BUS102 Research Questions, Applications Essay Example

Introduction to Management

Question 1: Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence is a term used to refer to the ability to recognize, understand, and manage our emotions and also to recognize, understand and influence the emotions of others. Practically, being aware that our emotions can drive our behavior and influence others both positively and negatively and learning to manage those emotions both ours and for others especially under pressure. Studies have shown that people with high EI have greater mental health, job performance, and leadership skills. EI accounts for around 67% of the abilities deemed necessary for superior performance in leaders. These statistics show the importance of its application in work places. Understanding EI is important to both the employees and the leaders.

Among the employees, it is necessary for them to know how to manage their emotions and also those of others. This will promote a peaceful work environment and conflicts will be minimized. A working environment without conflict will see that people work efficiently and are able to give quality results. This will also be achievable, as people will work as teams which are very important for the successful functioning of any organization. As for the leaders and the management team, it is essential for them to know how to manage their emotions and also those of their employees. A manager or leader can influence the emotions of those working under them to yield a certain behavior that will lead to the achievement of a specific goal. Giving an example of an organization where the employees are unhappy about some change which is being implemented in the organization. He or she can talk to the employees and show them the positive effect of the change which will change their attitude and they will end up more cooperative to the implementation of the change which was meant for the benefit of the organization.

(305 words)

Question 2: Employee Motivation

Motivation is defined as the desire to achieve a goal or certain performance level leading to goal oriented behavior. Several theories have been discussed to help managers understand the need for employee motivation and how they need to do it. Employees can be motivated in different ways which includes; the manager learning that employees are all not the same and that they are motivated by different things. Based on the Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, a leader needs to understand that an employee’s motivation is dependent on their level of need in their hierarchy (McLeod, 2007). An employee seeking self-actualization is motivated by an acknowledgement and recognition in front of peers while one who is trying to meet their basic needs will be more motivated by a monetary reward than public praise. Understanding this, the managers will differentiate how best to motivate their employees.

Offer opportunities for the employees to advance themselves and their skills. According to Fredrick Herzberg two factor motivation theory, employees are motivated by both extrinsic and intrinsic factors. Extrinsic factors are those factors from the work environment such as job security, a good pay. Intrinsic factors on the other hand are from employee themselves; these are triggered by factors such as learning new skills (Bassett-Jones and Lloyd, 2005). As much as the management will motivate employees, using the external factors, they should give a chance for self-motivation which is even stronger. This is done by giving a chance to learn new skills and advance what they already have and upon this, they publicly recognize the effort of the employee. Organizing trainings for the employees according to their different departments will give them new skills and motivate them to work even better.

Leaders should be examples to their employees. They should not tell employees to be hardworking yet they are acting very lazy. It motivates employees to see their leaders do what they are instructing them to do. If a leader for example asks the employees to report by a certain hour, he, or she should also be there on time or even earlier.

A leader should also improve their way of communication seeing that employees need to feel a sense of relationship even with their seniors. It is easier to work well with a senior you see and relate with rather than a ‘ghost’ supervisor. The leaders should therefore have face-to-face communication rather than constant memos or newsletters.

(396 words)

B: My Motivation

I am a theory Y type of person who would be defined by Mc Gregor as a self-motivated type of employee. I am motivated by my achievement of the goals I set. It gives me a sense of fulfillment and greatly motivates me to do the same task better for even better results. I also love when responsibility is charged on me. This creates more consciousness on the weight and the importance I need to put on the specified task as its success or failure will be affiliated on me. This also drives me to seek independence as I work so that no one else can be blamed for the outcome of the task. I work best under minimum supervision and therefore prefer the chance to decide how I will execute the task with the end results being as expected.

I also constantly seek opportunities where I can learn something new and advance what I already know. Having more knowledge about something motivates me to do it applying what I have learnt and seek better results than what I achieved beforehand. This improvement acts as very great motivation to putting even more effort on the said task. Having security for what I am doing which would be termed as job security, gives me peace and helps focus on the task I am meant to perform.

(225 words)

Question 3: Leadership

One of the roles of leaders is to assign duties to their employees. How well an employee carries out this duty will depend on capable they are to perform the task. Once a task has been delegated to an employee, they are also considered as leaders of the same. According to the trait theory of leadership, there is a significant positive relationship between effective leadership and personality trait (Zaccaro, 2007). It explains that a person leads best if assigned a task that matches their traits. A task to lead a marketing group would best suit an extrovert rather than an introvert.

According to the contingency theory of leadership, effective leadership is not only facilitated by the traits of an individual but also the situation surrounding the leadership (Yun and Sims 2006). This, therefore, suggests that an individual would be a leader in one situation and not in the other. One of the roles of leadership which is very important is facilitate communication in an organization down a chain of command. The top management which appoints these junior leaders should be careful on who they appoint as leaders based on their traits and the situations which will surround their leadership so that they get an effective leader who will serve the purpose. There may be two extroverts who are capable of being leaders but one is able to handle more people better than the other. This can be assigned to deal directly with the ground employees and report to the other for example.

Another importance of leadership is the development of an ethical culture in an organization and the core values of the organization. This is enabled by understanding the behavioral theory of leadership which explains that a leader can use different actions or different patterns of leadership to yield a certain result (Lussier and Achua, 2015). If a leader for example wants to promote a culture of punctuality, he or she may choose an approach such as scolding employees when they are late and showing appreciation when they arrive on time.

(331 words)

References

Bassett-Jones, N. and Lloyd, G.C., 2005. Does Herzberg’s motivation theory have staying power?. Journal of management development, 24(10), pp.929-943.

Lussier, R.N. and Achua, C.F., 2015. Leadership: Theory, application, & skill development. Nelson Education.

McLeod, S., 2007. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Available from interne t: http://www. simplypsychology. org/maslow. html.

Yun, S., Cox, J. and Sims Jr, H.P., 2006. The forgotten follower: A contingency model of leadership and follower self-leadership. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 21(4), pp.374-388.

Zaccaro, S.J., 2007. Trait-based perspectives of leadership. American Psychologist, 62(1), p.6.