et al., 2021). Through design of unique approaches and altering tips on leadership, Measom Freer can stand out issues presented by working remotely and overcome them. The company will need to advance and refine virtual leadership's best practices even further as the other aspect of the leadership field transforms into its new shape.

Summary and Limitations

This study revealed the impact of virtual techniques of leadership on collaboration and productivity of a remote team from Measom Freer & Company Limited. The results showed that putting communication, trust-building, and technological utilization at the top of the list of critical drivers of collaboration and productivity would make their virtual teams great. On the other hand, the other side of the coin was that the study also pin-pointed challenges of work-life integration and giving continuing support and coaching.

The study provides some helpful information. However, it is critical to acknowledge the limitations of this study, acknowledging that using secondary data may not concepts of Measom Freer’s individual context. Moreover, changes in the remote work patterns and technology may be the most frequent basis for the new findings. Complementary work of primary data collection can give more insights on virtual leadership among the team of the firm.

Ethical Considerations

The key ethical considerations are-

• Confidentiality

• Respect for participants

• Avoiding harm

• Informed consent

• Integrity

References

Bagga, S.K., Gera, S. and Haque, S.N., 2023. The mediating role of organizational culture: Transformational leadership and change management in virtual teams. Asia Pacific Management Review, 28(2), pp.120-131.

Bouchrika, I. (2021). Research as a discipline employs a wide variety of methods. While scientists conduct experiments, sociologists often conduct interviews and surveys. Archived texts and artifacts are what historians use. To collect data and test hypotheses, researchers may use primary research or secondary research.... [online] Research. Available at: https://research.com/research/primary-research-vs-secondary-research [Accessed 7 Mar. 2024].

Chamakiotis, P., Panteli, N. and Davison, R.M., 2021. Reimagining e-leadership for reconfigured virtual teams due to Covid-19. International Journal of Information Management, 60, p.102381.

Chamakiotis, P., Panteli, N. and Davison, R.M., 2021. Reimagining e-leadership for reconfigured virtual teams due to Covid-19. International Journal of Information Management, 60, p.102381.

Ferreira, R., Pereira, R., Bianchi, I.S. and da Silva, M.M., 2021. Decision factors for remote work adoption: advantages, disadvantages, driving forces and challenges. Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market, and Complexity, 7(1), p.70.

Garro-Abarca, V., Palos-Sanchez, P. and Aguayo-Camacho, M., 2021. Virtual teams in times of pandemic: Factors that influence performance. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, p.624637.

Larson, L. and DeChurch, L.A., 2020. Leading teams in the digital age: Four perspectives on technology and what they mean for leading teams. The leadership quarterly, 31(1), p.101377.

Lee, M.R., 2021. Leading virtual project teams: Adapting leadership theories and communications techniques to 21st century organizations. CRC press.

Lee, M.R., 2021. Leading virtual project teams: Adapting leadership theories and communications techniques to 21st century organizations. CRC press.

Voxco. (2021). Secondary Research: The Backbone of Insights. [online] Available at: https://www.voxco.com/blog/secondary-research/ [Accessed 7 Mar. 2024].

Yang, L., Holtz, D., Jaffe, S., Suri, S., Sinha, S., Weston, J., Joyce, C., Shah, N., Sherman, K., Hecht, B. and Teevan, J., 2022. The effects of remote work on collaboration among information workers. Nature human behaviour, 6(1), pp.43-54.