Organizational Motivation and Leadership in the Workplace - Research Paper Example

?   ORGANIZATIONAL MOTIVATION AND LEADERSHIP IN THE WORKPLACE By Insert Presented to Location Date Due Organizational Description The selected organization is a health care work place notably a hospital. This is an important organization in every society because of the services and the function it serves notably the provision of health care services and facilities. Because of this essence this organization requires a higher level of efficiency and effectiveness in order to function well for the benefit of all (Maddock 1998). This organization notably has a number of stakeholders majorly physicians, hospital staff, patients, doctors, health care team, patients and the patients family. All of these stakeholders for the purpose of an effective and smooth service delivery there must be a higher level of coordination among them. This implies that if one of these outlined stakeholders does not give an optimum cooperation then it means the goals and the objectives of the underlying organization may not be achieved (Tierney 1999). Workplace conflict In regard to this organization there are major aspects which are important in realizing effectiveness and minimal occurrence of conflicts and management on how the stakeholders carry out their operations. The aspects include stakeholders’ participation notably the physicians, medium of communication and giving out instructions, general attitude and behavior of the stakeholders in regard to conflict management (Tierney 1999). In a hospital there are several common work place situations notably conflicts. Taking into consideration the number of stakeholders associated with hospital, conflict in health care workplace is common (Maddock 1998). In a hospital workplace conflicts may exist between the staff and physicians, among physicians themselves, between the healthcare staff or health care team and patient’s family or the patient. The common conflict varies from usual disagreements to bigger controversies which may result into major litigation and sometimes violence. Conflicts in a hospital workplace have unfavorable implication on the morale, motivation, overall productivity and the patients care. These conflicts may lead into higher turnover of employees; contribute to unnecessary inefficiencies and limiting staff contributions towards achieving its goals and objectives (Luthans 2002). Conflicts results in the establishment in a hostile environment leading into abusive behavior by other physicians, supervisors and employees. This conflict in the form of abuse may be ridicule, demeaning attitude, physical violence, ridicule and off-color jokes. Stakeholders in this organization have significantly become intolerant to such disruptive behavior causing conflicts (Bruce 2006). Organizations are considered to be liable vicariously for tolerating such conflicts contributing to development of hostile environments in case they do not take any action in case a stakeholder makes a complaint. Appropriate litigation and mitigation should be provided by this organization to address the issue of conflicts and hostility in such workplace (Maddock 1998). Application of motivational theories in conflict prevention and management Motivation is greatly attributed to the success and effective implementation and execution of tasks in an organization. Motivation theories are useful when appropriately applied in the workplace. The various perspectives of these theories have been adopted in the organization to minimize conflicts (Maddock 1998). This organization in the effort to minimize conflicts among its healthcare staff and the patients should appropriately incorporate motivation theories and techniques in the workplace. This involves deciding what theories to incorporate, conducting training with management of healthcare team and staff to improve consistency (Bruce 2006). The first motivation theory is the Maslow hierarchy of needs which asserts that humans are motivated in doing thing is a specific order for their survival. In a healthcare organization the staff and the healthcare team have to be allowed to have them express their participation in their daily duties (Maddock 1998). This is essential in the workplace because they will be able to fulfill their needs and achieve satisfaction in a higher category for self actualization thus minimizing conflicts. This also enhances easy management of conflicts as far as health organization is concerned. The next theory is the need for achievement by David McClelland. This theory can be used to categorize staff at the workplace: higher achievers, those who need power and those with affiliations (Tierney 1999). Higher achievers in the workplace to reduce conflict are given complex projects with appropriate goals; those who power need should be given management positions because of their desire too organizing others. Those who need affiliation require conducive and pleasant workplace; good relationship with patients and co-workers is appropriate (Luthans 2002). Finally is the Dual-factor theory asserts that motivation in workplace is attributed to motivators and hygiene in which their absence results into dissatisfaction. Motivators are important in workplace and they are associated with supervisors and the general healthcare staff welfare (Maddock 1998). Conflict management in a healthcare organization can be time consuming and crucial tasks for physician leader. Organizational leadership plays an important role in the prevention of conflicts in workplace. Role of organizational leadership in conflict prevention and management in workplace The leadership of the organization should have a well established professional code of conduct; this applies not only in the hospital but also as the organizational practice policies and the healthcare team bylaws.There should be a disciplinary structure so that the pattern, mechanisms and the levels of authority is well understood (Bruce 2006). The supervisors and the overall leaders should ensure that everybody in the workplace understands the consequences of in appropriate behavior and its underlying consequences. Leaders should understand how conflicts and workplace hostility come into effect and this aids in its prevention (Luthans 2002). The leadership of this organization should not take its staff and stakeholders for granted, should not fail to take responsibility for its own errors, uphold good workplace policies and not fail to fulfill its promises. In general organizational leadership should establish emotional intelligence and to incorporate it in the working environment for conflict prevention and management (Maddock 1998). Power and influence in organization conflict prevention and management Power and influence in organization plays a major role notably on the management of the subordinates and employees in the workplace. In the prevention and conflict management, the hospital management should be able to understand and identify the powers that can be used to influence employees and the stakeholders in the workplace (Bruce 2006). The powers identified should be adopted responsibly in order to avoid issues such as low morale, motivation and employee turnover (Maddock 1998). It is important to note that the organizational leadership for this hospital to apply the underlying influential powers for the purpose of conflict management for good. The major goal for the management is to influence staff and employees in the workplace to foster healthy workplace to work comfortably and feel motivated. The organizational power and influence should be converged toward the conflict prevention and management (Maddock 1998). In conclusion organizational motivation is crucial in ensuring that there is no rise of a behavior either on the side of management or the employees that may affect negatively organizational performance. Therefore it is the role of the organizational leaders to ensure that they have established policies, laws and professional code of conduct to govern the behaviors of all the stakeholders. Reference Bruce, A. (2006). How to Motivate Every Employee. New York: McGraw-Hill Prof Med/Tech. Luthans, F. (2002). The need for and meaning of positive organizational behavior. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 695–706. Pamela Tierney, S. M. (1999). An examination of leadership and employee creativity: the relevance of traits and relationships. Personnel Psychology, 591-620. Richard C. Maddock, R. L. (1998). Motivation, Emotions, and Leadership: The Silent Side of Management. New York: Greenwood Publishing Group. Read More