Leadership

Scenario as a Follower

A scenario that represents situation where I was a follower was when I was working und a project manager. The project entails building of offices for a company. In the project, I served in the procurement department where we had the duty of ensuring that the supplies were ordered in time, in the right quantity, stock levels maintained and the proper records were kept. This project becomes is vivid in my mind since were about two weeks behind the schedule. The result of this would me missing important milestones and work schedule that had earlier been agreed. This would have dire consequences to the company at large and the profile of the project manager.  This required that the project leaders had a hug tasks of ensuring that the timeline for the project.

Effectiveness of the Leader

To understand the effectiveness of this leader, the theories to be used on the analysis are the expectancy and equity theory. The expectancy theory of motivation is an also referred as a process theory, and offers an explanation as to why people decide to choose one behavior actions over the others. The notion put forward under this theory is that people are motivate to when they believe that they actions will contribute to the desired outcome. The expectancy theory suggest that work motivation is based on the perceived connection between the performance and outcomes and that people change their behavior based on the outcomes of the expected outcomes (Redmond, 2009). The project manager in this scenario had the anticipated outcome of recovering the two weeks in which the project had lagged behind. This seemed to have acted as a motivation for the projected manager to be more committed to carry out the task. The project manager become friendlier and more transparent to the workers and was finally to talk to the employees who agreed to extend their time utilized per day to recover for the time that had been lost. The expectancy theory is regarded as a process theory of motivation based on how it places attention on how the individuals perceives the environment t. The project manager in this scenario held the belief that; there is  positive relationship between efforts and performance and thus was seen to put effort in how he was relating with the staff, favorable performance will likely lead to the desired behavior ; in this , the manager held the belief that extending the working hours would have a positive effect to the project, the theory further assets that reward is essential in  attaining the desired goal; the project manager was noted to hold the view that extra reward was an essential need. 

The expectancy equity theory model goes beyond individual self and includes influence and comparison of other people’s situations. The theory indicates that when people feel treated fairly, they are likely to more motivated. Feelings of unfair treatment leads to people to having disaffection and demotivation. The project manager in this scenario appeared to be keen to maintain social relations with the employees which was a great motivator to the nature of work that they needed to be done. The project manager was able to attain fair treatment. It seems that he was able to make comparison of the efforts that the people put and how they engaged. The project managers offered all the employee a promotion which can be considered as a reward. The workers comfortably applied their input in terms of effort taken and compares it with the resulting outputs a cover the financial benefits such as bonus or overtime pay.  It was clear that the project manager was able to appreciate that through enhancing to employees’ terms and conditions, and people’s perception can lead to attainment of goals.

Motivation Techniques 

The project manager advocated for the use of rewards system as source of motivation for the employees. The project manger was able to make calls for a reward system that could be considered a being effective. It was clear that the project manager understood that while it was not entirely his duty to advocate for a satisfactory reward system, he understood that poorly designed reward system could likely lead to lack of production and motivation. It for this reason that as part of the leaders, the project manager needed to put effort to ensure that all the employees were valued. Having smart rewards system assist to offer the employees a positive feedback which in turn enhances their motivation level. The reward system is considered by employees as one of the ways through which their efforts are appreciated within an organization and therefore considers that rewards as a worth their effort. It is important to ensure that all employees have an understanding on the how they can earn the differed since this understanding helps the employee understand what is expected of them and are therefore able to put more efforts to achieve higher performance standards. 

Another motivation tool that the project manager uses in training. Sharma and Shirsath (2014) highlights the need of training programs at workplace and that is essential in improving and enhancing the performance of an individual. Training entails providing the employee with the necessary and special skills, abilities, and knowledge that are needed to carry out a specific job. Training offers a means of ensuring productivity of the employees. The most common objectives of training include; enhancing the relevant skills, raise labor productivity, improve the employee commitment to the organization, minimize the labor turnover, and compliance to legal requirements. Training is a means of investing in employees. Training has been noted to lead to lead to improvement of the satisfaction levels of the employees and grants them a competitive edge over other employees thereby making then into valuable employees. Training not only influences the knowledge and skills of the employees but also enhances the expansion of the general personality of the employee. Training makes the employs understand how they can achieve the objectives of the organization (Sharma & Shirsath, 2014). The project manager ensured that the employees were well trained on how to efficiently and effectively carry out their duties. This ensured that more work was accomplished in a limited time span. The project manager ensured that the employees received extra training such as credited first aid training which pointed out to his efforts in investing in the workforce. Training can thus be noted to lead to increasing the success and motivating employees and their productivity. 

Another technique that can be used to motivate employees is the non-monetary incentives. This technique follows the understanding that not all motivation techniques tool requires expenditure. The non-monetary incentives entail different work enriching techniques. An example of these methods includes; offering the employees regular feedback about their performance, availing opportunities for employee development, allowing the employees the possibility of creating their work program, open communication with management, and assessment of employee performance. This technique calls for providing feedback to employees not only when they carry out a task in a bad way but also when the they perform their duties in an exemplary manner. Provision of positive work feedback help in cementing the appropriate behavior and habits and making the work appreciated. Motivation may also come from a simple task of ensuring that their duties and responsibilities are clearly defined and described. In this scenario, the project manager ensures that he offered an accurate guidance on the implementation of the tasks entrusted to them. The project manager is also keen to ensure accountability which involves making the employees of their responsibilities. The project manager ensures that the is very accessible by even the ordinary employees. This is an effort to foster communication and allow efficient flow of information. The employees appreciate the such an approach as if offers them a greater sense of significance on the performed task which facilitates increment in self-esteem and motivation (Borowski & Daya, 2014). 

Another tool that may be used by the management to improve performance is on benchmarking. The use of performance indictors and benchmarking for the improvement in production management. The main purpose of benchmarking is to acquire a feedback about the real situation and the specific factors leading to success. Benchmark indicators and key performance indicators are considered as types of measurement that assist the companies to improve performance (Passos & Haddad, 2013).

Power and Influence

Power refers to manner in which the leaders influence their followers to produce an effect. It is noted that successful leaders seek to improve and influence people through their power towards achievement of greater accomplishment for their personal or organizational goals. Effective leader has been noted to have the ability to utilize the interpersonal influence to assist their subordinates attain desired goals in given situation. In the scenario, the project manager was able to use his power and influence in an appropriate manner to ensure the project recovered the two weeks delay it had experienced (Fuqua, Payne, & Cangemi, 2000). The project manager was able to engage the employees and convince them of the importance of extending their working hours to recover the time lost. The project manager further ensured that these employees were compensated for their effort. 

A power and technique that may be used by the leader is utilizing effective leadership style. It is noted that leadership style in an organization becomes dysfunctional when limited attention is put to identify how power is deployed (Goncalves, 2013). Among the appropriate leadership style that is utilized is the transformational leadership. Transformational leaders are known to offer their followers gain control of their own actions. Transformational leadership focuses on assisting the followers get an awareness of problems and issues. This assist them in understanding how people look at things to enhance productive change. Transformation leaders uses their control to inspire their followers to overcome their own self-interests for the organization. Transformational leader is able to motivate people to achieve more than originally expected. The transformational leaders are aware of the importance of change goals and outcomes and are able compel the employees transcend their personal interests for the whole organization. 

References

Borowski, A., & Daya, U. (2014). Employee motivation tools. In Human capital without borders: Knowledge and learning for quality of life. Proceedings of the management, knowledge and learning international conference 2014.

Fuqua, H. E., Payne, K. E., & Cangemi, J. P. (2000). Leadership and the effective use of power. In National Forum of Educational Administration and Supervision Journal E (Vol. 17).

Goncalves, M. (2013). Leadership styles: The power to influence others. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 4(4).

Passos, C. A., & Haddad, R. B. (2013). Benchmarking: A tool for the improvement of production management. IFAC Proceedings Volumes, 46(24), 577-581.

Redmond, B. F. (2014). Lecture on expectancy theory (Lesson 4). Personal Collection of BF Redmond, Penn State University University Park, PA.

Sharma, V., & Shirsath, M. (2014). Training-A motivational tool. Journal of Business and Management, 16(3), 27-35.