Self-organization in complex systems and emergence

Self-Organization: Case Study

How Could It Be Beneficial To Use A Self-organizational, And Not Traditional

down leadership

Self-organizational style leadership empowers employees to use their skills, abilities and learning to help customers and excel in every aspect of their job. In most organizations, a self-directed approach generally results in higher productivity and increased employee morale, because employees feel they have a more active and significant role in the outcome of a given situation.

A self-directed organizational style allows an organization to function more like a community, where ideas from all members of the community are considered, shared and utilized for the better of the company as a whole. In the case study provided, members of each team can represent their own community, working together to benefit the company as a whole, soliciting individual and group ideas, which is more likely to motivate team members than a top down driven system.

In a top down driven system, people often lose a sense of what they are working for. Many employees become disenchanted, faced with the prospect or belief that they are contributing very little to the final product or service. With a self-organizational leadership style, employees can structure their day to be most effective and impacting, making work seem more exciting and motivational.

Employees are also more apt to make independent decisions and offer recommendations for improvement when working in a self-directed organization. They have the ability to refer to higher management when necessary, but for the most part are driven by a desire to succeed and impress, thus utilize their own creativity and decision making skills to enhance productivity and performance.

2. how might a leader utilize differences to drive self-organization in this case

Each person working in a self-driven organization has a greater set of responsibilities, and a greater sense of shared responsibility. Each person also has a style and approach to work that is unique and based on his or her own unique skills, abilities and experiences.

In the case study provided, teams are comprised of individuals with very different skill sets. An administrator for example will contribute in a different manner than a technical consultant or customer service representative. With that, some jobs require more personable skills (such as customer service representative or technical consultant) and others require more technically oriented skills. This is a situation where each of these different skills sets and the personalitites required to carry them off can actually work well as a whole to contribute to the team's bottom line.

In a self-driven organization, individual team members recognize what areas their personalities, skills and abilities can contribute most in. They will pursue those opportunities and situations which will allow them to showcase their talents and assist the organization in a manner that is familiar.

With a more top down directed approach, employees may not be as apt to take advantage of their differences, and the leader may not be utilizing individual employees to their fullest potential, because the leader may not be aware of the exact skill sets certain employees are bringing to the table.

In a customer service-based organization, where employees are dealing with clients from multitudinous backgrounds, it is important that differences are embraced and acknowledged, to help facilitate knowledge sharing and communication between team members and clients.