Discuss about the Concept of Managing Change, leadership and motivation.
Most individuals may find managing an organisation to be challenging. This is because managing an organisation requires experience and the manner in which this experience can be gained is by learning from failures. In this regard, it can be said that managers need to understand certain theories and practises that may help them to undertake the management process in a comprehensive manner. Some of the basic concepts that every manager need to understand include the concept of managing change, leadership and motivation. According to Doppelt (2017), change is necessary for an organisation to improve its current level of work status.
Updating the technologies and the skills of the employees need to be done to ensure that every employee gets to use their skills in an effective manner. Leadership is needed to encourage the employees to use the skills. Most organisations tend to be innovative to gain a competitive advantage. Northouse (2015) stated that a good leader could act as a motivator and influence employees to undertake challenges. However, the motivation needs to be such that employees enjoy working in the organisation in order to get the deserved recognition and reward.
Keeping this in mind it can be said that the three concepts are interrelated to each other as it helps in managing organisations in a proper manner. Without proper leadership, an employee cannot be motivated to continue to perform efficiently. According to Healy (2016), changes in an organisation need to be brought by motivating employees. Without proper leadership, such motivation cannot be provided that may convince the employees to accept the changes. The assignment researches the concepts of change management, leadership and motivation in detail. Theories related to these concepts are used to understand the application of these in an organisation.
According to Cameron and Green (2015), managing changes in an organisation is one of the most difficult tasks for a manager. After analysing the concept, the learner can understand the requirement of change management in an organisation. Theories and models related to change management can be identified after learning this concept. The employees tend to resist due to the fear of losing their jobs or losing the efficiency that they possess. The fear of taking up new challenges instigates the employees to resist any type of change. At the same time, implementation of changes requires spending a considerable amount of money.
Organisations eyeing changes need to be financially viable to ensure that the changes are executed in a proper manner (McCalman, Paton and Siebert 2016). In this case, shareholders may resist if the amount required is more than the budget of the organisation. However, changes can be implemented properly with the application related theories. Doppelt (2017) provided an opinion that the application of Lewin’s change model could help organisations undertake changes in a subtle yet effective manner. The change management model suggested by Lewin consists of three easy steps. The first step as suggested by Lewin is unfreezing in which managers prepare the organisation for the changes that will be implemented.
Managers tend to convince employees about the reason for the requirement of the change and the positive effect it may bring on the activities of the organisation. In the second stage, the employees accept the change. Hayes (2014) observed that in this stage employees reluctantly accept the changes and tend to work in a different manner. At the last stage, the change brought about is implemented and managers ensure that stability of the change is maintained. However, at every step managers face resistance from the employees. An example of successful implementation of change can be described to understand the concept further.
After the success of the Windows software, Microsoft seemed to be struggling to continue its production and inspire people to respect the organisation. The business unit of the company started to act as competitors rather than working as partners. The company even lacked innovation that could help them to gain further success. At this stage, a change in the CEO brought about major restricting of the company. Satya Nadella was of the opinion that the products and platforms need to collaborate and focus on one goal. The merging of Microsoft with Bing and Cortana created new research groups for the company. The reason behind the success of this change is that the CEO wanted to empower every employee with the ability to innovate. This provided the required encouragement required for the successful implementation of change (Kuipers et al. 2014). Hence, to ensure that the resistance of the employees is managed effectively, proper leadership and motivation technique is required.
Leadership is required to ensure that every employee is provided with the proper guidance in order to carry out a job. Proper leadership also helps to motivate people and encourage the employees to apply their skills. According to Bolman and Deal (2017), leaders need to lead from the front and present an example for other employees to follow. In this regard, the learning outcome can provide the understanding of certain leadership theories that can be applied to define the characteristics of leaders and the manner. The learning outcome can suggest the qualities required to be an effective leader. For example, the Great Man theory suggests that the leadership traits are intrinsic in nature. This signifies the fact that individuals taking up the mantle of leadership are born and not made.
However, the Trait theory suggests that great leaders can be either made or born. Northouse (2015) argued that leaders are made by observing the society around them and by following other leaders. At the same time, the behavioural theory of leadership suggests that leaders need to have a strong personality and mental strength. This is because challenging circumstances may present itself in the work environment and a weak mentality cannot be effective in making decisions that are good for the organisation (Johnston and Marshall 2016). This provides the concept of the type of leaders that exist in an organisation.
Antonakis and Day (2017) stated that the nature of the leaders depends upon the type of organisation and the service provided by it. Leadership can be either autocratic, democratic and laissez-faire. These three types are different from one another in terms of treating employees and playing a part in their motivation. For example, application of autocratic leadership may dent the confidence of the employees as leaders take every organisational decision without consulting the employees. However, applying a democratic leadership may encourage the employees as the opinion of the employees is taken into consideration (Renz 2016). The variation of the leadership styles plays an important role in the success of an organisation. An example of a successful leadership practice can be stated to further consolidate the concept.
It is a universal truth that the 9/11 incident created doubts in the minds of every customer about using airlines as a means of travel. During the day of the attack, most airline companies were forced to shut down and the passengers, flight attendants and crews were on complete lockdown. However, the managers of Southwest Airlines handled the situation in an innovative manner. They took the initiative to take the passengers and other flight attendants to bowling or movies to kill the time. Apart from this, many airline companies started to cut the jobs of the employees due to lack of finance. Southwest Airlines CEO, James Parker announced that the company would retain all the employees and start rebuilding the sector with a $179.8 million profit-sharing programme. This provided the encouragement to the employees and it motivated them to continue to work in an efficient manner.
Kanfer and Chen (2016) stated that in order to build up the confidence of the employees and make them work in an efficient manner, motivation needs to be provided. Motivation can be either in the form of the monetary benefits like bonus or incentives or in the form of rewards and recognition. However, the motivation needs to follow a certain hierarchical pattern that symbolises a systematic approach towards motivation. This can be attributed to Maslow’s theory of motivation which states that the needs of the employees are to be met systematically (Maslow 2015). Every employee has a basic desire that needs to be fulfilled above everything else. The learning outcome provides an analysis of the theories required for motivating employees along with real life examples of motivation.
For example, getting a secured job, providing safety of the family members and getting at least two meals a day in a place to live is the basic needs of every individual. Managers need to provide such motivation initially before moving on to bigger things such as rewards, recognition and promotion. In this case, the factors that drive the employees to be motivated need to be understood. Elliot, Dweck and Yeager (2017) observed that the basic requirements of running a successful organisation provide a sense of motivation for the employees. Requirements such as proper work environment, job satisfaction and recognition for a good performance are enough to motivate an employee to be efficient and loyal to an organisation.
Another important manner in which motivation can be provided is by leading the employees in a proper manner. As stated earlier, proper leadership can help in motivating employees to accept the changes in an organisation without resistance. Hence, managers need to ensure that good decision is made so that the employees can remain motivated in the organisation. Pinder (2014) stated that without proper motivation organisations tend to lose employees. This needs to be prevented by taking proper decisions. An example of successful motivation can be stated to ensure that the concept is understood in a proper manner.
According to Healy (2016), the best motivation often comes from surprises and delights. Although long-term motivation is said to the driving forces, the short-term initiative that was undertaken by Walt Disney to motivate the employees provides inspiration to managers. Due to low finance to go to a movie, Walt suggested making money out of Disneyland. Initially, the park was opened only on Wednesdays through Sundays, however, at the suggestion of a team member, Mondays and Tuesdays were marked as days of opening the park. Clouds of doubt were raised about the attendance during those working days. However, Walt provided discounts to people visiting on Monday and Tuesday and the response earned them a huge profit. With the growing popularity of the business, Walt presented all the seven members of the team with a Ferrari. This act was a huge motivation for the employees along with the promotion provided on merit.
Conclusion
Thus, it can be concluded that in order to manage an organisation it is necessary that managers maintain the basic requirements that drive its functioning. This can be done by ensuring that proper techniques are used to implement necessary changes and motivate employees to accept the changes. The assignment suggests that change management, motivation and leadership are related to one another and it is necessary that managers focus on these concepts. It has been seen that in order to implement and stabilise the changes made, organisations need efficient workers. Without proper leadership technique or motivational techniques, organisations cannot ensure that employees will remain loyal. Hence, the three concepts exist by depending on one another.
The examples provided are of different situations nut highlights the common theme of managing organisations. The examples provide details about the co-existence of all three concepts and the manner in which employees, as well as the customers, benefit from such decisions. Hence, it can be said that managers need to identify the factors that drive the necessity of changes in the organisations. Managers need to understand the requirements of the employees and accordingly ensure that these requirements are met. It is necessary for the managers to be involved in decision-making activities that also involve the opinions of the employees and shareholders.
Motivating employees by making innovative decisions can help in the growth of an organisation. The examples provided highlight the innovative and bold decisions made by the CEO of each company. This suggests that risks are also an integral part of managing an organisation. Hence, it is necessary to assess the risks and propagate techniques that may help in the successful implementation of managing techniques in an organisation.
References
Antonakis, J. and Day, D.V. eds., 2017. The nature of leadership. Sage publications.
Bolman, L.G. and Deal, T.E., 2017. Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership. John Wiley & Sons.
Cameron, E. and Green, M., 2015. Making sense of change management: A complete guide to the models, tools and techniques of organizational change. Kogan Page Publishers.
Doppelt, B., 2017. Leading change toward sustainability: A change-management guide for business, government and civil society. Routledge.
Elliot, A.J., Dweck, C.S. and Yeager, D.S. eds., 2017. Handbook of Competence and Motivation: Theory and Application. Guilford Publications.
Hayes, J., 2014. The theory and practice of change management. Palgrave Macmillan.
Healy, K., 2016. A Theory of Human Motivation by Abraham H. Maslow–reflection. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 208(4), pp.313-313.
Johnston, M.W. and Marshall, G.W., 2016. Sales force management: Leadership, innovation, technology. Routledge.
Kanfer, R. and Chen, G., 2016. Motivation in organizational behavior: History, advances and prospects. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 136, pp.6-19.
Kuipers, B.S., Higgs, M., Kickert, W., Tummers, L., Grandia, J. and Van der Voet, J., 2014. The management of change in public organizations: A literature review. Public Administration, 92(1), pp.1-20.
Maslow, A.H., 2015. A theory of human motivation. Classics of Organization Theory, 50, p.142.
McCalman, J., Paton, R.A. and Siebert, S., 2016. Change management: a guide to effective implementation. Sage.
Northouse, P.G., 2015. Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage publications.
Pinder, C.C., 2014. Work motivation in organizational behavior. Psychology Press.
Reeve, J., 2014. Understanding motivation and emotion. John Wiley & Sons.
Renz, D.O., 2016. The Jossey-Bass handbook of nonprofit leadership and management. John Wiley & Sons.
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