Directing: Motivation and Supervision

• Directing involves motivating, supervising, and disciplining to build an effective work environment.
• It's a process where managers instruct, guide, and oversee employees to achieve goals.

Factors Influencing Motivation

• Attainment involves assigning new tasks that build upon previous ones, promoting growth and achievements.
• Power comes from recognizing employees as in-house experts and valuing their input.
• Belonging is emphasized by fostering teamwork and shared experiences to create a sense of community.
• Independence is fostered by offering employees flexibility in choosing projects and setting their schedules.
• Respect involves recognizing and valuing employees' contributions.
• Equity ensures fairness in work schedules, responsibilities, and compensation.

Non-Monetary Motivators

• Recognition involves recognizing employee contributions, such as openly recognizing excellent customer service.
• Celebration includes celebrating both small and big victories, like getting together with employees.
• Compelling missions involve formulating a mission that everyone must accomplish, such as assigning employees to create a safety plan.
• Balancing achievement and challenge means providing employees with ways to maximize their potential, such as including all employees of the pharmacy in strategic planning.
• Increased Responsibility entails allowing employees to make decisions and produce results on their own, for example, evaluating employees through a method that accounts for individual personalities.

Communication

• Managers should clearly convey task details including what, how, by whom, and when with minimal distortion.
• Impartiality and consistency are key when a manager communicates.
• Managers should sincerely address employee concerns.
• Ensure smooth upward and downward communication between management and staff.
• Managers and employees should listen carefully to one another.

Progressive Discipline

• Progressive discipline involves a series of management actions to address unacceptable employee actions.
• It encourages optimal behavior and escalates consequences for poor performance.
• Disciplinary actions should be prompt, commensurate with the violation, and clearly explained.

Common Grounds for Dismissal

• Refusal to work
• Disorderly conduct
• Tardiness and absenteeism
• Poor treatment of customers
• Theft
• Destruction of pharmacy property
• Violation of safety practices

Steps of Progressive Discipline

• Verbal Warning and Counseling: An oral reprimand aimed at addressing the unsatisfactory behavior of an employee.
• Formal Written Warning: If the first step is ignored, a formal approach with a written warning documenting the behavior is required.
• Final Written Warning: Last disciplinary action prior to dismissal.
• Suspension Without Pay: Temporary release of an employee without compensation due to serious incidents or repeated unsatisfactory behavior.
• Termination/Dismissal: The last course of action in disciplining employees where the employee is formally notified in writing, often with two week's notice.

Improving Employee Relations

• Quick recognition of employee actions is beneficial.
• Airing of complaints is essential.
• Equitable resolution of all issues improves employee relations.

Leadership

• Leadership is the ability to influence others' actions, based on the interaction of the leader, the individual/group, and the situation.
• Its purpose is to help individuals, groups, and organizations grow and develop.

Theories of Leadership

• Traits Model
• Behavioral Model/Leadership Style
• Contingency Model

Traits Model

• Focuses on personal characteristics like being young to middle-aged, educated in reputable schools, adaptable, charming, and driven to excel.

Behavioral Model/Leadership Style

• It focuses on how a leader acts and leads a group, including autocratic, democratic, and free rein styles.

Autocratic Style

• An autocratic leader decides everything and retains absolute control with little confidence in employees.

Democratic Style

• A democratic leader shares decision-making with employees and has confidence in them.

Free Rein Style

• A free rein leader allows employees to make decisions within certain boundaries.

Contingency Model

• Examines the relationship between the characteristics of a given situation and the leader's behavior.
• This includes task orientation, relationship orientation, and follower readiness or maturity.

Leadership Style

• Leadership style refers to a manager's approach to directing employees' actions.

Affiliative Style

• Focuses on creating harmony and emotional bonds, emphasizing praise and belonging, but may lack focus on employment growth.

Authoritative Style

• Displays self-confidence, empathy, and the ability to develop cooperation and teamwork, motivating the team towards a shared vision while allowing flexibility.

Coaching Style

• Focuses on helping employees develop skills for long-term improvement by delegating responsibilities to encourage new skill development.

Coercive Style

• Demands immediate compliance and prioritizes self-management, but can be detrimental if used excessively as it often neglects group dynamics.

Democratic Style

• Democratic leadership observes collaboration and teamwork to gain buy-in from constituents, using social skills to direct group activities.

Pacesetting Style

• Set high-performance standards and expect the same from others, using self-management skills.

Summary of Leadership Styles

• Authoritative and coaching styles should be the primary tools for leading groups and individuals.
• Democratic and affiliative styles may present additional challenges.
• Coercive and pacesetting styles are effective in the short term but should be used sparingly due to their negative impact on culture and morale.