Current Issues in Leadership 1 Unit IV Upon completio.docx

Current Issues in Leadership 1
Unit IV
Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:
7. Analyze how leaders foster employee motivation and morale
in an ever-changing workforce.
7.1 Examine ways to leverage knowledge to increase employee
motivation.
7.2 Explain effective methods of increasing workplace morale.
8. Develop a comprehensive personal leadership training plan
that utilizes different leadership
techniques.
8.1 Ascertain individual knowledge that contributes to one’s
leadership skills.
Course/Unit
Learning Outcomes
Learning Activity
7.1
Unit Lesson
All Required Unit Resources
Unit IV PowerPoint Presentation
7.2 Unit IV PowerPoint Presentation
8.1 Unit IV PowerPoint Presentation

Required Unit Resources
In order to access the following resources, click the links
below.
Davis, A. (2010). Saving morale: How communications can re-
engage employees. Public Relations Strategist,
16(1), 6–10.
https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?auth=CAS
&url=http://search.ebscohost.com/logi
n.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=48851895&site=ehost-
live&scope=site
Fard, H. D., Rostamy, A. A. A., & Taghiloo, H. (2009). How
types of organisational cultures contribute in
shaping learning organisations. Singapore Management Review,
31(1), 49–61.
live&scope=site
Klann, G. (2004). Morale victories: How leaders can build
positive energy. Leadership in Action, 24(4), 7–12.
live&scope=site
Liden, R. C., Wayne, S. J., Liao, C., & Meuser, J. D. (2014).
Servant leadership and serving culture: Influence
on individual and unit performance. Academy of Management
Journal, 57(5), 1434–1452.

live&scope=site
Sarkissian, A. (n.d.). How does empowerment affect an
employee's motivation and performance?
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/empowerment-affect-employees-
motivation-performance-64535.html
Wetlaufer, S. (1999). Organizing for empowerment: An
interview with AES’s Roger Sant and Dennis Bakke.
https://hbr.org/1999/01/organizing-for-empowerment-an-
interview-with-aess-roger-sant-and-dennis-
bakke
UNIT IV STUDY GUIDE
Motivation and Morale
&url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bt
h&AN=48851895&site=ehost-live&scope=site

interview-with-aess-roger-sant-and-dennis-bakke
interview-with-aess-roger-sant-and-dennis-bakke
UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
Title
Unit Lesson
Motivation
What is motivation, and why is it important in an organization?
According to Cherry (2016), motivation is the
driving force behind why people act the way they do or the
internal psychological drive of an individual. So,
what are the components of motivation? There are three:
activation, persistence, and intensity (Cherry, 2016).
Activation involves changing behavior to accomplish a specific
objective or goal. Persistence is the
reinforcement of behavior to overcome challenges or roadblocks
that are in the way of the goal or objective.
Finally, intensity is purely the amount of commitment and
tenacity an individual has to accomplish the set goal
and objective. We can see that an individual’s behavior is
involved in all three components.

By looking at behavior and actions, there are two driving forces
that underlie motivation. The individual either
acts based on extrinsic (external) stimuli or from internal
psychological factors that give the person a sense of
accomplishment. Let’s observe this from a leader’s perspective.
How is a leader inclined to know what
motivates a person? We can see how this extrinsic and intrinsic
theory really is connected to the three
components. Therefore, how do you motivate? The answer is
that there is no definitive answer. How a leader
motivates individuals will depend on the situation and the
specific values of the employees.
In order to motivate an individual or group, you have to
appreciate them. This means that you have to know
them, what makes them tick, what their needs are, and what will
arouse their interest. It is certainly much
easier to motivate employees if you know their needs because it
is like dangling a carrot in front of a horse to
make it move. Remember Maslow’s hierarchy of needs—the
pyramid was comprised of psychological, safety,
belonging, esteem, and self-actualization, as shown in the
diagram below (McLeod, 2007):
Basic needs are at the bottom of the pyramid while more
sophisticated needs are at the top (e.g., self-
actualization) and are more difficult to attain. That is why
leaders must be able to read situations and know
each member well in order to act.
Generation Gap
Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Generation Xers, and
Millennials—who are they? They are groups of
individuals who comprise the human capital function of every

organization. Additionally, they are diverse
groups of people, each with different needs and views about
work, morale, motivation, and leadership.
Take a minute to review the link below, which displays the
generational chart for the four specific generations.
Specifically, look at how each generation views the following
issues: influencers, values, attributes, work
ethic, workplace view on respect for authority, ethics, preferred
work environment, what motivates, work–life
balance, and career development. It is a total melting pot, is it
not? Now, reflect on the challenges that senior
The diagram represents Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
(Adapted from McLeod, 2007)
UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
Title
leadership has in bringing everyone together, meeting
everyone’s needs, creating seamless teamwork,
keeping everyone motivated, and maintaining high morale. It is
certainly a challenge, and if you are interested
in studying this further, you can learn more about generational
differences by clicking the link below.
West Midland Family Center. (n.d.). Generational differences
chart.
http://www.wmfc.org/uploads/GenerationalDifferencesChart.pdf

High Morale and Low Morale
We have seen that motivation is an individual psychological
concept driven by a person’s internal and
external needs. Morale, however, is a group scenario, and the
surroundings of a work environment drive
workplace morale. Think about your work environment. It is
comprised of supervisors, coworkers, contractors,
health and safety requirements, communication, surroundings
(e.g., lighting, rest areas, cafeteria), support
services, and culture. All of these examples are double-edged
swords, right? Some will be great, some will
not be so great, and some will be satisfactory. All combine to
produce an effect on someone’s morale. You
can also have the factors that produce high morale, such as
when teamwork among employees is very high,
productivity has increased, and there is two-way communication
between leadership and the employee. What
this creates is greater morale and greater motivation (Klann,
2004).
Low morale is just the opposite—an increase in organizational
complaints, grievances, and conflicts between
supervisors and employees. These poor working conditions are
tied to safety and health. Employee
frustration with corporate policy, continual change, unrealistic
expectations set by supervisors and leadership,
and the perception of “us vs them” between superiors and
employees can lead to poor working conditions.
Low morale leads to a lack of motivation, a lack of desire to be
in the organization, and a decrease in
productivity.
Wow, this is getting pretty complex! Consider the scenario
below.

John has been a leader in his industry for many years and knows
the importance of understanding his
employees. He comprehends the internal operations of his
organization (safety, policy, surroundings, and
relationships). Additionally, he comprehends whether needs are
external or internal. As a leader, John must
pay extra attention to the right delivery method to use when
approaching his employees in order to activate,
reinforce, and focus their behavior on the task.
Below, you will see that it gets a little more complex when we
throw servant leadership, empowerment, and
corporate culture into the mix. All are factors that underlie
morale and motivation in an organization. The end
result is that a leader must have high energy and create
enthusiasm in people, which positively influences
employees to contribute to teamwork by focusing on
organizational goals and objectives.
Servant Leadership
Servant leadership is comprised of two components—leadership
and service (Liden, Wayne, Chenwei, &
Meuser, 2014). Leadership is based on the visionary action, the
direction of the organization, the
development of goals and objectives, and the continual forward-
thinking of where the organization is going
and how the organization is going to get there. This is the
framework that sets the foundation of servant
leadership. The second component of service involves putting
the employee first; having a desire to serve
others; having a desire to create a culture where behaviors come
together between leadership, people, and
the organization as a whole; and creating behavioral norms and
shared expectations (Liden et al., 2014).

What is the impact here? By creating a service culture,
individuals and job behaviors contribute to
performance (DeMars, 2016). Therefore, servant leaders inspire
others. There is an internal and external dual
factor here. The internal need to do well and excel is reinforced
by a servant leader who will support your
endeavors. The external factor is that servant leaders are more
respected and admired by employees; as a
result, employees become more motivated to emulate the
behaviors of servant leaders (Liden, et al., 2014).
http://www.wmfc.org/uploads/GenerationalDifferencesChart.pdf
UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
Title
Empowerment
Empowered organizations are those that trust their employees
and encourage participation and responsibility
within the organization (Wetlaufer, 1999). So, how does this
relate to motivation and morale? The concepts
and goals behind empowerment are shown in the chart below:
Goals of Empowerment Results
Allow employees to create new
synergies
Improves productivity in an organization

Improve processes Reduces cost
Experiment with new technologies
in order to grow the company’s
reach
Improves customer service
An individual who feels that he or she is a stakeholder (owner)
has a higher commitment to the organization.
Empowerment is ownership, and ownership contributes to
meaningful work tasks and outcomes.
Empowerment improves morale and motivation through the
employees’ commitment to the mission, vision,
and objectives (Sarkissian, n.d.).
Corporate Culture
Corporate culture is the operating system of the organization—
just like a smartphone or computer. It is the
system that guides behavior, values, and expectations. The
culture of an organization is based on certain
characteristics as shown in the chart below:
These characteristics are embedded in many different types of
culture: bureaucratic, competitive,
participative, and learning (Fard, Rostamy & Tahiloo, 2009).
For the purpose of this lesson and unit, we will
focus on the participative culture (servant culture). A
participative culture occurs when there is little adaption
at the environmental level, but the culture supports the
employee, group, and/or team (Fard et al., 2009). The
benefits of a participative culture include high levels of
acceptance, stability, and commitment (Fard et al.,
2009).

Putting It All Together: Leadership, Motivation, Morale,
Culture, and Empowerment
Wetlaufer’s article, “Organizing for Empowerment: An
Interview with AES’s Roger Sant and Dennis Bakke,”
displays great integration of all the concepts from this lesson.
When the article was written, the AES
The diagram represents the characteristics of corporate culture.
UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
Title
Corporation was a global electric power company with 40,000
employees located in 90 electric plants in 13
countries (Wetlaufer, 1999). Their goal was to generate
engaging experiences daily and create a fair and
responsible environment (Wetlaufer, 1999).
They did this by creating a participative culture. According to
Wetlaufer (1999), this was accomplished
through creating a culture where leaders were advisors and
coaches. Decision making is pushed down to the
plant level where the team takes ownership within the plant
arena. AES is not based on a hierarchal system;
rather, AES focuses on hiring the right people who are
motivated and responsible to make important
decisions at their own level. The organization grows and
prospers through their employees. Employees are
the main foundation where creativity and learning are
paramount. Employees are encouraged to move
throughout the organization’s electric plants to work with new

people, experience new external cultures, and
learn how to adapt and apply teamwork. The goal is working
with new people, building bonds, and learning
from each other so a culture is created that engages the
employee and raises morale and motivation
(Wetlaufer, 1999).
Sant and Bakke do not operate their organization by simply
handing out rules and expecting employees to
follow them (Wetlaufer, 1999). They do just the opposite. A
great example of trust, empowerment, education,
teamwork, and learning is when they let 15 employees in their
Uncasville, Connecticut, plant invest the plant’s
$12 million cash reserve in the stock market. There were only a
few rules. They could only invest in collective
investment funds that were created and administered by banks
and thrift associations. These are known as
common trust funds (Coalition of Collective Investment Trusts,
2015). The only ground rules set by Bakke and
Sant were that any money earned was the firms to keep, and any
money lost was the firm’s loss. The results
were that the workers became educated on the investment
process, and they hired a teacher to teach them
about how Wall Street operated. They learned how to invest for
the short term and long term, as well as how
to hedge their bets through stock market techniques (e.g.,
selling short, using puts and call options). Over a
three-month period, the group of 15 beat the major market
averages with investment returns and became
better businesspeople (Wetlaufer, 1999).
Empowerment, morale, and motivation were embedded in AES
through the culture. Plant personnel did their
own hiring. They were responsible for meeting their own
budgets, and people advanced internally to senior
levels by being driven by results (Wetlaufer, 1999). Reflecting

on Fard et al. (2009), a participative culture is
characterized as an organization with low environmental
adaptation and high internal integration. AES’s
characteristics quite clearly reflected loyalty, commitment, and
high levels of stability and acceptance
(Wetlaufer, 1999).
Bakke and Sant certainly had a thorough understanding of how
to motivate others. They employed the three
components of motivation: activation, persistence, and
intensity. Also, they strove to change behavior in their
organization through their culture—a culture that empowered
people, allowed freedom to be creative while
maintaining high standards of integrity, and allowed the
organization to meet the mission objectives.
In closing, this unit’s takeaways include the following points:
• Examine the concept of motivation and its components by
looking at internal and external drivers as
well as needs, wants, and desires.
• Explain the concept of empowerment and how it contributes to
organizational morale as shown in the
Wetlaufer (1999) article, where AES leaders Bakke and Sant
took a different approach to morale,
motivation, and empowerment through a participative culture.
• Defend why corporate culture is important for employee
motivation and morale as discussed in the
Klann (2004) article.
• Explain how servant leadership impacts employee morale and
motivation according to Liden et al.
(2014).

References
Cherry, K. (2016). Motivation: Psychological factors that guide
behavior. https://www.verywell.com/what-is-
motivation-2795378
UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
Title
Coalition of Collective Investment Trusts. (2015). Collective
investment trusts.
http://www.ctfcoalition.com/portalresource/CollectiveInvestmen
tTrustsWhitePaper.pdf
DeMars, N. (2016). Corporate culture matters. OfficePro, 76(6),
18–21.
live&scope=site
Fard, H. D., Rostamy, A. A. A., & Taghiloo, H. (2009). How
types of organisational cultures contribute in
shaping learning organisations. Singapore Management Review,
31(1), 49–61.
live&scope=site
Klann, G. (2004). Morale victories: How leaders can build

positive energy. Leadership in Action, 24(4), 7–12.
live&scope=site
Liden, R. C., Wayne, S. J., Liao, C., & Meuser, J. D. (2014).
Servant leadership and serving culture: Influence
on individual and unit performance. Academy of Management
Journal, 57(5), 1434–1452.
live&scope=site
McLeod, S. (2007). Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Simply
Psychology.
http://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html
Sarkissian, A. (n.d.). How does empowerment affect an
employee's motivation & performance?
Wetlaufer, S. (1999, January-February). Organizing for
empowerment: An interview with AES’s Roger Sant
and Dennis Bakke. https://hbr.org/1999/01/organizing-for-
empowerment-an-interview-with-aess-
roger-sant-and-dennis-bakke
Suggested Unit Resources
In order to access the following resources, click the links
below.
The article below takes a closer look at motivation as well as

motivational theories.
Cherry, K. (2016). Motivation: Psychological factors that guide
behavior. https://www.verywell.com/what-is-
motivation-2795378
The article below, which is referenced in the Unit IV Lesson,
includes an announcement of resignation by
Roger Ailes after alleged instances of harassment and sexual
assault.
DeMars, N. (2016). Corporate culture matters. OfficePro, 76(6),
18–21.
live&scope=site
The following article explains the internal atmosphere within
organizations. According to studies, several
nurses claimed to have been verbally assaulted at work and that
there was quite a bit of negativity in the
workplace. The article includes ways that organizations can
move past these issues and create a culture of
respect.
Dutton, J. E. (2003). Fostering high-quality connections.
Stanford Social Innovation Review, 1(3), 54–57.
live&scope=site
https://www.verywell.com/what-is-motivation-2795378
https://www.verywell.com/what-is-motivation-2795378

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
Title
The article below introduces the benefit of passionate workers
and how they can create a community feeling
in the workplace.
Hawkins, J. M. (2014). Fostering passion in the workplace.
Personal Excellence Essentials, 19(7), 26.
live&scope=site
The below article includes how employee morale can be
increased by focusing on the employees themselves
rather than money and investments.
Re-energize exhausted staff. (2010). CU360, 36(1), 6–7.

live&scope=site
Learning Activities (Nongraded)
Nongraded Learning Activities are provided to aid students in
their course of study. You do not have to submit
them. If you have questions, contact your instructor for further
guidance and information.
Below are three excellent videos that set the stage for the
objectives in this unit (motivation and morale).
Reviewing the videos will give you a quick overview and
baseline to build on as you progress through the unit.
As you review these videos, reflect on how you can apply them
within your own leadership.
The video below deals with the challenges that the American
military faced during the war in Afghanistan.
The Global Report TV. (2009, October 14). Army chaplains:
U.S. troop morale is low [Video]. YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYJ4vGVLQZA
The video below provides an inside view of corporate America.
Incorporate Massage. (2015, July 20). How to improve
employee morale: 3 of America’s leaders share their
secrets [Video]. YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QSWR-bjqoM
This final video examines 10 successful methods for motivating
employees.
Rodriguez, A. (2013, October 4). 10 ways to motivate
employees [Video]. YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GiuysFb-iY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYJ4vGVLQZA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QSWR-bjqoM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GiuysFb-iY
Unit IV PowerPoint Presentation
Personal Leadership Training Plan: Knowledge
In Unit II, you started your Personal Leadership Training Plan
and focused on attributes. In this unit, you will add knowledge
to your plan.
Within your presentation, respond to the following points:
· Describe the knowledge that you need to be a successful
leader within your field of study. In order to do this, you may
want to research job descriptions and organizations'
employment websites.
· What knowledge do you already possess that will benefit you
in your future career as a leader? What knowledge do you still
need, and how do you plan to obtain this knowledge?
· How will you leverage your knowledge to motivate and
empower your employees?
· What can you do to increase workplace morale?

Your completed PowerPoint presentation must be a minimum of
10 slides in length, not counting the title and reference slides.
Submit only the specific segment concerning knowledge.
Additionally, a minimum of two peer-reviewed or academic
resources must be used. Keep the text on the slides concise, and
use the notes section to fully explain your ideas. All sources
used must be cited and referenced according to APA style.

Current Issues in Leadership 1 Unit IV Upon completio.docx

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