Motivating your employees. Do you agree with Mr. Weiss' motivational techniques?

Essay by AnagrinUniversity, Bachelor's August 2004

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Being in the military, but more importantly being a leader for 10 out of my 12 years of military experience, I understand the importance of motivating "employees". Most leaders understand that motivating employees not only improves their way of life, but also increases productivity, and in the long run, benefits the company. Motivating employees is not necessarily a difficult task; however, most leaders neglect the techniques discussed in Mr. Weiss' article due to their personal beliefs. I fully agree with Mr. Weiss' article on building morale, motivating and empowering employees. His methods are especially helpful and used quite often in the military world although they are titled a bit differently.

Personally, I have used the methods Mr. Weiss describes in his article for as long as I have been a leader. As a leader, my philosophy has always been that in order to be a successful leader, you have to lead by example.

I feel that Mr. Weiss expresses this point of view in his major means of motivating identification. As stated in the article, identification is "when a person adopts a behavior associated with others". In the military, that is called leading by example. As a leader, you should want your employees to adopt your behavior. I do not believe that people come into a job wanting to make mistakes. Therefore, the tendency of an employee is to do as his or her leader would do. Therefore, as a leader, leading by example is detrimental to your gaining the confidence and respect of your employees. You must set the standards and enforce them.

Yet another idea Mr. Weiss mentions is to "avoid favoritism". I believe that you must treat all people equally. Whether they are abiding by, or violating the standards you have set, you must reward them or...