Motivation and Leadership

Leadership influences others to achieve certain aims or objectives. Effective leadership skills can help a manager carry out their duties.

Leadership Styles

Authoritarian

• Senior managers take decisions with little involvement of juniors
• Sets objectives
• Allocates tasks
• Leader retains control throughout
• Communication goes down from leader to consumer

Paternalistic

• Dictatorial, but decisions are taken in best interests of employees
• Explains decisions
• Ensures workers social / leisure needs met
• Communication mainly downward but some feedback

Democratic

• Running a business based on majority decisions
• Encourages employees to take part in decision making
• Uses delegation
• Extensive two way communication

Motivation Theory

Motivation Theory is the study of factors that influence the behaviour of people in the workplace.

F.W. Taylor – Scientific Management

Taylor did lots of work in factories and believed that workers should be told how to do a job quickly

• He believed they should be closely monitored & told what to do
• He devised a piece rate system
• He believed workers could only be motivated by money
• Division of labour - jobs should be broken down into small tasks to keep employees motivated
• Identify most productive workers and make all staff use their methods, setting a standard for the rest of the workforce
• Workers should be given everything they need to complete the job to a decent standard, therefore giving no excuses for low productivity

Abraham Maslow – Hierarchy of Needs

Maslow believed human needs are split into five types - a hierarchy of needs with the highest level needs at the top.

Individuals need to meet basic needs before moving up the hierarchy

• 1. Physiological - wage, salaries and working conditions
• 2. Safety - security (safe job), other benefits e.g. sick pay and safe working conditions
• 3. Social - team working and other functions that aim at building a bond within the workforce
• 4. Esteem - positive feedback and chances for promotion
• 5. Self- actualization - creating challenges and tasks that are stimulating

Frederick Herzberg - Hygiene and motivating factors

According to Herzberg motivating factors are split into two groups. Motivation is a two step process. Firstly you must meet basic hygiene factors, and from then on can motivate employees

• 1. Hygiene factors - salary and security. Improving these lowers dissatisfaction but doesn't improve motivation or satisfaction. Hygiene factors remove sources of unhappiness among workers, such as decent wages, working conditions, security and safety
• 2. Motivators - recognition, responsibility, work itself, achievement, advancement - these lead to increased motivation. Motivating factors can then be used to make workers happy, and feel a desire to exceed in their job, such as promotions, recognition and interesting work.

In reality most managers are trying to maximize the beneficial aspects and minimize those facts which de-motivate workers.

Elton Mayo – Hawthorne Experiment

Mayo looked at motivation in the Hawthorne laboratories in the USA

• Found that just by being studied the subjects levels of motivation increased
• Highlighted the importance of team work and group dynamics to motivation
• Applied theories of sociology to management, and in the Hawthorne Experiment found that productivity increased when working closely with management, highlighting a sociological need
• Workers act accordingly to sentiments and emotion
• If you treat workers with respect and try to meet their needs, they will be better workers for you, benefitting both management and staff

Douglas McGregor – Theory X and Theory Y

McGregor developed two theories of human behaviour at work: Theory and X and Theory Y. He did not imply that workers would be one type or the other, the two theories were two extremes - with a spectrum of possible behaviours in between.

Theory X

• Workers dislike work and will avoid it where possible
• Threat of punishment will encourage work to be done and objectives met
• Individuals who lack ambition, dislike responsibility and prefer to be led
• Managers impose a management system of coercion, control and punishment

Theory Y

• Workers are simply ordinary people who apply self-control and self-direction themselves in order to complete targets without threat of punishment
• Workers perform best when listened to and their ideas appreciated
• Treat workers with respect, and they will work harder in return
• Managers organise social events and listen to staff.