Leadership and Leadership Theories Management Term Paper (Term Paper Sample)

Leadership, Motivation and Understanding Teams
Name
Institution
Part A: Leadership and Leadership Theory
Leading with Integrity: Quova’s Marie Alexander
1 Management and Leadership
Management is an act of controlling a set of discrete units to achieve a goal. Leadership refers to an individual's ability to sway, motivate, and enable others to contribute toward organizational success (Bertocci, 2009). That is, a manager relies on control while a leader stimulates trust. The manager has a short-term perspective of the environment in which an organization operates. A leader, on the other hand, has a long-term focus.
The manager accepts the way things are, meaning they are contented and would only work to safeguard that and tries to be right. The leader is impatient and challenges the existence of things and only wants to do the right thing.
The difference between leaders and managers is that leaders have people follow them, while managers have people who work for them. A successful business owner needs to be both a strong leader and manager to get their team on board to follow them towards their vision of success (Kouzes & Posner, 2010).
Marie Alexander is both a Manager and a Leader
Marie Alexander is both a Manager and a Leader because; his leadership style challenges the existence of things, but at the same time, safeguard the already established standards. The system and structure are maintained while the focus on the people is made in order to develop them for maximum performance.
2 Marie Alexander believes that leadership is behavioral.
Behavioral theories of leadership focus on the study of specific personality traits of a leader. This theory suggests that actions of an individual are the best indicator of a leadership style, and best predict leadership success.
Difference between behavioral theories of leadership and trait theories
Behavioral theories of leadership are different from trait theories in that, behavioral believe leaders are made (Northouse, 2013). The describable traits or capabilities of these leaders are easy to teach and learn and to adopt. The success of such leadership is based on precise and learned behavior. That is, behavioral theorists, look at what leaders do.
The trait theory of leadership assumes that leaders are born and not made; therefore, they own the right characteristics that are suitable for leadership. The theory establishes behavioral traits that are similar in leadership. (Goethals & Sorenson, 2006).
In conclusion, trait theories of leadership identify the specific traits that differentiate leaders from non-leaders. They are based on the undertaking that leadership quality is inherited or innate, rather than being acquired through learning.
Marie Alexander leadership style
Marie Alexander a laissez-faire leader. This is because of the belief that, as long as people have learned desirable qualities then they are able to make decisions on their own. They can, therefore, be in charge of their own workloads. Because of these acquired skills and knowledge, leadership should provide independence (Robbins, et al. 2007). This provides them with a feeling of belonging and important to the company.
The people, who have acquired the leadership skills for success, are independent and can be responsible enough to maintain control of their own work. Because they are people with some skill-level, they do not need to be pushed by their seniors (Robbins, et al. 2007).
3 The consistency of Marie Alexander’s form of “hands-under” leadership to the path goal theory.
This is a leadership style where leaders take a complete view of their field in which they operate. Leaders take notice of the right people who they can put their confidence in to help drive the organization agenda. The work of the leaders is to facilitate and mobilize resources. “Hands-under” leadership spend time planning for the future with great strategies and guide others to help with implementation. This is in direct contrast to where leaders are very busy doing almost everything without leaving subordinates to be independent in their work.
The Path-Goal theory is based on the identification of a leader's personal characteristics that the employee can best adapt to and the work environment in order to achieve an objective. The objective is to improve employees' motivation and empower them to become productive members of the organization. This theory provides a useful conceptual framework for understanding how varied behaviors affect work.
The path-goal theory tries to blend the principles of expectancy theory to that of the theory of leadership (Robbins, et al, 2007). Leaders clarify the routes to the goals and guide the people achieve the goals while avoiding impediments. The consistency in both theories is that the two theories start by an understanding of objectives for goal achievement.
Part B: Motivation
1 Theory of motivation that is most applicable to describe the motivation of the employees of DevFacto.
Letting employees guide their own work is one of the best ways to take control of hearts and minds which is a significant driver of engagements. They have a lot of influence over assigned projects and allow them to plan their own work.
DevFacto has an operational policy of putting people first which has enabled them to have an average annual employee retention rate of 98% for three consecutive years. This has earned them to be named 50 Best Small and Medium Employers.
The company also pays for trips and vacations as a reward for excellent performance. For instance, McKinnon was given a pair of tickets to catch a show for himself and the wife in addition to the paid trip for all staff. The company is recognizing its employees; the love for recognition stimulates performance (Northouse, 2013).
2 Methods to use to motivate minimum-wage employees working for a small company that makes pastries
Many of the minimum-wage employees are young and are new inductees in the labor force; with the majority being part-time or temporary workers. The labor market has an influx of this group of people most attracted to the health care and food service industries, as well as retail. This, therefore, means that the sectors must find ways to motivate the low-paid workers to be devoted, occupied and productive. The understanding of what excites and engages them; in addition to finding some good motivation tools for them will ultimately solve many of the management puzzles.
Provision of private health insurance benefit. Minimum-wage workers are not paid any benefits such as private health insurance. Because of their modest pay and their inability to afford this insurance, it is important to motivate them by either payment of their health insurance benefit on their behalf.
Methods to use to motivate Professional and Technical employees working for Software design company.
Software engineers have usually derived their motivation from within themselves as a result prefers confidential rather than public recognition. Determining a culture in which people are constantly recognized and an expression of gratitude to co-workers and staff can make for a happy workforce.
These cadres of employees would like to work with organizations that offer opportunities for growth for their employees. It is, therefore, the responsibility of Managers to be aware of what works for the future of employees. This is important as many engineers would want to be assured that they would continue to grow internally.
Software engineers work well in surrounding areas where they have the support of technical talents. Teamwork is important to engineers as they work well together when surrounded by such skilled people. It is important that the engineers should be surrounded with talented people.
Respect. This is the most important motivator that individuals in this cadre needs. The employees’ technical and intelligence aptitude should be recognized. Their opinions and insights are important to the organization. A culture of respect means understanding how to best motivate each unique employee by genuinely caring about their happiness and their interest in success.
Part C: Understanding Groups and Teams
1 Challenges of managing in a team environment
At some point when I was in World Class Manufacturing (WCM) project meant to reduce downtime at the initial stage, there were several challenges. The challenges span from mistrust, conflict, and m...