The idea of tying together the theory of motivation and
managerial traits has certainly been an interesting one. Motivation can be
defined as moving a subordinate’s unacceptable behavior into an acceptable one
and then turning that acceptable behavior into an exceptional one. Traits on
the other hand describe qualities in a person and how they play a role into
making a manager more successful.
Whetten
and Cameron explains a simple motivational theory in their text. It is said
that “discipline should be used to extinguish unacceptable behaviors. However,
once an individual’s behavior has reached an acceptable level, negative
responses will not push the behavior up to the exceptional level.” (Whetten & Cameron, 2013) This shows that if I
am to try to motivate the truly lazy of subordinates, discipline is going to
have to be necessary to get them to be more productive. After that point
though, “only through positive reinforcement do employees have control over
achieving what they want and, therefore, the incentive to reach a level of
exceptional performance.” (Whetten & Cameron, 2013) So in order to
achieve great accomplishments, learning how to properly motivate and reward
someone is key.
This
ties very well with one of Yukl’s trait theories about achievement orientation.
Achievement orientation includes the “need for achievement, willingness to
assume responsibility, performance orientation, and concern for task
objectives.” (Yukl, 2013) By having a drive or
desire to accomplish great things and to achieve an exceptional performance,
one will be in tune to what needs to be done to accomplish this drive or
desire. Desire alone isn’t what’s going to make a manger more successful,
however it is the stepping stone that gets the foot in the door. Tie this
desire for achievement with the motivational theories from Whetten and Cameron’s
text, and success has a much higher probability of actually happening.
I
consider myself to be very achievement oriented in the sense that I strive to
be as productive as possible with the tasks that I am given. Unfortunately
though I’m pretty low in the ranking structure and so the amount of power I
have limits the amount of motivational carrots I can hand out. The teams that I
lead are very small and very rarely get above 4 people. However perhaps by
showing I can take what I have and prove great leadership skills at this very
low level, then selection for higher ranks, and thus more responsibility, will
shine its line through the tunnel.
References
Whetten, D., & Cameron, K. (2013). Developing
Mangement Skills. New Jersey: Pearson.
Yukl, G. (2013). Leadership in Organizations.
New Jersey: Pearson.
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