Management Motivation
Katrina Deliramich
Nigel Nicholson’s
article entitled “How to Motivate Your Problem People,” hypothesizes how
managers approach problem employees. He states that through his research and
studies results show the usual techniques do not always help the situation but
can do more harm than good (Nicholson, 2003).
Nicholson
starts with a summary of the typical problem employee, stating, “The most
intractable employees take up a disproportionate amount of one’s time and
energy.” This is a common theme in the workplace, as they say the squeakiest
wheel gets the grease. Nicholson goes on to explain how in an ideal world the
manager would give a motivating speech, backed up with a reward and troops
would follow, but as Nicholson points out “…few executives are truly gifted at
rallying the troops” (Nicholson, 2003).
When
faced with a problem person Nicholson explains that it may be the manager who
is approaching the situation wrong. It is really not up to the manager to motivate
people to work, it is up to the employee themselves. According to Nicholson,
managers need to perform three steps to teach their employees how to succeed:
- Show they care and understand where the person is coming from and that they care about them as a person, since Nicholson feels most employees do not like their managers this can help show the employee the human side of management by really getting to know and understand their employee.
- Create and adjust goals so the person can reach them and feel successful.
- The manager and employee need to sit down and discuss the problems and solutions and come to an agreement together. It is up to the manger to shift his usual style of managing to seem open and understanding to the problem employee (Nicholson, 2003).
I
agreed with Nicholson’s views on problem people. He seemed to really hit it on
the head about how the problem employee takes up the most time and effort. I
have personally noticed in the workplace that the problem person gets the most
attention and those who do well are left to fend for themselves most of the
time, which can be a good thing in increasing responsibility but can be
frustrating if you feel your actions go unnoticed. Nicholson outlines the
reasons problem people act the way they do and he offers solution to fix the
problem. I agree with his idea of the manager looking at the style and actions
of himself as well as the other bosses actions to collaborate on how it would
come across to the problem employee. It makes sense to step back and see where
some conflict can arise in how problems are dealt with.
Nicholson’s
theory that employees do not really care for their managers because they are in
the leadership role and might not come across as caring or understanding is a
valid point. It is important that a manager knows how to lead and encourage
their employees correctly to get the most out of them. It is also the
responsibility of the manager to create an encouraging work environment.
There
are many different ways for a manager to manage. In the following four readings
I will compare styles and address the authors thoughts on managers and how they
can lead their employees successfully.
In Abraham
Zaleznik’s article, “Managers and leaders are they different?” he discusses the
differences between managers and leaders. Zaleznik feels managers are more
level headed, goal oriented people who work for the team and they attempt to
solve problems for the good of all. They are not motivated by rewards and do
not try to succeed past the group good. In Zaleznik’s opinion, managers are the
safe routes for companies to go because they do not take power to their heads
and cause little threat to the working of the company. He also states, managers
approach solving problems rationally, “on one hand, they negotiate and bargain;
on the other, they use rewards, punishments, and other forms of coercion”
(Zaleznik, 1977).
Zaleznik describes
leaders as being people that everyone looks up to. They are reward oriented and
work to achieve power and success. They are a threat to the company and the
group because they can cause conflict and unrest and they can let power go to
their head, which can potentially hurt the company. On the other hand they do
have the ability to encourage the team and create excitement in the workplace
(Zaleznik, 1977).
In relation to
Nicholson’s article, Zaleznik description of a manager easily describes how
problem people can feel their manager does not care about their well being and
cannot try to succeed. Zaleznik says a manager, “relates to people according to
the role they play in a sequence of events” (Zaleznik, 1977). Whereas, he describes a leader as being
someone who relates to people on a more personal level. In order to create the
type of manager that is needed to deal with the problem people a manager needs
to become more of a balance between a leader, as defined by Zaleznik, and a
manager. If the manager is a people person they can create a safe caring and
exciting environment for their workers to want to try harder to succeed which
would follow Nicholson’s idea of understanding the employee on their level
allowing the manager to work with the problem person to achieve success
(Zaleznik, 1977).
In
his article, “What makes a leader,” Daniel Goleman discusses his views on leaders,
focusing on emotional intelligence to describe how leaders act in certain
environments. Goleman states, “…the most effective leaders are alike in one
crucial way: They all have a high degree of what has come to be known as emotional intelligence” (Goleman,
2004). Goleman feels there are other
requirements to make a leader such as training, and a high IQ but he describes
the results of his studies show that emotional intelligence plays a very
important role.
Goleman
breaks emotional intelligence into five categories:
- Self-awareness
- Self regulation
- Motivation,
- Empathy
- Social skill.
There are similarities to Nicholson in
some of these areas; he discusses it in his steps to creating motivation in
problem people (Goleman, 2004).
Self-awareness is the first step. Goleman
describes self-awareness as knowing your capabilities, and being able to adjust
your day and emotions to succeed at your goals. This would be an important
characteristic in any manager and Nicholson’s steps would fit this category because
in order for a manager to step back and focus on what is going wrong with their
approach of a situation they need to get to know the problem person better
making self-awareness crucial (Goleman, 2004).
Self-regulation is the next step, this
encompasses the ability to step back and stop
a problem from forming and rethink about
situation, a good skill for a leader to have (Goleman, 2004).
Next is
Motivation, the ability to motivate people for more then just rewards, this
fits Nicholson’s step by working with the person to help them achieve goals and
feel successful and want to try harder. Goleman stresses the importance of a
leader wanting to achieve their goals and have passion, not just a need to
external rewards. Empathy is the fourth step; it also plays a role in
Nicholson’s plan and is key for any manger to understand those they are working
with on a more personal level (Goleman, 2004).
The final step is
social skills that are needed to increase relationships. Goleman’s five
categories create a specific formula for a good leader. His idea of emotional
intelligence fits nicely with Nicholson’s steps and if a manager follows a
combination of these ideas they would have success according to both authors
(Goleman, 2004).
In Melissa
Raffoni’s article, “Honing strengths or shoring up weaknesses: which is more
effective? ” she focuses on how to motivate your employees. Raffoni argues the
idea that each employee is motivated in a different way for different reasons
and it is the job of the manger to discover their employee’s strengths and
weaknesses and to help them overcome the weaknesses with motivation strategies
that fit the specific employee (Raffoni, 2002).
Raffoni states, “Be strategic in your choice of weaknesses to
concentrate on, customizing your approach to fit each individual’s particular
sources of motivation” (Raffoni, 2002).
This focuses on encouraging the employee to create a better and more
successful work environment.
Raffoni discusses
the different ways a manager can improve an employees weaknesses. First she
says to not conquer too much at once. If approached too harshly the employee
will be overwhelmed and become unwilling to try. Next she focuses on the
smaller weaknesses, something that will add to the employee’s strengths but
might not be the weakness that the manager needs to fix. Raffoni focuses on the
fact that some employee’s strengths might not be what they find motivating. She
says, “You have to do more than help employees discover their natural talents;
you have to help them discover what most energizes them about work” (Raffoni,
2002).
Raffoni and
Nicholson share similar ideas on motivation. When focusing on the employee and
discovering what makes them tick Raffoni is following the same idea as
Nicholson’s step to get more personal with the employee in order to encourage
them. Raffoni shares important ideas on how to reach out to the employee and
approach problems in a way that can be more motivating then just chastising
them. She takes a more humanistic approach, which is along the lines of
Nicholson’s three steps and would fit with Zaleznik’s and Goleman’s ideas as
well.
In the book Management Basics for Information
Professionals, G. Edward Evans and Patricia Layzell Ward talk about
motivation in the workplace. “Motivating people is a challenge for mangers;
their staff advisers are individuals, each with her/his own internal state of
mind that can produce either desirable or undesirable behavior” (Evans and
Ward, 2007, p.293). Evans and Ward talk about the mangers duties to create an
environment the employee wants to work in and feels comfortable in. The way a
manager treats his employees is also important because, Evans and Ward say,
“Staff members often feel and think they are the “bottoms” and that the
management does not care what they think…” (Evans and Ward, 2007, p.294).
Evans and Ward
give various situations that simulate creating motivation in employees. They
break motivation into three theories: content, process and reinforcement. These
theories cover needs, rewards and guidance about behaviors. Content theory
relates back to Goleman’s article and his idea of fulfilling social needs and
self-actualization. Evans and Ward discuss these needs in a hierarchy, with
some needs that require attention before others. Process theories relate to how
people think about goals and how that will motivate them. Reinforcement
theories focus on positive and negative reinforcement to get an employee to
exhibit the behavior the manager was looking for (Evans and Ward, 2007).
Nicholson relates
to Evans and Wards chapter on motivation in many ways. Nicholson looks at how
an employee needs to feel the management is open and understanding to them in
order to work harder. This relates to the content theory discussed and the
hierarchy of which needs are more important to motivate a person. Reinforcement
fits with Nicholson’s idea of creating a smaller goal to meet first so they can
feel they did a good job and get recognition and with positive reinforcement
they will try for the next goal.
Each author has a
different way to motivate their employees. Nicholson focuses on the problem
person specifically. Zaleznik and Goleman focus on motivation and improving the
workplace whereas Raffoni focuses on motivating employees and improving job
performance by eliminating weaknesses while encouraging strengths. All the
articles make it clear that motivation is key in having a successful workplace.
Each employee works differently than another, the same with managers and there
is no one way to motivate an employee just as there is no one way to manage an
employee. A combination of all these approaches would be beneficial to the
workplace. As my research has found
using any of these five approaches, as a building block will improve
motivation. A manager who reads these articles will use the tools that fit
their style and create their own managerial approach to motivate their
employees.
Reference
List
Evans, G. E., & Ward, P. L. (2007). Management Basics
for Information Professionals. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc.
Goleman, D. (2004). What Makes a Leader? Harvard Business Review, 82(1), 82-91.
Nicholson, N. (2003). How to Motivate Your Problem People. Harvard Business Review, 81(1), 57-65.
Raffoni, M. (2002). Honing strengths or shoring up
weaknesses: which is more effective? Harvard
Management Update, 7(6), 3.
Zaleznik, A. (1977).
Managers and leaders: are they different? Harvard Business Review, 55(3), 67-78.
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