PSY 270 Module 7 Leadership and Teams Discussion example

Reviewed by Portia Lambrick, MBA Introduction to Industrial Organizational Psychology Southern New Hampshire University Full sample paper Free custom sample in 24 to 48h

This complete PSY 270 Module 7 discussion post applies leadership and team research to the night shift at the composite indoor farm Brightleaf Growers, where technicians work mostly alone and supervisors cover two buildings. It argues that the first leadership problem is absence, uses meta-analytic evidence on transformational, contingent reward and laissez-faire leadership to describe what a night lead should do, and connects psychological safety to the handoff errors that cost the farm crops. A question to classmates about leaderless shifts ends it. Brightleaf is invented, while the studies are published.

What this page holds

A PSY 270 Module 7 discussion post of about 380 words applying leadership styles and psychological safety research to a night-shift team, with specific behaviors for a new lead role and a question for classmates. Searches like "psy 270 module 7 assignment", "psy270 module 7 leadership and teams discussion" and "psy 270 module 7 example" land here.

The PSY 270 Module 7 example, in full

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Module Seven Discussion: Leadership and Team Effectiveness

Re: The night shift does not need a better boss; it needs one who is there

My example is the night shift at Brightleaf Growers, a composite indoor farm. Six to eight grow technicians work each night across two buildings, and one supervisor covers both. Night technicians report the lowest satisfaction with supervision and the highest strain, and most of the farm's crop losses trace back to problems noticed at night but not passed on.

My claim is that the night shift's first leadership problem is absence. Judge and Piccolo (2004) found in a meta-analysis that transformational leadership had the strongest overall relationship with follower outcomes, but contingent reward, clearly linking expectations and recognition, was nearly as strong, while laissez-faire leadership was negatively related to follower satisfaction and leader effectiveness. A supervisor who is in the other building when an alarm sounds is, from the technicians' point of view, practicing laissez-faire leadership whatever their intentions.

The team problem is related. In a study of manufacturing teams, Edmondson (1999) showed that a shared sense that speaking up would not be punished went with more asking, reporting and reflecting on errors, and that this learning behavior was linked to how well teams performed. Technicians told me they do not always report a dosing mistake at handoff because the day supervisor treats errors as carelessness. When admitting a mistake feels risky, the mistake is passed on silently to the next shift. Mathieu et al. (2008) described team effectiveness as depending on processes such as coordination and communication as well as on member ability, and handoff is exactly such a process.

So I would recommend a night lead technician in each building, chosen from experienced technicians, with three behaviors. First, be present and reachable during every alarm. Second, use contingent reward concretely: tell technicians what good handoff looks like and recognize it when it happens. Third, respond to reported mistakes by asking what happened and fixing the cause, so that reporting becomes normal. The day supervisors would need to match the third behavior, or the night shift's safety would end at 6 a.m.

Question for classmates: have you worked a shift where the nominal leader was rarely present, and what did the team do to fill the gap?

What this page is doingThe post makes a clear argument, supports it with research on leadership styles and team learning and turns it into specific behaviors. Linking the research to the farm's actual losses keeps the discussion applied rather than theoretical.
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References

Edmondson, A. (1999). Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(2), 350-383. https://doi.org/10.2307/2666999

Judge, T. A., & Piccolo, R. F. (2004). Transformational and transactional leadership: A meta-analytic test of their relative validity. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89(5), 755-768. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.89.5.755

Mathieu, J., Maynard, M. T., Rapp, T., & Gilson, L. (2008). Team effectiveness 1997-2007: A review of recent advancements and a glimpse into the future. Journal of Management, 34(3), 410-476. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206308316061

How this PSY 270 Module 7 example is structured

The post opens with the team's situation and a clear claim about what is missing. Research on leadership styles supports the claim, and team research explains the specific problem of errors at handoff. Concrete behaviors for the new lead follow, and a closing question asks classmates about leaderless shifts in their own experience.

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Send the PSY 270 Module 7 discussion instructions and grading rubric; a reply that puts leadership and team research to work on your example comes back within 24 to 48 hours; the first is free. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Southern New Hampshire University document.

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PSY 270 Module 7 questions, answered

What does the PSY 270 Module 7 discussion cover?

The seventh module usually addresses leadership and teams, and its discussion often asks students to apply leadership theories or team effectiveness research to a workplace situation and explain how leadership affects team outcomes.

What is laissez-faire leadership?

Laissez-faire leadership is the absence of leadership: avoiding decisions, being unavailable when needed and not responding to problems. Research consistently finds it is associated with worse outcomes for followers than active forms of leadership.

What is psychological safety?

Psychological safety is a shared belief within a team that it is safe to take interpersonal risks, such as admitting mistakes, asking questions or raising concerns, without being embarrassed or punished. It supports learning behavior in teams.