Employee Motivation Assignment - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 7 Words: 2037 Downloads: 2 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Management Essay Type Research paper Did you like this example? Employee Motivation Employee motivation refers to the actions or behaviours portrayed by individuals at work place as a consequence of psychological forces. In his theory of hierarchy of needs, (Maslow, 2002) stated that the psychological needs have to be satisfied first before moving to the other levels of needs. Baruch (2004) stated that leadership is essential in facilitating effective communication. 1.1 Group communication and teamwork Teamwork is basically the working together and for team work to be successful, group communication has to be effective. Group communication is done through managers to employees or among the employees themselves. Communication can be in two forms; verbal and non verbal. Verbal involves the oral (word of mouth) and the written. Non verbal communication involves the facial expression, dress code etc. According to Baruch (2004), forms of communication in an organization are either internal or external. External communic ation is whereby stakeholders and investors are involved and annual reports among other things are used as a form of communication. Internal communication is within the organization and the form of communication used is internal memos, meetings etc 2.1 Leadership Leadership is the process of inspiring, influencing and guiding others to participate in a common effort (Baruch, 2004). A leader is a person who influences a group of people towards the achievement of a goal (Boles, Lawrence, and Johnson, 2005). To be effective, leadership cannot just be about inspiration and grand visions (Berkowitz Schewe, 2011). 2.1.1 Leadership Theories and Styles The study of leadership has evolved as theories have been developed and refined by successive generations of researchers (Boles, Lawrence, and Johnson, 2005). Leadership theory is a discipline that focuses on finding out what makes successful leaders excel in what they do. Leadership style falls under the overall umbrella of lead ership theory. Leadership style focuses specifically on the traits and behaviours of leaders (Baruch, 2004). While many different leadership theories have emerged, most can be classified as one of eight major theories: (Boles, Lawrence, and Johnson, 2005). 2.1.2 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Great Man Theories: Great man theories assume that the capacity for leadership is inherent that great leaders are born not made. These theories often portray great leaders as heroic, mythic and destined to rise to leadership when needed. The term Great Man was used because, at the time, leadership was thought of primarily as a male quality, especially in terms of military leadership (Babin Boles, 1996). Leaders such as Alexander the Great, Napoleon Bomaparte and George Washington were said to have been blessed with an inborn ability to lead. This so called great-man approach to leadership eventually gave way to trait theory (Baruch, 2004). The leadership style that falls under this category is the cha rismatic leadership style (Berkowitz Schewe, 2011). A charismatic leadership style: A charismatic leader tends to believe more in him or her than in their team. This can create a risk that a project, or even an entire organization, might collapse if the leader were to leave: In the eyes of their followers, success is tied up with the presence of the charismatic leader. As such, charismatic leadership carries great responsibility, and needs long-term commitment from the leader ((Baruch, 2004). 2.2.2 Trait Theories: This traditional concept is that effective leaders have personality traits which distinguish them from the common herd. Researchers analyzed physical and psychological traits, or qualities, such as high energy level, appearance, aggressiveness, self-reliance, persuasiveness and dominance in an effort to identify a set of traits that all successful leaders possessed. The list of traits was to be used as a prerequisite for promoting candidates to leadership positio ns. Only candidates possessing all the identified qualities would be given leadership positions. The trait approach has been popular, but controversial (Berkowitz Schewe, 2011). 2.2.3 Behavioral Theories: Leadership research changed its paradigm from trait theory to focusing on how the leader actually behaved and what actually was done to achieve leadership effectiveness. Behavioural theories of leadership are based upon the belief that great leaders are made, not born (Baruch, 2004). Depending on participation and sharing in decision making, leadership styles have been classified by Tosi, Rizzo and Carroll, (1986) as: Autocratic leadership style: Leaders exclude subordinates from the process of decision making. They assign work without consulting subordinates or knowing their inclinations and desires. Democratic or participative leadership style: Leaders are effective and more productive because they consult subordinates on various matters and include them in the proce ss of decision making. Tasks are assigned on the basis of interests and preferences of subordinates. Laissez-faire leadership style: Leaders have little or no self-confidence in their leadership ability, do not set goals for the group, and do not enhance group interaction and communication. In fact, the laissez-faire type of leader does little supervision. Consequently, the group has to make many on-the-job decisions. 2.2.4 Situational Theories: Both the trait and behavioral leadership theories were attempts to find the one best leadership style in all situations; thus they are called universal theories (Boles, Lawrence, and Johnson, 2005). However, the fundamental assumption regarding the situational theory to leadership is that successful leadership occurs when the leaders style matches the situation. Situational leadership theorists stress the need for flexibility. They reject the notion of a universally applicable style. Fielderss contingency theory and Path-Goal theory represent distinctly different approaches to the situational theory (Boles, Lawrence, and Johnson, 2005). 2.2.4.1 Fielderss contingency theory Fiedlers situational theory identifies effective leadership styles under changing situations. The basic idea is simple: Match the leaders style with the situation most favorable for his or her success. These can be either relationship motivated or task motivated (Boles, Lawrence, and Johnson, 2005). Relationship-motivated leadership style: A leader is concerned with people and relies on good personal relations and group participation to accomplish tasks. The leader establishes mutual trust and respect and listens to employees needs. Leaders with this style perform most effectively in modest control situations which present mixed problems related to task, group members and authority. The relationship-motivated leader gets cooperation from the group by being sensitive, diplomatic and tactful (Berkowitz Schewe, 2011). Task-motivate d leadership style: Leaders prefer clear guidelines and standardized or patterned work methods to complete successfully the task they have accepted. These leaders provide clear directions and set performance standards. They have strong task orientation and perform best in high-control or low-control situations. The high-control situations are those where leaders get support from group members and the tasks are clearly specified. In addition, leaders have high authority, which enables them to use their powers of reward and punishment appropriately. Low-control situations, the opposite of high-control situations, are relatively difficult, challenging and straining (Berkowitz Schewe, 2011). 2.2.4.2 Path-Goaltheory Path- goal theory gets its name from the assumption that effective leaders can enhance employee motivation by (1) clarifying the individuals perception of the goals, (2) linking meaningful rewards to goal attainment, and (3) explaining how goals and desired rewards can be achieved. Path-goal theorists believe that leaders should motivate their followers by providing clear goals and meaningful incentives for reaching them (Berkowitz Schewe, 2011). The following are the four styles of leadership related to this theory: Supportive leadership style: Considering the needs of the follower, showing concern for their welfare and creating a friendly working environment. This includes increasing the followers self-esteem and making the job more interesting. This approach is best when the work is stressful, boring or hazardous (Berkowitz Schewe, 2011). Directive leadership style: Telling followers what needs to be done and giving appropriate guidance along the way. This includes giving them schedules of specific work to be done at specific times. Rewards may also be increased as needed and role ambiguity decreased (by telling them what they should be doing) (Berkowitz Schewe, 2011). This may be used when the task is unstructured and complex and the followers are inexperienced. This increases the followers sense of security and control and hence is appropriate to the situation (Baruch, 2004). Participative leadership style: Consulting with followers and taking their ideas into account when making decisions and taking particular actions. This approach is best when the followers are expert and their advice is both needed and they expect to be able to give it (Baruch, 2004). Achievement-oriented leadership style: Setting challenging goals, both in work and in self-improvement (and often together). High standards are demonstrated and expected. The leader shows faith in the capabilities of the follower to succeed. This approach is best when the task is complex (Berkowitz Schewe, 2011). 2.2.5 Participative Theories: According to Berkowitz and Schew, (2011), optimal performance can only be achieved if attention is paid to the human aspects of subordinates problems and behavioural aspects, such as motivating forces, commu nication processes, interaction-influence processes, decision making processes, goal setting processes, control processes, and performance characteristics. There are four main styles of leadership, in particular around decision-making and the degree to which people are involved in the decision. Based on these considerations, leadership styles could be either job cantered or employee cantered, and then further classified as follows: Job centred Exploitative-authoritative style of leadership: In this style, the leader has a low concern for people and uses such methods as threats and other fear-based methods to achieve conformance. Communication is almost entirely downwards and the psychologically distant concerns of people are ignored (Berkowitz Schewe, 2011). Benevolent-authoritative style of leadership: When the leader adds concern for people to an authoritative position, a benevolent dictatorship is formed. The leader now uses rewards to encourage appropriate performance and listens more to concerns lower down the organization, although what they hear is often rose-tinted, being limited to what their subordinates think that the boss wants to hear. Although there may be some delegation of decisions, almost all major decisions are still made centrally (Boles, Lawrence, Johnson, 2005). Employee centered An employee-centered leadership style can either be consultative or participative. Consultative style of leadership: The upward flow of information here is still cautious and rose-tinted to some degree, although the leader is making genuine efforts to listen carefully to ideas. Nevertheless, major decisions are still largely centrally made (Boles, Lawrence, Johnson, 2005). Participative style of leadership: At this level, the leader makes maximum use of participative methods, engaging people lower down the organization in decision-making. People across the organization are psychologically closer together and work well together at all levels ( Baruch, 2004). 2.2.6 Transactional or Management Theories: Transactional theories, also known as management theories, focus on the role of supervision, organization and group performance. These theories base leadership on a system of rewards and punishments. Managerial theories are often used in business; when employees are successful, they are rewarded; when they fail, they are reprimanded or punished. Transactional style of leadership: Leadership is viewed as a transaction or exchange between leaders and follower. The transactional leader recognizes followers needs and desires then clarifies how those needs and desires will be satisfied in exchange for meeting specified objectives or performing certain duties. Thus, followers receive rewards for job performance, whereas leaders benefit from completion of tasks (Berkowitz Schewe, 2011). 2.2.7 Transformational or Relationship Theories: Transformational theories, also known as relationship theories, focus upon the con nections formed between leaders and followers. Transformational leaders motivate and inspire people by helping group members see the importance and higher good of the task. These leaders are focused on the performance of group members, but also want each person to fulfil his or her potential. Leaders with this style often have high ethical and moral standards. Transformational style of leadership: It is characterized by the ability to bring about significant change in both the followers and the organization by tapping into followers higher ideals and motives. Transformational leaders have the ability to lead changes in existing organizations strategy, structure, and culture and influence people to buy into a new vision and new possibilities (Berkowitz Schewe, 2011). References Babin, B.J. and Boles, J.S. (1996). The effects of perceived co-worker involvement and supervisor support on service provider role stress, performance and job satisfaction, Journal of Retailing, V ol. 71 No.1, pp. 57-75. Baruch, Y. (2004). Transforming careers from linear to multidirectional career paths: organizational and individual perspectives, Career Development International, Vol. 9 No.1, pp.58-73 Berkowitz, E.N. and Schewe, C.D. (2011). Generational cohorts hold the key to understanding patients and health care providers: coming-of-age experiences influence health care behaviors for a lifetime, Health Marketing Quarterly, Vol. 28 No.2, pp. 190-204. Boles, J., Lawrence, E. and Johnson, J. (2005), reducing employee turnover through the use of pre employment application demographics, Hospitality Research Journal, Vol. 19 No.2, Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Employee Motivation Assignment" essay for you Create order

The Blues Essay - 866 Words

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Abortion Pros, Cons and Propaganda Free Essays

Abortion: Pros, Cons and Propaganda Abortion is a very controversial matter in our society. In the United States it is legal to abort a baby up until the day of birth. An abortion is the ending of pregnancy before birth which results in the death of an embryo or a fetus. We will write a custom essay sample on Abortion: Pros, Cons and Propaganda or any similar topic only for you Order Now Many people consider abortion as cruel as murder. Although some might say abortion is justifiable, others believe that no one but God has the right to take someone’s life. However, supporters of abortion do not consider an unborn child a person who must be protected. With an issue like abortion, there is a difficulty in determining if it is right or wrong. There are many sides and arguments to this matter and the media often portrays a very negative side to the choice of abortion. The media tends to be biased and against the issue of abortion. I believe that the media is very influential on our society today. In 1973, there was a U. S Supreme Court Case known as Roe versus Wade. This case legalized abortion in The United States. They ruled that babies are not legal â€Å"persons† and from that point on, babies have had no rights or protection under The Constitution of The United States of America. By extension, a woman has a right to make decisions that involve her body and the government should not try to enforce any type of regulation on a woman’s reproductive system. The government should not impose on the wishes of what a woman wants just as the media should not impose or show bias towards the issue. The abortion issue seems to be a very clear and consistent bias. Billboards, magazine ads, and television commercials have all portrayed images of innocent babies staring, with boldfaced words around them saying things like â€Å"With your tax dollars used for abortion †¦ how many more children will be lost? Another bias ad propaganda is a cartoon image with a woman in her third trimester saying â€Å"How dare you challenge my right to kill this thing? No one can stop me from doing whatever I want with my body! † Under this illustration are the words â€Å"Liberal compassion at 36 weeks. † These uses of ad hominems are clearly showing the negative wa y people view the controversial topic of abortion. Even go as far as to â€Å"stereotype† those for abortion as â€Å"Liberalist†, showing a fallacy based on something completely irrelevant. Popular teen television programs such as MTV have shown videos featuring a rapper/singer as a spirit of what appears as a baby-to-be following a woman into an abortion clinic and begging her to let him live. There is an abundance of imagery in the video to make an abortion look as violent and terrifying as possible. So teens seeing this are definitely going to assume the worst about abortions and also think that going through with a pregnancy is the only justifiable thing to do because the video not only makes this seem completely terrifying, but also because the baby would have grown up to be something great, famous. So of course it is very hard to not think about what the child would-have-been. The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy states that there are â€Å"750,000 teen pregnancies annually. Only seven percent of abortions are because of rape, incest, and possible health concerns to the mother or baby. The other ninety-three percent of people who choose abortion do it for social, personal, and economic reasons. Pregnancy happens every day, planned or unplanned. Unplanned and unwanted pregnancies make abortion a sufficient option for what is basically another way out of a less than ideal situation for some people. Although women have a hard time choosing abortion as an option for unwanted pregnancies, they have been making the choice for a long time. The MTV video ad mentioned above also depicts a situation of a man criticizing a woman about her choice until she gives in and makes the choice and chooses what he wants (abortion). This anti-abortion propaganda depicts women to be unable and incapable of following their desires because of a man’s control, belittling women. Women are hardly just people who listen to what is suggested by a man instead of going with their desires and intuitions. The woman, who would be going through the actual â€Å"labor† of continuing a pregnancy, and delivering a baby, bringing it up, parenting it well, in addition to other obligations she has to do in her daily life are all things they have to consider. This alternative should be the woman’s decision, after given thought of course. It should not be a result of the man’s decision for her. The positives that come from the option of abortion are plentiful for women seeking an alternative. Women that do not choose to have sexual encounters, but yet have it forced upon them, rape victims, have a way out of an extremely terrifying situation. Pregnant women with potentially fatal or other health concerns can consider abortion to be their â€Å"lifesaver† of sorts. If there was ever an attempt to ban abortions, the percentage of illegal and dangerous procedures of aborting a pregnancy would go up, therefore causing the cost of the procedure to increase because of accountability. A babies’ life solely depends on its’ mother and a mother needs to be healthy and capable to take on motherhood. It should ultimately be her choice. â€Å"Pro-Choice† supporters, which are supporters of abortion, see a woman’s right to choose as central to all of the controversy and believe women’s rights are being jeopardized when the right to an abortion is taken away. Of course the people against abortion, people that are for â€Å"Pro-Life†, feel that an unborn baby is more than just potential life: they feel that an unborn baby is meaningful human life. They side with the theory that no person should have the right to decide if another human life is allowed to live or die. Abortion is clearly immoral to them. Pro-Life propaganda refers to Planned Parenthood, a healthcare clinic that offers abortion procedures, as an â€Å"abortion mill† and a â€Å"killing chamber. † The Center for Disease Control has statistics showing approximately 1,313,000 abortions in the United States alone. Abortions can cause severe side effects. Many complications can occur and these include vomiting, infections, severe bleeding, nausea, hemorrhages, and ironically death. These are very serious risks that show the obvious distaste of this controversial issue. The banning of abortion would save the lives of thousands of unborn babies each year and would cut out the chances of women who are undergoing this risky procedure from the possibilities of such severe side effects. The media uses propaganda and other fallacies to cloud ones’ judgment(s) and make people believe things that might not necessarily be true. Propaganda makes things that seem one way look completely different or make things sound more drastic than they really are. Rhetorical appeals, slanting words and propaganda affect everyone in the world today. These logical fallacies are often times absurd. For example, a billboard shows a baby and next to it in huge bolded letters, are the words â€Å"Endangered Species. † These techniques are often drastic and dramatic, however, the majority of the time, they definitely get their point across. Whether someone thinks abortion is right or wrong, it will always be around. Legal or illegal it will continue to happen. The media will continue to downgrade abortions and the people that believe in them. It is obvious that there are few people in this world that are for this issue but it is not right to place judgement on someone ithout knowing their situation, and even then, who is anyone to judge what someone else believes is in their best interest? I would say absolutely no one has that right. While the issue of abortion is so controversial, it makes it nearly impossible to talk about and possibly see the â€Å"positives† that come from it, rather than just questioning it. People will have their opinions, primarily on the basi s of their morals or ethnically, that is how they will look at this issue. The majority will have an unwillingness to change their view(s). On the hopeful side, it is possible that because society and the media portray abortion so negatively, adoption rates will increase and fewer lives are left unharmed to the decision of abortion. Works Cited â€Å"Abortion in the United States: Statistics and Trends. † www. nrlc. org. 4 October 2010. Blackmun, Harry. â€Å"Roe. vs. Wade. † www. oyex. org. 2 October 2010. Cornswald, Alexander. â€Å"Liberal Compassion at 36 weeks. † 27 March 2009. www. cornswalled. com. 2 October 2010. â€Å"News and Politics. †www. sodahead. com. 4 October 2010. Wetcher, Beth. â€Å"Knowledge Is Empowering. † www. knowledgeisempowering. com. 1 October 2010. How to cite Abortion: Pros, Cons and Propaganda, Papers