Operational Motivation Plan.

Essay by pauaUniversity, Master's July 2003

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Introduction

As more work becomes knowledge based requiring highly skilled workers, and as individuals understand that poor motivation is a lack of skilled leadership not a lack of desire within people, the command and control approach becomes obsolete (Jackson and Humble, 1994). In this paper, we shall define the role of organization, the role of the manager, and the specific incentive elements of the motivation plan to help leaders to motivate their followers.

The Role of Organization

Organizational structure defines how job tasks are formally divided, grouped and coordinated. In addition, organizations everywhere are putting in place plans to satisfy customers and improve profitability (Jackson and Humble, 1994). Until implemented, plans are just pieces of paper or ideas in people's heads. Key to their implementation are the managers.

The Role of Manager

In the late 1960s, a graduate student at MIT, Henry Mintzberg, undertook a careful study of five executives to determine what these managers did on their jobs.

On the basis of his observations of these managers, Mintzberg concluded that managers perform 10 different, highly interrelated roles, or sets of behaviors attributable to their jobs (Robbins, 2001). The roles of managers, according to Mintzberg, can be grouped into interpersonal relationship, the transfer of information, and decision making. In the interpersonal relationship category, managers act as a figureheads, leaders, and liaisons. In the transfer of information category, managers act as monitors, disseminators, and spokespersons. Finally, in the decision making category, managers act as entrepreneurs, disturbance handlers, resource allocators, and negotiators.

As more work becomes knowledge based requiring highly skilled workers, and as we understand that poor motivation is a lack of skilled leadership not a lack of desire within people, the command and control approach becomes obsolete. In this new organization, managers are more enablers, trainers, coaches--true leaders. They use...