Leadership Motivation in the Working Environment - Coursework Example

The paper "Leadership Motivation in the Working Environment" is a worthy example of coursework on business. Undeniably leadership plays a crucial in an organization, and the kind of leadership will reflect on the success or failure of an organization. Good leaders develop ways of motivating employees to be productive in the workplace, and thereby provide good services to customers and attain customer satisfaction. Leadership is the power to influence one’s behavior while motivation is the drive for persistent performance to achieve the set target or goals. Hence these two factors influence how individuals perform in the workplace environment. Fredrick Taylor and Abraham Maslow offer two approaches that leaders can use to motivate their employees.

        First, Maslow’s approach to leadership and motivation, he developed hierarchies of needs arranged from the bottom to the top in the form of a pyramid illustrating the various levels of human needs in their lifetime period as shown (Maslow, 2012).

Leaders use this hierarchy of needs to motivate their employees in the workplace so that they can perform highly. These needs are physiological needs; these are the needs to satisfy the basic needs such as the need for water, food, clothing, and shelter. Until all these needs are satisfied an individual cannot progress to the next level of needs in the hierarchy. Secondly, safety needs; once an individual has satisfied the basic needs, then he needs to be secure. This includes the need for security, stability and a structured environment. Third, is the need for love. This is the feeling of belonging to other people such as friends and family. Esteem needs are the fourth in the hierarchy; these may include a feeling of appreciation, recognition, independence, adequacy, and competence by others. Lastly, self-actualization; is the last need in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. It is the need to feel satisfied with what one has done. Need to be at the top or to have performed the best and realization of one’s full potential (Maslow, 2012).

Fredrick W. Taylor (2012) used the scientific approach to leadership and motivation of employees in an organization. He selected workers to do a given task, observed them, recorded the time taken to complete the task and then trained all of them to do the same task in the quickest way possible while supervising them and taking a record of results of each of the employee. He then paid them according to the output or the results that each delivered. This made Taylor conclude that workers are solely motivated by money and hence came up with “A fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work” (Taylor 2012). He then further developed the following principles; replace working by the rule of thumb, matching workers with their area of specialization, monitor workers' performance and provide instruction and supervision. This is to ensure that they are employing the most effective ways of working and allocating work between managers and workers for each to perform his/her duty efficiently (Taylor 2010).

 Potential satisfaction in Virgin Media

• Considers the welfare of its employees. The organization looks at the welfare of its employees through providing healthcare, life insurance, company pension/bonus schemes and staff saving schemes. It also ensures that the employees are working in a conducive environment where their performance is highly enhanced (McClelland 2013).
• Offers competitive salaries. Virgin Media is offering competitive salaries to its employees so that they can satisfy their basic needs such as shelter and food. Also according to Taylor's approach money is a factor that motivates employees to work efficiently and effectively.
• Provide training and promotion. The organization trains its employees to give the best to their customers and also satisfies their needs such as self-actualization.

In conclusion, leadership/motivation enhances organization to achieve high performance.