Motivation, Communication and Leadership Theory

Motivation, Communication and Leadership Theory

In this essay I will discuss the various different theories on

motivation such as scientific management e.g. Taylor as well the

humans relation approach such as Maslow and Herzberg and how they

relate to organisations improving their overall effiencentcy. Another

aspect that I will discuss in the following essay will also be how

communication can affect the productivity of a company, I will also

relate this to motivational theory. The final aspect of my essay that

I will include is discussing how different leadership styles can

affect the overall productivity of a given company.

One motivation theory that some companies used to use was the

scientific approach, this was put forward by Taylor. It was mainly

used in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Taylor developed his theory

while he was working his way up from labourer to works manager in an

US steel mill. His theory states that man is a rational economic

animal concerned with maximising his economic gain. He also stated

that people respond as individuals not groups and he believed people

could be treated in a standardised fashion like machines.

The basic principle that is underlying this approach is if you study

what happens when you the change different variables in a situation,

this will tell you how best to organise the work force. This theory as

mentioned before relies on the fact that human beings will act

rationally and respond to the available incentives. The whole of

Taylor’s theory is based on the fact that he believes human are solely

motivated by money.

I believe that this motivational theory is flawed to a certain degree

because people do not just work for money they also work to socialise

and many other factors like earning respect from fellow employees.

Taylor’s theory is based on the fact that your pay should be linked to

your output. This prospect does not appeal to all people as we are

different in many ways, it may also lead to employees cutting corners

to make it appear they have done more than they have. This is counter

productive to increasing productivity because then the product is just

of sub standard quality and most of the time quality is more important

than quantity in business. Taylors theory was mainly used in the late

1800’s and early 1900’s this shows that his theory is out of date and

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... middle of paper ...

...utcome will be the positive one

you want.

I think that if this theory was used in conjunction with the previous

two theories it could benefit some companies very well if they applied

if correctly. It would lead to an increase in productivity even though

this may only be in the short term, but with regular training courses

and interactions with the people at the top of the company this

increased level of productivity could be kept at the increased level

with benefit to employer and employee.

There are three main types of leadership one is an autocratic leader.

This type of leader will take important decisions without consulting

colleague’s who are lower down the hierarchy. This may in general

decrease the productivity of employees lower than the leader and this

in turn will lower the productivity on the company overall. The main

reason for this is the fact that the employees lower down the

hierarchy will not feel valued because there input is not required in

decision making even though they will undoubtedly have valid points to

put forward. This will lead to decreased productivity because they

feel less valued because they are not at the level in the hierarchy.