Leadership is a role that is of high importance in any given organization. The leadership of an organization is charged with numerous activities and responsibilities related to goal achievement. The roles and obligations of any leadership position will vary in accordance to the provisions of respective organizations. Effective leadership has many definitions and understandings. However, the common factor regarding effective leadership involves the fact that goal realization is important in the organization in question. However, leadership is not the same as management. Rather, leadership and management are complementary but distinctive factors that influence organizational success.
Motivation as an attribute in one way is connected to leadership. It is a factor and activity that is influenced by the organizational leadership. Motivation serves as a strategic input regarding employee performance enhancement in the organization (Baldoni, 2005, p. 23). The leadership is charged with the responsibility, though not compulsory, of impacting positively on the performance and undertakings of respective employees. The organizational leadership from the leader’s perspective therefore creates necessary processes and activities regarding employee motivation to ideally enhance their respective performances.
The management in organizations is highly linked with leadership roles and activities. On the other hand, leadership activities are linked with the motivation factor as an attribute (Levesque, 2007, p. 13). This paper focuses on leadership and motivational behaviors. Of particular interest is the leadership behavior regarding high expectations. The framework or model of high performance expectation for higher chances of goals realization is highly linked in this case with the leadership behavior.
An effective leader in a given organization uses the assigned power regarding duty to ideally instill certain expectations and roles to the respective employees. In this case, the leaders use their respective docket to enhance the employee performance by initiating the high expectation factor or program. Employees are therefore given the impression of high performance. This process is achieved with the help of the organizational leaders ideally setting the goals and tying them to compulsive elements. The employees are therefore left with no choice but to engage in activities in line with the set expectations especially as a way of avoiding possible sanctions of not achieving the goals.
It is evident that high expectations lead to high performance in the organization. The leader’s high expectations are not just fluff that is often held in their respective minds to promote a positive outward public expression. It is evident that the belief of another individual in our abilities helps in accomplishing more than that. Successful leaders have high expectations which help in the provision of a framework into which individuals fit their own realities. As is the case with Pygmalion, the initiated frameworks play an essential part in developing individual employees.
The example of the Sunnyvale Community Service can be used in this case. Nancy Tivol is the executive director of the firm and therefore a leader in the organization. Nancy strongly believes in her character and abilities. The abilities and strengths of the employees are also a belief held strongly by the executive director. The initial disregard of volunteer employees in the organization shaped the processes and reactions of the leadership docket to the members of the organization. The volunteer employees were viewed as the non-important elements in the organization. This perception made the management to give the volunteer employees minor roles and activities. The volunteer employees were also sidelined in issues regarding motivation. Beyond the menial tasks charged to volunteer employees, full character outlook could not be experienced or enjoyed by the organization.
However, the leadership character of Nancy regarding the aspect of setting high performance expectations changed this process. Nancy took the volunteer employees seriously in relation to their respective capabilities and inputs in the organization. Considering her perception that individuals have the potential of ensuring high performance in the organization, Nancy took the initiative of changing the norm in the organization regarding the volunteer employees. Volunteers were therefore encouraged to excel in their respective undertakings in the organization. The executive director also took the responsibility of placing the volunteer staff to responsible and impacting positions in the firm. Necessary training is also given to the volunteer employees. The chief executive is also influential in shaping the proper direction for the volunteer staff. The encouragement given to the volunteer staff and high set goals and expectations by the organizational leader has realized its projections.
Motivation has various arising issues in the organizational context. As indicated, motivation is an attribute and undertaking that is linked to the aspect of leadership behavior and role. The motivational behavior arising in the organizational context that will be discussed regards the reward system. A reward system ideally refers to a process and framework of appreciating respective employee input in the business environment. The employees are therefore given incentives in relation to their respective performances or achievement by the organizational leadership docket (Vernon, 2006, p. 5). The use of incentive is a basic and effective mode of ensuring that the vital attribute of motivation is ideally used in the presence of employees.
The use of rewards as a motivational strategy by organizational can both be positive and negative in relation to the used context (Armstrong, 2006, p. 22). A reward system based on critical evaluation of individual performance is necessary for ensuring proper effect of the undertaking. Considering that the process of rewarding employees involves the use of money, the organizational leadership should therefore ensure that the reward system is justifiable in terms of finances (Robbins, 2002, p. 17). Leaders might sometimes be forced or inclined to giving out rewards to employees that are not overly deserved. This undertaking is often adopted by respective management especially when the leadership wants to fulfill other needs and wants other than the basic one of further motivating the already high performing employee. For instance, the leadership might wrongly reward respective employees with the expectation that they will ideally perform better in future as a way of showing gratitude to the management. This is a wrong perception that impacts negatively on the effectiveness of an elaborate reward system in the organization related to the essential employee motivation.
The reward system of regarding proper and seeing results of individual employees is essentially crucial. The management engages in effectively and justifiably giving out gifts and rewards to employees as a direct response to their respective input in the organization. In this case, their respective performance of individual employees is used as the gauge point and determinant of whether a reward is necessary or deserved. In the case where an employee has worked hard during a given period, giving them rewards acts not only as a point of showing gratitude by the organization, but also as a motivational avenue. The respective employees therefore engage themselves in ensuring that they are increasing their previous performance processes and activities to ensure that they are recognized and consequently rewarded in the next possible reward ceremony. This is ideally a very effective and efficient motivational strategy by the organization.
Evaluation of the effectiveness of the behaviors
The discussed behaviors in this paper include the leadership inclined behavior of high expectation performance setting and the motivational related behavior of rewards and reward systems in the organization. The leadership of any organization is charged with numerous responsibilities and roles. Ideally, the leadership aspect of any entity basically has a positive projection and expectation of the junior team and department. The depicted leadership behavior of setting high expectations to employees has both negative and positive impacts. Its level of effectiveness can be achieved with the analysis of both the negative and positive aspects.
When employees are given high expectations by the relevant leadership docket, they are also given roles and obligations directly related to this factor (Brown, 1999, p. 33). As a result, the organizational performance as projected by the leadership docket is supposed to be enhanced in the long run. It is evident that an employee will only remain a member of an organization if he is in line with the expectations and roles charged to them by the leadership and management. This is the basic hiring basis of the respective employees. The implication here therefore is that the employees will ensure that they do all that is within their power to ensure that they adequately fulfill the requirements and goals set by the management. It is also evident that it is highly improbable that the leadership and management will set unrealistic goals for the employees. Therefore, in the long run, the expectations and projections of the organization will be positive considering that most of the employees will enhance the organizational performance.
The negative aspect of setting high expectations by the leadership as a depicted behavior regards the possibility of reducing employee motivation (Radoff, 2011, p. 8). The employees might feel that their rights are being infringed by the management with the highly set bar regarding performance expectations. As a result, the employees tend to reduce their respective efforts in the organization. In some instances, the employees opt to quit their respective jobs and look for alternative employments. This is a lethal situation for the organization considering that the employees might go to competitor premises thereby creating a disadvantage.
The reward system as a motivational behavior derived by the leadership is an effective mode of operation (Murlis, 2004, p. 16). This process is essential in creating the necessary employee morale in the organization. To a large extend, this mode of operation enhances the respective individual activities of the employees. Collectively, the organization is bound to reap in the long run as a result of enhanced performance. The use of incentives helps in ensuring that the employees feel appreciated by the organizational leadership. This aspect further enhances the performance input of respective members, and hence collectively influences the final performance positioning of the organization.
Possible Changes in the Depicted Behaviors
Change in the positive line is a welcomed process in any given situation. This is so because of the fact that a positive change ideally means an improvement in the general processes or situation. Therefore, it is a process that is largely influential in enhancing the dynamic nature of organizations. The depicted characters, though almost completely positive, can accommodate a few changes to further enhance their effectiveness in the organizational context.
For instance, the behavior of setting high employee expectations can accommodate a change. This process as discussed positively impacts on the organizational performance. However, the inclusion of standardized and measured aspect of high performance rating in the organization should be considered. This implies that the leadership docket will not create expectations randomly. In this case, the creation and adoption of high expectation setting will be aided by use of proper mechanics and calculations. Basically, before the leadership comes up with expectations, it will be involved in relevant and accurate procedures to ensure that the set standards are within reach and therefore achievable.
In the motivational behavior of reward system, the necessary change of creating an elaborate and effective system should be accommodated. In this case, the system of reward should be highly integrated. The system should therefore be cost effective, capability based, and commitment based. This system will ensure that the strategic employee building is in line with the expectations and projections of the organizational leadership as well as ensuring that the employees are all-rounded in their respective development.
Bibliography
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