Drive
Drive is a trait described by Kirkpatrick and Locke as a trait which is not a physical need deprivation. They use the term to refer to a prospect of traits and motives reflecting a high-effort level. There are five aspects of drive which include achievement motivation, ambition, energy, tenacity and initiative.
Achievement Motivation: Leaders have a relatively high desire for achievement. The need for achievement is an important motive among effective leaders. Leading achievers obtain satisfaction from successfully completing demanding tasks, attaining higher standards, and augment better ways of doing things. They are intrinsically motivated to achieve. For instance, Jack Welch of General Electric had high need for achievement. When he was appointed CEO of GE in 1981, US economy was in recession and high unemployment rates. He set up a plan to bring about changes that would radically restructure the company over the next five years, his first move was for each business under GE to become #1 or #2 competitor in its industry or to shut down. Eventually in times of recession, it was difficult to become #1 or #2 and they shut down many business units. Such as central air-conditioning, housewares, coal mining. GE freed up over $11 billion of capital by selling off more than 200 businesses. Meanwhile, the company made over 370 acquisitions, investing more than $21billion in major purchases as Westinghouse’s lighting business, employers reinsurance, RCA, kidder Peabody.
Motivation is the drive within humans that makes us act, it is a process that influences goal directed behavior. Drives are considered internal factors that push an organism into action. Throughout our lives, we have certain drives within us that motivate us to behave and act in a certain way to fulfill our needs and desires. We have biological, social and emotional drives within us. Without motivation, we would not have the ability to take action and have the potential to achieve self-actualization. There are various motivational theories. The incentive theory suggests individuals are motivated to do things through external rewards. Behavioural learning concepts like reinforcement play an important part in this theory.
In the introduction and chapter one of Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, Daniel H. Pink expressed how behavioral science can change the common understanding of people’s driving force and suggests a more helpful way to better performance. Pink mentioned that there are two main drives that are powered by behavior. First is the biological drive which comes from within individuals and the second drive comes from without rewards and punishments the environment provides for performing in particular ways. However, a scientist named Harry F. Harlow came up with a third drive after experimenting with monkeys and Harlow called it the “intrinsic motivation.” Harlow said that to completely comprehend the human condition, people have
I believe that my drive strength is my strongest because when I need to get something done, I want it to be finished and done with, I get annoyed with the project or paper if it left unfinished, sometimes, and if it is something I enjoy to do I will end up finishing it so that I know that my grade will be good on that work. When I get the feeling to just get something done it’s not just to get it done (most times) but it’s to get it done correct and turned in on time. When I get home and there is something that I need to finish like a homework assessment or an essay and I have nothing else to do I get annoyed with it not being finished so I will get it out and
drive or urge to meet our needs. It is that sense of momentum that impels us to do something to
Notably, being driven can help one get through tough times and can help not only one's self but others as well. Lee explains that crossing the border is extremely difficult and involved a lot of risks. Even though her family kept running into issues, she did anything she could to help them get to freedom (paragraphs 13 and 15). Similarly to Lee, striving for someone or something that you love and care about shows determination and drive. Being driven towards important things can help with survival later in life as well. "Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes but they don't quit"(Conrad Hilton). Even when faced with challenges, never give up because getting through difficult times will make a stronger being. During
The article, “Master Class: America's Top CEOs On The Secrets Of Motivating Employees” by Casserly Meghan notes that the chief executive officer of Annie’s’ company John Foraker, has a driven mission approach that is able to attract people that are smart, those that are engaged highly and those who are caring about how the world would have a difference. This motivates individuals highly because they see that the work they do furthers business success beyond the financial factors. He considers paying employees well, giving those benefits as well as a good work environment as the most significant factors of motivating employees. The chief executive officer of Questcol Pharmaceuticals, Don Bailey motivating employees is achieved through treating all the employees equally, listening to them, respecting, understanding them and considering that they have families too. He suggests that communication and empowering team work as well as rewarding their victory motivates them more. Sturm ruger and company motivates employees through sharing of profits. The company believes that when employees appreciate sharing of profits then it becomes a driving force of the daily activities of a company. According to Boston Beer Company holder, the string theory shows that if he gave a group many strings, they would desire to have more but if he gave them less they got creative and maintained it for long. This means that people make good use of what they are given. According to Steve Fredrickson
Drives - are innate biological mechanisms. For example acts of hunger or thirst (Heffner and Heffner, 2016)
Mr. Gary stated that he applies transactional leadership because he is results oriented. Again, he said that a good leader is flexible, calm, and has humility. Having good leaders at every section motivates employees. Communicating the vision to employees and making them part of the vision also motivates them. He said it motivates employees when the manger sends his subordinates emails about the progress in their organization. Sharing information with his council members and his subordinates helps him maintain harmonious working relationships.
Curiosity is what brings me to the University of Michigan. All the sweat and determination and hard work, I have put in all my life will pay off when I get into the school of my dreams. The countless of hours and stress I put myself in will pay off when my job is something I love. My drive is what distinguishes me from everyone else. I have one goal, to have a career I love doing. All along that has been my drive. The only thing is, my goal was too broad. This is because I personally believe it’s hard to make a decision now about what I want my life to be, when this is the time where were barely trying to figure ourselves out. So aside from my goal, my drive was to get good grades, to have the best attendance, to be the best in my class.
Jack Welch and Dennis Hightower were great at identifying and implementing the restructure of their organizations. However, their implementation and leadership styles differed. Welch was over all concerned with long term future operations, culture, and leadership capabilities within his organization. Welch was intimately involved with the development of his future leaders of GE. His intimacy in developing leaders led to the creation of a leadership training facility.
According to Merriam-Webster, drive is an innate, biologically determined urge to attain a goal or satisfy a need. It could also mean to propel or carry along in a specified direction. I personally like the idea that your drive is an urge to satisfy a need. People can have many drives. It could be family, a career, or anything else really. For me, it’s music. Music has been a very important aspect of my life for as long as I can remember. My dad plays the piano, so any piano music brings back good memories. I play multiple instruments, but my main ones are the violin and the guitar. I have always used music as an outlet, whether I play it or simply listen to it. I feel like having music in my life is a real need that I was born with. People can love music, but some people are born with a connection to it .
Drive theory works based on increased arousal will proportionally increase the quality of performance. When arousal happens the dominant response is most likely to emerge. The dominant response is the motor program that is already learned and will become the prime behavior when arousal is raised. For example if a 19 year old soccer goes to take a penalty in the final of the world cup, he is in conditions of high arousal and his level dominant behavior is likely to produce a mistake, causing in missing the penalty kick. But if the captain of the team goes up to take the penalty, in the same conditions this would cause high arousal but he will thrive in this type of situation because of his dominant behavior being able to produce a better performance by scoring the
This report’s objective is to provide analysis of the leadership challenge that General Electric (GE) is currently facing, and to recommend solutions. The primary problem is determining what kind of candidate is required to replace retiring CEO Jack Welch. This has left GE to question how much does the company want to change policy over the previous era, and where does the company want to be in future?
Management guru Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric, has been instrumental in forming today’s top business management leaders by imparting effective knowledge in leadership management; he is widely credited with transforming GE into a multibillion-dollar conglomerate.
Jack Welch’s vision of what GE was possible of gave the company a vision for twenty years while he was the CEO and chairman. He states, “leaders make sure people not only see the vision, they live and breathe it.” (Winning, pg 67) He not only allowed for employees to stretch, but demanded it. In teaching workers to stretch Welch knew that workers “may fail. In fact, they probably will fail. But stretching, and stretching the business, is going to improve performance results.” (Jack Welch on Leadership, pg 105) He also states that “only by setting the performance bar high did it become possible to discover people’s capabilities.” Jack Welch’s emphasis on candor and breaking the bureaucracy of modern business separated him from his contemporaries. He excited others of the possibility of being the biggest and best company in the world and rewarding his best employees that shared the values of GE. According to FORTUNE Editorial Director Geoffrey Colvin In "The Ultimate Manager, Welch leads the annals of management history not for anticipating the new world's changes ahead, but for acting on them: "His great achievement is that having seen it, he faced up to the huge, painful changes it demanded, and made them faster and more emphatically than anyone else in business. He led managers into this new world, which we still inhabit, and just as important, he showed business