Importance of motivation in promoting organizational success
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Importance of motivation in promoting organizational success
Motivation comes in handy while facing high-level provocations and putting out ideas into actions towards achieving the organizational vision. When the leaders or their followers are motivated, they become self-confident, and their self-esteem improves, which leads to self-discipline and job satisfaction. Motivation also improves work performance and promotes the health of employees. Some of the best times for the leaders to motivate their employees are when there are feelings of dissatisfaction with the status quo and morale is low as well as when it becomes hard to meet deadlines or reach the results.
One perspective of motivation
One perspective of motivation that has gained prominence is Maslow's hierarchy of needs, which postulates that an individual gains motivation after fulfilling some needs that start from the lowest basic needs and ascend after fulfilling a lower level-need. The lowest level-need is physiological and focuses on physical survival, which includes food, water, and shelter. Once you meet these needs, the need for safety follows, and one desires protection from threats and other dangers. After meeting safety needs, one develops the need for belongingness and love. The highest level-need is self-esteem when an individual looks for respect and recognition.
Techniques I could utilize to build motivation in team members.
I could utilize a variety of techniques to build motivation in team members, one of which is measuring and rewarding employees’ performance to either promote or undermine specific performance. Secondly, as a leader, I must be motivated before motivating others, and that calls for the need to have self-discipline, a sense of self-worth daily, and create an atmosphere of high motivation in the workplace. When I become my energizer, the followers intuitively follow my lead. Even when an organization faces difficulties, I should lead by example, bring attention to what the team has accomplished so far and then stop focusing much on what is missing. I should refrain from driving negative energies and worries to motivate the team.
Exam 2
The “trait approach” to leadership
Concerning the trait approach of leadership, the center of attention is on the personal attributes of a leader, which includes values, personality characteristics, and competencies. It views great leaders as born with abilities, rather than having learned them. For instance, a great leader can be honest and have integrity when most leaders lack these two attributes. It implies that you cannot make great leaders through a learning process. The suggestion is that traits lead to the development of patterns of behavior, which are consistent in diverse situations.
The strengths of the leadership approach are that society assumes the leader as the center of the leadership process. Therefore, the effectiveness of the organization depends on whether or not you select the right person as a manager. The approach has strength in that it concurs with the general image that leaders are unique and possess extraordinary abilities. Therefore, the Trait Approach to Leadership fulfills the need for people to see their leader as a gifted individual. Additionally, the trait approach builds on significant long research with a high volume of data to support it. Since the focus of the trait approach is only on the leader, one can thoroughly analyze the component in leadership processes. Last, yet importantly, the trait theory approach is a benchmark for anyone who aspires to be a leader.
Among the flaws with the Trait Approach to Leadership include being leader-centric and lacking focus on the situation and the followers. The approach also does not look at how some traits like performance and employee satisfaction affect leadership outcomes. Another weakness in this approach is how it lenders training and development purposes unusual because of its premise that a trait is innate.
Exam 3
How to recognize power and politics within an organizational setting
Power and politics work together. However, while power is the latent ability of a leader to influence the actions, thoughts, and emotions of the followers, politics refer to using the power and authority in shaping the organizational outcomes. Concerning politics, societies create and fund public organizations through political processes, which make politics one of the good aspects of organizations. Political institutions are the source of laws that govern our behavior as leaders of organizations. Once the political institution enacts the law governing organizations, there comes the need to influence employees positively in achieving the organizational objectives and defend programs as well as obtain opportunities and recognize the employees. That influence is what we refer to as power, and while we acknowledge its importance in every organization, leaders can use their power to hurt others or pursue personal goals that the organization does not sanction. Therefore, power and politics are consolidated processes that leaders use effectively to achieve cohesion at the individual and organizational level as well as ventilate differences that might happen within the team. Leaders use power and politics in controlling their teams and preserve the organizations.
The leaders with power exert their authority founded on their politics, which unfortunately might lead to abuse. That might encourage conflicts among opposing political units in an organization. It is common to find leaders at the top positions stirring-up politics in their organizations without themselves being political.
Types of power
According to Max Weber, three types of power exist, and the first is Charismatic power, in which leaders derive power and control from their ability to charm and persuade others using their personality. The second power type is traditional, in which the society grants power to a leader through family lineage, and the third type is legal-rational, in which a leader gains legitimate authority through laws and constitutional processes. Legal-rational Power is superior to the first two because power and authority rest on a system that institutionalizes and depersonalizes power. In Legal-rational power, Rules, and hierarchy, as well as reporting relationships, control the exercise of a leader through a bureaucratic process.
Source of power
Legitimate power arises from societal values and believes that a particular leader has the right to influence others and that they are obliged to comply with the leaders' directives. The society instills these values through culture, organizational structure, or through legitimate agents or processes such as elections.
Reward power arises from the ability of leaders to reward their followers for behaving, as they want them to do. The leader provides positive outcomes, prevent negative one, and by so doing influences the followers, which is similar to positive reinforcement.
Coercive power serves the opposite of reward power because it focuses on the ability of the leader to apply punishments and threats for one’s failure to behave as the leader desired.
Referent power arises from a leader's ability to have the followers' desire to associate with the leader. Therefore, if followers have a liking and admiration for a particular leader, it becomes easy for that leader to influence such followers. If the employees admire their leader, they are apt to see what the leader does in a favorable light, de-emphasize the leader’s mistakes and seek the leader’s approval.
Expert power arises when leaders use their knowledge and expertise in the opinion of their followers, thereby giving the leader credibility. Expertize must have value in an organization and can take the form of technical skills such as a computer or the leader's insight concerning the legislative process.
Exam 4
When one might use ambiguous communications within an organizational setting
'Ambiguous' communication refers to more than one interpretation of a particular event. For instance, if the organization faces a crisis, the leader might not have a precise answer to every question that might arise.
In an organization setting, a leader can use ambiguous communication to promote unified diversity because of the tensions that coexist between an individual and the aggregate. Therefore, a leader might choose to use strategic ambiguity to foster an environment of multiple viewpoints in the organization.
A leader might also use ambiguous communications to facilitate organizational change by shifting interpretations of goals. That way, 'ambiguous' communication will enhance the development of relationships among employees. A leader can also use ambiguous communications to preserve privileged positions such as those of supervisors. A leader who is high in rank might want to maintain their formal standing in the organization. For instance, a highly credible leader might find it risky always to communicate with clarity as others can use the new information to evaluate their character.