that a manager has the proper skills and abilities to carry out what he
claims to be experienced in. Only then a manager will earn a respect and
employees will become his like-minded team. How will you be able to do
this?
Some authors[34] say that as a manager and especially as an executive
manager you are responsible for all fields of business in your company: for
marketing and sales, for finance, for information technology etc. You
should understand how things works (the IKEA-case and Kamprad’s attention
to all details can illustrate this statement) and also how employees work
whose knowledge in one particular field are deeper then yours. These are
two main corner stones of success. How to reach them? The best solution can
be continuous replacing inside organization. As a result manager receives
variety of experiences and knowledge in different functions, business
units, companies, and even countries. The positive effect of such a
“moving” results in understanding, how the whole business operates; of the
impact of managerial decisions on the rest of the organization. Managers
can also transfer best practices to new areas while moving; he learns how
to lead in a variety of situations and he develops strong networks inside
and outside the organization[35].
Some other authors[36], especially from the business world, used to think
that an effective manager must not be satisfied with his education degree
and training, but must always be ready to catch advanced education
opportunities. The advanced degree is MBA-program; if this level was
reached then never avoid additional seminars, courses and workshops. In
contrast to the thirst group of authors who are speaking about continuous
replacement, these theories accept the idea of receiving deep knowledge in
one particular area.
These two approaches and also all theories about teaching show us how
important is for every manager to develop himself and his employees.
Continuous self-development, learning and teaching are the best ways to
success and effectiveness.
1 Motivation of employees
Like the previous characteristics, the ability to motivate your employees
to work is also an indispensable one if you want to be effective as a
manager. The psychology of motivation is tremendously complex, and what has
been unravelled so far with any degree of assurance is very small. What I
will do here is (1) give a definition of what motivation is, (2) very
briefly going across the major theories, classical and contemporary ones,
and (3) address some possibilities how an affective manager can implement
the ideas the theories offered in reality, which is of most importance. But
first some theory.
Stephen P. Robbins gives us the following definition of motivation in his
book Organizational Behavior (2001, p. 155)[37]: “[…] the processes that
account for an individual’s intensity, direction, and persistence of effort
toward attaining a goal”. Thus intensity (1) is concerned with “how hard a
person tries”, with direction (2) we mean “toward attaining the
organizational goals“and persistence refers to “how long a person can
maintain his or her effort”.
In the past, especially in the 50’s, a lot has been written about how
managers can motivate their employees. We can classify these theories in 5
categories.[38] These are:
1. Need theories:
- Hierarchy of Needs Theory (A. Maslow) / ERG Theory (C.
Alderfer)
- Two Factor Theory (F. Herzberg)
- Theory X and Theory Y (D. McGregor)
These theories all depart from the thought that to motivate your employees,
you have to satisfy certain needs. Maslow’s hierarchical model, a classical
one, says that you first have to satisfy physiological needs (i.e. hunger,
thirst, …), then you have to offer them safety (from physical and emotional
harm), consequently you must satisfy them socially (affection, acceptance,
…), after that you can motivate them by satisfying their esteem (internal
as well as external), and only then, when all the previous needs are
satisfied, you can motivate them by letting your employees actualize
themselves through their work (i.e. self-fulfilment). So if you want to
motivate someone, according to Maslow, you need to understand what level of
hierarchy that person is currently on and focus on satisfying those needs
at or above that level.
Maslow’s theory has received wide recognition, but unfortunately research
does not validate the theory. A theory that contests Maslow’s theory is
Alderfer’s ERG Theory, where E stands for existence (cfr. the physiological
and safety needs), R for relatedness (cfr. the social needs and the
external component of the esteem need) and G for growth needs (cfr. the
internal esteem component and the self-actualization need). This theory
differs from Maslow’s in that (1) more than one need may be operative at
the same time and (2), if the gratification of a higher level need is
stifled, the desire to satisfy a lower-level need increases. In opposite to
Maslow’s theory, several studies do have supported this theory. It takes
into account that in different cultures the categories can be ranked in
another way, for example Japan, where the social needs are placed under the
physiological ones.
Another classical need theory is the Theory X and Theory Y of Douglas
McGregor. These two theories represent two distinct views of human beings:
Theory X makes the assumption that employees dislike work, are lazy,
dislike responsibility, and must be coerced to perform, where Theory Y
stipulates that employees like work, are creative, seek responsibility and
can exercise self-direction. Research suggests that these theories may be
applicable but only in particular situations.
Maybe the most important contribution to the motivation question comes from
the psychologist Frederick Herzberg with his Two-Factor Theory. The insight
Herzberg brought to the matter meant a u-turn in previously thinking. He
stated as first that the opposite of satisfaction is not dissatisfaction,
as was traditionally believed, but that both are distinct and separate.
Intrinsic factors such as the work itself, responsibility, and achievement
seem to be related with satisfaction (motivators), while extrinsic factors
such as supervision, pay, company policies and working conditions are
associated with dissatisfaction (hygiene factors). This theory has had a
major impact on management in the last 30 years and the fact that managers
nowadays allow workers greater responsibility in planning and controlling
their work can probably be attributed largely to Herzberg’s findings and
recommendations
2. Goal-Setting Theory (E. Locke):
The primary idea of this theory is that specific and difficult goals, with
goal/ feedback, lead to a higher performance. This means that, for example,
to motivate someone, you don’t say “Just do your best”, but you say
specific what has to be obtained, for example “You should strive for 85
percent or higher on all your work in English”. Research supports this
theory in that this do can lead to a higher performance, although it may
not lead to job satisfaction (cfr. supra).
3. Reinforcement Theory:
This theory states that reinforcement conditions behaviour. Behaviour is
thereby environmentally caused. What controls behaviour are reinforcers –
any consequence that , when immediately following a response, increases the
probability that the behaviour will be repeated. The theory ignores the
inner state of the individual and concentrates solely on what happens to a
person when he or she takes some action. Because it does not concern with
what initiates behaviour, it is not, strictly speaking, a theory of
motivation. But it does provide a powerful means of analysing of what
controls behaviour, and it is for this reason that it is typically
considered in discussions on motivation.
4. Equity Theory (J. S. Adams):
This theory poses that individuals compare their job inputs (i.e. effort,
experience …) and outcomes (i.e. salary, recognition …) with those of
others and then respond so as to eliminate any inequities. For example a
person who does the same job as another employee but gets paid less will be
motivated to perform better in order to eliminate the existing inequities.
5. Expectancy Theory (V. Vroom):
This is currently one of the most accepted explanations of motivation. Most
of the research evidence is supportive of this theory. Concrete, this
theory says that an employee will be motivated to exert a high level of
effort when he or she believes that effort will lead to a good performance
appraisal; that a good performance appraisal will lead to organizational
rewards such as a bonus, a salary increase, or a promotion; and that the
rewards will satisfy the employee’s goals.
The major theories briefly presented, we can now look at how in reality a
manager can implement these. Robbins mentions 6 applications. These are:
1. Management by objectives (MBO) (cfr. Goal-Setting Theory):
This means in realty, as a manager, you make sure that the organization’s
overall objectives are translated into specific objectives for each
succeeding level (divisional, departmental, and individual) in the
organization. You develop a program that encompasses specific goals,
participatively set with the employees, for an explicit time period, with
feedback on goal progress. MBO programs are used in many business, health
