Organizations Motivation and Leadership in Workplace

7/30/2019 Organizations Motivation and Leadership in Workplace

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The goal of an organization is to find and choose the best people for each position available. This

may become a process of recruiting potential employees by advertising the organizations open

positions in the newspaper or on the internet. Also, they may post their open positions within the

company or hold job fairs in order to recruitpotential employees. After hiring the best

candidates, and once they are fully staffed, the organization depends on their employees to

basically make sure the business is profitable by bringing in new clientele or establishing repeat

customers. Within an organization, there are many different titles or positions. Forinstance,

retail organizations such as my current employer, Lowes Home Improvement Warehouse, have

employees on a corporate level who concentrate on several stores in an entire region. In each

store, there areupper managers, which are typically salary based employees. Also, there are

department managers, customer service associates, and cashiers, which are all usually the hourly

employees. Often in retail organizations, the upper managers are considered the leaders in the

company. They tend to make sure that all of the employees are punctual and that the employees

are finishing their tasks in a timely manner. Sometimes employees are late for work or absent.

This usually is the point where management may have to warn or possibly write-up employees

who are continuously late or absent. Typically, if an employee is late or absent consistently, they

will be terminated by management. I am going to examine and discuss how motivational theories

could be applied to absenteeism, while analyzing the role of organizational leadership in

absenteeism as well as evaluating the role of power and influence in absenteeism.

MotivationalTheories

There are four general areas of motivational theory:need-based theories,job-based

theories, cognitive process theories, and the behavioral approach. According to Jex (2002),

need-based theories explain work motivation in terms of the extent of whichemployeessatisfy

important needs in the workplace. Maslows Hierarchy of Needs falls under the need -based

category. His theory consists of five areas of need: self actualization, esteem, love, safety, and

physiological needs. All of [Maslows] basic needs are instinctoid, equivalent of instincts in

animals. Humans start with a very weak disposition that is then fashioned fully as the person

grows (Simons, Irwin, & Drinnien, 1987). In the situation ofabsenteeism, the managers of an

organization such as Lowes may first attempt to motivate their employees who are late or absent

to make it to work on time before reprimanding them. Once a new employee comprehends and
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understands the importance and need for being punctual and notbeing absent, they may grow

personally and as an employee. In Maslows Hierarchy of Needs, this may be in the category of

love because the managers attempt to give the new employees a sense of belonging, which

may help them be punctual rather than absent.

Job-based theoriespropose that the key to understanding motivation lies in the context of

employees jobs (Jex, 2002). Basically, certain factors of a job contribute to a persons

motivation within their position. HerzbergsMotivation-Hygiene theoryfalls under the job-based

theories category. Motivation-Hygiene theorysays the primary source of motivation in the

workplace was the content of peoples jobs (Jex, 2002). According to Herzbergs theory, the

workplace can be divided into two areas: hygiene factors and motivational factors (Jex, 2002).

Hygiene factors include things such as pay, fringe benefits, relations with co-workers, andessentially everything else that is distinct from the content of an employees work (Jex, 2002).

An organizations employees may be motivated to work harder if they are being paid well;

receiving great benefits or have good relationships with their co-workers. For instance, I have a

very good relationship with my co-workers, and they make it easier to come to work rather than

being absent. Motivators include things such as the amount of challenge inherent in ones work,

the amount of discretion one has in carrying out ones job tasks, and perhaps how intrinsically

interesting the work is (Jex, 2002). Some employees enjoy a challenge and take great pride in

their work in order to overcome the challenge. Also, if anemployeefinds the work to be

interesting, they may be more motivated to work hard so they are able to finish. For example, I

enjoy working for my current employer. Because I find my job interesting and enjoy it, I am less

likely to be absent.

Cognitive processes also play arolein an employees motivation in the workplace. Employees

make judgments about how fairly they are being treated, choose where they will direct their

efforts, and are able to anticipate future rewards associated with different levels of goal

accomplishment (Jex, 2002). These cognitive processes give us a better understanding of

employeemotivation(Jex, 2002). For instance, if an employee feels as if they are being treated

unfairly, they may lose their motivation and find interest doing something else outside of work.

However, if an employee feels they are being treated fairly, they are more likely to be motivated

to be at work on time and do the work while they are there. Equity theory is a type ofsocial
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exchangetheory that focuses on how people determine the fairness ofsocial exchange (Adams,

1965, Jex, 2002). It basically refers to how much effort we put in comparison to what we receive.

For example, when a person is being interviewed for a position by a potential employer they may

provide a copy of their resume in order to give the employer an idea of their education, work

history, and job related skills. Based on the interview, if apotential employeefeels as if they

have not been compensated well enough based on these factors, they may be less likely to take

the job. Also, if the potential employee decides to take the position, he or she still may be bitter

about the lack of compensation, which may cause them to be less motivated to be present

andwork hard.

Another theory that has an effect on motivation is thebehavioral approach. The underlying

assumption of the behavioral approach to motivation is that behavior is largely a function of itsconsequences (Jex, 2002). We behave in certain ways based on what is going to happen after

our behaviors. In a work setting, employees tend to try to behave in constructive ways in order to

produce positive outcomes and avoid negative outcomes (Jex, 2002).Organizationsmay use

many different things in order to reinforce an employees behavior. For instance, the company I

currently work for offers bonuses or incentives for employees who stop theft. Because they put a

monetary value on stopping theft, the employees are motivated to stop thieves from stealing

merchandise from the store. When an employee is late or absent from work, the company may

use some form of punishment such as a write-up in order to keep employees from lying out of

work. Also, organizations often use feedback to help motivate their employees. If a new

employee does something wrong without realizing it, amanageror veteran employee may

provide them with feedback so they do not make the same mistake again. Each of these areas in

the behavior approach helps to prevent their employees from being absent.

OrganizationalLeadership

In absenteeism, organizational leadership plays an integral role. Leadership may be defined as

behaviors that are enacted by the group leader, [which] may include organizing the work,

obtaining resources for the group, providing encouragement to group members, and ultimately

evaluating the groups output (Guzzo & Shea, 1992, Jex, 2002). It is important for an

organizational leader to help each employee understand the importance of their position and
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job.Leaderswithin a company typically provide and encourage their employees to take pride in

their work and their hard work will pay off. Sometimes leaders will lead by example. While this

is a good rule of thumb for a leader, it does not always prove to be beneficial. For instance, at my

current job a manager who is considered a leader was an hour late for work. There was no

punishment for his behavior. This may have taught some other employees that it is alright to be

late or absent from work. Leaders in an organization are typically in a position to give the

employees direction and vision as well as motivate them and enforce the rules and regulations. If

a leader does not or is not able to do these things, some employees will take full advantage of the

situation.

Power and I nf luence

Power represents a persons potential or capacity to influence others (French & Raven, 1959).

There are three potential outcomes to influence: compliance, identification, andprivate

acceptance(Jex, 2002). Compliance refers to a situation where a leaders influence is successful

and the employee does what is asked of them. For instance, if an employee has an unexcused

absence from work and an influential leader speaks to the employee about the incident, causing

the employee to bring in a doctors excuse for their absence. This may be something that the

leader intended. Identification refers to an employee doing what a leader asks because they like

the leader on some level even though they do not want to comply (Jex, 2002). For example, an

employee may help their favorite manager with paperwork in order to help that manager avoid

being in trouble. Private acceptance is when the employee does what the leader wants because

he or she believes it is the right thing to do (Jex, 2002). In the situation of absenteeism, a leader

may have influence over their employees, which might keep an employee from being late or

absent from work.

Conclusion

Organizational motivation and leadership are very broad topics. There are many types of theories

of motivation such as need-based theories, job-based theories, cognitive processes theory, and

the behavioral approach. Each theory has a slightly different view of a leaders and employees

motivation. There are many ways in which leaders are able to have an influence and motivate
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other employees. Sometimes an employees motivation is self-produced while other times it may

take reinforcement or punishment to cause an employee to become motivated. In the case of

absence at work, leaders may use their power and influence to motivate other employees to avoid

being absent at work. With more research of motivation and leadership, we may be able to find a

solution for absence from leadership and motivational factors.

References

Adams, J.S. (1965). Advances in experimentalpsychology.New York: Academic Press.

French, J., & Raven, B. H. (1959). The bases of social power. In D. Cartwright (Ed.), Studies in

social power(pp. 150-167). Ann Arbor, MI: Institute for SocialResearch.

Guzzo, R. A. & Shea, G. P. (1992). Group performance and intergroup relations in organizations.

In M. D. Dunnette & L. M. Hough (Eds.), Handbook of Industrial and Organizational

Psychology, 3: 269-313.

Jex, S. M. (2002). Organizational psychology: A scientist-practitioner approach . Hoboken, N.

J: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Simons, J.A., Irwin, D.B., & Drinnien, B.A. (1987). Maslows hierarchy of needs.Psychology

The Search for Understanding. West Publishing Company, New York, 1987.
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Organizations Motivation and Leadership in Workplace