Leadership, Groups, and Motivation in Organizations
Leadership
Leadership consists of influencing the conduct of subordinates, making them unconditionally adhere to a cause. It is a social influence process in which the leader seeks the voluntary participation of subordinates to achieve certain objectives. The characteristics of a good leader are accountability, originality in problem-solving, the desire to take initiatives, and self-security. We must distinguish leadership styles:
Person-oriented leaders listen to group members, are friendly, accessible, and supportive of their subordinates in their personal problems. They focus on the relationship with employees. This style is characterized as democratic, participatory, tolerant, and understanding.
Groups
A group can be understood as two or more individuals who interact freely, share standards, and meet certain standards to achieve goals together.
Types of Groups
- Formal groups are determined by the structure of the organization to achieve specific objectives. They can be distinguished as:
- Steering groups are responsible for developing plans, investment decisions, etc.
- Working groups focus on the execution of specific tasks. They are organized into departments.
- Informal groups arise spontaneously as a result of the relationships between people. In general, these groups excel in personal and social relationships. The most important are interest and friendship groups.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
According to Maslow, the motivators of human behavior are needs. Humans fight and work to achieve their satisfaction. Their basic needs are:
- Physiological needs: Primary character’s motives are the most important reasons not learned/instinctive in humans.
- Safety needs: These are the needs for protection from harm, threats, and the need for privacy.
- Social needs: The need to feel like a member of a group, to be appreciated by others, to give and receive tokens of affection and friendship, and so on.
If the company can satisfy the social needs of its workers, they will feel more motivated, which will influence an increase in productivity.
- Esteem needs can be of two types: those related to self-esteem and those related to one’s reputation.
- Self-actualization needs: They are at the cusp of the pyramid; these are the needs to give life to our own continuous development potential, to be creative in the widest sense.
Taylor’s Scientific Management
Taylor was the forerunner of scientific management. His main objective was to increase productivity through the streamlining of work through:
- The time and motion study.
- Management must design and plan work.
- Work must be divided into a single task or very few.
- The best way to do the job is always developed the same way.
- Select scientifically the worker who has the best qualities.
- Working conditions affect the performance of workers.
Taylor’s vision of the worker is that of a machine, obeying instructions. The only motivator is the salary and incentive payments.
Fayol’s Principles of Management
The fundamental purpose of Fayol was to increase productivity through the design of the entire structure the organization must possess. His most important contributions are:
- To propose: the division of labor, authority and responsibility, and discipline.
- Establishing the basic functions of any organization: technical, commercial, financial, accounting, and administration.
Mayo’s Hawthorne Studies
Mayo wanted to find, by following the philosophy of Taylor and Fayol, the best way to do every job to achieve increased worker productivity. He was surprised to see that the work environment contributed to increasing the performance of individuals. The findings indicated that not only physical conditions affect performance, but also industrial relations. It was the discovery of the informal organization.