Leadership Styles - Blog Four

Summary notes

Differences between management and leadership

Leadership is the term given to an individual who influences a person’s or people’s attitudes and behaviours to reach a desired goal, whereas management, is a Job role or title for which an individual or management team, identify, and create tasks while guiding and providing support to complete a goal, usually based in corporate circumstances(Ivancevich, et al.).

What makes a good leader?

(link, 2011) A Good leader is some for which has the following character traits, Trust worthy, enthusiastic,, good public speaker, have a presence, calm and composed, committed to their course, know the wishes and desires of their followers, there are many more.

What makes a bad leader?

 (link, 2011)A bad leader is someone who is self-centred, over powering, and who loses the respect of his/her followers by becoming too dedicated to the cause there are many more traits that could also be used to describe a leader.

What makes a good manager?

(Sunrise, 2012)A good manager is someone for which has the following character traits, Organised, good listener, good at passing on information, determined, friendly, confident and more.

What makes a bad manager?

(Sunrise, 2012)A bad Manager is someone who can have some of the following character traits, Lazy, unapproachable, unclear of set goals, not knowledgeable, not friendly as well as many other character traits that could be used to describe a bad manager.

Goleman

Goleman reported the findings of research undertaken by Hay/McBar and drew upon its findings to identify six main ways of leadership and looked at which types of leadership had positive and negative effects(mullins, 2002).. The six main type of leadership are:

·         Coercive leaders, who are individuals who expect, complete compliance from their workers.

·       An Authoritative leader is an individual who will do everything in their power to reach a goal or vision.

·       An Affiliative leader is someone who wants to be friendly and from good relationships with their follows.

·       A Democratic leader is someone who allows their followers to take an active role in what they feel is best to achieve the task.

·       A Pacesetting leader is an individual who expect the absolute best from their followers, and expect people to have a form of self-direction.

·       Finally, a Coaching leader is someone who sees potential in people, and allows them to reach their full potential by providing training etc.

To take the example of a school, you can identify key leaders within that environment. Schools are environments for which there is a large diversity of leaders. Teachers are clearly the main leaders, but these are usually in a hierarchy of who the top leader is and who is not. A headmaster/headmistress should in theory be the best leader within a school environment, by they often take on the role of being a coercive and pacesetting leader, where is most commonly a deputy head teacher takes on these in smaller proportions but had a input of being an Affiliative leader, making them seem more approachable and friendly, thus giving pupils the idea that they are a better role model leader. However that is if you are looking at who is a leader to students; a role model leader figure from a head teacher could be a very effective one for other teachers, as they may aspire to one day have a similar career.

Teachers themselves to students can also have a hierarchy as to who they believe is the best leader for them. Individuality lays a large part in peoples personal choice as to whether they think someone is a good leader or not, in some cases one person may like a teacher to be a coaching leader, and to help them develop for the future, where as other students may with their teachers to be more authority and thus revolve their actions more around the idea of instant goals.

You can also have leaders within the students, whether this be academically revolving around a leader in knowledge, by being the most intelligent or within a social group there may be one particular group leader, who chooses what games to play, or for who can be or cannot be in that group or not. A leader therefore is someone who is ideally looked up to. And their followers aspire to be, or be like them.

Some students may not see any type of teacher as a leader; they may see other types of individuals, such as celebrities in the media, or people they see on TV.

In my personal experience, I felt as if my head of house was the best leader in my school. She adapted herself slightly to a small part of each aspect of leadership, she was firm but not bossy, she was knowledgeable and had a clear goal, but was not obsessed, she was friendly and kind, and approachable. But the most important thing to me was that she achieved what she said she would achieve. Which I think is a very important factor in whether you are a good leader. You can be the best public speaker, and be knowledgeable and kind, but if your actions do not have your followers desired effects, you will no longer be seen as a good leader, you will be seen as a bad one.

Overall I think it is clear to see that whether or not you are a good leader or not can be very individualistic. But overall, people prefer leaders who complete actions that give them something back in their best interest, and so, if a leader is not very democratic and does not listen to their followers, they will most like not be followers any more. There is a very fine line when you are in a position of power as to whether you are a strong good leader or if you are a poor one, but for me the perfect combination for a leader would be a mix between all but two of Goleman’s leader styles. All apart from Pacesetting and Coercive leaders (Mckee, 2002-2011).


Leaders are very important within society, and if they were not apparent many things would become more time consuming and difficult, so with a leader people have someone to look and find their desired actions. Leaders can be followed like a religion such as can be seen when looking upon Hitler during Nazi Germany , but as quick as a leader can be followed they can be disliked as well, as was also found out by peoples now attitudes towards Nazi Germany time, this means that if you are in a position of power there are many things that are needed to be done to remain popular with your followers.  

Bibliography

Ivancevich, J., Konopaske, R., Matteson, M. (2007). Organizational Behaviour and Management. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin.

link (2011) bog dog & little dog's performance juxtaposition [online]. nwlink. Available from: http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/leadcon.html [Accessed: 6th jan 2012].

Mckee, A. (2002-2011) Six emotional leadership styles [online]. changingminds.org. Available from: http://changingminds.org/disciplines/leadership/styles/six_emotional_styles.htm [Accessed: 1st Jan 2012].

mullins (2002) managment and organisations. 6th ed.

Sunrise (2012) Reqiired skills of a manager [online]. sunrisepage. Available from: http://www.sunrisepage.com/manage/skilmana.htm [Accessed: 6h jan 2012].

Business Culture - Blog three

Provide some examples of the ‘visible’ aspects of culture in an organisation of your choice? To gain this information use your own work experience or base it on a company from The Eden Centre.

                     

A business Culture can fall into many categories, from the people that work there, the customers, the store layout, the brand image and many other aspects; all which can be seen and felt, it’s an impression a person feels.

The Eden centre (Unknown, 2012) is a large shopping centre in the middle of High Wycombe, for which is home to a verity of restaurants, fashion and supermarkets. It is only clear what a business’s culture really is, and what impression you get from it, by comparing it to one of a similar nature. Looking at supermarkets, the two main ones to compare in Eden are Marks and Spencer (M&S, 2012) and Tesco (Tesco, 2012).

 .

Marks and spencer was founded in 1984 (M&S, 2012), and has since been a well-known traditionally luxury supermarket. The business culture is known by just being in the store. The staff dress smartly, and look presentable. The staff are also very knowledgeable about the products, and are very vocal about the traditional British products that they sell. The employees are proud of their brand and are happy to express themselves. The shop layout also shows how there is a relaxed but organised feel to the organisational culture. It is spread out, and in calm neutral colours. As a costumer, it is relaxed, it is calm, and it is an experience. Shopping for most people is a chore, but Marks and Spencer try to make it an event, an experience.

Tesco has a different set up, and too has a different culture. (Tesco, 2012) The first Tesco store was opened in 1929. Tesco has developed from a market store, to an international super brand for which is very well known. The cultures at Tesco although older has a more modern less traditional feel. They care less about shopping being an event, but about speed, and price. The staff are less smart looking’s, and the uniform more informal, The people in the store are less smart and formal, and are on a whole younger and as a result less knowledgeable and less excited about the products offered. The stores are cramped, and clinical feeling, whereas Marks and Spencer feels more home like. It is clear that the Tesco culture is less about customer experience, and more about convenience and price.

The culture of a business can also be observed by the type of people who shop there; as a result certain business cultures attract certain types of customers which can be seen in each different environment.  

Handy’s (1993) main ideas(Sherwin, 2009)

Handy proposes four alternative cultures that a business can adapt, or can combine more than one culture to create a specific atmosphere. Handy actually related each culture to an image and a Greek god in his book Gods of management By Charles Handy There are several issues of this book but the most recent publication of it, in 2000 by arrow books in the united kingdom shows the most detail and information.

A power culture is described as being like a web as it gives a few individuals a large amount of power in a business and revolves around the idea of being spontaneous, with fast decisions and few rules and regulations for others to follow. This is seen usually in family run businesses, if you are working for, but not a member of the family you will not be able to be at the centre of the web.

 A role culture is described by Handy as being like a Greek temple as it is all to do with a hierarchy and bureaucracy, with a business having a specific way of doing things, people take procedures very serious and follow them exactly. This is seen in industries such a security.

 A task culture is described as being best looked at as a lattice or a net, as all departments in a business work together as a team, mostly based around the idea of team work, taking everyone’s piece of expertise into account to solve the issue or task, this way the task is performed quickly. This can be seen in McDonalds, as all workers do every job, they rotate after so long and so can all use there ability’s on each department.

 A person culture is the idea that Handy put forward to show that some businesses take everyone’s views into account, and use this to take them forward; he describes this as being like a cluster, as everyone sticks together and follows the same norms and values. John Lewis to some extent follow this idea, of taking everyone’s views into account, and their employees know that their views count, also very initiative based company’s such as innocent and Google.

Handy was not the only theorist that was interested in organisational culture, the two other well-known theirs come from Schein and French and Bell. Schein and French and bell both have similar ideas, their theories are both focused around the idea that there are certain aspects of culture that can be seen and parts that cannot be seen. Schein (Ambler, 2012) puts this forward in the idea of the layers of an onion, as you get deeper into the core of the onion there are different layers of culture, French and Bell (unknown, 2010) on the other hand put it forward in the idea of an iceberg, that above the water there is a visible piece of ice that represents the visible aspects of culture, but then under the water there is a much larger more discrete section of it that represents the hidden piece of culture that is within the organisation.   

What do you think are the problems of trying to classify culture into one of the four types described above?

When a Business is very large, for example, Tesco(Tesco, 2012) and Marks and Spencer (M&S, 2012), it can be hard for a specific store to fall exactly into the same category as others. This is increased when you look at franchisees, as with a franchise you are given all the materials and the brand name, but you run it, so the business can have less corporate control over the running of their business. Most franchises fall under the fast food industry category with businesses such as McDonalds and Dominos both being well know successful franchises.

 People are all very individual, and although a supervisor or employee may be told to act in a certain way or do certain things they may be infused by other factors which could cause inconsistency with their brand culture, and as a result their brand image. Brand image therefore is one clear result from a Brand culture, and people’s brand loyalty reflects very closely in the brand culture.

Some business mix their culture, they can have a bit of more than one category, this would mean they are a more well-rounded business, and would allow them to appeal to a wider audience, this is both in customers wanting different aspects to a business to appeal to them, as well as to what staff they wish to work for them.

If the business is international also, it can be hard to adapt a business culture country to country, as different tplaces have different expectations and requirements, this does not have to even be abroad, it can be regional based in the UK also that there are some real diffrences in what people want from their business culture. 

This can be seen in the YouTube vieo below, which explains the difference between business culture in America/UK and china. 

Conclusion and evaluation.

It is clear that Business culture is something very individual to each business. As is based around there branding. Branding is a vital aspect to every business, and in some ways a culture can really effect this. If as a business you are very interested in corporate social responsibility, then this is shown to your employees and customers and gives you a selct brand image. However it is hard for business to have a strong business culture as they become larger corporations, as it is harder to keep track of each individual store; also, Handy’s ideas on Business Culture do to some extent help allocate each business to a category, but some businesses mix their culture to form a more well-rounded business that appeals to a wider audience, and so it is hard to just specifically define a business culture by just one of the categories.  

Bibliography

Ambler, T.E. (2012) Course and Direction [online]. Know thyself- culture in stratigic managment. Available from: 2012 [Accessed: 1st jan 2012].

Handy, C. (1995) Gods of Management. The Changing work of organisaitons ed. Oxford : Oxford university Press.

M&S (2012) Eden High Wycombe sotre finder [online]. Your M&S. Available from: http://www.marksandspencer.com/gp/store-locator/store-locator.html/275-5570257-5268121?ie=UTF8&viewID=details&postcode=HP11%202DH&storeID=6363&prevView=listing&client=mands_01&f_id=634&lon=-0.755630&lat=51.630750&db=GB [Accessed: 2nd Dec 2012].

Sherwin, L. (2009) Culture - Handy [online]. Managing Change Toolkit. Available from: http://www.lindsay-sherwin.co.uk/guide_managing_change/html_overview/05_culture_handy.htm [Accessed: 2nd Jan 2012].

Tesco (2012) Tesco [online]. Store locator and time opending times. Available from: http://www.tesco.com/storelocator/ [Accessed: 3rd Dec 2012].

unknown (2010) Communicaid Blog [online]. Views on cross cultural training. Available from: http://blog.communicaid.com/cross-cultural-training/the-iceberg-model-of-culture/ [Accessed: 20th dec 2012].

Unknown (2012) Eden High WYcombe [online]. Eden Shopping centre, High Wycombe. Available from: http://www.edenshopping.co.uk/ [Accessed: 2nd Jan 2012].

A example of how a business motivates its employees differently...

Just found this on the MCdonalds careers web page, and just thought it was interesting how they promote working for their business, So I have added it on to here to show the diversity that there are between business to business when referring to the way they try to motivate their employees and the type of people that they focus on employing.
 

http://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en/careers/benefits.html
http://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en/careers/training_education.html

Training & Education Enroll in our management training and education programs, and you can earn up to 46 credit hours toward your 2 or 4-year degree. In fact, we’re the only restaurant organization recognized by the American Council on Education (ACE) for our restaurant management curriculum. From scholarships to get you started on your college education to our world-renowned Hamburger University with its unique management curriculum, McDonald’s helps you navigate your personal career path. Educational Assistance McDonald’s helps you keep on learning through our educational assistance program, which is available at our company-owned restaurants and through some of our franchisees. McDonald's USA National Employee Scholarship Program This program recognizes and rewards the accomplishments of McDonald's student-employees who excel in their studies, serve their communities and go the extra mile to deliver a thoroughly enjoyable experience for our customers. Every academic year, McDonald's selects one outstanding student-employee applicant from each state and the District of Columbia to receive a $2,500 scholarship. In addition, three student-employees judged to demonstrate the highest commitment to school, work and community service are selected and named "McScholar of the Year" with a $5,000 scholarship. Other Scholarships RMHC also offers scholarships – for eligibility and application information, visit the RMHC website. In addition, many McDonald’s franchise owners support other scholarship programs in their communities, so contact your local McDonald's to see what they have to offer.

Hamburger University Since 1961, Hamburger University has offered graduates a unique management curriculum that is as thought-provoking as it is comprehensive. Hamburger U teaches in a total of 28 languages, including Spanish, German, French, Japanese and Mandarin, and some college credits can be earned. McDonald’s is the only restaurant organization that awards college credits from the American Council on Education—46 in all. Our founder Ray Kroc once said, “If we are going to go anywhere, we’ve got to have talent. And, I’m going to put my money in talent.” Hamburger University continues to promote that philosophy, each and every day.

Benefits We strive to hire and keep the brightest and the best. And to do that, we’ve put together perks designed to make you smile — even before you pick up your paycheck. From flexible schedules and competitive wages to management training and investment opportunities, our benefits let you know you’re a valued part of our team. Restaurant Crew Benefits You don’t have to achieve upper-level management status to reap the rewards. When you’re a part of our restaurant crew, you’ll enjoy a competitive wage, a schedule that fits your needs, a team that’s there to support you in every way, and a workplace that’s close to wherever you need to be. It’s a great way to earn extra income for anyone, from students to moms and dads. Competitive wages Free uniforms* Free or discounted meals Flexible hours Medical insurance* Prescription drug coverage* 24-hour nurse line access Vision discount* Available dental* Additional Benefits Short-term disability* Term life insurance* 401(k)* Paid holidays* Vacation* Educational assistance* *Subject to availability and certain eligibility requirements and restrictions. Talk to your local franchise owner or restaurant manager to learn more. Corporate Staff Benefits Our benefits program is designed to attract, energize, reward and retain top talent—the kind of people who will enhance our brand and produce solid results

Benefits

We strive to hire and keep the brightest and the best. And to do that, we’ve put together perks designed to make you smile — even before you pick up your paycheck. From flexible schedules and competitive wages to management training and investment opportunities, our benefits let you know you’re a valued part of our team.

Restaurant Crew Benefits

You don’t have to achieve upper-level management status to reap the rewards. When you’re a part of our restaurant crew, you’ll enjoy a competitive wage, a schedule that fits your needs, a team that’s there to support you in every way, and a workplace that’s close to wherever you need to be. It’s a great way to earn extra income for anyone, from students to moms and dads.

• Competitive wages
• Free uniforms*
• Free or discounted meals
• Flexible hours
• Medical insurance*
• Prescription drug coverage*
• 24-hour nurse line access
• Vision discount*
• Available dental*

Additional Benefits

• Short-term disability*
• Term life insurance*
• 401(k)*
• Paid holidays*
• Vacation*
• Educational assistance*

*Subject to availability and certain eligibility requirements and restrictions. Talk to your local franchise owner or restaurant manager to learn more.

Corporate Staff Benefits

Our benefits program is designed to attract, energize, reward and retain top talent—the kind of people who will enhance our brand and produce solid results.

Improving Staff Performance - Blog Two

Briefly explain the difference between content and process theories, and outline one of the process theories covered in the lecture                                                                                                                                         

Content Theories set out to explain the things which motivate people while at work. This is the physical actions that motivate them. These theories focus on people’s needs, and how these needs can allow them to become motivated in the work place. If management focus on their staffs needs it means they can bring out peoples strengths, and allow them to follow set goals. Content theories focus on the nature of needs, and how these needs allow people to feel motivated. Theoris which fall into the Content category are Maslow, Aalderfer, Herzberg and McCelland.      

Whereas process theories focus on how behaviours is sustained, initiated and directed. Therefore by focusing on identifying the relationship among the vital variables which create motivation for individuals’ means management can see what exactly makes that individual motivated, and so furthering their understanding of how to motivate that person. The main ideas which fit into the Process theories are the expectancy-based models, Equity theory, Goal theory and Attribution theory.                                                                                                                                                                   

Vroom Is a expectancy theorist, and was the first person to specifically propose a theory based on motivation of the workplace. His theory, is based around the abbreviation of VIE – this stands for valence, instrumentality, and expectancy.  (Web-Books, 2011)

The theory focuses on how people are very individualistic and like different outcomes from the effort that they put in. You may put in a lot of effort, to gain an outcome, but if you do not gain the particular outcome, you may become de-motivated. Vroom also explores the idea of what happens if the outcome you desired is not as good as you expected. People expect to get certain things from effort that they put in. For example if you study for a test, you expect to get a good mark, but what happens if you do not get a good grade? Or by getting a good grade you get no real reward, for example if it was just a practice test.                                                                                                       

Valence is a term used to describe the desirability for a particular out come to the individual. There is in Vrooms case a distinction between first and second level outcomes. With the idea that first level outcomes are performance related and second level outcomes are need-related .

Choose one organisation and identify all the ways in which they motivate their employees. Use primary research and/or secondary sources.  This information can often be found within the careers section of the website for that organisation                                                                                                                

John Lewis has a strong reputation for being a well-established trusted business, not only in terms of customers but also for their partnership program. The partnership agreement means that employees are not seen as staff, they are seen as partners in the business, and no matter who you are, whether you are on the top of the hierarchy or just work weekends, you are seen as being important.  John Lewis’s employment website (Lewis, 2011) states that john Lewis is “A place where customers love to shop as much as you’ll love to work”                                                   

The way John Lewis take so much pride in the company, and the way in which the staff members are treated with a lot of respect and can earn back a bonus means that there staff members are very motivated.  One main aspect that also motivated employees is John Lewis’s extensive Training program.                                                                                                                                                             
(Lewis, 2011)

 The training that John Lewis offers, is something that they love to publicise, and has a website section dedicated to it. They have a 5 point policy regarding training:                                

We’ll encourage you to fulfil your potential by:

• Helping you to learn as much as you can about the Partnership and our activities
• Providing information and training to help you carry out responsibilities better
• Helping you develop the skills and knowledge to grow as the business changes
• Encouraging changes of responsibility on a trial basis if necessary

They also offer management training schemes, in order help people work their way up from less senior positions to work to their full potential

As Vroom states, people get motivated by the realisation that they will receive just reward from the actions/effort that they put into the job, and clearly by  their management, profit share,

(John Lewis Shares £194 mln Bonus Pot, 2011)

and consolation processes John Lewis do follow this idea of motivational technique.

Brief conclusion which evaluates your findings of this topic

It is clear that motivation is a very important aspect for a business to function at its full potential. A perfect business idea or product could be rewind by de-motivated staff and for this reason people take the idea of motivation very seriously. However this further suggests that motivation is very individualistic and that employees need to build a strong relationship to see what motivational technique best suits that individual. 

Bibliography

John Lewis Shares £194 mln Bonus Pot (2011) Directed by RutlersVideo. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tX2GiDm5Ug&feature=fvst Youtube. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tX2GiDm5Ug&feature=fvst].

Lewis, J. (2011) John Lewis Partnership [online]. Waitrosejobs. Available from: http://www.waitrosejobs.com/ [Accessed: 20 oct 2011].

Lewis, J. (2011) Training and Development [online]. John Lewis. Available from: http://www.waitrosejobs.com/your-career/training-development.htm [Accessed: 20th oct 2011].

Web-Books (2011) Motervating Employees. Image: Online- Microsoft.

What motivation is relevant to me? Blog one

What motivation is relevant to me?                                                                                                                                         

The fact that I chose to analyse McClelland’s theory over the other options I think shows a particular characteristics of mine which fits ideally into McClelland’s theory.  McClelland’s theory outlines three main aspects to a person characteristic, whether they are motivated by a need for achievement, by a need for authority or a need for affiliation.  I don’t know one person, who fits perfectly into these categories; however, the combination of all three needs in a person’s characteristics would create in my opinion the ideal worker, manager and well-rounded person; as explained in Zarb, P.J.M.F.G. (2000) Managment. 3rd ed. New York : Educaitonal series. Inc

David McClelland Discusses his theory of needs (19th march 2011 ) Directed by Mariam. Mariam03293. [www.youtube.com/watch?v=McHoc0ht1jY]. 

McClelland’s first idea of being motivated due the need for achievement at first seems quite straight forward, but upon looking further this character is quite complex. Being self-motivated is one trait, as although achievement is the main idea it is not a person who needs praise, not someone who does an action to please someone else, but the personal sense of accomplishment through means of factual feedback. People who are achievement motivated do not like to leave things to chance, they like to work hard on an achievable issue, and feel good at a job well done; they are not gamblers.  

                                                                                                                                                                Power Hungary is a term widely used by a variety of people to describe someone who thrives on being in charge of people and events. If you as a person are motivated by authority and powers then you are someone who wishes to be influential on someone else’s life, usually to have some sort of control over them.  People who are motivated by power and authority base their lives around what status they hold, they would not be happy being under someone else’s management or being told what to do, they want to be the people doing the telling, they want to be at the top. This creates a good manager, but could mean that the person is very hard to work with, very controlling and not really willing to work as part of a team.                                                                                                                  

Some people naturally want to be popular, though out school, social and work there are always certain people who everyone knows, and these people can be defined by their motivation for their need for affiliation. Being Affiliation motivated means that a person needs to create relationships with other people. This sort of person would put being friendly over any other trait, and although this does create a good team player and would be motivated, in regards to being a manager, the affiliation motivated individual would struggle to manage people due to there need to please.                                                                                                                                                                                 

McClelland’s particular favourite theory focus was on the people who fit into the Achievement motivated category, and he continued to develop his ideas by performing experiments. He came up with the conclusion that people either possess the idea that it is important that they do a job well done, and that if you do suit this type of character that you continually set goals. I think I possess this need to achieve, this need to do well and to feel  accomplishment, though out all aspects of my life I always set myself targets and won’t stop working at a problem in till I have finished it to the best of my ability.                                                                                                                                               

I think I am in a point in my life where I am the most motivated. I come from a small town miles away and have been put into a place out of my comfort zone; I have managed to acquire a job and have really had to use my time management skills well to balance out all my life. The way that I am out of my usual routine and having to make a new one, and follow new rules, have allowed me to I think become more motivated to do well in all aspects of my work, university and social life. It is this determination that I hope will carry me through my time at Buckinghamshire new university and allow me to become a better-rounded person.               

This shows how I have had to adapt and fit into McClelland’s theory in all ways, I am being achievement motivated by wanting to get a good degree, I am being motivated by a need for affiliation where I have been making new friends in my new surroundings. I am also briefly being motivated by authority, as I have applied to become a student rep, where if successful, would mean that I could have an influence over people’s lives.

What has motivated me to get here and what will motivate me for the next 2 – 3 years?       

My main motivation for coming to university is the goal of getting a good degree and in the future getting a good job from the hard work I have put in. This motivation I plan on keeping up throughout my three years at university and follow the idea of being motivated by achievement.  To follow this idea, I am going to attend all lectures, and do about 3 hours of work per module a week outside of my lecture. Another motivation while at university however is money, as being a student and l;iving on my own I need money to live, this is why I have acquired a part time job, and although I do not enjoy the work, my motivation for being there is the money, this fits into Hertzberg’s hygiene factors as explained by “The motivation to work” By Frederick Herzberg, Bernard Mausner, Barbara Bloch Snyderman Collins, K. (2008) Exploring Business. First ed.

Unknown (n.d.) abrahammaslow [online]. Available from: http://www.abrahammaslow.com/m_motivation/Hierarchy_of_Needs.asp [Accessed: 15h Oct 2011].

 and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs 

What has made me de-motivated, why did I feel like this?  Applied this to all the theories discussed in the lecture.  What happened to get me more motivated?  What would I do differently?                    

I would say that I am generally demotivated at work. Although as explained above, money is my main motivator, it does not actually make me want to do a really good job, I just turn up and do my time, wait to go home; whereas a business wants to have people willing to go the extra mile to make a difference to the company. Elton Mayo another motivation theorist believed that workers are not just concerned with money but could be better motivated by having their social needs met whilst at work, this in my case also has not been met, as people are very demanding and un-sociable at my work place. This is an example of where I have had my hygiene factors met in reference to the ideas of Hertzberg, but my motivators are not. I think if I was given more promotional activities, or praise, or given more responsibility then I would become more motivated. Currently at my job I feel I am on the bottom level of the hierarchy, and am willing to progress to the top, and reach self-actualisation, however I need to be given more from my management team in order to motivate me to progress up the triangle.                                                                                                                                                              

In my past I became very demotivated during my GCSE exams, where I had not done very well on a practice exam test, this left me feeling bad, as my teachers rather than being happy and encouraging, were disappointed in me. I took this personally and felt like I should not try any longer, as when I had tried it still did not help. If I could of gone back, I should of taken the criticism from my teacher as constructive criticism, and followed McClelland’s achievement motivator, and it should of made me try harder.  A characteristic that I now possess.

My previous job before I had to relocate to attend university I feel I was nearing the Self-actualisation stage in the triangle. I had been there for two years and felt that my responsibilities within the business increased as my knowledge of the business grew, and the stronger the relationships between staff and customers got, and the more praise and responsibilities I was given made me want to do more to help the company, and therefore made me more motivated to improve myself and together in the work place. This is the sort of working environment all people want, especially managers, and I think it was also one stage in my life for which that I was motivated.   

   

I think that motivation is not just down to the management style, but also to do with the way your life is set out.  The way in which you are motivated I feel can somewhat be inherited through your life style, for example, I think I have my character traits from the way my parents have given me, people through primary socialisation are designed to be either motivated hard workers, or designed to be gamblers.                                                       

Conclusion which evaluates my findings

Shah, K.S.&.P.P.J. (2000-2010) LAYNETWORKS [online]. Available from: http://www.laynetworks.com/TYPES-OF-MOTIVATION.html [Accessed: 16th Oct 2011].

To some extent the other motivational theories fit into McClelland’s ideas, People who are motivated are categorised by him; however the motivation is also based on other ideas and concepts, either through. Frederick Herzberg is also a motivation theorist and has ideas based on basic hygiene factors being the basis for motivation, people need the basics of food, water, warmth et cetera to begin to be motivated, and I think this does apply to McClelland’s ideas as well, without basic needs who would fit into his ideas of achievement, authority, or affiliation?                                            

McClelland’s ideas explain the main process of motivation, but does not really look at demotivation, for that I think you need to look again at a different type of theorist, I feel the person who best explains the idea of demotivation is Maslow; are based around a person’s Hierarchy of needs and that as a person progresses up the hierarchy that they become more motivated.               

Clearly by looking at the wide variety of theories, it shows that people are very individual when it comes down to how they are motivated, it depends on the way they have been primary socialised, it depends on their financial status, and by their outside determiners.  Showing why it is that it takes time, and a vast variety of techniques to be a good motivator. “You don’t motivate individuals. You provide them with an environment to be self-motivated. It is a personal decision, but it is management’s job to provide the right environment.” Kathy Schofiels, Director of human Resources, HFC Bank

Bibliography

Collins, K. (2008) Exploring Business. First ed.

David McClelland Discusses his theory of needs (19th march 2011 ) Directed by Mariam. Mariam03293.   [www.youtube.com/watch?v=McHoc0ht1jY].

Mulins, L.J. (2002) Management and Organisational Behaviour. Sixth Edition ed. Essex: Financial Times Pitman Publishing Imprint.

Shah, K.S.&.P.P.J. (2000-2010) LAYNETWORKS [online]. Available from: http://www.laynetworks.com/TYPES-OF-MOTIVATION.html [Accessed: 16th Oct 2011].

Unknown (n.d.) abrahammaslow [online]. Available from: http://www.abrahammaslow.com/m_motivation/Hierarchy_of_Needs.asp [Accessed: 15h Oct 2011].

Zarb, P.J.M.F.G. (2000) Managment. 3rd ed. New York : Educaitonal series. Inc.