Transformational Leadership and Public Service Motivation - Essay Example

Transformational Leadership and Public Service Motivation Scholarship argues for two main aspects that affect the performance of individuals in their natural setting: the leadership strategy and the type of motivation expended at the person. Nevertheless, the most distinguished aspect is the motivational model that provides a practical tool for persons willing to assume leadership positions. The expectancy model proposed by Porter is instrumental in shaping the leadership strategy of an individual. In the model, persons acting based on self-interest tend to embrace courses of action that typically maximize the potentiality of desirable outcomes for themselves. The desire to maximize on self-interest provides aspiring leaders the unique chances to assume leadership roles by simultaneously meeting the demands of the subjects and those of the organization. For Gordon, in his pursuit of exceptional leadership attributes, among the things he ought to understand is that his interaction with his subordinates should permit the building of an explicitly motivational work environment. Doing so implies that the individual acquires the means of transcending their typical roles as followers or leaders. Google’s organizational culture presents the best example of how leaders relate to their supporters. In their culture, the making of company decisions is a role of company employees, irrespective of rank. Any organization needs a workforce made up of leaders and subordinates (Barbuto, 2010, p. 30). The expectancy theory described above relies upon the extrinsic motivators in the description of behaviors demonstrated in the working environment (Barbuto, 2010, p. 28). For instance, external rewards have been known to have inducing effects of fueling practices relative to nitrite motivators (Hitt, Porter & Black, 2011, p. 87). The intrinsic theory argues that traits are a consequence of internal forces in the form of job satisfaction. Scholarships claim that motivational thoughts hedged on the concept of motivation are of the assumption that subordinates make conscious choices as a way of maximizing self-interests (Paarlberg, & Lavigna, 2010, p. 710). The above-argued concept makes this paper suggest that the expectancy school of thought provides a vehicle for Gordon to realize his leadership ambitions. The paper argues so because the likelihood model tends to equip leaders with the necessary tools to affect the psychological processes within their followers (Humphreys, & Einstein, 2014, p. 60). The leader acquires the ability to adopt a pulling or influence strategy capable of enhancing the degrees of individual motivation of their subordinates ready to maximize their self-interest. Gordon Albury and Linda Green represent two sets of leadership on opposite sides of the coin. While Gordon Albury stands out to seek acceptance from his subordinates as their leader, Linda Green lets it come naturally. Gordon portrays the true reflection of a manager while on the contrary Linda is the exact representation of a leader. Theorists argue that a sharp difference exists between leadership, management, and the persons in such dockets. Leaders are person willing and ready to take control of situations, relative to managers who learn to live with them (Humphreys, & Einstein, 2014, p. 59). As a leader, Linda is described as the persons the subordinate staff turns to when in need of advice. She is visionary as expected of a leader; her visionary attribute is demonstrated by her being in charge of organizing most of the social events in the organization. Unlike Gordon, who sets out to accomplish his duties as the manager, Linda further demonstrates her leadership capabilities by focusing mostly on the interpersonal aspects of her job. She is readily available for advice to the members of staff. As such, she is seen as an individual that creates the air of comfort and an open heart ready to help others. Consequently, it is evident that Gordon Allbury is out there using his legitimate powers to push his subordinates towards the desired ends of the organization. On the other hand, for Linda, she is simply using her influence to pull the members of the organization towards a certain target (Tiraieyari, et al., p. 8). The source of Linda’s influence is of interest since it frequently stems not from the organization but rather from her inner self. As agreed by various studies, leaders tend to emphasize doing things with others rather than to them. Gordon, unlike Linda, concentrates more on enhancing his name and image on the subordinates rather involve them in his plans. As leader, Linda takes extreme care on entering relationships with her followers. Certo, & Certo, (2009) define motivation as the process applied to the initiation, guiding and the maintenance of goal-oriented attributes. Typically, motivation is the driving force behind actions and stems from the biological, emotional and cognitive drives that activate behavior. Exemplary leaders tend to combine a complex mix of strategies in ensuring that their followers remain loyal to the course and vision of the organization. Former Yahoo CEO and chair Terry Semel who came to Yahoo at time when the company faced serious drops in sales and low morale from workers, steps out as a key motivational leader. Semel acted appropriately as a leader by shifting the focus of the company to the distribution of media and worker generated content. The strategy saw Yahoo earn $43 million in revenues in one year, with a nine-fold increase in revenue throughout his six years tenure (Delaney, 2004). Key among the basket of policies is motivation that sets out to influence the behavior patterns of their followers. Such leaders are described as motivational leaders. Motivational leaders implement models and strategies for encouraging persons to follow their course (Robbins, 2012, p. 57). They take a keen interest in establishing secure and trusting environments coupled with ensuring the successful positioning of the organization of the market. Proponents of motivational leaders argue that certain core principals are imperative in explaining a real motivational leader (Boddy, 2008, p. 76). Key among them is viable ethics, and definable values that help the motivated leader collaborate and enhance positive energy in the organization. As earlier described, Gordon Allbury is more of a manager than a leader. Despite having the firm conviction that a leader is always cheerful and self-confident, he fails to consider vital ingredients that shape up a real leader. By adopting motivational leadership strategies, Gordon Allbury seeks to gain more in his quest of becoming more of a leader than the boss. Since persons from various walks of life bring to the organization an array of talent, skills and levels of education, the motivational leader that Gordon needs to emulate will strive to ensure the follower believe that they can accomplish their duties as required. Gordon might need to diagnose both the state of the ability of the subordinates to execute their mandates and exercise extreme care in assessing the followers’ perceptions this regard. Additionally, just like Linda acts, Gordon should be accessible to provide encouragement during periods of setbacks. He should also ensure that forgiveness hovers in the organization whenever mistakes result from the earnest attempt of the subordinates in the execution of duties (Robbins, 2012, p. 45). Instead of centering on building his self-image and confidence, rather his focus should shift to building both personal esteem and trust of the followers. For instance, Doug Conant former Campbell Soup CEO in 2011 held the belief that the key to a successful organization and leadership is employee engagement. In his ten-year plan to turn the company around, Conant shuffled the company’s management and opened up channels to include employees in the in major company decisions (Lublin, 2011). He managed to regain the trust of the employees. Human beings are wired as social animals in that they rely upon one another for protection and companionship. The success of the human species is dependent on the ability of the persons to communicate effectively in both verbal and non-verbal forms (Paarlberg, & Lavigna, 2010, p. 712). Both forms of communication shape the interactions of humans in both businesses and interpersonal relationships. For a leader, the key to ensuring the success of the organization needs the leader to understand the varied aspects of both spoken and nonverbal communication (Clegg, et al., 2008, p. 70). Both forms of communication, when applied tend to foster positive relationships in the organization. For instance, non-verbal communication typically affects the perceptions of persons and exchanges in although subtle but substantial means. They take the form of body language such as gestures, posture among others. Nonverbal communication is vital to a leader since it grants the leader the ability to reinforce, substitute, emphasize and complement their verbal forms of communication. Famous politicians and business personnel have always used the nonverbal cues in their speeches when addressing their followers. A section of researchers argues that observers and supporters are capable of interpreting nonverbal communication as a means to interpret the perception as either distancing or attractive (Gilley, & McMillan, 2009, p. 79). The attraction between a follower and the leader is a product of the nonverbal communication that the leader displays and how the followers perceive and interpret the nonverbal message. As earlier indicated, the role of a leader is to move the followers from the current position to their expected position such that a more innovative and productive organization is established. Such tasks are accomplished via verbal communication when the leader shares vision, purpose and direction to the followers. However, of importance are the accompanying spontaneous and unintentional nonverbal communications that depict the emotional state of the leader (Gilley, & McMillan, 2009, p. 82). The emotions of a leader are mostly displayed via the non-verbal communication especially the hand gestures. Research shows that such nonverbal forms of communication tend to affect the followers of a leader (Clegg, et al., 2008, p. 43). However, of importance is that leaders might be unaware of the message conveyed by their hand gestures in terms of meaning and effect on their followers. If Gordon were to embrace nonverbal forms of communication in his quest for leadership, he might need to be aware of the particular hand gestures he uses in his conversations. Acting so puts him in a perspective to better understand his verbal message. Verbal communication involves the use of spoken and written words in communication. The ability of leaders to share with a dialect that is based on a coordinated flow of words is crucial in setting apart a leader (Gilley, & McMillan, 2009, p. 81). Verbal communication is vital to Gordon as a leader since it provides him the opportunity to inform and clarify misunderstandings in a system. Similarly, in his quest for support and followers in the organization, Gordon may need to apply the verbal communication as the tool to persuade the subordinates under him to follow his course. Through it, forums for debating issues and stimulating thoughts and creativity can be opened (Tiraieyari, 2014, p. 78). In leadership theories, the power of words is more influential than actions. As such, surviving in the leadership arena dictates that Gordon develops effective communication strategies and foster a positive social life (Certo & Certo, 2009, p. 67). In summation, the prospect for leadership by Gordon necessitates the adoption of vital leadership attributes that might not be conversant to managers. In as much as managers are some leaders, a clear distinction has been drawn between leadership and management. Gordon might need to emulate the approach taken by Linda to ensure he gets the recognition he needs from his subordinates as a leader. Among the identified attributes, include proper communication strategies, engagement of employees, and employee motivation. Bibliography Barbuto,John E.,,Jr 2010, "Motivation and Transactional, Charismatic, and Transformational Leadership: A Test of Antecedents", Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, vol. 11, no. 4, pp. 26-40. Boddy D (2008) Management: an introduction 4th ed., Financial Times Prentice Hall Certo S & Certo T (2009) Modern management: concepts and skills 11th ed., Pearson Education Clegg S, Kornberger M & Pitsis T (2008) Managing and Organisations: an introduction to theory and practice 2nd ed., Sage Delaney, K.J. 2004, Boss Talk: Forging Yahoo's Future; CEO Terry Semel Revitalized Web Portal, but Rival Google Could Complicate 'Phase Two', Eastern edition edn, New York, N.Y. 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