EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION AND MANAGEMENT STYLE
This research summarizes the results of a review of literature relevant to employee motivation and management style. The style of leadership practiced by an individual is, in effect, the managerial behavior of that individual, and managerial behavior can have profound effects on the performance of the organization. Conversely, the organization, particularly its structure and its mission, may affect the leadership styles adopted by its leaders and managers.
The need to motivate members of an organization to perform in a productive manner is a well accepted premise (Rahim, 1983, pp. 368 375). The means by which such motivation is accomplished within organizational structures, however, are subject to disagreement, experiment, and dynamic change (Conrad, 1991, pp. 142 145). Since the mid 1950s, two theories of motivation which have received wide attention and acceptance are those of Maslow and Herzberg (Kimberly and Rottman, 1987, pp. 596 619). While neither of these theories has proven valid in all organizational environments and situations, each has made major contributions to the development of a variety of techniques for the motivation of individuals within organizations.
Maslow's motivation theory is called the hierarchy of needs (Kimberly and Rottman, 1987, pp. 596 619). The hierarchy divides human needs into higher and lower classifications, which are referred to as orders. The lower order needs are primary, such as food, shelter, sex, and physical security, while the higher order needs involve love for others and self actualization. When the lower order needs are absent from the life of an individual, the satisfaction of those needs become the center of the individual's life. In most modern societies, however, primary needs are satisfied. Thus, real motivation especially within organizational structures results from individual desires to satisfy higher order needs. Self...