Motivators Serve an Important Role - Essay Example

?Motivation In psychology, motivators serve an important part in determing and predicting human behavior in a desired number of settings. In this case in particular, there are a few motivators, which are needed to be taken into account for. There is the economic motivation, which is being driven by the bank that is financing everything in regards to the scenario. This addition of making the mission go according to plan feeds the stress, which is another motivator for the employees. There are also the moral motivators in the aspect that this is a humanitarian mission. The morality of the individuals is a driving factor in that they want to succeed so they can help those in Ghana by building a better transportation system. Lastly, a minor motivator is the want to understand more the cultural and societal factors in the area, which is more of an interest to the Peace Corps volunteer and expert. Role requirements are necessary in an organization because it gives structure and authority in the leadership capacity to make decisions. However, in the topic of leadership, conflict arises in these contexts and sometimes occurs as a result of the role requirements. The first main conflict topic is regarding that this is primarily a business venture being backed by bank money. The main leader, Bjorn, represents the Banks interest, which means his role is to oversee all the others to make sure that profit is made from this venture. Many of the subordinates see that he has taken more of an interest in the humanitarian aspect and is challenging this on the basis that they are unbiased by the matter and have better experience in business. In addition, John Anderson, who is the resident humanitarian expert, is there to serve as an observer as far as to help explain the cultural and social phenomenon should complications arise. He tries to overstep his boundaries as just an observer into making active decisions, which affect the group, which in turn creates more conflict among the parties. Inherent to this multicultural group on an international mission would be cultural competency issues. Although not much conflict was caused directly as a result of cultural differences, in conflict there are always inherent cultural values and beliefs, which fuel one’s attitude. The fact that the cultures of France, America, and Colombia are represented alone would pose a significant cultural convergence, which would influence their decisions regarding how the mission should be run. The differing motivational factors created a huge conflict in the work environment. The first being that this was a business venture and that the funding for the project was based on the success of the mission, for which everyone was responsible. This clashed with the social and cultural implications, which other team members put above that. The stress of the mission also was causing Bjorn to be a micromanager, which made others seem like they were wasting time with all the obsessive and meaningless meetings. All of this ends up leading to arguing where they cannot work together because of clashing viewpoints. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is based on a pyramid in which a person must overcome certain needs in order to reach a point of being which Maslow termed self-actualization. Bjorn would be in the safety point due to the fact that the success of this mission is on him as the team leader and that if he fails, he will no longer have job security with the Bank. Eduardo and Aziz would be in the love/belonging phase in that even while on the mission, they seeks social engagement from people and seems to enjoy the social contact rather than the work aspect. Dupre and Mathuri are in the esteem phase in that they have already had success in the Bank being higher up representatives. They are clearly in the mission for the spoils in that by the mission succeeding, they will receive the overdue recognition and hopefully be given the leadership opportunities they want. Lastly, John is at the point of self-actualization. Since he is merely a consultant, he is not bound by the obligation and stress that comes with the Bank. His focus on the culture and humanitarian effort allows him to greater explore his morality and lack the bias of cultural judgment. McClelland’s theory on needs can be divided into three main categories: the need for power, the need for affiliation, and the need for achievement. For Bjorn, he is struggling for the need for achievement because he has to prove to the Bank that as the leader he can run this team efficiently and get the mission completed. Eduardo, Aziz, and Anderson have a greater need for affiliation because they want to be accepted by the people and attend to this need by going to the social gatherings and participating the social groups outside. Dupre and Mathuri are focused on the need for power due to the fact that they have the experience of working the bank longer. They want to be in control of the mission because they believe that Bjorn micromanages and does not help the team be more efficient. In group dynamics, process theories are the rational cognitive processes which are occurring which drive the actions that occur in the group. In terms of this theory, judgments and decisions are ultimately being based on what the Bank wants and what will be done in order to ensure the success of the mission. The members who are more likely to look at the social outlook rather than the business component are influencing this act of thinking. As a result, this intertwines with the motivational theory in that a different aspect of his or her cultural and personality bias is motivating each person. Reinforcement theory is a theory, which operates from a behaviorist perspective of operant conditioning. The main reinforcer is being applied as pressure from the Bank in that the mission must be completed resulting in a profit. Reinforcement is also being applied to Eduardo, Aziz, and Anderson in the social context in that they are being invited to social gatherings with others, which is acting on their motivational need to form relationships with others and communicate. These two different types of reinforcers are gain competing against one another in the group dynamic theory. Informal leadership is when there is a designated leader, however this leader has not been designated by a given leader, nor is he or she given a title. In this case it is operating under obedience to Bjorn, who has taken the main leadership role. However, the power and authority is not being given to Bjorn, rather it is given to the Bank who is acting through Bjorn. At the very end of the passage, we see that the different motivational and reinforcement factors have succeeded in creating a substantial conflict among the competing ideologies. Read More