The Major Issues that Cause Lack of Motivation - Essay Example

Creating a Plan for Positive Influence Creating a Plan for Positive Influence By Michael Wacheke In social psychology, being positive is one of the major issues that cause lack of motivation and adequate contribution from the members. As a result, there is need for internal assessment where each member of the group conducts a SWOT (Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities and Threats) Analysis of themselves so that they can deduce where they can contribute to the excellence of the entire group. It is after the self assessment that the whole group comes up with a plan which will enhance positivism in the group. Below is a plan that is applicable in most of the cases in improving positive attitude. In a group, the first step towards enhancement of oneness is knowing every member of the group. People who are familiar will produce better results that people who are strangers to each other. Knowing each other will include creating time for discussion where every individual gets a chance to express their personal views on the project and what they think about the progress. For a long project such meetings are very important so that people gat a chance of expressing their problems and suggestions (Ford & Kowzlowski, 1997). Motivation is the morale that every member of the group will have regarding the project and this acts as the driving force for each member. Lack of motivation will bring lousiness which is very likely more so when a project is taking much time. At times the individuals in the group might feel like they are wasting too much of their energy on the project but when there is motivation, the members feel determined to contribute even harder to the success of the project. To enhance motivation, it is important that the members of the group get a point of reference on another successful project and this will create determination. There should be a mentor like the group leader who will make sure that they note the loss of motivation in any members and they should strive at encouraging members who lose their morale. To improve motivation too, it is important to have another group that is working on a different project but of the same magnitude. This will create a spirit of competition between the groups. The urge of emerging the group with the best results will make the members of the group to work extra hard (Kaptan). When a project is taking long, time is of great essence and therefore it is important to come up with a time management formula that will ensure that the group works with a plan. Satisfaction at the end of a project is the feeling that the group will get when they have managed to conquer all the hurdles they faced while working on the project. When a project is very long, satisfaction may be forgotten if there are no short time measures of success. It is important to break the project into smaller units that could be used to measure success. The group could set targets within shorter timelines. These could be weekly assessments of improvement and when the group sees that they have managed to hit their target they feel satisfied with the progress and they get the morale to continue (Vorrath & Brendtro, 1985). The success of every project is based on the performance. Proper performance is the most important thing in a project and therefore performance should always be among the key issues the group leader should insist on when working on a project. There should also be a plan where every individual is given a piece of work to do and submit and this will ensure equality in participation and performance (Kaptan). There are certain differences that arise between the group members and these to could be hindrances to the success of the project if they are not solved in time. Attitude is the personal perspective of an individual towards the project. There are some members in the group who could adopt a negative attitude either because they are given less responsibility or because of other issues like poor personal performance. A negative attitude is contagious and a person who spreads negative attitude is a liability to the group since it causes poor performance from lack of motivation. The best way to deal with such a situation is to handle it from the cause. If the negative attitude is because of less responsibility, such an individual could be made a leader for sometime or if it’s poor performance, the individual could be grouped with the people with the best results where they can learn methods of efficiency (Hartel, Ashkanasy & Zerbe, 2006). Differences in emotions could be solved by avoiding situations that could lead to demoralization of some of the members and this will avoid cases where the individual could lose their tempers or cause other emotional discomfort. Emotions should be left out while working in a group and the group leader should ensure that people concentrate on the project. This is because emotional people are likely to under produce either due to low esteem or due to discomfort among themselves and a negative attitude towards other individuals (Hartel, Ashkanasy & Zerbe, 2006). Personality is the special way in which an individual behaves and correlates with others and since all people have different personalities, a group could be having a problem where certain individual’s personalities always clash. Such people are best dealt with by talking to them at individual levels and making them understand each other. If they cannot work together, it is important to separate them though this should only be in a case where the individuals are at irreconcilable stands. People in the group should try and understand each other’s personalities and this way they will understand the different behaviors (Livesley & Livesley, 2001). The differences in personality, emotions and attitude could be used to the positive benefit of the group when the group concentrates on the positive side. An example is a personality that likes fame and recognition. Such a person should be congratulated on every success and since they will feel appreciated, they will strive to do more for the group for more recognition (Kaptan). In conclusion, all the team members should put aside all their personal differences and aim at achieving as group which is the thing that matters most in a project. They should always be positive about the outcome for them to retain their motivation and to attain their goals. References Harry H. Vorrath, Larry K. Brendtro 1985, Positive Peer Culture: Second Edition, New Jersey, Aldine Transaction Charmine Hartel, Neal M. Ashkanasy, Wilfred Zerbe 2006, Emotions in Organizational Behavior, New York, Routledge, W. John Livesley, John W. Livesley 2001 Handbook of Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment, New York, Guilford Press, John Kevin Ford, Steve W. J. Kozlowski 1997, Improving Training Effectiveness in Work Organizations, New Jersey, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Ss Kaptan Team Building, New Delhi, Sarup & Sons Read More