Diversity in Leadership

Diversity in Leadership

At some point in a manager’s work journey, they will encounter crises that require unique leadership skills. The case is a crisis because the marketing team is disintegrated, yet they have a critical project to implement. Baby boomers and millennials have disagreed about what marketing strategy to use in marketing the new library. While millennials prefer popular social media networks like YouTube and Twitter, conservative baby boomers prefer official city websites. Despite the differences, an assistant city manager must manage the conflict and accomplish the project on time.

Leadership Skills, Styles, and Approaches to Accomplish the Project

Firstly, managers must display practical communication skills. One of the most essential roles of a leader during a crisis is to communicate effectively. The leader should transparently share information between the two conflicting factions (Danborg et al., 2011). Also, leaders should remain calm despite the pressure to cement their positions (Danborg et al., 2011). In the Phoenix case, the millennial leader prefers popular social media sites over organizational websites as a marketing platform but has to avoid belittling those with contrary views. Effective communication from leaders during crises yields better outcomes.

Another leadership skill required to accomplish the project is adaptability. Sometimes, most team members may hold contrary views to a manager’s. In that case, the manager must do as the majority demands (Danborg et al., 2011). In the case of Phoenix City, baby boomers outnumber millennials; hence, their viewpoint may stand. When that happens, the team leader should accept and steer the team’s decision even though they did not initially agree. Also, relationship management skills will be helpful in the Phoenix City case. A manager should give clear, assertive instructions during a crisis and foster teamwork. An effective manager should build the team instead of being irked and barking orders at the two factions for disagreeing (To et al., 2021). Strong relationship skills and self-control will help a team leader accomplish a project despite disagreements.

Strategies to Create a More Collaborative Work Environment

The management should give members sufficient time to get to know one another to create a collaborative working environment in a diverse team. Building relationships allows team members to understand the deep-rooted differences that may contribute to their differences (Yeager & Nafukho, 2012). As team members try to understand one another, the company should also implement reward programs to encourage collaborative performance. Second, the company may implement diversity training programs to create a collaborative work environment. Diversity training may include a simulation of real-life situations so that members learn to navigate their differences and pursue the company’s objectives (Yeager & Nafukho, 2012). The new marketing team at Phoenix City must accept the deep-rooted generational differences between millennials and baby boomers. Training programs designed to create understanding around the subject will go a long way to ease differences.

Another strategy that may help in this situation is relationship mentorship. Relationship mentorship aims to bridge the ideological gap between young and older employees. The city can create formal channels to encourage collaboration between young and more senior employees. Besides, the city assistant manager may encourage informal relationships between the diverse team members to build mutual trust. Moreover, establishing success metrics and aligning them with business strategies will decrease the anti-collaborative atmosphere. Setting success metrics will prevent employees from working in silos and instead focus on the organizational good (Schaefer, 2014). Also, it helps team members abandon their individual preferences and focus on the team’s good. At Phoenix City Council, millennials prefer popular social networking sites, and baby boomers prefer the company website because they are familiar with them. Once metrics are established, team members will select a strategy that effectively addresses their primary audience. From there onwards, the team members will determine the most effective social media strategy based on performance metrics.

Managing Conflict to Implement the Social Media Strategy

Managing conflict is one of the most challenging tasks for a leader. To successfully resolve a conflict, the leader must act from the point of knowledge. By understanding that the conflict’s deep-rooted cause is a generational difference, the leader will be better positioned to resolve the problem and deliver. Besides, Omisore & Abiodun (2014) emphasize the need for active conflict management. The two opposing sides in Phoenix City should sit together and openly talk about the problems. Open conversations and confrontational arguments will enable members who may have previously acted from the point of ignorance to discern new insights.

Another way to resolve the conflict at the Phoenix City office is to embrace compromise. Compromise requires all conflicting parties to give up some elements of their prepositions. The strategy applies in conflicts where members hold the same power. Regarding the Phoenix City case, baby boomers and millennials can compromise using social media and the website, depending on the circumstances. Consequently, that will allow the team to formulate a social media strategy amid the conflicts.

References

Danborg, T., Grisales, R., & Lopez, N. (2011). BLEKINGE TEKNISKA HOGSKOLA MBA Program School of Management The Link between Project Management Leadership and Project Success. http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:831794/FULLTEXT01.pdf

Omisore, B. O., & Abiodun, A. R. (2014). Organizational Conflicts: Causes, Effects and Remedies. International Journal of Academic Research in Economics and Management Sciences, 3(6). https://doi.org/10.6007/ijarems/v3-i6/1351

Schaefer, A. (2014). Creating a Collaborative Organizational Culture. https://www.iedp.com/media/1855/unc-white-paper-creating-a-collaborative-organizational-culture.pdf

To, A. T., Tran, T. S., Nguyen, K. O., Hoang, V. T., & Thai, K. P. (2021). Applying Conflict Management Styles to Resolve Task Conflict and Enhance Team Innovation. Emerging Science Journal, 5(5), 667–677. https://doi.org/10.28991/esj-2021-01303

Yeager, K. L., & Nafukho, F. M. (2012). Developing diverse teams to improve performance in the organizational setting. European Journal of Training and Development, 36(4), 388–408. https://doi.org/10.1108/03090591211220320.

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Continuing in your role as assistant to the city manager, you have been tasked to lead a team that will create a social media strategy for the library system. On the team, you have five baby boomers and three millennials. You are the team leader, Hispanic, and a millennial. The baby boomers are all white; two are me,n and one is a woman. The team has been experiencing conflict and not making progress on the project. Baby boomers disagree with millennials that social media such as Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram need to be primary components of the social media strategy for the library system. The baby boomers think the City of Phoenix website meets the city’s social media needs.

The conflict between the boomers and millennials has become more hostile, and team meetings have been unproductive.
In 750‐1,000 words, describe the following:
1. As the leader of this team, explain how you will employ leadership skills, styles, and approaches to accomplish this project.
2. Propose strategies you would use to create a more collaborative work environment for this diverse team so this task can be accomplished.
3. How would you manage the conflict between the team members to formulate the social media strategy?
Use three to five scholarly resources to support your explanations.
Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines in the APA Style guide in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.