What is motivation?
Psychology today defines motivation as the literal desire to do things
(Psychologytoday.com, 2016). It goes on
to give the example of getting up before dawn to pound the pavement as opposed
to sitting around lazy doing nothing.
Furthermore motivation revolves around setting and working toward
accomplishing goals. The
BusinessDictionary.com defines motivation as the internal and external factors
that stimulate desires and energy in people to be continually interested in and
committed to a job, role, or subject or to make an effort to attain a goal
(BusinessDictionary.com, 2016). The Yukl
text goes into several different traits which influence leaders and their
motivation. Some of these traits include
energy level and stress tolerance, locus of control, emotional maturity, power
motivation, confidence and need for affiliation (Yukl, 2013). All of these different traits work in
different ways for the leader and can be effective or ineffective depending on
the situation. Some examples of this
would be the leader who is not very confident in their abilities however, is in
charge of a large number of personnel with a important task to complete. If the rest of the team knows this leader
lacks confidence and the ability to lead they are liable to not listen to this
individual. The text discusses leaders
who are confident and says they are better suited to have more initiative, they
are more apt to attempt difficult tasks, as well as set challenges for
themselves as well as those they lead.
The text goes on to discuss how leaders who are confident are more
likely to be effective at the current task.
Another example would be the narcissist.
This individual is reliant on the strong need for esteem. This includes things such as prestige, status,
attention, admiration, and adulation. For
me I fall into the need for affiliation.
This is when the leader receives great satisfaction from being liked or
accepted by others. Now in my situation I
don’t necessarily care about going out and partying with my co-workers however I
look at it like this, if I have to spend anywhere from 8 to 12 or even more
hours with these people we might as well all get along. It only helps with the production and effectiveness
if you and your co-workers do not mind being in the same room with each other. This obviously does not work with everyone
because there are some people who will never be happy no matter the
situation. The Yukl text discusses how
someone who has a low need for affiliation can be classified as the “loner” and
that this person lacks confidence and may not be able to influence others. As a leader it is your main goal to influence
others so this low need for affiliation will hinder you effectiveness. By creating a work environment which people
enjoy being in you are definitely moving in the right direction toward
establishing an effective organization. Contingency theories play a major role in
a leader’s effectiveness. These theories
describe how aspects of leadership situations can alter a leaders influence and
effectiveness. There are a few different
types of contingency theories which may factor into a leaders
effectiveness. Some of these theories
are the path-goal theory, the leadership substitute theory, situational
leadership theory, the least preferred coworker theory (LPC), and the cognitive
resources theory. These theories mainly focus
on dyadic influences but more recently some have specialized in leader
influence on group process. These theories
can help a leader who is having trouble motivating him/herself as well as those
they are in charge of. They factor into
multiple different situations and can help the leader when dealing with
motivation and group dynamics.
Motivation. (2016). [Data file]. Retrieved from:
Motivation. (2016). How
to Get Motivated. Retrieved from:
Yukl, G. (2013). Leadership
in Organization (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Prentice Hall.
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