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Work Applications II Work Application 1 Recall a present or past manager. Which of the University of IOWA leadership styles does or did your manager use most often? Describe the behavior of your manager. Transactional leadership is the leadership style used by my manager.
I see him assume that people are motivated by the rewards they get after fulfilling their goals or tasks. (Changing Minds 2005) A formal system gives structure to the contract, which comprise rewards and penalties. The structure makes sure that those who work more, get more, while those who work less, not only get less, but get reprimanded for it. This leadership style is also named as By-the-Book approach (Legacee 2005). The rules of engagement in the contract are binding, and must be followed at all times.
This style is observable in large and bureaucratic organizations. One advantage is that employees get rewarded as soon as tasks are done. They immediately enjoy the benefits of their labor, and this motivates them. The style proves very efficient in reward giving. However, some of the disadvantages is when it inculcates an impersonal approach to employees. The boss-employee relationship is solidly entrenched in the company culture.
This could obscure an open and honest communication between the leaders and members. Work Application 2 Recall a present or past manager. Which of the four Ohio State leadership styles does or did your manager use most often? Describe the behavior of your manager. The leadership style used by the manager I observed is the Blanchard Leadership Model is a situational perspective kind of leadership. It demonstrates the developmental levels of a leaders subordinates who play the greatest role in determining which leadership styles are appropriate.
Leader behaviors fall under the directive behavior and the supportive behavior (The Blanchard Leadership Model). This leader connotes power. When we think of the word leader we usually think of the people who made a remarkable impact in our history. They are the ones who have the vision to guide people to have a dramatic change through time. Leaders pursue a mission in life to achieve a goal. They are usually idealists and sometimes radical, for their vision of a society (Directing.
Money-Zine). Work Application 3 Recall a present or past manager. Which of the five leadership Grid styles does or did your manager use most often? Describe the behavior of your manager. The Team Management leadership Grid style is the one used by a manager I observed.
The accomplishments in the job are from his committed people. Interdependence leads to relationships of trust and respect. This style was developed by Robert Blake and Jane Mouton and gives a framework for understanding the different types of leadership. (Overview of the Leadership Grid). This grid consists of two behavioral dimensions that are the concern for production and the concern for people.
According to the model, the most effective leadership is one that is characterized by the combination of high concern for production for people. There needs to be a balance between the two. Work Application 4 On what level of the hierarchy of needs are you at this time for a specific aspect of your life (professional or personal)? Be sure to specify the level by name, and explain why you are at that level.
In the levels of hierarchy, I am at that level where I hope to do something valuable in my life. It is at this point where I seek self-respect including feelings of confidence, achievement, independence and freedom (Abraham Maslow). I feel more responsible for others and for me, to be complete is have that sense of achievement that I am able to help others. I know that compassion must be directed toward others as well as toward myself. I am also able to empathize more with others. I watch and listen carefully.
Every time I feel irritated, disgusted, bored and embarrassed, I set my feelings aside and refocus my attention Work Application 5 Recall a present or past job; are you or were you dissatisfied or not dissatisfied with your maintenance factors? Are you or were satisfied or not satisfied with the motivators? Be sure to identify and explain your satisfaction with the specific maintenance or motivator factor. In a past job, I recall how satisfied I was with the motivators. I know that the remarkable success of high performance teams is not the result of luck.
It is the predictable outcome of intense concentration on values and strategies, on cultivating what the German writer Goethe called the genius, power and magic in ourselves. Because I was properly motivated, and the environment was flexible and nurturing, I was able to function well in my job. Individual differences are respected in my workplace. For instance, some groups find direct eye contact preferable or acceptable, whereas others consider it intrusive, inappropriate, and even shameful. These are now body language differences and interpretations that ought to be processed. Pitton and co-authors suggest that some cultures emphasize the emotional quality of a conversation more than the words or context of the message.
Still others consider the expression of emotion to be inappropriate (Pitton et al. 1993). Work Application 6 Explain how your need of achievement, power, and / or affiliation has affected your behavior, or that of someone you work with or have worked with. What were the consequences of the behavior, and was the need satisfied? Things are clarified and the process is checked if well understood. People are not left clueless about how things need to be done. Clearly, if the process is well understood, it stands a chance of being described and automated.
Achievement and power affects behavior of people who work for that person. It reminds me of history's great leaders who were also forces of good that changed the world for the better and can be considered in this light to be socialized charismatic leaders. Gandhi for example, fits the category of the selfless individual who did not rule over people by force, intimidation, or manipulation. He had selfless goals, the liberation of India from British rule, treated everyone as his equal or superior, was content to work in the background and give credit for their success back to the Indian people whom he led, and generally acted out of higher spiritual and noble motivations. Looking deeper, we see that socialized charismatic leadership is leadership exercised for the greater good, with no regard for the accumulation of personal power, and with no intention to exercise power over people for any other purpose than for their betterment. Work Application 7 Give an example of how equity theory has affected your motivation, or that of someone else you work with or have worked with.
Be sure to specify if you were under rewarded, over rewarded, or equitably rewarded. The leaders perception on their subordinates will greatly affect their decision on which between the two dimensions are they going to emphasize. If they assume that their people are responsible and capable, there would be less control and leaders would put more reliance on their people, otherwise there would have a large amount of control on their workers. But more than the well-established organizational design and properly selected leadership style, Beer emphasized the importance of people because without the capabilities of these people, the goal of effective organization would be difficult to attain, or worse, would never be reached (Beer, Michael). An important quality needed to attain high performance is effort. Schermerhorn defines effort as the willingness to perform.
The managers job is to create the conditions that will increase the chances of people choosing to perform well. The first step to developing a management style that motivates people is to recognize and accept the fact that they are rational, consistent entities. Even if there are contradictions it will help the manager to keep these contradictions in mind during discussions on motivation. Work Application 8 Give an example of how expectancy theory has affected your motivation, or that of someone else you work with or have worked with. Be sure to specify the expectancy and valence. The Expectancy Theory is used to motivate and help understand how individuals make decisions regarding various behavioral alternatives.
This model deals with the direction aspect of motivation. For example, when deciding among behavioral option, the individuals select the option with the greatest motivation forces (Scholl, R. n. p. ). Real motivation catches internally, after the mission is clear. Vrooms Expectancy Theory states that the strength of a tendency to act in a certain way depends on the strength of an expectation that an act will be followed by a given outcome and on the attractiveness of that outcome to the individual. (Webb, 2001).
In other words, behavior is determined by our expectations of the consequences, and our individual interpretation of the attractiveness of the consequences. This is similar to that theory which maintains that Motivation starts with the desire to be free, to be free from dependency on others, freedom to live the lifestyle we dream of, freedom to explore our ideas. Total freedom is not possible or desirable, but the struggle to achieve that ideal is the basis for motivation. (Webb, 2001). In many of today's work environments, employees' primary goal is quitting time and payday. Leaders' priorities are power, control and maintaining the status quo. Getting the job done is down the list.
Change equals challenge which is the source of motivation, workplace efficiency and job security. Because of fast changing trends and technology, work environments are evolving into continuous challenges. Therefore, whether it can successfully reinvent is entirely in the hands of management and the way they motivate their employees to be on their side by applying the sound theories of Victor Vroom. Management can use Vrooms Expectancy Theory as it motivates their employees that for every volume of items that they produce in their childrens apparel, these employees will get certain bonus points which they can exchange as company benefits like a one-day leave. This will prod the employees to do more since they are expecting a good thing to come out of their renewed efforts.
Vrooms Expectancy theory will give the momentum to the employees who may be disheartened by the sales of their products or tired of producing the items and do not see any benefits offered by management as to their long years of stay in the company. Work Application 9 1. Using the writing objectives model, write one or more or more objectives for an organization you work for or have worked for that meet the criteria for objectives. Groups can enhance morale, provide an outlet for affiliation, enhance self-esteem and help create consensus and security. It is still good to work in groups as long as the manager knows what the pitfalls are in working in teams.
In the end, it might even work well for the company when there are teams within it and in the case of employees, participating in teams will help in achieve levels of competence they have never thought possible. The leader who exercises power will work from the inside out, starting with himself. As one increase his capacity to path find, team build and garden, ones power base will enlarge, ones ability to serve will increase, and ones potential for leading with honor will escalate. Understanding the behavior of workers in an organization is the key in coming up with strategies that would benefit the organization as a whole. 2. Give an example of how a goal (s) affected your motivation and performance, or those of someone else you work with or have worked with.
The most used technique in motivating employees is the use of rewards either financial or non-financial. These can be direct compensation such as increase in basic salary or some other perks. Non-financial rewards may be in the form of opportunities for personal growth and skills development. The leader can best determine which techniques would best prompt the workers to perform well. A goal affected my motivation because it spurred me to finish my objectives since it was always in my mind and it helped me move towards it daily. Work Application 10 Give one or more examples of the types of reinforcement and the schedules used on a present or past job.
Decisions about how jobs are designed and policies about how people are to paid have important consequences for employee motivation. In large organizations, managers at fairly high levels often make these decisions. Regardless of whether these decisions made by high-level managers are good or bad for employee motivation, they place constraints on how much middle and first-line managers can change the type of work that people are asked to do or the general level of pay that they will receive. Even when managers are not able to redesign jobs or create new pay structures, they can affect employee motivation through their use of reinforcers and goals. Hands-on management combined with participative leadership methods help managers be aware of ongoing operations, without undermining employee contribution in the company. Open and effective communication channels within the company, between employees and between employees and management provide a more smooth and harmonious relationship inside the company.
This internal peace projects a model of internal strength to customers, meaning they can rely on this company, and trust them fully. WORKS CITED Abraham Maslow. Personality Theories web Beer, Michael. Organizational Behavior and Development. (n.
d. ) Accessed 15 July 2006 at: < web 'organizational% 20 behavior% 20 affects% 20 organization n'>. Changing Minds Website 2005, Leadership theories, Changing Minds Website, Accessed 15 July 2006 at: CHANGING MINDS WEBSITE on the World Wide Web: web Directing. Money-Zine. 26 Nov 2005. < web Career-Dictionary/Coaching-Leadership-Style/ Legacee Corporation 2005, Different types of leadership styles Accessed 15 July 2006 at: web Overview of the Leadership Grid. web The Blanchard Leadership Model. Accessed 15 July 2006 at: web Scholl, R. (2002).
Motivational Processes Expectancy Theory, University of Rhode Island. Retrieved 8 September 2005 at: web Webb, B. Self-Education Skills. Accessed 15 July 2006 at: web
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Research essay sample on Abraham Maslow Expectancy Theory
