Motivation, Communication and Leadership Theory Essay -- Business and

Motivation, Communication and Leadership Theory In this essay I will discuss the various different theories on motivation such as scientific management e.g. Taylor as well the humans relation approach such as Maslow and Herzberg and how they relate to organisations improving their overall effiencentcy. Another aspect that I will discuss in the following essay will also be how communication can affect the productivity of a company, I will also relate this to motivational theory. The final aspect of my essay that I will include is discussing how different leadership styles can affect the overall productivity of a given company. One motivation theory that some companies used to use was the scientific approach, this was put forward by Taylor. It was mainly used in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Taylor developed his theory while he was working his way up from labourer to works manager in an US steel mill. His theory states that man is a rational economic animal concerned with maximising his economic gain. He also stated that people respond as individuals not groups and he believed people could be treated in a standardised fashion like machines. The basic principle that is underlying this approach is if you study what happens when you the change different variables in a situation, this will tell you how best to organise the work force. This theory as mentioned before relies on the fact that human beings will act rationally and respond to the available incentives. The whole of Taylor’s theory is based on the fact that he believes human are solely motivated by money. I believe that this motivational theory is flawed to a certain degree because people do not just work for money they also work to socialise and many other factors like earning respect from fellow employees. Taylor’s theory is based on the fact that your pay should be linked to your output. This prospect does not appeal to all people as we are different in many ways, it may also lead to employees cutting corners to make it appear they have done more than they have. This is counter productive to increasing productivity because then the product is just of sub standard quality and most of the time quality is more important than quantity in business. Taylors theory was mainly used in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s this shows that his theory is out of date and ... ...utcome will be the positive one you want. I think that if this theory was used in conjunction with the previous two theories it could benefit some companies very well if they applied if correctly. It would lead to an increase in productivity even though this may only be in the short term, but with regular training courses and interactions with the people at the top of the company this increased level of productivity could be kept at the increased level with benefit to employer and employee. There are three main types of leadership one is an autocratic leader. This type of leader will take important decisions without consulting colleague’s who are lower down the hierarchy. This may in general decrease the productivity of employees lower than the leader and this in turn will lower the productivity on the company overall. The main reason for this is the fact that the employees lower down the hierarchy will not feel valued because there input is not required in decision making even though they will undoubtedly have valid points to put forward. This will lead to decreased productivity because they feel less valued because they are not at the level in the hierarchy.