Report on Communication and Leadership

Leadership determines the future of an organization. Leaders influence the work performance and outcomes of their subordinates and team members in different ways. Manifestation, values, decision-making styles, communication skills, and behavior of leaders cause changes in the organization and team performance. (Lussier & Achua, 2012) Barack Obama is the political leader of the USA who worked as president of the country just a few years ago. In this assignment fundamental of communication and leadership, organizational culture, leadership climate, and developing high performing team are discussed in detail in the light of the information presented in course books (Lewis, 2002; Lussier & Achua, 2012). Somehow, assignment also provides information about behavior, decision, views, communication style, and attitude of Barack Obama concerning with leadership and teamwork.      

Fundamentals of Communication and Leadership

In accordance with the views of Lussier and Achua, (2012) a rich process that involves cooperative efforts, decision making, and, information exchange is known as communication. Effective communication basically refers to the efficiency and excellence of conveying a message. How members of a team communicate with other members of their team is also a concerning point for Effective communication (Lussier & Achua, 2012). Wrong way of communication can cause conflicts and damage in overall team relationship; therefore effective communication skill is mandatory to play the role of effective team leader.  Barack Obama has a reputation great political leader in the USA because of his effective communication skills (Raza, 2016). He is famous for quick and most appropriate responses in communication. According to Raza, once in the segment of “Between the Ferns” Obama replied to a comment of Zach Galifianakis by saying that if he ran the third time, it would seem that he is doing third “Hangover” (a film of Zach Galifianakis).

According to Warren Bennis, (2011) failure to listen is the major reason why most of the leaders fail and cause an organization to fail. Basically, failure to listen and ambiguity causes to take wrong decisions that result in failure (Lussier & Achua, 2012). Obama overcame on these issues by the habit of listening carefully. He listens to the views, questions, and decisions of other people first (Lewis, 2002). Characteristics of communication circuits and flow measures effectiveness in the communication of leaders. Obama satisfies such characteristics that make his communication really effective for listeners.

The best characteristic that Barack Obama is following to elaborate on his leadership qualities is his communication. Nobody can be a good leader until he has good communication skills. This is because if a leader has good communication with his nation so that he can easily solve their major problems without any difficulty. Obama is one of the best listeners. He always involves in listening to different problems of the nation in detail and then tried to solve them in detail. He knows how to talk with his nation and also how to communicate with others and listen to their issues in detail. Through this characteristic, he was able to satisfy and solve their issues with perfection (Goodwin, 2018).

Feedback has key value in communication as it supports verification of messages, meeting objectives and criticism. Obama faced criticism many times on his policies and decisions. Somehow he is really open to feedback as he considers it as an opportunity to get the idea about weakness and areas that need improvement (Baker, 2014).

The best part of his leadership is that he handled any kind of situation with a laugh and relaxed the mind. He always works on criticism and removed it with a cool mind because he knows any type of criticism is temporary. This can be explained with the help of an example when he was addressing a huge audience of African American boys. During his speech a lot of criticism has been increased from the audience, then after some time, he answered their question in a perfect manner through showing their importance.

While on the other hand, Lynda.com video by Doug Rose is also related to communication. In these video sections, Doug discussed communication importance, examples, one-way, two-way, formal, and informal communication. Barack Obama communicates in both formal and informal ways (Lussier & Achua, 2012). His print media publicity campaigns are an example of one-way communication. While speech, media talk, and interviews are two-way communication (Lussier & Achua, 2012).   

Organizational Culture and leadership Climate

According to Lussier & Achua (2012) the organizational culture presents the personality of an organization. Goals, standards, and social principles are values, while norms can be distinguished as unwritten rules according to which a person draw the conclusion about what organization expects from him/her in different types of situations (Lussier & Achua, 2012). USA government also has some rules and regulations that must be followed by the presidents. Therefore while working as president of USA Obama followed these norms and values. There are some goals and principles that Obama has followed in his life that helped to enhance his leadership qualities. The first and the most important goal was to give equality and take racism towards the end. This is because he wanted to make his country stronger than before through his leadership. He also ensured that the health insurance rate must be affordable and it is without any coverage (Austin, 2017). 

According to Lewis (2002) in the organizations, artifacts are tangible remains of behavior that are categorized as behavioral manifestations, verbal manifestations, and physical manifestations (Lewis, 2002). Obama utilized these manifestations to develop his personality and to himself an attractive political leader for the public of the USA. While working as president, he was used to wearing formal dresses. Most of the time we found him in blue or gray dresses. Thus through physical manifestation, he developed a culture of wearing formal and dark color dresses at formal occasions that was also followed by his subordinators and other political leaders of that time. Positive climate indicators are job satisfaction of team member, trust, and information sharing among team members. Obama supported his subordinates to share information, and attend social activities that supported him in creating a positive climate (Project Management Institute, 2017).      

According to Lewis (2002) performance can be improved from management to executive level (Lewis, 2002). Obama also took actions for the organizational climate. He introduced the results-based accountability system to bring improvement in top-level management of the country. He developed a vision of continuous improvement and accountability at each level of hierarchy in the governmental system. While other than the governmental system he also introduced reforms for accountability in the Department of Health and Human Services. For example, in 2011, he made an announcement that he cannot wait for more to bring improvement and accountability in the Head Start program (that servers poor citizens of USA with through charity program) (Obamawhitehouse.archives.gov, 2011).

Developing High performing teams

       According to Lussier & Achua (2012) that courage is difficult in an organization if there are no approval, promotions, and raises (Lussier & Achua, 2012). Barack Obama adopted leadership and teamwork and worked for the promotion of teamwork and unity. While presenting his views in his 2008 campaign, he said that he does not believe in the existence of an accidental organizational culture. In his views, it is leadership that influences organizational culture and support the development of a negative or positive environment. According to him, strong teams can achieve success easily. Therefore, he ever supported teamwork and group projects  (Leanne, 2010).  

According to Lussier & Achua (2012) mission and vision can act as a powerful force as it could help people to perform effectively (Lussier & Achua, 2012). Organization aligns the whole team performance and outcomes with the overall organizational mission and vision through team charter. There are five Rs (results, responsibilities, rules, relationships, and roles) that represents the development of project team charter. If we collect information about actions taken by Obama to charter the team we would find out that he chartered the team with meeting guidelines, communication guidelines, and values. In accordance with her book, Obama developed core values for his team. People under his team are required to follow up these values and instructions. He introduced specified rules, and responsibilities for team members. Respect and trust are the key qualities of the relationship between his team members (Leanne, 2010).

            According to Lussier & Achua (2012) teamwork result in effective decision making Teamwork is commonly associated with ease in success and goals achievement (Lussier & Achua, 2012). There are some attributes of high performing teams in organizations. values synergism, vary levels, and work intensity, continuous improvement practices, and share common purpose are some common examples of high performing teams attributes. Barack Obama’s team possess some of these attributes such as common share goals, various levels and work intensity, and communicate effectively. Obama's teamwork according to their capabilities and skills as they are given tasks by taking their individual differences into consideration. Appreciating strengths and team leader help to overcome weaknesses develop motivation in the teamwork and make them high performing. Obama’s team is high performing because of his reinforcement and incentive policies. Obama always works as a team, and this can be explained with the help of an example that during his speech he always focus on these words that we all are in one team and we must have to work as a team member for the betterment of our country (Leanne, 2010).

According to Lussier & Achua (2012) presented four types of the team; self-managed team, cross-functional team, virtual team, and, functional team. A team belonging from the same functional department is known as a functional team that is appropriate for the circumstance in which workers require less interaction with others for the completion of their tasks  (Lussier & Achua, 2012). Member of such teams share and rotate leadership. Obama as a leader adapts all these types of team. Somehow, cross-functional teams are more commonly adopted by him. There is three types of team that Obama has adopted during those days (BAER, 2014).

According to Lussier & Achua (2012) cross-functional is opposite to this. Therefore, it should be used in circumstances where a worker requires information sharing and interaction. The virtual team represents a geographically distributed workforce. Virtual work can perform better when face to face interaction is not required, and work can be done through sharing information through social media or other IT systems. The self-managed team is quite different from all other types because of the difference in leadership style (Lussier & Achua, 2012). Barak Obama also focused on the functional team; as he had adopted when the natural storm occurred in the USA. The cross-functional team he has adapted when dealing with other countries, so he adopted that type of team. The last type of team is not adapted by Obama because he was a leader (BAER, 2014).

Conclusion on Communication and Leadership

The whole discussion concludes that effective communication is really important for an effective leader such as Barack Obama. Moreover, leadership influences teamwork and organizational culture. Barack Obama supported core values and norms that make the team-high performing. Obama influenced his followers and team members through effective communication skills, attitude, and manifestations such as the physical manifestation of wearing formal and decent dresses on formal occasions.     

Leadership plays a major role in moving the organization in a perfect way. If someone is a good leader so he can easily guide his team members for the betterment of the organization, the main role of the leader is that he must be capable of managing his team in a proper manner if he is able to manage his team members in a proper way so there are a lot of chances that the organization can easily move towards success.

In this whole article, there is a proper discussion about the leadership and communication that how a good leader is able to motivate his team in a proper way and also able to lead his team in best way according to his capabilities. In this article, there is a discussion about the leading powers of Barack Obama how he led his team. The best part of his leadership characteristic is his communication skills. Through this characteristic, he has the ability to make his country stronger than before. 

References of Communication and Leadership

Austin, H. (2017, 01 19). Barack Obama vows to speak out on 'core values' after he leaves office. Retrieved 02 12, 2019, from www.independent.co.uk: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/president-barrack-obama-latest-final-news-conference-donald-trump-chelsea-manning-russia-a7534531.html

BAER, D. (2014). Always Wear The Same Suit: Obama’s Presidential Productivity Secrets. Retrieved 02 12, 2019, from www.fastcompany.com: https://www.fastcompany.com/3026265/always-wear-the-same-suit-obamas-presidential-productivity-secrets

Baker, P. (2014, 07 21). President’s Secret to Handling Criticism? Focus, and No TV. Retrieved 02 11, 2019, from www.nytimes.com: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/22/us/politics/obamas-secret-to-handling-criticism-focus-and-no-tv.html

Goodwin, D. K. (2018). Leadership: In Turbulent Times. Simon and Schuste.

Leanne, S. (2010). Leadership the Barack Obama Way. McGraw-Hill. Retrieved 02 12, 2019

Lewis, J. P. (2002). Project Leadership (2 ed.). McGraw-Hill. Retrieved 02 12, 2019

Lussier, R. N., & Achua, C. F. (2012). leadership theory Application & skill Developmnet (5 ed.). Erin Joyner. Retrieved 02 12, 2019

Obamawhitehouse.archives.gov. (2011, 11). We Can't Wait: President Obama Takes Action to Improve Quality and Promote Accountability in Head Start Programs. Retrieved 02 12, 2019, from Obamawhitehouse.archives.gov: https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2011/11/08/we-cant-wait-president-obama-takes-action-improve-quality-and-promote-ac

Project Management Institute. (2017). A guide to the project management body of knowledge (6 ed.). Project Management Institute, Inc. Retrieved 02 12, 2019

Raza, A. (2016, 09 13). 3 Moments Where President Obama Earned the Title of Great Communicator. Retrieved 02 11, 2019, from www.entrepreneur.com: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/280400