TEAM MOTIVATION

Motivation and Team Management

Motivation and Team Management

Introduction

The motivation and driving force is an important element in any sphere of human activity, but is at work which achieves the highest prevalence. It is the process that causes a person to act in a certain way or at least creates a propensity toward a particular behaviour.

This paper talks about the motivation theory that leads to the effective work group and team building. It also highlights the importance of leadership roles and styles need to effective teams and organisation. It also discusses the sources and advantages of conflicts in the organisation and strategies for dealing with conflict.

Task 1 (a) - Foundations of Motivation Theory

There are a number of different views as to what motivates workers. The most commonly held views or theories are discussed below and have been developed over the last 100 years or so. Unfortunately, these theories do not all reach the same conclusions!

Taylor

Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856 - 1917) put forward the idea that workers are motivated mainly by pay. His Theory of Scientific Management argued the following:

Workers do not naturally enjoy work, and so need close supervision and control

Therefore, managers should break down production into a series of unimportant tasks

Workers should then be given appropriate training and tools, so they can work as efficiently as possible on one set task (Thomas, 2002)

Workers are then paid according to the number of items they produce in a set period of time- piece-rate pay

As a result, workers are encouraged to work hard and maximise their productivity

Mayo

Elton Mayo (1880 - 1949) believed that workers are not just concerned with money but could be better motivated by having their social needs met whilst at work (something that Taylor ignored). He introduced the Human Relation School of thought, which focused on managers taking more of an interest in the workers, treating them as people who have worthwhile opinions and realising that workers enjoy interacting together (Vianen, 2001).

Task 1 (b) - Problem Associated With the Study of Motivation

Often an employee knows how to perform correctly, the process is good, and all resources are available but for one reason or another, chooses not to do so, which normally means it is a motivational issue. While many jobs have problems that are inherent to the position, it is the problems that are inherent to the person that normally cause us to loose focus from our main task of getting results. These motivational problems could arrive from family pressures, personality conflicts, a lack of understanding on how the behaviour affects other people or process, etc.

Task 2 (a) - Effective Workgroup

Large organisations, because of their complexity, generally require specific individuals who are identified as leaders, but in smaller groups, leadership is often distributed across the members rather than concentrated in a single individual. Researchers, in their leadership substitute's theory, suggest that contextual factors can serve as substitutes for leadership by negating the need for guidance from a specific member of the group. Aspects of the group ...