1. Business – Revision Notes : Motivation and Leadership
Leadership influences others to achieve certain aims or objectives. Effective leadership skills
can help a manager carry out their duties.
Leadership Styles
Authoritarian
Senior managers take decisions with little involvement of juniors
Sets objectives
Allocates tasks
Leader retains control throughout
Communication goes down from leader to consumer
Paternalistic
Dictatorial, but decisions are taken in best interests of employees
Explains decisions
Ensures workers social / leisure needs met
Communication mainly downward but some feedback
Democratic
Running a business based on majority decisions
Encourages employees to take part in decision making
Uses delegation
Extensive two way communication
F.W. Taylor – Scientific Management
Taylor did lots of work in factories and believed that workers should be told how to do a job
quickly
He believed they should be closely monitored & told what to do
He devised a piece rate (the amount of production with quality) system
He believed workers could only be motivated by money
Division of labour - jobs should be broken down into small tasks to keep employees
motivated
Identify most productive workers and make all staff use their methods, setting a
standard for the rest of the workforce
Workers should be given everything they need to complete the job to a decent
standard, therefore giving no excuses for low productivity
2. Abraham Maslow – Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow believed human needs are split into five types - a hierarchy of needs with the highest
level needs at the top.
Individuals need to meet basic needs before moving up the hierarchy (arranged from bottom
to top according to the Maslow’s theory)
5. Self- actualization - creating challenges and tasks that are stimulating
4. Esteem - positive feedback and chances for promotion
3. Social - team working and other functions that aim at building a bond within the
workforce
2. Safety - security (safe job), other benefits e.g. sick pay and safe working conditions
1. Physiological - wage, salaries and working conditions
Frederick Herzberg - Hygiene and motivating factors
According to Herzberg motivating factors are split into two groups. Motivation is a two step
process. Firstly you must meet basic hygiene factors, and from then on can motivate
employees
1. Hygiene factors - salary and security. Improving these lowers dissatisfaction but
doesn't improve motivation or satisfaction. Hygiene factors remove sources of
unhappiness among workers, such as decent wages, working conditions, security and
safety
2. Motivators - recognition, responsibility, work itself, achievement, advancement -
these lead to increased motivation. Motivating factors can then be used to make
workers happy, and feel a desire to exceed in their job, such as promotions,
recognition and interesting work.
In reality most managers are trying to maximize the beneficial aspects and minimize those
facts which de-motivate workers.
Elton Mayo – Hawthorne Experiment
Mayo looked at motivation in the Hawthorne laboratories in the USA
Found that just by being studied the subjects levels of motivation increased
Highlighted the importance of team work and group dynamics to motivation
Applied theories of sociology to management, and in the Hawthorne Experiment
found that productivity increased when working closely with management,
highlighting a sociological need
Workers act accordingly to sentiments and emotion
If you treat workers with respect and try to meet their needs, they will be better
workers for you, benefitting both management and staff
3. Douglas McGregor – Theory X and Theory Y
McGregor developed two theories of human behaviour at work: Theory and X and Theory Y.
He did not imply that workers would be one type or the other, the two theories were two
extremes - with a spectrum of possible behaviours in between.
Theory X
Workers dislike work and will avoid it where possible
Threat of punishment will encourage work to be done and objectives met
Individuals who lack ambition, dislike responsibility and prefer to be led
Managers impose a management system of coercion, control and punishment
Theory Y
Workers are simply ordinary people who apply self-control and self-direction
themselves in order to complete targets without threat of punishment
Workers perform best when listened to and their ideas appreciated
Treat workers with respect, and they will work harder in return
Managers organise social events and listen to staff
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