Leadership, Motivation, and Performance Appraisal in Management

Leadership

The ability to guide, influence, or direct people toward achieving goals

Leadership Behaviors

Coaching, delegating, counseling, evaluating, rewarding

Coaching

Helping employees improve skills and performance through guidance and feedback

Delegating

Assigning tasks and authority to employees while maintaining accountability

Counseling

Providing guidance to employees to resolve problems or improve performance

Evaluating

Assessing employee performance to provide feedback and set goals

Rewarding

Recognizing and providing incentives for good performance

Simply because one is a supervisor does not mean one is a leader. Possession of formal authority does not guarantee acceptance as a leader (Frunzi & Savini)

Being a supervisor or having authority doesn’t automatically make you a leader. Leadership comes from earning respect, inspiring, and influencing others. True leaders guide and motivate people who choose to follow them, not just those who must follow because of a title.

Technical Skill

Knowledge of tasks and processes necessary to perform work

People Skills

Ability to communicate, interact, and relate effectively with others

Conceptual Skills

Ability to plan, organize, and coordinate work or ideas

Exploitive Autocratic Leadership

System characterized by high control, no input from employees, decisions made by leader

Exploitive Autocratic Motivation motivated by:

reward, coercive, and legitimate power bases

Theory X

Pessimistic view of workers: dislike work, avoid responsibility, need supervision

Theory Y

Positive view of workers: self-motivated, seek responsibility, creative, take ownership

Benevolent Authoritative Leadership

System with high control, accepts some input on low-level decisions

Benevolent Authoritative Motivation

Motivated by reward, coercive, and legitimate power; sees employees as children

Autocratic Leadership

Leader makes decisions alone, employee input not considered, power-based motivation

Consultative Leadership

Seeks input and shares decision-making, shares authority through delegation, employee-oriented

Consultative Motivation

Uses reward power, moving toward expert and referent power, employees are teenagers

Participative Leadership

Actively seeks input, shares decision-making based on team approach, authority delegated

Participative Motivation

Motivates through referent, expert, and reward power; employees are responsible adults

Argyris Maturity/Immaturity

People live up to expectations; treating employees as adults encourages responsibility and productivity

Characteristics of Leaders

Ability to inspire, understand human behavior, communicate honestly, set example, take risks, assume responsibility, support personnel

Teams & Teamwork

Work is more effective and fun when people collaborate; requires planning and team-building

Team Characteristics

Common identity/uniform, common goals, common rules, cooperative problem-solving, shared wins/losses

Things we must do when Creating Teams

Establish meeting place, team identity, goals, rules, leader/coach, valuable skills, problem-solving, sharing wins

Team Building Exercises

Flip the towel, Marshmallow architecture, Lunar Lander, Board Walk

Praise

Simple but powerful recognition for employee efforts, should be sincere, timely, deserved, and specific

Effective Praise

Sincere, timely, deserved, tied to specifics, recognizes steady performers, not just stars

Nancy's 10 Penny Method

Use pennies to keep track of recognition, give praise consistently and visibly

Evaluations/Appraisals

Formal assessment of employee performance, provides feedback and guides improvement

Performance Management

Maximizes employee performance with goals and incentives

Uses of Performance Appraisals for organization and employee

Organization: HR planning, training, career planning, compensation

Employee: know performance, set targets, reduce anxiety, predict raises

Who Conducts Appraisals

Immediate supervisor, subordinates, peers, self-appraisal, clients/customers, 360-feedback

Appraisal Process

Establish process, record critical incidents, use Likert scale, BARS, essay methods, fill form before meeting

Appraisal Pitfalls

Halo/Horn effect, central tendency, fear of confrontation, bias, comparison, time constraints

Effective Appraisal

Use specifics, cover strengths and areas for improvement, allow two-way discussion, propose action plans, schedule follow-up

Results-Based Appraisal

Raises and rewards tied to completion of employee-developed action plans and increased performance