Enhancing Motivation & Performance: Leadership and Management Tools

This report explores the impact of leadership and management practices on employee motivation and overall organizational performance. It examines existing tools used by leaders to enhance workforce motivation, identifies factors influencing motivation and performance, and evaluates gaps in current motivational tools. The study employs a secondary qualitative data analysis approach, utilizing a correlation technique and case study strategy to investigate the relationship between leadership styles, management approaches, and employee outcomes. The research questions focus on how leadership practices affect motivation, which tools are used to increase performance, what factors influence motivation, and which strategic approaches can enhance overall motivation and performance. The report concludes by recommending strategic tools and modifications to traditional management approaches to ensure employee loyalty and improve the overall health of the business ecosystem, emphasizing the importance of integrating these tools with human resource methodologies for sustainable business practices. Desklib provides this solved assignment and many more resources for students.

LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT: TOOL TO IMPROVE
MOTIVATION AND PERFORMANCE
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Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction:..............................................................................................................................4
1.1 Research Background............................................................................................................4
1.2 Research Rationale.................................................................................................................5
1.3 Research Questions and Objectives.......................................................................................5
1.4 Research hypothesis...............................................................................................................6
1.5 Research Structure.................................................................................................................7
2.0 Literature Review......................................................................................................................8
2.1 The impact of leadership practices to influence workforce motivation and overall
performance.................................................................................................................................8
2.2 Evaluating existing tools used by the leaders to increase the overall workforce performance
and motivation..............................................................................................................................8
2.3 Factors influencing workforce motivation and performance.................................................9
2.4 Gaps found in the existing motivational tools adopted by the contemporary leaders.........10
2.5 Strategic tools followed by the leaders to enhance the overall motivation and performance
....................................................................................................................................................11
3.0 Research Methods and Techniques:........................................................................................12
3.1 Type of investigation:..........................................................................................................12
3.2 Research strategy.................................................................................................................12
3.3 Sampling method:................................................................................................................12
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3.4 Data collection and analysis:................................................................................................13
3.5 Ethical Considerations:........................................................................................................13
4.0 Findings Analysis:...................................................................................................................14
Source 1:....................................................................................................................................14
Source 2:....................................................................................................................................15
Source 3:....................................................................................................................................16
Source 4:....................................................................................................................................17
5.0 Conclusion and recommendation:...........................................................................................18
References:....................................................................................................................................19
Appendix:......................................................................................................................................23
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1.0 Introduction:
Leadership and management may be considered to be one of the most crucial aspects of business
studies as the process of understanding of those may concepts may require consideration of
several critical success factors (CSFs) of the business which are both internal and external to the
operations. The ground idea behind these theories lies on the notion of a certain framework
which is absolutely essential for a successful run of a business (Rawat, 2015). The instant paper
briefly discusses the impact of leadership on the motivational level of the employed and
consequently the overall organizational performance.
At the very outset of the study, the researcher provides a brief overview of the research subject in
terms of its background and the significance. The researcher, in the given part of the paper,
attempts to clarify the need of conducting the research. The section also frames the research
questions and objectives the fulfillment of which may be considered to be the outcome of the
research so undertaken. Formulation of such a theoretical background of the research may be
based on certain assumptions which are considered to be the inherent limitations of the research.
The researcher briefly highlights those as well followed by the overall structure of the project to
identify a range of secondary data associated with the study. The methodological approach has
been described after the literature review, followed by the data collection and analysis to
conclude and potentially infer on the chosen study.
1.1 Research Background
Effective leadership allow managers to influence the organizational behaviour towards achieving
the business goal. Balaji (2012) stated that a positive organizational environment is such where
the employees are motivated which ensures highest productivity of the workforce. It is critical
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for a leader to not only achieve the organizational goal, but to assist employees in attaining their
individual aspirations (Williams, 2006). At the same time, management must provide the
employees with the skills, knowledge and resources to enhance their individual performance,
independent to the level of motivation (Rangus & Černe, 2017). Therefore, the current study
explores the various aspects of leadership styles and the management practices which acts as
tools to boost the employee motivation, job satisfaction and performance.
1.2 Research Rationale
In the current era of globalization and technology driven businesses, there is an extreme level of
diversity in the workforce. Traditional models of leadership and management programs do not
meet the challenges of this age. Simple rewards and recognition programs from management end
can no longer motivate the employees with attributes like creative problem solving, flexibility,
and initiative are in demand. Despite employing transformational and participative leadership
and a variety of motivational and performance enhancement programs by the management,
organisations are struggling to retain employees in the highly competitive market. Research
suggested that, the major reason being the gap in the leadership and management approaches and
its implementation among the teams. Thus, the present research could aid in identifying the rift
in the prevailing leadership and management perspective towards employee motivation and
recommend strategies to mitigate them.
1.3 Research Questions and Objectives
Aim:
The primary aim is to determine the tool to enhance the impact of current leadership practices in
contemporary business organizations.
Objectives:
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 To determine the impact of leadership practices on workforce motivation and overall
performance
 To assess existing tools used by the leaders to increase the overall workforce
performance and motivation
 To identify factors influencing workforce motivation and performance
 To evaluate gaps in the existing motivational tools
 To recommend strategic approaches to enhance the overall motivation and performance
Questions:
 How leadership practices impact on the workforce motivation and overall performance?
 Which leadership tools are used to increase the overall workforce performance and
motivation?
 Which factors influence workforce motivation and performance?
 Which strategic approaches can enhance the overall motivation and performance and
how?
1.4 Research hypothesis
H0: Leadership trait and management approach are tools that improve employee motivation and
performance.
H1: Leadership trait and management approach do not affect employee motivation and
performance.
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Introduction
Literature Review
Research Methods and Techniques
Findings & Analysis
Conclusion and Recommendation
1.5 Research Structure
Figure 1: Report Structure
(Source: Created by author)
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2.0 Literature Review
2.1 The impact of leadership practices to influence workforce motivation and overall
performance
It is evident in the past literature that the managerial leadership skills such as Decision Making
skills Interpersonal Skills and Technical skills are preferably concerned in developing an
effective relationship between the leaders and the employees (Clarke & Ward, 2006). According
to the view of Purvee (2014), the transformational leadership is absolutely interrelated to develop
new perspectives and monitor the followers as per the individual needs. In addition, transactional
leadership behaviour is adversely related to long-term performance. On the other hand, Shields et
al. (2015) stated that the participative leadership style has an optimistic influence on employee
self-efficacy, inspiration, ingenuity and organizational performance. Furthermore, keeping a
focus on autocratic or democratic leadership style the management may supervise the worker’s
attitude more meticulously. This is also sometimes helpful to take decisions more unilaterally
(Pelser et al., 2016). Therefore, the effectiveness of these types of leadership styles is
censoriously dependent on leaders’ ability in terms of motivating the employees towards
organisational goal and objectives
2.2 Evaluating existing tools used by the leaders to increase the overall workforce
performance and motivation
Reward management
An appropriate reward and recognition management system inspires the employees and offers a
strong focus on the employee activities within a specific time span. In this regards, Gkorezis &
Kastritsi (2017) specified that both the intrinsic and extrinsic reward management followed by
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the global firm, minimises the employee non-attendance ratio and increase the workers’
accountability towards organisational development. As a result, this has become helpful tool to
effectively boost employee self-esteem and loyalty index on a long-term basis (Mostafa, 2017).
Career development
It has been viewed that the career development program promotes a collaboration of innovation
and cultural changes within the firm. Google can be considered an example of this approach, as
the innovation is in-built with the daily operational activities. Considering the words of
Korzynski (2013), in this digital workplace, the facility of intranet enables the employees to get
an easy access to information for increasing the self-efficacy and overall productivity. In
addition, knowledge sharing program is used as a tool to improve the operational excellence and
promptness in the decision-making process, which can be seen from IBM’s KM program (Kaya
& Ceylan 2014). The cloud-based e-learning platforms enable individuals to keep a focus on the
knowledge management initiatives so that employee motivation and future sustainability of the
organisation can be achieved firmly (Mandhanya, 2015).
2.3 Factors influencing workforce motivation and performance
Performing meaningful work and work life balances:
It is a proven fact that after the globalisation, the opportunities of enjoying work from a remote
location increase the flexibility and time effective as well. The benefits of flexible work culture
are helping to eliminate the obscuring work patterns and further maintain a smooth work-life
balance amongst the employees (Forgionne & Newman, 2007). It is imperative for a successful
business organisation to install proper and efficient sets of motivational strategies for the
employees in order to boost up their morale and consequent performance.
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Organisational culture and leadership principles:
A shared organizational culture endorses equality and further supports to unite the employees
coming from different demographics. According to the view of Saini (2015), the transparent
work culture with core leadership commitment helps the employees to understand the company’s
vision. As a consequence, this has kept the employees enthused and loyal to the management of a
firm.
Non-monetary reward:
 Wellness benefits – The options of gym memberships, healthy diet chart, Yoga class and
even massage treatment acts as a tool to inspire all the employees to increase the
motivation level towards the workplace.
 Preventive benefits – As stated by Ganesh (2016) offering some health care benefits like
free medical treatment and health insurance policy to the workers and the family
members of could facilitate the leading organisations to improve the employee retention
figure.
2.4 Gaps found in the existing motivational tools adopted by the contemporary leaders
The leadership style of many leading organization focus on the autocratic approach and keeps a
prominence on the thoughts and intelligence of the employees to make continuous improvements
in the organizational productivity (Kantharia, 2012). But it has been witnessed that the
companies have failed to accomplish the explicit leadership style while developing an employee
engagement program. As per the opinion of Hawkins (2011), the autocratic leaders of the
organizations could not inspire the employees to contribute in the decision making process. On
the other hand, Mehwish et al (2017) stated that as per the current situation and the modern
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trend, the democratic approach also fails to make an immediate action in a critical state. As a
result, the traditional approaches of leadership styles are not able to motivate the workforce
simultaneously.
2.5 Strategic tools followed by the leaders to enhance the overall motivation and
performance
Considering the existing gap of traditional management style, the global leaders need to focus on
task-oriented leadership style to boost up the employee performance. It has been observed this
type of process has a strong potential to establish decent control within the workplace and further
can develop the employee performance. Supporting the earlier statement Sadler (2012) asserted
that more focus on team development program could support contemporary leaders to encourage
the front-line workers. In addition, incorporation of mixed leadership style could institute a
transparent work culture to engage the maximum number of employees in the decision making
the part (Prakash, 2016). Thus, an inference can be drawn that a modification in the traditional
management approach is highly essential to ensure employee loyalty and the overall healthiness
of the business ecosystem. It is needless to mention that the proper mix of these strategic tools
with the traditional human resource (HR) methodologies with respect to motivation and
development is highly essential for the purpose of devising a larger landscape for sustainability
through efficient use of human resource of the business.
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3.0 Research Methods and Techniques:
A secondary qualitative data analysis would be employed in the current research paper.
3.1 Type of investigation:
Among different methods of investigation, a ‘correlation’ technique can be used in the present
study, as it would help to measure the strength of the relationship among different variables and
its impact on the employee motivation and overall performance in a broader way. Irwin (2013)
stated that secondary qualitative data analysis requires a wider range of past data collected by
different researchers through experimental investigation, as setting up new data collection might
not adequately capture past developments on the conducted study. Thus, considering present
circumstances, selection of correlation investigation can be considered justified.
3.2 Research strategy
The chosen research strategy would be a case study, as it would help to focus on in-depth
investigation of a small number of cases to infer on the present subject matter (Marsh, 2010).
Since the study deals with assessing the leadership and managerial tools to motivate and
empower workforces to attain highly productive workplace culture, an in-depth investigation of
past few cases would be necessary. The selected research design would also be descriptive, as it
satisfies the motive of the case study strategy of the research. Thus, the chosen research strategy
can be considered highly potential.
3.3 Sampling method:
A stratified sampling would be helpful to conduct the current study. This type of sampling would
help to attain greater control over the total representativeness and it could allow intentional
oversampling to attain higher statistical precision. Thus, the impact of leadership and a
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