How Can the Theories and Models in Leadership and Motivation Help a Manager to Do His or Her Job More Effectively?

Leadership can be defined as the ability of a superior to influence the behavior of a minor or group and persuade them to follow a particular course of action. A leader sets a course of action and ensures that everyone follows the action. Leading can apply to leading oneself, other individuals, groups, organizations and societies. The nature of how leading is done depends on the framework of the situation, one's point of view, and on the nature and needs of those involved. While leadership is learned, the skills and knowledge processed by the leader are influenced by their traits, such as beliefs, values, ethics, and most importantly character. Knowledge and skills directly relate to the process of leadership, while the other qualities

Salaries play an important role especially in the first two stages of the hierarchy; we all need money to survive. Another theory is the Alderfer's ERG Theory; Alderfer has modified Maslow's hierarchy and has shortened the five needs into three, existence, needs, relatedness needs and growth needs, existence needs: refer to basic survival needs that everyone needs to satisfy. Relatedness needs: relate to interpersonal contact, social and emotional acceptance, status and caring. Growth needs: are development and sense of self worth. Herzberg’s Theory of Motivation Herzberg's theory of motivation is quite different than the other motivational theories. Herzberg stated that there were only to kinds of factors in any job, hygiene and motivation, the motivation hygiene model is based on the idea that one set determines dissatisfaction (hygiene) and the other set determines positive satisfaction (motivational theory). The hygiene set contains the company policy, administration, working conditions and job security. According to Herzberg’s findings he suggests that if these conditions were unsatisfactory they would most certainly be heading towards physiological or psychological withdrawal from the job. These conditions must be met for an individual to be motivated in work, however, other conditions and factors must be met, this proves that in order for an employee to perform his or her work in an

Compare and contrast two theories of leadership. Do these theories offer practical guidance for managers?

Referring to the previous explanation, we might come to a conclusion that the good and successful management of job satisfaction within any

Once goals and objectives are in place and tasks are assigned, management needs to concentrate on leadership. Leading primarily involves communication with employees as well as other managers (Bateman & Snell, 2009). One of the best qualities a manager can have is the ability to motivate employees. Being able to influence employees’ behavior through motivation and communication will help focus employees on the goals and objectives of the company as well as their own (Erven, 2008). With a motivated and engaged staff, much can be accomplished.

According to Herzberg, individuals are not satisfied with lower-order needs at work, for example, those associated with minimum salary levels or safe and pleasant working conditions. Theses individuals look for the gratification of higher-level psychological needs such as achievement, recognition, responsibility, advancement, and the nature of the work itself. Motivation-hygiene theory, based on the presence of one set of job characteristics or incentives lead to worker satisfaction at work, while another and separate set of job characteristics lead to dissatisfaction at work. Moreover he found that job characteristics related to what an individual does is the nature of the work he performs, having the capacity to gratify such needs such as achievement, competency, status, personal worth, and self-realization, leading to satisfaction. However, the absence of such gratifying job characteristics does not lead to dissatisfaction. Instead, dissatisfaction results from unfavorable assessments of such job-related factors as company

Employee equality, job security, and fair wages are considered some of the hygiene factors that exist in a workplace environment (O. Ferrell, Hirt, & L. Ferrell, 2009). Frederick Herzberg used these elements along with motivational factors to create a theory of motivation, known as Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory.

The basic premise for leadership is the process of influencing other people to follow your lead in order to accomplish a goal. It is about the relationship between the leader and the followers. A good leader tries to motivate people to bring about positive changes revealing a common objective without using coercion or manipulation. Leadership is not about control, but permitting interaction and communication between the leader and the individual followers. With empowering others, leaders build a foundation of collaborative thinking and encourage an atmosphere of personal involvement; a leader can strengthen the respect and loyalty of his or her followers. Leaders can affect this process by applying their own personal characteristics, such

Maslow’s study of the needs hierarchy led to Frederick Herzberg’s theory, Two-Factor Theory. Herzberg researched focused on employee’s attitudes and motivation. He determined that there are two factors of motivation. The first set (hygiene factors) relates to the employee's need for fair treatment in compensation, supervision, and working conditions (Dictionary of Human Resource Management, 2001). If these are not met, employees feel dissatisfied. Herzberg second set of needs, (motivator factors) identify personal growth and capacity development on the job, (promotion, achievement, responsibility, etc.) must be met for employees to experience job satisfaction. Distinguishing between these two sets of factors is important because it means that different factors are responsible for job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction (Dictionary of Human Resource Management, 2001). Herzberg believed that motivation increases when one combines pay (extrinsic factor) with a motivator such as challenging work (DuBrin, 2007). This theory has led people to understand that money will not always be the best motivation.

A manager with leadership skills can motivate employees who have the potential to do great things. An employee’s input is helpful in the planning and decision making stages and can provide input on reaching the goals and objectives. After all, an employee is involved in the day to day processes of the organization and can provide valuable insight that might not otherwise be as visible to a management team. As an employee works on a project, he or she becomes invested as if it is his or her own project. The employee takes ownership in a project and he or she will do what is necessary to have a success outcome. Because the employee is willing to do what is necessary, management will respect for the employee for they actions taken which will then make the employee form a loyalty toward the organization itself.

There are several ways of stating Herzberg's two-factor theory of motivation and each version can be tested in various ways. Those who defend the theory argue that researchers who fail to find support for the theory have usually departed from the procedures used by Herzberg. There have been variations in methods of gathering data, categorizing the responses, and analysing the results. These variations may be justified on the grounds that the strength of any theory

According to McGregor’s Theory X, it can best be described as employees who have issues with taking responsibility to go to work with the desire to work and who are

Leadership is about the interaction between the leader, the followers and the situation (Hughes, Ginnett and Curphy (2015, p. 15-26). If a given situation changes, the interaction between the leaders and followers can change dramatically. The leaders who understand well this interaction have a huge advantage because leaders are able to:

Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory states that both hygiene factors and motivators are factors that help motivate employees to work. According to Frederick Herzberg, a behavioral scientist who proposed this two-factory theory, there are job factors that are repercussions of satisfaction while there are other job factors that prevent dissatisfaction. Hygiene factors are those, which employees need for motivation to exist at their workplace. In other words, without hygiene factors, there is no employee satisfaction. As hygiene factors are not motivators themselves, workspace, break times, and the availability of parking need to be improved to prevent a decline in overall productivity.

Of organizational psychology, the most essential element is motivation. If a manager understands the psychology of his/her team or workers, he/she can lead them in the right direction. Thus, a manager plays the role of a motivator who can change the workers’ direction according to the need (Winning, 1996).