Can Leaders Really Motivate Employees - Assignment Example

Can Leaders Really Motivate Employees? Theoretically, there are a lot of theories that emphasize that if the managers take certain steps, they can really motivate employees. These theories include but are not limited to the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory, and Alderfer’s ERG theory. These theories identify a certain set of needs generically for an individual, and assert that satisfying those needs motivates people. Practically, human needs cannot be generalized like these theories do. Every human being has a different set of needs as compared to the others.

In an organization, it is not only hard, but also nearly impossible for a manager to learn about the individualistic needs and motivating factors of all the employees. There are certain employees who want more salary, while there are others who want more power, or other kinds of benefits like accommodation and privileges. Taking these facts into consideration, it can be said that managers motivating employees is a matter of chance. Occasionally, the steps managers take are the ones required to motivate a certain employee, and thus it happens.

However, this does not always happen. There are certain ways in which the tendency of an environment to motivate the employees can be enhanced. Still, the influence of that environment upon the employees’ performance would vary from one case to another. Generally, an organization should link reward to performance, and really reward the employees who are found to display better performance. “To be a successful manager/motivator you must first understand that you cannot motivate anyone. You can only create an environment that encourages and promotes the employees self motivation” (Lowe, 2012).

References:Lowe, E. (2012). How to Motivate Todays Worker. Retrieved from http://www.lawsoncg.com/lcgi-article_motivate.htm.