Leading and Motivating People PDF

Leading and Motivating People Leadership and Management: The words leadership and management are often used interchangeably, yet they describe two different concepts. Maccoby defines leadership as a relationship between the leader and the led, and management as a function. The leader uses passion a...

Leading and Motivating People Leadership and Management: The words leadership and management are often used interchangeably, yet they describe two different concepts. Maccoby defines leadership as a relationship between the leader and the led, and management as a function. The leader uses passion and emotion, while the manager uses a more formal, rational method. Managers are quite often experienced in their field and have worked their way up within the company; and a leader may be a new arrival to a company, with fresh ideas. Often, companies do not distinguish between the two positions, and as a result, may place a manager into a leadership role. Leadership must be distinguished from management. Management involves planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling, and a manager is someone who performs these functions. A manager has formal authority by virtue of his or her position or office. Leadership, by contrast, primarily deals with influence. A manager may or may not be an effective leader. A leader’s ability to influence others may be based on a variety of factors other than his or her formal authority or position. Although there are many examples of good managers and leaders, Drucker presents the idea that there is no one right way to manage. Different groups in the work population must be managed differently at different times. Thus, management and leadership styles are constantly changing. Some of the leader and manager characteristics that Warren Bennis listed are described in the following chart: Nature of Leadership Leadership is the process of getting the cooperation of others in accomplishing a desired goal. Sir William Slim, commander of the British Army that defeated the Japanese in Burma in World War II, defined leadership as that “mixture of persuasion, compulsion, and example that makes men do what you want them to do.” In a more subtle vein, Barney Frank said, “The great leader is the one who can show people that their self-interest is different from that which they perceived.” People become leaders by appointment or through emergence. Formal, or “titular,” leaders are appointed branch managers, committee chairs, or team captains and have the advantage of formal authority (including the power to reward and punish), but this only gives them the opportunity to prove themselves effective at leadership. Although good leaders prefer to influence others through persuasion whenever possible, this author agrees with Robert Shannon that “it is much easier to be persuaded by a person with power than by one without power.” Emergent, or informal, leaders evolve from their expertise or referent power as it is expressed in the process of group activity. Even as children we find certain individuals emerging as the ones whose suggestions for the games to play or the mischief to get into are followed, and throughout life we find that certain people take the lead and are accepted as informal leaders. When the emergent leader is then appointed or elected as a formal leader, they have a double opportunity to be effective. Recognizing this, many organizations conduct assessment centers to evaluate potential leaders, and these include group situations where no leader is appointed in order to see who emerges to lead the resolution of a jointly assigned problem. Summary of Leader Strategies: Have a clear vision, a specific direction, and a goal for your organization. Communicate your vision, strategy, goals, and mission to everyone involved. Listen to what others tell you. Surround yourself with the right people, a strong team. Apply the Golden Rule. (Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.)  Lead by example. Take responsibility. Make tough decisions. Constantly innovate to gain and to sustain competitive advantage. Plan everything. Leave nothing to chance. Components of Leadership: American business is constantly seeking skilled leaders at all levels i.e individuals who can guide companies, rally corporations, inspire employees, unnerve the competition, and earn the loyalty of customers and shareholders. Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of New York City, gives these components of leadership: 1. Have a set of beliefs. The essence of leadership is that people know what you stand for. 2. Be optimistic. No one follows a pessimist. A leader must appeal to people’s hopes, dreams, and aspirations. 3. Understand courage. Having courage is not about being fearless, but rather about having fear, recognizing it, and overcoming your fear. 4. Prepare relentlessly. Leadership is intensive preparation. 5. Create a strong team. To create a strong team, first recognize your own weaknesses. You can then create a balanced team by finding people who compensate for the areas of your weakness. 6. Communicate. Explain to people what you need of them and what direction you want them to go in. Also, communicate by example or action. Motivation To have an effective technical organization, one needs to understand the nature of motivation, which is an important part of leadership. Berelson and Steiner have defined motive as “an inner state that energizes, activates, or moves (hence „motivation‟), and that directs or channels behavior toward goals.” Robbins defines motivation in an organizational sense as “the willingness to exert high levels of effort to reach organizational goals, conditioned by the effort’s ability to satisfy some individual need.” Campbell et al. define motivation in terms of three measures of the resulting behavior: 1. The direction of an individual’s behavior (measured by the choice made when several alternatives are available) 2. The strength of that behavior once a choice is made 3. The persistence of that behavior Dale Carnegie states that “there is only one way under high heaven to get anybody to do anything. And that is by making the other person want to do it.” Therefore, we need to learn why people want to do things and how they can be persuaded (or motivated) to do those things that will enhance organizational goals. Motivating and Leading Technical Professionals: Now that the general theories of human motivation and of leadership have been presented, they will be applied to the technical professional. First, the nature of the professional is recalled; then, what motivates scientists and engineers; and finally, the significance of these factors in the effective leadership of technical professionals is considered. More details in: Managing Engineering and Technology, Daniel L. Babcock and Lucy C. Morse, 6th edition, Prentice Hall, 2002