CIL_J4

LDR 6302, Current Issues in Leadership 1

Course Learning Outcomes for Unit IV

Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:

7. Analyze how leaders foster employee motivation and morale in an ever-changing workforce. 7.1 Examine ways to leverage knowledge to increase employee motivation. 7.2 Explain effective methods of increasing workplace morale.

8. Develop a comprehensive personal leadership training plan that utilizes different leadership

techniques. 8.1 Ascertain individual knowledge that contributes to one’s leadership skills.

Required Unit Resources In order to access the following resources, click the links below. Davis, A. (2010). Saving morale: How communications can re-engage employees. Public Relations Strategist,

16(1), 6–10. https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?auth=CAS&url=http://search.ebscohost.com/logi n.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=48851895&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Fard, H. D., Rostamy, A. A. A., & Taghiloo, H. (2009). How types of organisational cultures contribute in

shaping learning organisations. Singapore Management Review, 31(1), 49–61. https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?auth=CAS&url=http://search.ebscohost.com/logi n.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=36002344&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Klann, G. (2004). Morale victories: How leaders can build positive energy. Leadership in Action, 24(4), 7–12.

https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?auth=CAS&url=http://search.ebscohost.com/logi n.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=17070411&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Liden, R. C., Wayne, S. J., Liao, C., & Meuser, J. D. (2014). Servant leadership and serving culture: Influence

on individual and unit performance. Academy of Management Journal, 57(5), 1434–1452. https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?auth=CAS&url=http://search.ebscohost.com/logi n.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=98835633&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Sarkissian, A. (n.d.). How does empowerment affect an employee's motivation and performance?

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/empowerment-affect-employees-motivation-performance-64535.html Wetlaufer, S. (1999). Organizing for empowerment: An interview with AES’s Roger Sant and Dennis Bakke.

https://hbr.org/1999/01/organizing-for-empowerment-an-interview-with-aess-roger-sant-and-dennis- bakke

Unit Lesson Motivation What is motivation, and why is it important in an organization? According to Cherry (2016), motivation is the driving force behind why people act the way they do or the internal psychological drive of an individual. So, what are the components of motivation? There are three: activation, persistence, and intensity (Cherry, 2016). Activation involves changing behavior to accomplish a specific objective or goal. Persistence is the reinforcement of behavior to overcome challenges or roadblocks that are in the way of the goal or objective. Finally, intensity is purely the amount of commitment and tenacity an individual has to accomplish the set goal

UNIT IV STUDY GUIDE

Motivation and Morale

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and objective. We can see that an individual’s behavior is involved in all three components. By looking at behavior and actions, there are two driving forces that underlie motivation. The individual either acts based on extrinsic (external) stimuli or from internal psychological factors that give the person a sense of accomplishment. Let’s observe this from a leader’s perspective. How is a leader inclined to know what motivates a person? We can see how this extrinsic and intrinsic theory really is connected to the three components. Therefore, how do you motivate? The answer is that there is no definitive answer. How a leader motivates individuals will depend on the situation and the specific values of the employees. In order to motivate an individual or group, you have to appreciate them. This means that you have to know them, what makes them tick, what their needs are, and what will arouse their interest. It is certainly much easier to motivate employees if you know their needs because it is like dangling a carrot in front of a horse to make it move. Remember Maslow’s hierarchy of needs—the pyramid was comprised of psychological, safety, belonging, esteem, and self-actualization, as shown in the diagram below (McLeod, 2007):

Basic needs are at the bottom of the pyramid while more sophisticated needs are at the top (e.g., self- actualization) and are more difficult to attain. That is why leaders must be able to read situations and know each member well in order to act. Generation Gap Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Generation Xers, and Millennials—who are they? They are groups of individuals who comprise the human capital function of every organization. Additionally, they are diverse groups of people, each with different needs and views about work, morale, motivation, and leadership. Take a minute to review the link below, which displays the generational chart for the four specific generations. Specifically, look at how each generation views the following issues: influencers, values, attributes, work ethic, workplace view on respect for authority, ethics, preferred work environment, what motivates, work–life balance, and career development. It is a total melting pot, is it not? Now, reflect on the challenges that senior leadership has in bringing everyone together, meeting everyone’s needs, creating seamless teamwork, keeping everyone motivated, and maintaining high morale. It is certainly a challenge, and if you are interested in studying this further, you can learn more about generational differences by clicking the link below. West Midland Family Center. (n.d.). Generational differences chart.

http://www.wmfc.org/uploads/GenerationalDifferencesChart.pdf High Morale and Low Morale We have seen that motivation is an individual psychological concept driven by a person’s internal and

The diagram represents Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. (Adapted from McLeod, 2007)

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external needs. Morale, however, is a group scenario, and the surroundings of a work environment drive workplace morale. Think about your work environment. It is comprised of supervisors, coworkers, contractors, health and safety requirements, communication, surroundings (e.g., lighting, rest areas, cafeteria), support services, and culture. All of these examples are double-edged swords, right? Some will be great, some will not be so great, and some will be satisfactory. All combine to produce an effect on someone’s morale. You can also have the factors that produce high morale, such as when teamwork among employees is very high, productivity has increased, and there is two-way communication between leadership and the employee. What this creates is greater morale and greater motivation (Klann, 2004). Low morale is just the opposite—an increase in organizational complaints, grievances, and conflicts between supervisors and employees. These poor working conditions are tied to safety and health. Employee frustration with corporate policy, continual change, unrealistic expectations set by supervisors and leadership, and the perception of “us vs them” between superiors and employees can lead to poor working conditions. Low morale leads to a lack of motivation, a lack of desire to be in the organization, and a decrease in productivity. Wow, this is getting pretty complex! Consider the scenario below. John has been a leader in his industry for many years and knows the importance of understanding his employees. He comprehends the internal operations of his organization (safety, policy, surroundings, and relationships). Additionally, he comprehends whether needs are external or internal. As a leader, John must pay extra attention to the right delivery method to use when approaching his employees in order to activate, reinforce, and focus their behavior on the task. Below, you will see that it gets a little more complex when we throw servant leadership, empowerment, and corporate culture into the mix. All are factors that underlie morale and motivation in an organization. The end result is that a leader must have high energy and create enthusiasm in people, which positively influences employees to contribute to teamwork by focusing on organizational goals and objectives. Servant Leadership Servant leadership is comprised of two components—leadership and service (Liden, Wayne, Chenwei, & Meuser, 2014). Leadership is based on the visionary action, the direction of the organization, the development of goals and objectives, and the continual forward-thinking of where the organization is going and how the organization is going to get there. This is the framework that sets the foundation of servant leadership. The second component of service involves putting the employee first; having a desire to serve others; having a desire to create a culture where behaviors come together between leadership, people, and the organization as a whole; and creating behavioral norms and shared expectations (Liden et al., 2014). What is the impact here? By creating a service culture, individuals and job behaviors contribute to performance (DeMars, 2016). Therefore, servant leaders inspire others. There is an internal and external dual factor here. The internal need to do well and excel is reinforced by a servant leader who will support your endeavors. The external factor is that servant leaders are more respected and admired by employees; as a result, employees become more motivated to emulate the behaviors of servant leaders (Liden, et al., 2014). Empowerment Empowered organizations are those that trust their employees and encourage participation and responsibility within the organization (Wetlaufer, 1999). So, how does this relate to motivation and morale? The concepts and goals behind empowerment are shown in the chart below:

Goals of Empowerment Results

Allow employees to create new synergies

Improves productivity in an organization

Improve processes Reduces cost

Experiment with new technologies in order to grow the company’s reach

Improves customer service

An individual who feels that he or she is a stakeholder (owner) has a higher commitment to the organization.

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Empowerment is ownership, and ownership contributes to meaningful work tasks and outcomes. Empowerment improves morale and motivation through the employees’ commitment to the mission, vision, and objectives (Sarkissian, n.d.). Corporate Culture Corporate culture is the operating system of the organization—just like a smartphone or computer. It is the system that guides behavior, values, and expectations. The culture of an organization is based on certain characteristics as shown in the chart below:

These characteristics are embedded in many different types of culture: bureaucratic, competitive, participative, and learning (Fard, Rostamy & Tahiloo, 2009). For the purpose of this lesson and unit, we will focus on the participative culture (servant culture). A participative culture occurs when there is little adaption at the environmental level, but the culture supports the employee, group, and/or team (Fard et al., 2009). The benefits of a participative culture include high levels of acceptance, stability, and commitment (Fard et al., 2009). Putting It All Together: Leadership, Motivation, Morale, Culture, and Empowerment Wetlaufer’s article, “Organizing for Empowerment: An Interview with AES’s Roger Sant and Dennis Bakke,” displays great integration of all the concepts from this lesson. When the article was written, the AES Corporation was a global electric power company with 40,000 employees located in 90 electric plants in 13 countries (Wetlaufer, 1999). Their goal was to generate engaging experiences daily and create a fair and responsible environment (Wetlaufer, 1999). They did this by creating a participative culture. According to Wetlaufer (1999), this was accomplished through creating a culture where leaders were advisors and coaches. Decision making is pushed down to the plant level where the team takes ownership within the plant arena. AES is not based on a hierarchal system; rather, AES focuses on hiring the right people who are motivated and responsible to make important decisions at their own level. The organization grows and prospers through their employees. Employees are the main foundation where creativity and learning are paramount. Employees are encouraged to move throughout the organization’s electric plants to work with new people, experience new external cultures, and learn how to adapt and apply teamwork. The goal is working with new people, building bonds, and learning from each other so a culture is created that engages the employee and raises morale and motivation (Wetlaufer, 1999). Sant and Bakke do not operate their organization by simply handing out rules and expecting employees to

The diagram represents the characteristics of corporate culture.

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follow them (Wetlaufer, 1999). They do just the opposite. A great example of trust, empowerment, education, teamwork, and learning is when they let 15 employees in their Uncasville, Connecticut, plant invest the plant’s $12 million cash reserve in the stock market. There were only a few rules. They could only invest in collective investment funds that were created and administered by banks and thrift associations. These are known as common trust funds (Coalition of Collective Investment Trusts, 2015). The only ground rules set by Bakke and Sant were that any money earned was the firms to keep, and any money lost was the firm’s loss. The results were that the workers became educated on the investment process, and they hired a teacher to teach them about how Wall Street operated. They learned how to invest for the short term and long term, as well as how to hedge their bets through stock market techniques (e.g., selling short, using puts and call options). Over a three-month period, the group of 15 beat the major market averages with investment returns and became better businesspeople (Wetlaufer, 1999). Empowerment, morale, and motivation were embedded in AES through the culture. Plant personnel did their own hiring. They were responsible for meeting their own budgets, and people advanced internally to senior levels by being driven by results (Wetlaufer, 1999). Reflecting on Fard et al. (2009), a participative culture is characterized as an organization with low environmental adaptation and high internal integration. AES’s characteristics quite clearly reflected loyalty, commitment, and high levels of stability and acceptance (Wetlaufer, 1999). Bakke and Sant certainly had a thorough understanding of how to motivate others. They employed the three components of motivation: activation, persistence, and intensity. Also, they strove to change behavior in their organization through their culture—a culture that empowered people, allowed freedom to be creative while maintaining high standards of integrity, and allowed the organization to meet the mission objectives. In closing, this unit’s takeaways include the following points:

• Examine the concept of motivation and its components by looking at internal and external drivers as well as needs, wants, and desires.

• Explain the concept of empowerment and how it contributes to organizational morale as shown in the Wetlaufer (1999) article, where AES leaders Bakke and Sant took a different approach to morale, motivation, and empowerment through a participative culture.

• Defend why corporate culture is important for employee motivation and morale as discussed in the Klann (2004) article.

• Explain how servant leadership impacts employee morale and motivation according to Liden et al. (2014).

References Cherry, K. (2016). Motivation: Psychological factors that guide behavior. https://www.verywell.com/what-is-

motivation-2795378

Coalition of Collective Investment Trusts. (2015). Collective investment trusts. http://www.ctfcoalition.com/portalresource/CollectiveInvestmentTrustsWhitePaper.pdf

DeMars, N. (2016). Corporate culture matters. OfficePro, 76(6), 18–21.

https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?auth=CAS&url=http://search.ebscohost.com/logi n.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=118538713&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Fard, H. D., Rostamy, A. A. A., & Taghiloo, H. (2009). How types of organisational cultures contribute in

shaping learning organisations. Singapore Management Review, 31(1), 49–61. https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?auth=CAS&url=http://search.ebscohost.com/logi n.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=36002344&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Klann, G. (2004). Morale victories: How leaders can build positive energy. Leadership in Action, 24(4), 7–12.

https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?auth=CAS&url=http://search.ebscohost.com/logi n.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=17070411&site=ehost-live&scope=site

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Liden, R. C., Wayne, S. J., Liao, C., & Meuser, J. D. (2014). Servant leadership and serving culture: Influence on individual and unit performance. Academy of Management Journal, 57(5), 1434–1452. https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?auth=CAS&url=http://search.ebscohost.com/logi n.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=98835633&site=ehost-live&scope=site

McLeod, S. (2007). Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Simply Psychology.

http://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html Sarkissian, A. (n.d.). How does empowerment affect an employee's motivation & performance?

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/empowerment-affect-employees-motivation-performance-64535.html Wetlaufer, S. (1999, January-February). Organizing for empowerment: An interview with AES’s Roger Sant

and Dennis Bakke. https://hbr.org/1999/01/organizing-for-empowerment-an-interview-with-aess- roger-sant-and-dennis-bakke

Suggested Unit Resources In order to access the following resources, click the links below. The article below takes a closer look at motivation as well as motivational theories. Cherry, K. (2016). Motivation: Psychological factors that guide behavior. https://www.verywell.com/what-is-

motivation-2795378 The article below, which is referenced in the Unit IV Lesson, includes an announcement of resignation by Roger Ailes after alleged instances of harassment and sexual assault. DeMars, N. (2016). Corporate culture matters. OfficePro, 76(6), 18–21.

https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?auth=CAS&url=http://search.ebscohost.com/logi n.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=118538713&site=ehost-live&scope=site

The following article explains the internal atmosphere within organizations. According to studies, several nurses claimed to have been verbally assaulted at work and that there was quite a bit of negativity in the workplace. The article includes ways that organizations can move past these issues and create a culture of respect. Dutton, J. E. (2003). Fostering high-quality connections. Stanford Social Innovation Review, 1(3), 54–57.

https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?auth=CAS&url=http://search.ebscohost.com/logi n.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=15015423&site=ehost-live&scope=site

The article below introduces the benefit of passionate workers and how they can create a community feeling in the workplace. Hawkins, J. M. (2014). Fostering passion in the workplace. Personal Excellence Essentials, 19(7), 26.

https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?auth=CAS&url=http://search.ebscohost.com/logi n.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=99132840&site=ehost-live&scope=site

The below article includes how employee morale can be increased by focusing on the employees themselves rather than money and investments. Re-energize exhausted staff. (2010). CU360, 36(1), 6–7.

https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?auth=CAS&url=http://search.ebscohost.com/logi n.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=47781432&site=ehost-live&scope=site

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Learning Activities (Nongraded) Nongraded Learning Activities are provided to aid students in their course of study. You do not have to submit them. If you have questions, contact your instructor for further guidance and information. Below are three excellent videos that set the stage for the objectives in this unit (motivation and morale). Reviewing the videos will give you a quick overview and baseline to build on as you progress through the unit. As you review these videos, reflect on how you can apply them within your own leadership. The video below deals with the challenges that the American military faced during the war in Afghanistan. The Global Report TV. (2009, October 14). Army chaplains: U.S. troop morale is low [Video]. YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYJ4vGVLQZA The video below provides an inside view of corporate America. Incorporate Massage. (2015, July 20). How to improve employee morale: 3 of America’s leaders share their

secrets [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QSWR-bjqoM This final video examines 10 successful methods for motivating employees. Rodriguez, A. (2013, October 4). 10 ways to motivate employees [Video]. YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GiuysFb-iY