Effectiveness of Leadership Styles
A management team that has the ability to not only manage the resources effectively but also transform the company can solve its problems. The company should employ a team of transformational leaders. Transactional leaders are also helpful for the companies’ success, especially at lower management levels. These leaders are competent in managing organizations to perfect their current operational standards. They cannot save a company on the verge of collapse. The company can train them to gain insight on the desirable course of action. It can transfer leaders with innate transactional qualities to Middle Level Management offices.
Organizational Theory
Further research needs to be conducted to ascertain the necessity for change in organizations. This will broaden the scope of change management from the impact it has on employees to other areas.
For example:
- Impact of change on organizational structure may examine managerial set ups and how they are affected.
- Change and organizational culture; how culture is affected by new frontiers, personnel and ways of doing things.
- Is change always justified? Could an organization skip some changes?
Approaches to Management
Research Philosophy
Principal Orientation to the role of theory in relation to research.
Inductive; generation of theory.
Epistemological orientation
Interpretivism.
Ontological orientation
Constructivism.
The qualitative research approach is dominant in the natural sciences where research is carried out to explain causal relationships. However, it is also applicable to studies that data collection and analysis is hard. This study will use qualitative research approach (Johnson, Whittington & Scholes, 2011).
Change Management
The six dimensions stated below influences the employee’s feelings towards organizational change. The uncertainty during organizational change influences a resistance towards change. When the employee has ill feelings about the organizational change, he or she will develop an attitude towards the organizational change. Although, managers execute the plan at different time, rumors of the change will circulate prior to the organizational change. For example, the employees can resist the news of the arrival of a team of analyst to verify a particular organization. Word of mouth will be used to convey the resistance message to the entire staff (Gray & Larson, 2008).
The factors can be categorized into six dimensions:
- The feeling of loss of control or job routine by the employees,
- The uncertainty surrounding the change process during organizational change.
- Power change during management change,
- Change in work schedules during organizational change,
- Speculative or complete loss of authority by the employee during organizational change, and
- Misinformation and misunderstandings about the organizational change.
Steps in Change Implementation
- Step 1: Identify the most Important Challenges:
- Must be at least two.
- E.g. change resistance, faults in IS change.
- Step 2: Set Your Goals:
- Assists in overcoming the challenges in Step 1.
- Outlines a Goal, Measures to achieve it, Possible timescale.
- Step 3: Identify Factors Your Goals Depend on:
- Outlines factors that will cause goal achievement
- Also, outlines measures to undertake, possible timescale
- Example 1:
- Challenge: employee resistance.
- Factor to tackle challenge: Proper training.
- Timescale: 3 months.
Leadership Styles and Change
Transformational leaders
Transformational leaders see themselves as agents of change. In addition, they believe in themselves. By employing such effective leaders, a company will get the opportunity to improve its eroded culture. The recommended leadership will not maintain the status quo as commonly done by transactional leader. Commonly, they encourage innovation and develop original ideas that can solve the current evolving trade challenges that the company is facing. These leaders have high trust for their intuition.
Transformational leaders encourage democratic rule but at the same time are well informed. They endeavour to create cohesion and improve quality of service provision. The leaders have the skills for instituting turn-around strategies in organizations that are approaching total collapse. The change in management will therefore help to eliminate reckless action done under the guise of risk taking management. This is because the leaders believe in taking action after engaging in careful deliberations and considerations. The new style of leadership will work towards using resources economically by making decisions that will bring a positive change within the company. Moreover, it will increase chances of the company to make more profits and increase its social value. An outstanding characteristic in transformational leaders is having a set of core values that tend to determine their own behaviours. They possess extraordinary cognitive skills. Since leaders’ skills and aspirations are reflected in their management styles, the company would develop exceptional policies to take care of anticipated and unanticipated risks (Chase & Aquilano, 2006).
Motivational Theories in Workplaces
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is the most detailed look at employee motivation. It captures all the needs a person may want from work. Employers and management strive to meet all these expectations from employees. In most cases, however, it is impossible to meet all of them. The fact is that resources may not be enough. Additionally, some factors are beyond the control of the management. A question arises as to what management should do to motivate an employee whose de-motivation emanates from a situation beyond managements control such as family. This is a question, which is hard to answer. Hence, it is plausible to say this theory is too generalist.
Expectancy Theory
This Vroom Expectancy Theory suggests that employees earn motivation from what they expect in terms of rewards. The theory bases its argument on operant conditioning. The employees look at the rewards. If the reward is good, the employees put in effort to earn it. This effort leads to good performance. The study above does not mention the issue of rewards in the facial sense. However, the employees want rewards in terms of intangible benefits. This includes special recognitions, learning and development, involvement in making critical decisions, prompt and detailed feedback and most importantly listening from management.
According to this theory, if employees feel that when they perform well they will get the above-mentioned rewards, they feel motivated to perform. The theory uses terms such as expectancy, instrumentality and valence. Valence is the attachment that an employee feels towards the reward. Therefore, management should create such an environment to ensure these rewards. These rewards should be valuable and have the ability to generate an emotional attachment in employees. For example, fully paid one-week holidays to exceptional destinations. However, this is only true if employees are already satisfied by basics such as remuneration, safety and cleanliness. The study does not mention these aspects.
Importance of Motivational Theories
Motivation theories- Importance
Intrinsic motivation derives from enjoying a task and owning it. Unlike extrinsic motivation, an individual does not feel external pressure to encourage excellent performance in a task. He, inwardly, performs without external promises or coercion. This applies to people across the board. That is, students, employees and even family members. As authors suggest, intrinsic motivation is better than extrinsic motivation because of the following reasons.
Reduces Costs
In an organizational setting, employees that are intrinsically motivated reduce costs associated with motivation. Line mangers focus more on their work instead of having to spend time motivating employees. It also reduces the need to pay off motivated employees. Intrinsically motivated employees solve problems; take initiatives without requiring managerial help or supervision.
Creativity and Innovation
Intrinsically motivated people are creative. They value accomplishments and personal growth. They derive happiness in coming up with meaningful achievements in the organization. This makes them invaluable at school or in the corporate world. This is manifest in software development companies and entrepreneurial ventures. It also leads to mastery of a particular topic, profession or hobby.
Reduces Unfairness
Reward plans to benefit bad behavior has a bad effect on intrinsically motivated employees or students. It amounts to rewarding bad behavior instead of discouraging it. The people, who get rewards for correcting bad behavior, or avoiding it, do not understand the need to do something good from the heart. For example, if a person arrives late at work frequently and the human resource manager introduces a bonus payment for people who come early, people who had been arriving early may find it unfair. Those who had been arriving late may feel like winners. This creates a bad precedent.
Creating a Habit
Extrinsic motivation may create a recurring habit. This happens when people study and take advantage of the reward system. Hence, the employee or a student creates a bad situation that undergoes corrective measures to get the reward. A study in developing countries showed that criminals and bad elements in society committed wrongs to end up in prison specifically. This is after prison systems improved and life from the outside became harder. A prison was, therefore, a safe haven with food, television and security. This situation may replicate itself in many organizations like schools and corporate organizations.
Control of Operations
In institutions where people are extrinsically motivated, the cost of operations is high. These people need closer supervision to get the job done. Close supervision is intolerable to some people, but others grow and perform better in such situations. When employees’ motivation to work comes from within, controlling them becomes unreasonable. This is because they will obviously get the job done.
Reference List
Chase, B.R. & Aquilano, N.J. 2006, Operations Management for Competitive Advantage, McGraw Irwin, New York.
Gray, CF. & Larson, EW 2008, Project management: The managerial process, 4th edn, McGraw–Hill Education, Singapore.
Johnson G, Whittington C & Scholes, K 2011, Exploring Strategy Text & Cases, FT Prentice Hall, New York.