The Role of Leadership in

Motivation and Engagement

• The reason for your actions (Oxford Dictionary)

• The forces either internal or external to a person that arouse

enthusiasm and persistence to pursue a certain course of action.
(Daft 2011)

• Work motivation encompasses the psychological forces that

determine the direction of that person’s behaviour in an
organization; the person’s level of effort and persistence (George & Jones
2012)

• A process that starts with a physiological or psychological

deficiency or need that activates a behaviour or a drive that is aimed
at a goal or incentive. (Fred Luthans 2008)
 Need Creates desire to Behavior Results Rewards Satisfy
fulfill needs (money, in actions to fulfill needs: intrinsic or
friendship, recognition, needs extrinsic rewards
achievement

Feedback Reward informs person whether behavior was appropriate and should
be used again

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Leaders can apply rewards in the following ways - intrinsic, extrinsic system
wide and/or individual

 Extrinsic  Intrinsic
◦ Source of motivation is ◦ Source of motivation is
acquisition of material or actually performing the
social rewards or to behavior
avoid punishment ◦ Behavior performed for its
own sake
 Extrinsic Intrinsic

Large merit increase Feeling of self-

Individual
fulfillment

Pride in being part

Systemwide Insurance benefits of a “winning”
organization

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 Theories of Motivation
• Needs theories

• Expectancy/Rational theories

• Job design theories

• Behaviour-based theories
 Needs Theories of Motivation
1.Maslow’s Need Hierarchy (Maslow, 1965; 1970)

2.Alderfer’s ERG Theory

3.McClelland’s Achievement Motivation Theory

(McClelland 1961)

4.McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y

Premise Leadership Role
• These theories • Assess individual
emphasize the role differences in
that individual followers’ needs
differences play in • Motivate followers by
the interaction among meeting their higher
various types of order needs
needs and drives to • Motivate followers to
satisfy those needs. aspire to higher order
◦ needs
 Need Hierarchy Fulfillment on the Job
Opportunities for advancement, autonomy, growth,
Self-actualization Needs
creativity
Esteem Needs Recognition, approval, high status, increased
responsibilities
Belongingness Needs Work groups, clients, coworkers, supervisors

Safety Needs Safe work, fringe benefits, job security, health insurance,
pension
Physiological Needs
Food, base salary

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 Existence Needs - Basic needs for human survival such
as the need for food, water, clothing, shelter, and a
secure and safe environment

 Relatedness Needs - Needs to have good interpersonal

relations, to share thoughts and feelings, and to have
open two-way communication

 Growth Needs – Need for self-development and

creative and productive work
 McClelland’s theory proposes that certain types of needs are
acquired/met during an individual’s lifetime

 Three needs most frequently studied:

◦ Need for Achievement –(nAch) Persons with a Need for

Achievement have a compelling drive to excel and succeed in their
jobs

◦ Need for Affiliation – (nAff) People with a Need for Affiliation

(nAff) seek harmony in their relationships with others. Their desire
is to be liked and accepted by others.

◦ Need for Power – (nPow) - People with a need for power seek to
direct others and control the activities of others.

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Assumes that lower-order needs Assumes that higher order
dominate needs dominate

Inherent dislike for work and will View work as being as natural
attempt to avoid it as rest or play

Must be coerced, controlled or Will exercise self-direction and

threatened with punishment self-control if committed to
objectives
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 Needs of people

Conventional Leadership
management

Lower needs Higher needs

Carrot and stick Empowerment

(Extrinsic) (Intrinsic)

Growth and
Control people
fulfillment

Adequate effort Best effort

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 Expectancy/Rational Theories of
Motivation

Rational Theories - view workers as rational

beings who rationally assess costs and benefits
before taking action. Theories include:

• Expectancy (VIE) Theory (Vroom, 1964)

• Equity Theory (Adams, 1965)

These theories focus on how employees make choices
among alternative behaviors and levels of effort.
Two Important Questions for the Leader:
1.Does an individual believe that his or her inputs (such
as effort on the job) will result in a given level of
performance?
2.Does an individual believe that performing
at this level will lead to obtaining the outcomes he
or she wants (pay, job security, a feeling of
accomplishment, and so forth)?
 Three key relationships:

1. Effort-Performance: perceived probability that exerting

effort leads to successful performance

2. Performance-Reward: the belief that successful

performance leads to desired outcome

3. Rewards-Personal Goals: the attractiveness of

organizational outcome (reward) to the individual
In order for employees to be motivated to
perform desired behaviors at a high level .
Instrumentality must Valence must be high.
Expectancy must be
be high. Employees Employees must desire
high. Employees must
must perceive that if or want the outcomes
perceive that if they try
they perform at a high they will receive if they
hard, they can perform
level, they will receive perform at a high level.
at high levels
certain outcomes.

Effort Performance Outcome

 What do I receive in return for what I give?

 What do others receive in return for what they

give?
 Relates to whether or not an employee feels he/she is being
treated fairly

 Based on employees' perception of fairness in the relationship

between his/her input and outcomes
 Employees weigh what they put into a job situation
(input) against what they get from it (outcome).

 They compare their input-outcome ratio with the

input-outcome ratio of relevant others.

My Output Your Output

My Input Your Input
How can Equity be restored?
1.Employees can change their inputs and/or
outputs
2.Employees can try to change their referent’s
(the other person) inputs and/or outputs
3.Employees can change their perceptions of
inputs and outputs (either their own or the
referent’s)
Not Dissatisfied Satisfied

Motivation
Motivation Factors
•• Quality of
Quality of •• Promotional opportunities
Promotional opportunities
supervision
supervision •• Opportunities for
Opportunities for
•• Pay
Pay personal growth
personal growth
•• Company policies
Company policies •• Recognition
Recognition
•• Physical working
Physical working
•• Responsibility

Factors
conditions
conditions Responsibility
•• Relationships
Relationships •• Achievement
Achievement
•• Job security
Job security

Dissatisfied Not Satisfied

Behaviour-Based Theories of Motivation

Behaviour-based theories – focus on

behavioural outcomes .

Theories include:

• Goal Setting Theory (Locke &

Latham;1984; 1990)
  Based on the notion that goals are a potent
motivating force and specific and
challenging goals lead to increased
performance.

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 The following factors are needed to bring higher levels
of performance from specific and challenging goals:

 Ability – should be considered to match challenges

and abilities, goals should be achievable

 Goal Commitment – employees commit to a goal

when they accept it, understanding is key.

 Feedback – is necessary to achieve understanding

 Difficult
goals, when accepted, result in higher
output than easy goals .

 Participationin setting the goals might

motivate further.

 Set goals only, not the route to achieve it.

Do incentive programmes really work?

1.Extrinsic rewards diminish intrinsic rewards

2.Extrinsic rewards are temporary
3.Extrinsic rewards assume that people are driven by
lower order needs
4.Organizations are too complex for carrot-and-stick
approaches
5.Carrot-and-stick approaches destroy people’s
motivation to work as a group/team
Job Enrichment
 Giving employees more responsibility and control

over their work. (George and Jones 2012)

 Vertical job loading because employees are given

some of the responsibilities that used to belong to
their supervisors. (George and Jones 2012)
Job Enlargement

 Increasing the number of tasks an employee performs

but keeping all the tasks at the same level of difficulty
and responsibility. (George and Jones 2012)

 Horizontal job loading because the content of the job

is expanded, but the difficulty remains constant.
(George and Jones 2012)
 Job design is the process of linking specific tasks
to specific jobs and deciding what techniques,
equipment and procedures should be used to
perform those tasks

 Managers are responsible for designing and

redesigning jobs to motivate employees to
perform well, enjoy their work and receive the
desired outcomes they deserve
 For Leaders To Be Effective
 Determine what needs trigger desired performance in
group, and personal behaviours

 Be able to offer meaningful rewards to help satisfy needs

 Know when to offer appropriate rewards to optimize

behavior

 Do not assume that a person’s need deficiencies will repeat

themselves in a regular pattern: people change

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 An engaged employee is a person who is fully involved
in, and enthusiastic about, his or her work. (The Workplace,
Crim and Seijts, 2006)

 Engaged employees are attracted to, and inspired by

their work, committed and fascinated. (Getting Engaged: The
New Workplace Loyalty, Rutledge, 2005)
 Actively engaged: Passionate about what they do; go
above and beyond what is
expected

 Not engaged: No passion; an exchange of labour for

money

 Actively disengaged: Acting out their unhappiness

 High rate of employee retention

 Low employee turnover rate

 Increased ROI

 Increased productivity and reduced costs

R Recognition
E Empowerment
S Supportive feedback
P Partnering
E Expectations
C Consideration
T Trust
 Source: Paul Marciano, 2010