The role of the leader is more vital then ever, as indicated by the discussion of the issue offered by Herzberg. Herzberg sees the present era as one he calls a period of psychological depression, something that affects all of our society and that has a profound effect on the worker and the workplace in particular. This phenomenon has been noted under a variety of designations by other business leaders, politicians, journalists, and analysts in recent years. They find that the public is experiencing this sense of depression on the basis of diminished expectations--what their parents aspired to they now see as impossible to attain, and instead of progress, they see a future in which they will have to settle for less.
Of course, Herzberg also traces this feeling back to the failure of the Vietnam War and to the malaise that overcame the country in the wake of that debacle, as well as such other national failures as Watergate and the Iran hostage crisis. A concentration on the qualities of leadership is one way of overcoming these feelings and of restoring American confidence. Leadership and motivation are closely related--the leader has to be motivated him or herself, and in turn the leader must motivate others. The issue is both important and complex, but the way in which Herzberg discusses the matter points to solutions that while perhaps difficult are also logical and reasonable.
What might seem like toying with language points to deeper understandings and meanings, for instance. Herzberg makes a distinction between laborer and worker, for instance, and in doing so he is dealing with important underlying issues of motivation, satisfaction, performance, productivity, and so on. He makes the same distinction between labor and work, between effort directed at satisfying the immediate needs of the organism and a more creative effort directed toward achievement, productivity, improvement, progress, development, and so on. ...