MOTIVATION, LEADERSHIP, AND COMMUNICATION IN AN ORGANIZATION

There is a saying that a “manager is not necessarily a leader.” Many

managers find themselves in their positions because of exemplary

performance in “follower” positions, or even due to tenure ship and loyalty to

their job. Whether this is true or not, the managers in leadership positions have

ample opportunity to build their leadership characteristic traits. Here are some

of the differences between a leader and a manager.

Successful leading must begin by focusing on the psychological capital

of both the employer/leader and the employee/subordinate. Looking for what

is right with people rather than for what is wrong is suggested to prevent mental

and behavioral problems which are barriers to achieving both organizational

and individual goals.

Task 1:

Search for 1 woman and man-manager that you can find. After-which, list

down all the traits that each of them has. Check if there are similarities or

differences among them.

Personality pertains to the unique combination of physical and mental

characteristics that affect how individuals react to situations and interact with

others, and if unhealthy or not fully functioning could cause conflicts. problems

among individuals.

A person sis aid to possess a healthy personality if he or she is fully

functioning in mind, body, and spirit; he or she is an optimal person functioning

at the highest level. Ideally, individual human resources of organizations must

have a healthy personality because when one is functioning at the highest

level, one, inevitably, becomes efficient in his or her work, cooperative with

managers and coworkers, and the, therefore, could easily be influenced by

organization leaders to work toward the achievement of a common

organizational goal. Leading individuals in the organization become effortless

for the manager and leader, especially, if he or she has a healthy n d fully

functioning personality.

According to Robbins and Coulter (2009), “Research has shown that five

basic personality dimensions underlie all others and encompass most of the

significant variation in human personality.”

The Five Personality Traits In The Big Five Model

1. Extraversion- the degree to which someone is sociable, talkative, and

assertive

2. Agreeableness-the degree to which someone is good-natured,

cooperative, and trusting

3. Conscientiousness- the degree to which someone is responsible,

dependable, persistent, and achievement-oriented

4. Emotional Stability- the degree to which someone is calm, enthusiastic, and

secure (positive), or tense, nervous, depressed, and insecure (negative)

5. Openness to Experience- the degree to which someone is imaginative,

artistically sensitive, and intellectual.

Blake and Mouton’s Leadership Grid

Blake and Mouton’s Leadership Grid, a well-known leadership training

model developed to help managers rate their performance or maintenance

orientation in the workplace. Performance orientation or concern for

production is plotted in the x-axis or horizontal line, while maintenance

orientation, or concern for people, is plotted in the y-axis or vertical line.

The grid explains five management or leadership orientations, as follows:

1. Impoverished Management (1,1), ranking low concern for people and low

concern for production or results

2. Country Club Management (1,9), rating low concern for production and

high concern for people

3. Middle of the Road Management (5,5), showing balanced concern for

management and people

4. Team Management (9,9), ranking high concern for production and people

5. Produce or Perish Management (9,1), rating low concern for people, and

high concern for production.

Motivation

Motivation encourages individuals to work enthusiastically, often

performing more work than what is required. What could managers do to

ensure such motivated and enthusiastic performance among their

subordinates? What could be done to inspire employees whose work

performance is limited to the minimum need? Understanding individual human

needs, perceptions, thoughts, and beliefs may provide good answers to such

questions that are often asked in different work settings.

According to Kreitner and Kinicki (2013), early Theories of Motivation revolved

around the idea that motivation is brought about by the employee’s desire to

fulfill their need, their work habits, and their job satisfaction. Among these are:

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

The theory indicates that people satisfy their needs in a specific order, from

bottom to top, as follows:

1. Physiological needs- food, water, and shelter

2. Safety and security-protection against threat and deprivation

3. Social needs- friendship, affection, belonging, and love

4. Ego or Esteem- independence, achievement, freedom, status, recognition,

and self-esteem

5. Self-actualization- realizing one’s full potential, becoming everything, one is

capable of being

McClelland’s Acquired Needs Theory

The key needs for managers, according to McClelland, are

achievement, affiliation, and power needs. Achievement means an

orientation toward success and goal realization. Affiliation reflects a strong wish

to be liked while power refers to the need to persuade or be in command of

other people.

Managers are advised to be observant of these needs among their

subordinates so that they could be given job assignments that would satisfy

their highest needs, if possible. In doing so, they may be more motivated to

work well.

Alderfer’s ERG Theory

It was developed by Clayton Alderfer in the 1960s. For Alderfer, a set of

core needs explains the behavior. E stands for existence needs, R refers to

relatedness needs, and G pertains to growth needs. The needs or desire for

physiological and materialistic well-being, to have meaningful relationships

with others, and to grow as a human being are similar to the needs presented
in Maslow’s Theory.

Modern Theories of Motivation

These are process theories that focus not on the notion that motivation is a

function of employee’s perceptions, thoughts, and beliefs. Among these are:

1. Goal-Setting Theory

A theory stating that specific goals motivate performance and that

more difficult goals, when accepted by employees result in greater motivation

to perform well as compared to easy goals.

Managers are advised to set goals for their subordinates as this is a major

source of job motivation. Doing well also helps increase their motivation.

2. Reinforcement Theory

A theory which states that behavior is a function of its consequences. If

the result or consequences that immediately follow a behavior is good, then

there is a probability that the individual will be more motivated to repeat the

behavior. Using this theory, managers can motivate an employee’s positive

behavior by using positive reinforcement for actions that help the company

achieve its goal.

3. Job Design Theory

A theory which states that employees are motivated to work well by

combining tasks to form complete jobs. Mangers are advised to design jobs

that will meet the requirements of the ever-changing environment, the form’s

technology, and the workers' skills, abilities, and preferences. In doing so,

employees are motivated to perform well. Examples are:

a. Job enlargement- the horizontal expansion of a job by increasing job scope

b. Job enrichment- the increasing of job depth by empowering employees to

assume some tasks usually done by their managers.

c. Job characteristics model- where employees are motivated to perform well

because the task assigned to them have the five core job dimensions that

serve as motivators.

4. Equity Theory

A theory developed by J. Stacey Adams which states that employees

assess job outcomes about what they put into it and then compare these with

their co-workers. If the employee perceives that his job is equitable in

comparison to those of his coworkers, there is no problem. However, if the

opposite is true, this will become a de-motivator to his or her job performance.

Mangers must see to it that they exercise fairness or equity in their company.

5. Expectancy Theory

A theory that sets an individual tends to act in a certain way, based on

the expectation that the act will be followed by an outcome that may be

attractive or unattractive to him or her. Mangers are advised to understand an

employee’s goal so that he or she would be able to link the rewards or

outcomes to be offered with the said goals.

Communication

Communication applies to all management functions and its general

purpose for the organization to bring positive changes that influence activities

leading to the firm’s welfare. The communication process starts with the sender

who has an idea or a message, which is then transmitted through a selected

channel to the received, who in turn has to be ready for the reception of the

message so that it could be decoded into thoughts. Accurate communication

occurs when the sender and the receiver understand one another.
Types of Communication

Communication may be classified into the following:

A. Verbal- through the use of oral and written words

B. Non-Verbal - through body movements, gestures, facial expressions,

eye contact, and by touching

C. Formal- if communication takes place within prescribed, routine

organizational work arrangements

D. Informal- if communication is not defined by an organization’s

hierarchical structure.

Communication flows in different directions within an organization. It could

either be:

A. Vertical- involves communication flow between people belonging to

different organizational levels.

B. Upward- the flow of information from an employee who belongs to a lower

hierarchical level to the boss/manager who belongs to a higher hierarchical

level. Employees or subordinates may communicate upward regarding their

problems, requests that they would like the boss to approve, issues with

coworkers and others.

C. Downward- is the flow of information from the manager, who belongs to a

higher hierarchical level, to the subordinates/employees, who along to the

lower hierarchical levels. Examples are when the boss gives orders to

subordinates to finish certain tasks, communicates organizational policies and

practices, and comments about work performance month others.

D. Horizontal/Lateral- takes place among employees who belong to the same

hierarchical level. Members of cross-functional teams who belong to different

units/departments but occupy the same organizational level make use of this

type of communication to save time and facilitate coordination.

E. Diagonal- entails communicating with someone or others who belong to

different departments/units and different hierarchical levels. For example, an

employee belonging to the company’s financial management department

communicates directly with the head of the human resource department

about his complaint against a marketing department employee. Take note of

the different departments and different organizational levels of the persons

communicating with each other. Diagonal communication is said to be

beneficial because of its efficiency and speed; however, it may also cause
some confusion.

The Basic Elements of the Communication Process

The Sender

The communication process begins with the sender, who is also called the

communicator or source. The sender has some kind of information — a

command, request, question, or idea — that he or she wants to present to

others. For that message to be received, the sender must first encode the

message in a form that can be understood, such as by the use of a common

language or industry jargon, and then transmit it.

The Receiver

The person to whom a message is directed is called the receiver or the

interpreter. To comprehend the information from the sender, the receiver must

first be able to receive the sender's information and then decode or interpret

it.

The Message
The message or content is the information that the sender wants to relay to the

receiver. Additional subtext can be conveyed through body language and

tone of voice. Put all three elements together — sender, receiver, and

message — and you have the communication process at its most basic.

The Medium

Also called the channel, the medium is how a message is transmitted. Text

messages, for example, are transmitted through the medium of cell phones.

Feedback

The communication process reaches its final point when the message has

been successfully transmitted, received, and understood. The receiver, in turn,

responds to the sender, indicating comprehension. Feedback may be direct,

such as a written or verbal response, or it may take the form of an act or deed

in response (indirect).

Other Factors

The communication process isn't always so simple or smooth, of course. These

elements can affect how information is transmitted, received, and interpreted:

Noise: This can be any sort of interference that affects the message

being sent, received, or understood. It can be as literal as static over a

phone line or radio or as esoteric as misinterpreting a local custom.

Context: This is the setting and situation in which communication takes

place. Like noise, context can have an impact on the successful

exchange of information. It may have a physical, social, or cultural

aspect to it. In a private conversation with a trusted friend, you would

share more personal information or details about your weekend or

vacation, for example, than in a conversation with a work colleague or

in a meeting.

Communication Networks in Organizations

Communication networks are varied patterns of combined horizontal and

vertical flows of organizational communication. Types of communication

networks include the following:

a. Chain of network- where communication flows according to the usual

formal chain of command, downward and upward.

b. Wheel network- where communication flows freely among all members of

their group/team.

c. All-channel network- where communication flows freely among all

members of a team

d. Grapevine network- is informal communication. An example of this is

gossip/rumor which could quickly disseminate information. Managers must stay

aware of the grapevine’s flow and the patterns and could use it to transmit

important information. They, however, should also be conscious of the

negative effects of gossip as these may cause conflicts in their company.

Negative effects of rumors may be minimized by practicing transparency and

communication openly with employees.

e. Computer network- Information technology has made it possible for

managers to communicate with each other and with subordinates and for

employees to communicate with each other anytime, regardless of distance.

Examples of computer communication applications are e-mail, blogging,

teleconferencing, and intranet.

It has been observed by communication researchers that there’s no single

network that could be considered applicable or fit for all circumstances in an

organization.

Barriers to Communication
Organization members encounter various types of barriers that can alter the

meaning of communications that they receive. These barriers included:

1. Filtering- the shaping of information communicated to make it look good or

advantageous to the received.

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For example, a sales agent may report to his manager the big amount of sales

that he was able to make with one of their customers but failed to report the

complaints he received from other customers regarding their products.

2. Emotions- the interpretation of communications which may be influenced

by extreme emotions felt by the received.

For example, a manager who is in a very bad mood and received good news

may not see the positive aspect of it because his rational thinking process is

affected by his emotional judgment.

3. Information overload- another barrier to good communication since there

are too many pieces of information received by an individual may harm a

person’s processing capacity.

For example, the hundreds of job applications received by human resource

managers through e-mail may be too many for them to read fully and respond

to accurately.
4. Defensiveness- the act of self-protection when people are threatened by

something or someone. Due to this feeling, people may resort to

communicating lies to protect themselves or to interpret communications

differently to defend their interests, thus, reducing mutual understanding.

5. Language- could also hamper good communications because words used

may have different meanings to different people belonging to a different age,

educational background, or cultural group. Diversity of background of

organization members may influence the language or the words that they use.

For example, the word “hello” may just be an ordinary greeting to the older

members of an organization; but the same word, “hello” may have a negative

connotation to the younger group of employees depending on the context.

6. National culture- just like languages, the prevailing national culture may also

cause problems in communication among members of an organization,

especially if it's a multinational company. Certain office practices, like sending

formal memoranda to employees, maybe negatively interpreted by

employees coming from another country with a different culture that values

face to face interpersonal communication. Such negative interpretation may,

in turn, cause employee dissatisfaction and less motivation to perform their

work well.

Overcoming Communication Barriers

To avoid conflicts resulting from communication problems, managers try to

overcome communication barriers through the following means:

a. Using feedback- This is usually done by asking questions about a memo sent

to subordinates or by asking them to give their comments or suggestions. In

doing so, they can determine whether the communication they sent out was

understood the way they originally intended.

b. Using simple language- This is done by avoiding uncommon terms and

flowery words that may just cause misinterpretation. The language used must

fit the level of understanding of the intended recipients of the communication.

Effective communication is achieved when the message is understood by

those who received it.

c. Active listening- This means listening well to grasp the full meaning of the

communication. Hearing without giving full attention to what others seek to

communicate usually results in misinterpretation and communication

distortions.

d. Controlling emotions- This is another method of overcoming communication

misinterpretation

. When the received is affected by extreme anger, his interpretation of a

message received may not be accurate. On the other hand, when the sender

is affected by extreme emotions, he or she may also send or transmit

inaccurate information. Therefore, it is important to practice emotional

restraint.

e. Observing body language- This also influences how communication is

interpreted. Actions of the message received, like throwing away a letter

delivered to him, betrays his negative feelings regarding its message, even if

he says yes or no to what is requested. Nonverbal cues must always be

watched because, as the saying goes, action speaks louder than words.