FREE ESSAY ON LEADERSHIP AND MOTIVATION

LEADERSHIP AND MOTIVATION

Leadership and Motiviation
1. Introduction and Definition
2. Leadership Types
a. Natural born leader
b. Developed leader
3. Leadership Models
a. Traditional
b. Non-traditional
4. Leadership Traits
a. Make people feel important
b. Promote your vision
c. Treat others as you want to be treated
d. Take responsibility for your actions
5. Motivational Theories
a. Classical Theory and Scientific Management
b. Behavior theory
c. Contemporary Motivational Theories
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INTRODUCTION
Effective leadership is the process of motivating others to meet specific objectives.
We will look at a few areas of leadership and motivation.
LEADERSHIP TYPES
Few business leaders get to be highly recognized names in the world at large or
even the broadest business communities like the team of William Hewlett and
David Packard. In 1938 they pooled $538 to found their namesake Hewlett-Packard
in a rented garage. Hewlett focused his energy on leading the technology side
of the now $31 billion high tech leader. Packard wrestled with managing the day to day
operation and died at the age of 83.
Many believe that David Packard's chief legacy may be his management style. His
employees awarded him a M.B.W.A. Degree---Master By Walking Around for the
legwork expanded in his belief that upper management should remain close to
workers.
The HP way also strives to maintain a small company atmosphere even as the
work force expanded to 100,000. Employees were allowed freedom, and Internal
competition was encouraged, while working toward a shared objective.
Packard's commitment to employees was also legendary. In 1990 he came out of
semi-retirement to help manage a sweeping corporate overhaul that successfully
averted the job losses that subsequently hit many other High tech companies.
David Packard was truly a leader to admired. A good leader he was. This
prompts the question What is a good leader?
LEADERSHIP MODELS
There are many good leaders to choose from. You have military leaders, politicians,
CEO's, coaches, athletes, teachers, the list is endless. You may ask what do
all people from different walks of life have in common? First lets define
what a leader is, a leader is getting things accomplished by acting through
others or getting people to perform to their maximum potential.
LEADERSHIP TRAITS
Now let's identify some common traits of a leader. Leaders are people who set
the example and have the courage to take the initiative to dominate the situation.
They are decisive ,bold, tactful, and communicate very well. They maintain enthusiasm,
commitment, devotion and are knowledgeable of their duties.
MOTIVATIONAL THEORIES
Workers need more than job satisfaction and morale. They also need motivation.
Motivational theories can be classified into three main categories: classical theories
and scientific management; behavior theory; and contemporary motivational theories.
CLASSICAL THEORIES
Classical theory and scientific management is when money becomes the primary motivational
factor. A man by the name of Frederick Taylor wrote a book called The Principles of
Scientific Management (1911). In it, he proposed a way for both companies and workers to
benefit from this widely accepted view of life in the work place.
BEHAVIOR THEORIES
The Behavior Theory or Hawthorne effect as it became widely known, came as a result of a
study in 1925. A group of Harvard researchers began a study at the Hawthorne Works of
Western Electric. They wanted to know what would happen to the workers output if they
changed the physical environment.
It appeared that by increasing lighting levels, productivity improved and increasing pay
did not. After more research it seemed that the workers produced more according to the
attention they received.
CONTEMPORARY THEORIES
After the Hawthorne studies, more attention was placed on the importance of improving
human relation skills. This resulted in more contemporary motivational theories. Theories
X and Y came as a result of behavioral scientist's Douglas McGregor's conclusion that
managers viewpoints of how to use a firms human resources were radically different.
He concluded that Theory X managers believed people were naturally lazy and uncooperative
and must be punished or rewarded to be made productive. Theory Y managers believe that
people are naturally energetic, growth-oriented, self-motivated, and interested in being
productive.
Then you have the hierarchy of human needs model. Psychologist Abraham Maslow proposed a
theory of motivation describing five levels of human needs and arguing that basic needs
must be fulfilled before people work to satisfy higher-level needs. The down-side is that
it provides few guidelines for action in the work place.
Another psychologist, Frederick Herzberg concluded that hygiene factors, such as working
conditions, and motivation factors, such as recognition for a job well done made the
difference in job satisfaction and dissatisfaction. Important to note was the research
was limited to accountants and engineers and this theory works only in some professional
settings.
Another contemporary theory is the Expectancy theory, which suggests that people are
motivated to work toward what they want only if believe the have a reasonable chance at
getting it. One example is a worker may ask themselves, If I work harder, will I get a
pay raise?. If the answer is no, he won't work harder, if the answer is yes, he will work
harder.
The Equity theory is based on people evaluating their treatment by employers relative to
the treatment of others. An example is one employee finds out that another employee is
receiving the same compensation plan as he or she is. The employee may feel equitably
treated. However, if the employee finds out the package is different and the other
employee is receiving more, inequity results. To restore fairness, individuals may do
things such as ask for raises, reduce their efforts, or complain.
And finally, there's the Reinforcement theory, where rewards or punishment is used as a
means of encouragement or discouragement. When a company pays for each piece produced or
uses promotions, praise, or pay increases, this is a reward. If an employee is constantly
late or absent a lot a company may dock that individual. This is a punishment designed to
change their behavior.
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REFERENCES:
1. Blanchard, Kenneth. Ph.D,and Johnson, Spencer. M.D. The One Minute Manager. William
Morrow and Company, Inc, 1982.
2. Cohen, William A. The Art of the Leader, Prentice-Hall, Engle Wood , New
Jersey 07632, 1990.
3. Ebert, Ronald J., and Griffin, Ricky W. Business Essentials. 2nd ed. New Jersey:
Prentice-Hall, 1998.