Theories of Motivation and Leadership Roles - Literature review Example

1. Introduction It is obvious that the management task of leadership in organisations involves the leading or directing and guiding of employees and subordinates at achieving the organisational goals. This is done by the leader combining the roles of setting of strategies for the organisation, planning how these strategies can be put in place, communication the strategies to the subordinates in a way that will be clearly understood by all, etc. Peter Drucker (1955 pp26), states that even though leadership is of utmost importance to organisations, organisations should be less reliant upon leadership than on good management. He continues that even though there is no substitute for leadership especially as it cannot be taught or learnt, good management practices can create leaders and conditions under which potential leadership qualities can become effective. This paper will look at what makes a good leader in today’s context by starting with the role that leaders are suppose to play in any organisation, then the various leadership theories, the different leadership styles used to govern, and end with a conclusion as to who is a good leader drawing from all what has been presented. 2. Leadership roles In any organisation, leadership roles are; planning, decision making, organising, putting in place a good strategy, leading the personnel to achieve set objectives, motivating the personnel, good communication skills, manner of control, and being able to measure employee performance. Planning: Planning is the core of any successful manager. Planning involves selecting strategies from different possible courses of action to follow. This requires defining set objectives for the whole enterprise and every department setting their own goals and targets in order to meet the organisation’s goals. Through planning, that aspect of uncertainty within the organisation is offset. Through planning, the organisation focuses attention on the organisational objectives. Decision making as managers task: Managers have to choose from available information which course of action can be taken so as to achieve organisational goals and set targets. According to Ackoff (1970 pp 75), decision making involves some kind of planning and is made of three distinguished characteristics; anticipatory decision-making that involves deciding what to do and how to do it, interdependent decisions that involves handling the voluminous amount of work in several stages, and making those decisions that otherwise would not be made. Organising is a process whereby managers use all available resources, people, time, money, materials, equipment, etc in such a way that the organisational objectives are met. Urwick (1958, pp 29) defined organising as “being able to secure separation and specialisation of tasks works smoothly, and that there is unity of effort or ...co-ordination”. To effectively organise, a framework or structure of roles for the people working in the organisation to fill must be established. This is done by assigning tasks to the people who are able to do them and made sure that the tasks are carried out effectively so as to help meet the organisation’s objectives. The manager has to put in place a viable company strategy that should involve process, content, and context. By process, the manager should be able to formulate a strategy that should look at the how feasible that strategy can be. By content, the manager should be able to come up with what course of action the strategy should be taken by the organisation. By context, the manager should make sure that the strategy put in place should relate the organisation and the environment and community in which the organisation operates. Through leading, the manager is able to lead, direct, and guide employees/subordinates to attain the organisation’s goals. Through leadership, the manager is able to influence the attitudes and behaviours of employees. What makes a good leader will be further discussed in Section 3 under the theories of leadership. But Peter Drucker (1955) cautions that leadership is of utmost importance in any organisation for it has no substitute and cannot be taught or learned. The managers daunting task is how the employees are motivated to work towards achieving organisational objectives. According to Rob Dixon (2004a, pp115), motivation is said to that total prosperity or that level of desire of an individual to behave in a certain manner at a certain time and that willingness of that individual in an organisational context to respond to that organisation’s requirements in the short run. According to Bernard L. Erven and Robert A. Milligan (nn, retrieved online at www-agecon.ag.ohio-state.edu/people/erven.1/HRM/Motivation.pdf, on 02/12/2010 at 09,06 am), motivation is said to be that inner force or intensity that drives employee behaviour to do a task or accomplish a goal for the best interest of the company. Theories of Motivation Here, motivation theories will be identified into two types; the content theories and the process theories. Content theories here refers to motivation theories include Abraham Maslow’s (1954) of hierarchy of needs, and the two – factor theory of Herzberg (1966, pp 22 -35), which puts together what motivates individuals into packages of needs and wants which they pursue. On the other hand, the process theories as developed by Handy, otherwise known as Handy’s Motivation calculus theory, and Vroom’s expectancy theory examines the various ways by which certain outcomes of events become attractive to people and therefore make them pursue these events. The difference here between these two theories lies in the fact that, proponents of process theories believe that, individuals can choose their own needs and goals and become motivated if they pursue them. Maslow’s theory of human motivation Below is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs as developed in 1945. Source: Self formulation from Rob Dixon (2004b) Before developing this hierarchy of needs, Maslow recognized that human is an insatiable being who want more and more every day especially as even though certain needs may be satisfied, their needs in general are not. Maslow again proposed that satisfied needs are not the motivator, but in the actual sense, those unsatisfied needs are those that really leave an individual motivated. Thirdly, he realized and proposed that human needs can be recognized and arranged into a series of levels, what he called hierarchy of needs that consist of physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, esteem needs and self-realisation needs, with physiological needs being the lowest and self-realisation needs being the highest on the hierarchy of needs. But according to Maslow, at any one time, as soon as any needs in one level are satisfied, those of the other level in the pyramid emerge as de-motivators and needs satisfaction. The process theories of motivation Adams J.S. (1963, pp 261 – 275) in his theory of equity brings forth the idea that the absolute situation and feeling of workers in a similar situation is always different and that for any perceived inequalities in say wages will tend to become a point of contention that can even create a situation of dissatisfaction and uneasiness that may lead to affecting individual motivation to work. Vroom V.H (1964, pp 49 – 62) while trying to show how the level on an individual’s motivation could be affected came up with the expectation theory that states that, the feeling of such individual for doing a particular job depends on the extend of the results that are expected to contribute to his overall particular needs and goals. This means that, the strength of an individual’s motivation is a factor of the strength of preference for a particular outcome. 3. Theories of leadership Researchers have for long tried to find out why some leaders succeed more than the others and to see if there existed some kind of relationship in the various characteristics these leaders have. The researches came out with the following theories; Personality or behavioural traits: This theory was an attempt to identify any measurable personality traits that leaders possessed. The situational leadership approach: In all organisations, employees and subordinates have their personal goals they hope the company can help them to achieve. The contingency leadership approach: this theory believes that people do not become good leaders just because of their personalities and personal attributes, but their interaction between them and the changing situations the company faces helps them become good leaders. According to Fiedler (1967, pp37), an effective leader should be that leader who can adapt and lead the company in all the situations that faces the company 4. Leadership styles According to Dixon (2004, pp39c), leadership is classified depending on how the leader(s) use the authority they have. In this line of thought therefore, leadership can be classified into three basic styles; Autocratic leaders: This term refers to leaders who are seen as commanding leaders and expect compliance from subordinates, leaders who are dogmatic and positive, and someone who leads and direct subordinates with that ability of giving or is able to withhold rewards or dish out punishment to subordinates. Democratic/Participatory leaders: This is that kind of leader who consults with his subordinates whenever there are any new proposed actions and decisions. This kind of leader encourages the subordinates to fully participate in all decisions especially as these decisions will affect company goals and at same time their personal goals. Independent/self-motivatory leaders: these are leaders who give their subordinates some substantial level of independence in the execution of their services and making them not only to work with organisational goals in mind, but at same time allowing them to set for themselves some personal goals they aim at achieving. 5. Conclusion The form of leadership used in governing an organisation may determine the kind of results management should get. As discussed earlier, we have come to realise that, Likerts fourth role of management strategy (participative-group) and independent/self-motivatory management styles have all proven to prevail in any institution that foresees some changes at the end of the tunnel. This form of management has showed that, it is just the best way for any leadership to achieve any organisational objectives put in place. It is therefore the interest of any company that wants all to function properly, to place a focus on employees who are those providing leadership with that possibility of creating wealth for the shareholders and at same increasing the organisations value. References Adams J.S.,1963. Wage inequalities, productivity and quality. Industrial Relations, Vol. 3, pp 261 – 275 Dixon R. (2004): The Management Task. Elsevier Butterworth – Heinemann. 3rd edition Fiedler, F.E. (1967); A theory of leadership effectiveness. McGraw-Hill Herzberg F., 1966. Work and the Nature of Man. 2nd ed. Staples Press. Herzberg F., 1966. Motivation to Work. 3rd ed. Staples Press Irving J. (1972); Victims of groupthink. Boston Houghton Mifflin Likert, R. (1967) The human organisation. McGraw-Hill McClelland D.,1985. Human Motivation. 4th ed. Scott Foresman Peter Drucker (1955); The Practice of Management. Heinemann Urwick, L. (1958); The elements of Administration. Pitman Vroom V.H.,1964. Work and Motivation. 3rd ed. John Wiley Website consulted www-agecon.ag.ohio-state.edu/people/erven.1/HRM/Motivation.pdf, retrieved online on 02/12/2010 at 09,06 am Read More