Leadership and Motivation

by Bizhan Nasseh

Introduction

American corporations are trying hard to regain the market leadership position which they have lost in the last two decades. Many American corporations have implemented various management and operations philosophies and theories such as reengineering, Total Quality Management, empowerment, and coaching with the hope that these new methods will solve their problems. Poor leadership has been the primary reason for American companies remaining behind of their foreign counterparts in the last two decades. The current decade is very crucial for American position in the world and prosperity of our children in the future. Today's world changes more rapidly than ever before. The constant changes in the technology with the tough global competition remind us without effective leadership we might slide even further in the competition with top countries.

On February 8, 1967, Vince Lombardi, in his speech to American Management Association said, "Leadership is ability to direct others, but more important is to have those people so directed accept it. The strengths of members of group and the group is in the strength of the leader." Leadership is not just a matter of position, it is communication, creation, vision, innovation, value, confidence, participation, and intellectual curiosity. Today's Leader must be able to communicate, discuss, and ask for inputs from everybody in the team and organization. He or she must be able to articulate a vision and involve people willingly in the operations. In today's organization processes, jobs and structures, leaders, and values are four points of diamond which are linked together (Hammer & Champy, 1993). The top point is the process--the way work gets done; second is its jobs and structure; third is its management system; and finally is its culture--what are its employees' values and beliefs. The key in this diamond is the ability of leadership to harmonize these four points of diamond. The management systems are the primary shapers of employees' values and beliefs about operations and goals of the organization. The best leaders are participative leaders who participate in the process with a calm, pleasant, and out-going attitude. A good leader should understand high self-regards that virtually everyone has for himself or herself. In order to be a good leader; be a good listener, be a role model, assign responsibility with the authority, be a good coach, be a good motivator, involve employees in decision making, ask for inputs, be a proactive, and ask not order.

The power comes with leadership responsibilities, but power like any other tool or resource can be used, misused, or even abused. The misuse of power is a major mistake which has potential to damage operations and objectives of organization.

The following are main characteristics of a good and effective leader:

VISION

A good leader must posses a vision and having a vision provides a leader with purpose. This vision can help each employee to see what the future holds and what is the results of today's extra efforts and hard work. It also display what future offers as a rational extension of today's efforts. To a leader, vision is a reality that is in the reach in the near future. Vision is not a dream, it is reflect of breadth of understanding that enables an organization to advance and compete. A good leader designs and directs a precise plan for how to make a vision reality. The best vision is generated through discussion and debate with employees who carry and implement the vision. If employees are convinced about the purpose and reasons of implementing the plan, they will do extra effort in the reaching the shared vision. The vision should have a direct link with the objective of the organization. Finally, a shared and accepted vision is the critical link to high commitment and performance by every members of organization. A shared vision not only ties individual employees with together and leadership, but also generates a positive and constructive relationship between management and employees. The main steps in the creating of the shared vision are; employees and leaders must establish a working relation for the generation of shared vision; they proactively seek out for change rather than wait for a crises that demands action; they should define a shared vision for improvement of products and services; and they implement vision with the team work and group efforts.

VALUES AND BELIEFS

The foundation of each organization is the values and beliefs of employees to the operation of the organization. The leaders of each organization shape the value and beliefs of the employees in the organization. This value is a force, energy, and fuel for action toward excellence in the accomplishments of the objectives of the organization. A leader with vision who cannot articulate beliefs and values in the employees is a dreamer, not a leader. The values and beliefs have been the foundation of what our country stands for, and these two factors will continue to play a very critical roles in maintaining the strength of our nation. The great leaders of each organization impart their own values and beliefs to the organization they created or directed. As a result, each organization has its own unique set of values and beliefs which shape the character of the organization. Some of the common values and beliefs are belief in the importance of employee as individual, belief in superior service and quality, belief in leaders' good intentions in the decision making, belief in the sharing ideas and being innovator, and belief in mission of the organization.

ACTION

Leaders must have courage and determination to get the job done. Leaders must have energy, zeal, and courage to carry teams through the difficult times and to keep them moving forward even further during the success times. Leaders are continuously a show case of action for members of the organization who critically evaluate the leader's personal and operational movements. The results of each member's evaluation of leaders will shape his or her actions in the assignments. We all have witnessed leaders who have said one thing and done the opposite. This behavior has the potential to damage the value and beliefs in the organization. For organization to move toward a vision of quality and continual improvement, its leaders must develop a visible link between the articulated vision and the personal attitudes, and action that he or she display on the job every day. The leaders' action must support the ideals such as focusing on the needs of clients, treating each others with respect, empower employees to do the job, focus on improvement of performance, facilitate learning activities, and try to find innovative way to do the job.

MOTIVATION

Motivation is a force to help people to achieve goals, desires, or ideas in life and work. It has a direct relation to the thought processes that are elicited under various internal and external conditions. In the work place, leaders have most effect in the shaping the motivation of employees in the performance and improvement of products and services.

Communication is one of the most important elements in motivation. Leader's attitude, listening, and feedback are essential for good communication. The things which can make a happy and motivated employee are; challenging job, recognition, positive communication, good relation, broad range of responsibilities, being a part of organization, respect, freedom to learn, freedom for innovation, empowerment, and compensation. Motivated employees know what their jobs are. They know how their jobs relate to company goals and objectives, what results are expected of them, and they are free to accomplish results in their own way. In the today's life and work place, the issue of motivation has become a major concern for families, teachers, researchers, leaders, and governments.

Conclusion

In the last two decades, most American corporations have been over managed and under led. When management is more interested in looking good than in doing what is necessary, the results have been major setback for American economy and education in the world. Leaders are team builders who draw the talent of individual to produce results which can satisfy users. Managers, on the other hand arrange committee to evaluate issues and problems. The difference is clear, according to Ralph Stayer, CEO of Johnsonville Foods, "a team has a vision and a committee has agenda."

Walt Disney, in the leadership said, " Of all the things I have done, the most vital was coordinating the talents of those who work for me and pointing them at certain goals." Of all the resources available to organization--money, materials, equipment, and people--the vital resource is people. Unlike other resources people have a remarkable potential for growth and development. This fact makes the employees' motivation a most important and challenging aspect of the leadership systems.

In the today's organizations the demands is to respond to changes in technology and marketplace by being a learning organizations. Leaders and employees reach out beyond of their boundaries in order to develop more effective relations, procedures, processes, and visions. Most of the problems of today's organizations are lack of leadership not talents. Fortunately, our companies are realizing that the performance of the leadership role is essential not just for success, but for survival. We are witnessing a new wave of operation models which believe in the participative leadership, team work, lifelong learning, communication, and vision. Finally, employees, customers, society, and future generation look to the leaders for the new direction which can provide success and happiness for today's generation and assurance of better life, work environment, and society for the next generation. The task is difficult, but we have the resources, educators, multi-dimensional employees, and technology to achieve it. We should remember that this generation has an ethical obligation to the future and prosperity of the next generation.

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