Experiential Learning, Potential Motivational Strategies - Essay Example

? Motivational Methods BY YOU YOUR SCHOOL INFO HERE HERE Motivational Methods One of the most difficult aspects of management and leadership is establishing a motivational model that will gain commitment, loyalty and corporate dedication from a variety of diverse employees in the organization. Employees that maintain a followership role in the organization have differing values, principles and attitudes that are unique based on socio-demographics or psychological/sociological profile. When working with individuals with highly diverse attitudes and beliefs, the manager or leader of the organization must determine the most effective motivational strategy by assessing these employee characteristics fully. This can be done through a needs analysis or even qualitative research such as interviews or questionnaires to determine the real-life attitudes of employees. Motivating employees requires a blend of transformational leadership development, experiential learning, negotiation strategies, and making appeals to psychological needs. Many organizations that operate in dynamic and ever-changing environments must be flexible and adaptable in order to maintain its competitive edge and advantages over other businesses operating in the same industry. For some businesses, marketing and promotion are critical dimensions that differentiate the brand or the product from other companies selling similar products in multiple domestic and international markets. In order to be adaptable, change management becomes critical. According to Grieves (2010, p.8), “change is a negotiated order”, where internal stakeholders of all varieties attempt to exert persuasive influence on others in order to achieve goals and objectives established by the organization. In order to motivate employees in an environment where there is considerable resistance to change, the manager must consider bargaining tactics in order to negotiate these changes. Employees who often resist change can reduce productivity and complicate the development of special projects that are critical to achieving corporate goals and gaining competitive edge. In many scenarios, such resistance is caused by negative sentiment or attitude about the change and its potential impact on job role and responsibilities. Employees are more willing to accept change activities and principles when they feel they have been given an opportunity to express their concerns about the activities and the potential risks employees feel the change imposes. If employees do not feel they have been given adequate decision-making authority and are being heard by management, they will not feel appreciated within the organizational context. Thus, the manager should attempt to create a sense of social belonging and also build self-esteem in employees associated with the change. According to Morris & Maisto (2005), these are fundamental human behavioral needs that are critical to achieving a self-actualized, motivated attitude about job role achievement. The most effective methods of establishing motivation in a changing environment are to bargain the change imperatives and ensure that consensus becomes part of the management model. Another method of improving motivation in the organization is the development of the transformational leadership style. According to Fairholm (2009), transformational leadership is a human resources-based management system whereby the manager works as a teacher, mentor and coach to others in order to build their competencies and individual skill-sets. A transformational leader also imparts vision and mission on others in the business, role modeling ethical behaviors to build trust between subordinate and manager. In organizational environments where there are traditional management models that have rigid control systems and reward systems that are contingent on performance in job role, employees are not given opportunities to express their creativity or achieve autonomy in job role. Transactional leadership, as one example, is a management philosophy where goals are established by the manager, imparted on employees, and then establishing the punishment or reward policies that will take affect for non-performance (Antonakis, Avolio & Sivasubramaniam, 2003). Transformational leadership uses a blend of charisma and coaching systems that build trust between manager and employees. What this system actually does is inspire employees to become involved in the organizational mission and vision as well as focusing on relationship development as a priority for organizational culture improvement. By removing some of the rigid control systems that demand routine compliance to harder management policies and procedures, employees are given more authority as decision-makers and shown through actual manager actions that they are valued and trusted as organizational members. The end result of transformational style is commitment and dedication to meeting organizational goals. Experiential learning is yet another motivational strategy that can give better motivational outcomes to the organizational culture and its subordinate members. Experiential learning differs from traditional training activities as it gives a hands-on opportunity for employees to learn important change and policy concepts. One method of experiential learning is the role-playing exercise, in which employees congregate in a group and are given the opportunity to step outside of their own needs to assess the needs of others. Role playing raises interest associated with the topics being discussed and will prevent dissociation from occurring. According to psychological theory, dissociation is a type of defense mechanism used by employees when resisting change where they detach themselves from situations employees find disturbing, unfair, or otherwise biased (Bowens, 2004). What experiential learning does is, first, illustrate to employees that the manager trusts their judgment and competency within the organization, as it promotes creative thinking and problem-solving opportunities. Role playing in experiential learning also builds higher emotional intelligence in employees that will ultimately improve relationship development and teamworking methodologies within the organization. By establishing experiential learning curriculum, employees gain more motivation to comprehend important change imperatives and develop a sense of sociological belonging with peers and colleagues that will ultimately improve the working relationship. Starnes, Truhon & McCarthy (2010) indicate that it is highly important for managers to build sociological relationships in order to improve human capital development, the working relationship with peers, and also respect. When the manager is attempting to gain trust between employee and the organization, there must be a series of reciprocal acts between manager and employee (Starnes et al., 2010). Thus, in order to improve motivation, the manager must be more proactive in creating reciprocal strategies so that employees trust their leader and will be more inspired to role model their ethical, moral and general leadership behaviors. When cultural development is critical to the organization, agreement and compromise must be part of the management model. Many businesses, as one example, that operate in multi-national environments cannot be successful unless the entire culture is focused on excellence and positive relationship development internally and externally. There are many other potential motivational strategies that can improve employee motivation within the organization, however transformational leadership, trust-building, removing transactional strategies, and making strong appeals to the psycho-social needs of employees will be the most effective. Employees in the organization are complicated and dynamic individuals with a wide variety of different beliefs and attitudes related to personality. Since they are prone to resist change strategies that they feel will impact them negatively, the manager cannot deny the complexity of psychological problems that can occur if the change activities are going to meet with positive end results. By giving employees more decision control and visibility in the organization, the business will have a more dedicated and loyal culture that will follow leadership directives with much more enthusiasm and spirit. If managers follow the different motivational models described here, they will be removing defense mechanisms that complicate change practices. Managers and leaders will also be improving the capacity of employees to build more sensitive and affectionate relationships with coworkers that is necessary to attain competitive advantage in the organization’s industry. References Antonakis, J., Avolio, B.J. & Sivasubramaniam, N. (2003). Context and Leadership: An Examination of the Nine-Factor Full-Range Leadership Theory using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire, The Leadership Quarterly, 14(1), pp.261-295. Bowins, Brad. (2004). Psychological Defense Mechanisms: A New Perspective, American Journal of Psychoanalysis, 64(1), pp.1-26. Fairholm, M. (2009). Leadership and Organizational Strategy, The Public Sector Innovation . Journal, 14(1), pp.26-27. Grieves, J. (2010). Organizational Change: Themes and Issues. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Morris, C.G. & Maisto, A.A. (2005). Psychology: An Introduction (11th ed.). Pearson Prentice Hall. Starnes, Becky J., Truhon, Stephen A. & McCarthy, Vikkie. (2010). A Primer on Organizational Trust, ASQ Human Development and Leadership. Retrieved from http://rube.asq.org/hdl/2010/06/a-primer-on-organizational-trust.pdf Read More