Leadership And Motivation Discussion/English
Based on the readings from the course text, please identify the leadership traits, skills, and behaviors that you consider the most important in leading and motivating subordinates. Examine specifically why you selected the traits, skills and behaviors in relation to employee motivation. Guided Response: Respond to two of your classmate’s posts. Provide feedback on why you may agree or disagree with their selection of leadership skills, traits, and behaviors. MARVIS: Based on the readings from the course text, please identify the leadership traits, skills, and behaviors that you consider the most important in leading and motivating subordinates. Examine specifically why you selected the traits, skills and behaviors in relation to employee motivation. The discussion on this week is on the topic of leadership and motivation. Leadership is important in all aspects of our life both personal and in business. Strong leaders must the capabilities to motivate. Leadership is the process of setting direction and effecting others to go along that path.. Common to all definitions of leadership is the notion that leaders are individuals who, by their actions, facilitate the movement of a group of people toward a common or shared goal. This definition implies that leadership is an influence process. There are six basic traits that reoccur which are drive, motivation, integrity, self-confidence, cognitive skills and knowledge of business practices. Our text breaks down each trait. Drive infers that there is a longing to be successful and are excited about working. There is a need to be a go getter and do not wait to be told what to meet goals. Motivation infers that their desire to push one’s self and others. In my opinion, integrity is important. It is the thought that someone can be trusted. Self-confidence is that assurance in yourself that you are completing task effectively and efficiently. Cognitive ability infers that there is a capability to reason or use intellectual thinking. Business knowledge is understanding the business. Ensuring that there is a knowledge of how things should operate to run an organization smoothly. The trait I consider the most important in leading and motivating subordinates is honesty and integrity. Subordinates must know that the people leading them are trustworthy and ethical. I have been in situations where leadership was thought to be trustworthy and they let the employees down by not telling the truth about circumstances. It made the employee feel hurt and resentment and they lost a lot of respect for the leaders. One this trust is damages it is hard to recover the person’s trust. EDWARD: I believe the path goal theory is the most important leadership trait to use when leading and motivating subordinates because it allows feedback from staff members. Some of the leader behavior tendencies include using interpersonal communication and team collaboration with team members. I know others who have and are still currently experiencing managers who only dish out work commands and punishment. “Directive leadership: This includes giving task guidance, scheduling work, maintaining standards, and clarifying expectations” (Bierman, Ferrell, O. C., & Ferrell, L., 2016, p. 11.4). A strict manager will not be able to develop relationships with workers or be able to get the best out of them. Showing appreciation to workers by thanking them for doing their work along with asking how they are doing and using informal communication with them will prevent workers from having a grudge against management. Every day I feel good coming to work, because by boss jokes with me and allows me to give suggestions on work assignments. Not to mention that management can make better decisions and motivate employees more easily by allowing feedback from colleagues regarding production. Motivation is needed in the work place to keep workers happy about coming to work every day, putting forth best effort in production along with collaborating with others and retaining them. An individual “who thinks he is hungry may actually be seeking more for comfort, or dependence, than for vitamins or proteins. Conversely, it is possible to satisfy the hunger need in part by other activities such as drinking water or smoking cigarettes” (Maslow, 1943, p. 373). A worker not making that much money at his job, might need to be motivated by management with a raise, promotion, or more hours. On the other hand, a colleague that makes good money could develop low employee morale if the job does not have decent benefits such as sick, vacation, or weekends and holidays off. References Bierman, L., Ferrell, O. C., & Ferrell, L. (2016). Management: Principles and applications, custom edition. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/books/Bierman.1318.16.1/sections/sec1.1 (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50(4), 370-396. doi:10.1037/h0054346
