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1 Leadership Challenges – RAK Ceramics, UAE Name Instructor Course Date

2 Organizational Background RAK Ceramics is a ceramic brand headquartered in the United Arab Emirates. Founded in 1989, the organization has undergone quality and innovative changes and operates in more than 150 countries. Such proliferation is concentrated predominantly in the Middle East, Europe, Africa, North and South America, and Australia, which enables articulate service and product delivery to its massive global client base. The company offers an extensive range of ceramic and porcelain products, including floor and wall tiles, sanitaryware, faucets, and tableware. As of 2019, the organization had an annual productivity scale of over 118 million square miles of tiles, 26 million pieces of porcelain, 5.7 million pieces of sanitaryware, and 2.6 million pieces of faucets (Al-Absi et al., 2019). The global nature of the organization has resulted in increased employment opportunities, with the company employing over 12,000 staff from over 40 nations globally. RAK Ceramics' vision is to be a global leader in the ceramic industry by providing impeccable service, innovative and durable products, and sustainable environmental and societal practices. This vision is embedded in the mission statement, an unyielding commitment to excellence and sustainability. The organization aims to manufacture products of superior quality, incorporating the latest technology and design trends. Sustainability is a core tenet of the organization's objectives (Al-Absi et al., 2019). RAK Ceramics has adopted initiatives tailored to minimize its carbon footprint through eco-friendly production processes, responsible sourcing of raw materials, and energy-efficient manufacturing. As such, RAK Ceramics envisions a future where ceramic solutions extend beyond functionality and affluence instead into space transformation and the creation of timeless and worthy customer experiences. Purpose

3 The following report, therefore, aims to achieve the following objectives;  To provide insights into leadership strategies that will enhance the effectiveness, dexterity, and sustainability of RAK Ceramics operations.  To evaluate models and approaches helpful in resolving team dysfunction and empowering the affiliated teams while assessing the challenges associated with the implementation of such.  To study and elucidate the unique challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic presented to leaders while proposing practical strategies to enable organizations such as RAK Ceramics to navigate and thrive during uncertain and tumultuous times.  To explore the application of artificial intelligence in resolving leadership shortcomings while fostering culturally diverse and sensitive frameworks for stimulating rapid success in organizations with global aspirations, such as RAK Ceramics. Q1 Analyzing the leadership approach of your chosen organization, critically evaluate the leadership strategies that you would implement in the organization with appropriate justification of how it will increase the effectiveness, agility and sustainability of the organization. Under the current leadership of Sheikh Saqr Bin Saud Al Qasimi, Chairman of RAK Ceramics, the company has enjoyed rapid growth, becoming an industry leader in just three decades. These success metrics can be attributed to the organization's commitment to innovation and quality while maintaining sustainable practices, which have augmented and defined its leadership approach (Al-Busaidi et al., 2019). This leadership approach, also known as the transformational leadership style, centers on inspiring and motivating employees to achieve exceptional outcomes by fostering a culture of innovation, adaptability, and continuous improvement. As such, leaders who adopt this style stimulate and challenge their followers to

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4 surpass their limitations and excel in their roles. Transformational leadership style, as initially hypothesized by James MacGregor Burns and expanded upon by Bernard M. Bass, has a profound impact on organizational culture, employee engagement, and overall effectiveness (Bakker et al., 2022). There are several core components associated with this style, as highlighted below; Charisma and inspiration are where leaders have innate capabilities to create a compelling vision of the future, which not only aligns with broader organizational goals but motivates and inspires employees to share this vision and instil a sense of purpose and commitment to achieving both short and long-term objectives. Intellectual stimulation as transformational leaders induce creativity and innovation across multiple production and performance levels. This leadership approach often embraces new ideas and innovations as a means of improving production and boosting success metrics. As evident in RAK Ceramics' meteorically rise to the top of the ceramics and porcelain industry niche, transformational leadership style profoundly impacts organizational growth, effectiveness, and efficiency. Leaders who adopt this style inspire a sense of proprietorship, tenure, and employee identity. This translates into a proliferation in productivity, improved dedication, and optimal performance to achieve broader organizational objectives (Bakker et al., 2022). Furthermore, this leadership purports creativity and intellectual stimulation, where innovation is welcomed and embraced within the organization. RAK Ceramics has engaged in many alluring projects, such as Heathrow, where the creation of its product portfolio is evident and magnificent (Al-Mahri et al., 2019). Coupled with the adaptability and flexibility across multiple levels of management, leaders who adopt this approach set the tone for a positive organizational culture characterized by high morale, shared values, and a strong sense of

5 belonging (Bakker et al., 2022). This culture, in turn, attracts and retains top talent while preventing employee and customer turnover to their competitors, maintaining the high competitive advantage that has been a benchmark for the past three decades since its inception. However, while this leadership approach has been the source of much desirable success from a productivity and performance perspective, empirical studies purport for more current and emergent strategies that align with contemporary industrial settings and market trends to improve RAK Ceramics success. As such, cross-functional collaboration is among the methods that stand out as it promises to significantly boost agility, effectiveness, efficiency, and sustainability from an ecological and societal purview. This leadership model not only aligns seamlessly with the organization's vision and mission statement but also its success metrics and growth trajectory ( Kouzes & Posner, 2023) . While the transformation leadership model's success is undeniable, integration of cross-functional collaboration is practical as it encourages collaboration of teams, which is an essential measure in quality control and management. Numerous empirical studies and practical applications in various industries have substantiated the value of cross-functional collaboration as a successful leadership strategy, with the following section justifying its relevance and practicability in RAK Ceramics perspective; Cross-functional collaboration enhances and informs decision-making systems at multiple organizational levels by promoting diverse perspectives and expertise, which are crucial in ensuring overall success. Studies posit that cross-functional teams are integral in making timely and well-informed decisions, which are essential tenets in RAK Ceramics operations where adaptability and quick responses to fluctuations in market trends are critical. i. This approach is also instrumental in fostering innovation by bringing together individuals with different skill sets and proficiencies to work on similar projects and

6 tasks. Research indicates that workspaces characterized by diversity usually generate creative and more functional solutions to production and performance discrepancies, which stimulate and propel the overall organization's operability. Since RAK Ceramics is renowned for its assorted product portfolio, such an approach would lead to consistency in product enhancement and diversification. ii. Collaboration fosters a sense of shared proprietorship and commitment among employees in realizing a common goal and, in the process, positively affecting employee engagement. Given that RAK Ceramics' success has been built on dedicated and motivated employees, this strategy can further enhance their commitment. Q2 Evaluate at least five models and approaches that leaders can implement to resolve team dysfunction and enhance team empowerment by reviewing recent literature. Also, assess the challenges involved in implementing the aforesaid models and approaches. Team dysfunction and lack of team empowerment from an organizational point of view can have detrimental consequences on the performance, morale, and productivity scales. These aspects can ultimately impact the organizational operability adversely, which can quickly extend, plague, and handicap other sectors of the organization. As such, these discrepancies necessitate urgent addressing and timely resolution to mitigate any disruption of core activities which have the potential of hurting the organization's vision and mission, both in the short- and long-term perspective ( Kouzes & Posner, 2023) . Recent literature offers a plethora of models and approaches that leaders can implement to address team dysfunction and enhance team empowerment to create a healthy and conducive working environment. The following section highlights these models while analyzing the implementation challenges associated with each.

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7 Tuckman's team development model – This classic model proffers a comprehensive overview and systematic processes associated with team development. According to this theory, there are four stages of team development, i.e., forming, storming, norming, and performing. This model provides leaders with essential knowledge to discern the team's current stage of development and identify areas of intervention to improve the overall team performance ( Kouzes & Posner, 2023) . However, implementing this approach in an organization frequently proves cumbersome as it tends to oversimplify group dynamics, compressing them into four stages. The lack of guidance on how to effectively and practically empower teams also makes leaders struggle to apply and implement it seamlessly in their respective organizations. Patrick Lencioni's five dysfunctions of a team – This popular model identifies and discusses the five most common dysfunctions within a group, i.e., absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, and inattention to results. This model enables leaders to assess their teams' performance and recognize areas of improvement to ensure the attainment of a shared goal ( Kouzes & Posner, 2023) . However, these five dysfunctions can prove to be complex, tedious, and time-consuming processes which may affect a leader's ability to formulate articulate and functional solutions. Team empowerment model – This model describes autonomy, competence, relatedness, and impact as four core factors essential in team empowerment. Leaders can utilize this approach to create an environment where team members feel empowered to take ownership of their work, make decisions, and contribute to the team's success. However, implementing this approach requires a shift in the preexisting organizational culture ( Kouzes & Posner, 2023) . Naturally, such a radical change may meet resistance from some team members and other hierarchal structures that purport conventional leadership structures.

8 Belbin's team role theory – This approach identifies distinct roles within a team, assigning specific responsibilities such as coordinators, implementers, and completer-finishers. This model is particularly essential in settings where more prominent projects are subdivided into smaller and more manageable chunks. Leaders can use this model to create well-balanced teams by assigning roles that complement each other, enabling team empowerment while eradicating dysfunctionalities and further redundancies ( Kouzes & Posner, 2023) . However, groups may resist rigid role assignments, and it can be challenging to find individuals who fit each role perfectly. Team effectiveness model – This comprehensive framework proffers succinct means and mechanisms of understanding and improving team performance by identifying four core elements necessary for augmenting team effectiveness. These elements are team goals, team roles, team processes, and team resources, which enable a leader to assess the team's overall performance and productivity while denoting the key areas that necessitate improvement. Such insights are essential in developing and implementing interventions to eradicate systemic severances and faults ( Kouzes & Posner, 2023) . However, leaders may be reluctant to give teams autonomy as a result of fearing to lose control or assuming that teams are unable to make sound and informed decisions on their own. Q3. Studying the challenges leaders faced during COVID-19, develop practical strategies that can be implemented to build proactive and innovative organizations to survive uncertainties and meet global challenges. Then, suggest ways in which Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be applied to resolve leadership challenges and support creating culturally diverse rapid success organizations.

9 The COVID-19 pandemic presented one of the most unprecedented challenges in the history of humanity, particularly in organizations and other essential life aspects. Changing routine activities such as the closure of business premises and controlled face-to-face/physical interactions necessitated leaders to adapt quickly to the changing dynamics and circumstances, make difficult and uninformed decisions, and remotely support their teams during the entire period ( Aitharaju & Pathak, 2021) . As such, leaders faced several critical challenges, as outlined below; i. Protecting the health and safety of employees from the virus through remote work, social distancing, and protective clothing equipment. ii. Leaders also had to develop and implement plans to enable businesses to run during the pandemic. iii. They also had to keep their employees and teams motivated and engaged during the pandemic. iv. Leaders also had to keep their employees motivated and engaged during this challenging period by providing regular communication and flexible work arrangements. To mitigate the harsh realities of the pandemic on the delicate work-personal life balance, leaders had to formulate practical strategies to build a proactive and innovative organization that sustained productivity while ensuring that employees' welfare was considered and accounted for ( Aitharaju & Pathak, 2021) . These strategies do not only apply to the pandemic provision but also to uncertain global challenges. They include; i. Creating a culture of innovation where leaders encourage employees to be creative and take risks. Leaders can support such by providing employees with time and resources to innovate, rewarding employees for innovative ideas, and celebrating successes.

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10 ii. Collaboration is also another critical factor that came into play during the pandemic period. Leaders should foster collaboration between employees from different departments and backgrounds. This strategy is instrumental in the generation of new ideas and perspectives. iii. Keeping a close eye on trends and technologies is essential in an organizational setting. It enables leaders to identify new opportunities and potential threats, hence taking action at the most appropriate and opportune time. While artificial intelligence is not a new/recent concept, its proliferation across multiple core sectors in contemporary lifestyles is a testimony of its potential. Artificial intelligence can be applied to resolve diverse leadership challenges and create a culturally diverse and rapidly successful organization ( Almutairi & Alzahrani, 2022) . The following applications underscore the postulations above; i. Artificial intelligence can be used to automate and improve the recruiting and hiring process, which is integral in helping leaders find and hire the best talent from around the world, regardless of their location or background. ii. Artificial intelligence can be used to help leaders develop and manage their talent since it possesses capabilities to provide insights into employee performance, identify areas for improvement, and recommend training and development opportunities. iii. Artificial intelligence is essential in improving organizational decision-making as it provides leaders with insights from datasets that would be time-consuming or difficult to deduce and analyze manually.

11 iv. Artificial intelligence can translate documents and communications into multiple languages, critical in breaking down language barriers and fostering collaboration between employees from different cultures. Conclusion The following report discusses RAK Ceramics, specifically delving into the organization's background and leadership approaches while providing an alternative model to improve the production/performance metrics while maintaining the growth trajectory. Conversely, evaluating models and approaches to resolve team dysfunction and enhance team empowerment emphasizes the importance of addressing these issues within an organization. The report also accentuates the role of leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic era and provides practical strategies for building proactive and innovative organizations. Finally, the report discusses the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in resolving leadership challenges and supporting culturally diverse rapid success organizations and proffers practical and real-world scenarios to support these applications.

12 References Al-Absi, R., Al-Harthi, A., & Al-Habsi, R. (2019). Investigating the effect of RAK ceramic tiles on the thermal comfort of buildings in Oman. Journal of Building Engineering, 23, 314- 321. https://doi:10.1016/j.jobe.2019.01.013 Al-Busaidi, A., Al-Rawas, A., & Al-Harrasi, M. (2019). Performance evaluation of RAK ceramic tiles under different environmental conditions. Construction and Building Materials, 209, 596-604. https://doi:10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2019.03.136 Al-Mahri, Y., Al-Balushi, M., & Al-Hatmi, H. (2019). Durability of RAK ceramic tiles under sulfate attack. Materials and Corrosion, 70(11), 2034-2042. Aitharaju, P., & Pathak, S. (2021). Impact of COVID-19 on leadership challenges and practical strategies for building proactive and innovative organizations. Journal of Management Policy and Practice, 22(1), 1-18. Almutairi, A., & Alzahrani, Y. (2022). The role of artificial intelligence in supporting culturally diverse rapid success organizations. International Journal of Business and Management, 17(1) Kouzes J.M. & Posner B.Z. (2023) The Leadership Challenge, Seventh Edition, John Wiley & Sons Inc. ISBN: 978-1119278962 Bakker, A. B., Hetland, J., Olsen, O. K., & Espevik, R. (2022). Daily transformational leadership: A source of inspiration for follower performance. European Management Journal .

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