week-8
Week 3 - Team Project Updates (Group D)
Week 3- Team Project Updates (Group D)
Question.1
Assess the Leader using Mazlow's Hierarchy of Needs, McGregor's Theory X-Y model, Hertzberg's Two-Factor Theory and McClelland's Theory of Needs. Choose and apply two of the Contemporary Theories of Motivation (pages 189-207 from Chapter 7).
McClelland’s Theory of Needs: QH
In 1961, David McClelland put together his work in his book, "The Achieving Society." Where, he identified three motivators that he believed we all have: a need for achievement, a need for affiliation, and a need for power. According to McClelland, a person will have different characteristics depending on their dominant motivator. These motivators are learned (which is why this theory is sometimes called the Learned Needs Theory). He says that, regardless of our gender, culture, or age, we all have three motivating drivers, and one of these will be our dominant motivating driver. This prevailing motivator is essentially dependent on our culture and life experiences.
The dominant motivator such as achievement, affiliation and power have the following characteristics on a specific person, describe as follow:
Achievement: Has a strong need to set and accomplish challenging goals. Takes calculated risks to accomplish their goals. Likes to receive regular feedback on their progress and achievements. Often likes to work alone.
Affiliation: Wants to belong to the group. Wants to be liked, and will often go along with whatever the rest of the group wants to do. Favors collaboration over competition. Doesn't like high risk or uncertainty.
Power: Wants to control and influence others Likes to win arguments. Enjoys competition and winning. Enjoys status and recognition.
It is important to notice that People with a strong power motivator are often divided into two groups: personal and institutional. People with a personal power drive want to control others, whereas people with an institutional power drive like to organize the efforts of a team to further the company's goals. Those with an institutional power need are usually more desirable as team members. (Eyre, The Mind Tools, May 2017),
The McClelland's three motivators or Theory of needs can use to get closer look at what is important about Elon Musk and what are his driven motivation as a leader. McClelland’s Theory of needs, in the case of E. Musk will be apply in reference to his achievements , power and affiliation; which are the things that keeping focus on his dedication towards his work.
Achievement
Elon Musk is all the time dedicating to complete a task. If one of his project is not up to par with his criteria; he has no objection to work overtime or as many hours needed to accomplish challenging goals for a successful completion. He is the type of person that analyze and calculate any risk that may present a challenge to his goal. Musk always is committed to set and keep quality standards for his projects. Moreover, he is driven to work alone or with other high achievers that will keep him motivated.
“Work like hell. I mean you just have to put in 80-100 hour weeks every week. [This] improves the odds of success. If other people are putting in 40- hour work weeks and you’re putting in 100- hour work weeks, even if you’re doing the same thing, you know that you will achieve in four months what it takes them a year to achieve” (Pressman, 2016).
Affiliation
Elon Musk is a person of determination and opportunity. When it comes to interpersonal relationships and friendships, Elon Musk only appears to be concerned with, what relate to business. He favors collaboration over competition. Musk likes to belong to high achievers groups and affiliate himself with individual that perform effectively in a team. He also have affiliation to individuals that are supportive of the working environment that provide personal interaction. Musk does not like uncertainty and risky projects delegating them to others people, but always keeping control of what’s going on. . It is important him to get balanced feedback somewhat personal, based on co-operation and mutual understanding of a good trustful working relationship that will keep his motivation going.
"I think it's very important to have a feedback loop, where you're constantly thinking about what you've done and how you could be doing it better. I think that's the single best piece of advice: constantly think about how you could be doing things better and questioning yourself."(Pressman, 2016).
Power
Elon Musk is known for having a tough impulse to be influential and controlling on his employees. He enjoys competition that is goal-oriented projects and work best when he is in charge. Employees working on his projects are monitor closely, and if results are not satisfactory; he make his employees to re-start the project all over again which shows his controlling spirit. Because of Musk’s strong power as a motivator, he is driven to personal power having the need to control others. His high need for achievement as a motivator, Musk likes status and recognition.
Finally, McClelland's Theory of Needs also called Human Motivation Theory with its three essential components such as the needs for achievement, affiliation and power are forces of a person’s basic elements of motivation. These motivator elements are cultivated through life with our experiences and culture.
Hertzberg's Two-Factor Theory
The concept behind Hertzberg's Two-Factor Theory, also called the motivation-hygiene theory is that factors that determine satisfaction in the workplace and dissatisfaction are separate. They are separated by intrinsic and extrinsic factors, and are not dependent one one-another. When applying Hertzberg’s Two-Factor Theory to Elon Musk, it helps us have a better picture of how it applies to him.
Intrinsic factors, or factors that are related to job satisfaction such as achievements and opportunities are related to satisfaction. Extrinsic factors such as pay, opportunity, and working conditions are related to dissatisfaction when they are absent. According to Hertzberg’s theory, if the dissatisfying factors are dealt with or eliminated, it may reduce dissatisfaction, but not necessarily provide motivation. Intrinsic factors would still need to be existent to motivate employees regardless. When comparing with Elon Musk, this theory could be supportive. Elon Musk is an individual who has thrived off of achievements. Despite some adversity, his accomplishments with SpaceX and Tesla have motivated to continuously push the envelope. This motivation drives Elon Musk, and in addition, he believes these achievements are beneficial to those around him. Challenges have also been a huge factor for Elon Musk. Constant criticism and setbacks have driven Elon Musk to always rise to the occasion and find a way to make things work. This can be seen with the multiple failures in SpaceX launches early on. He used the challenge to motivate himself to identify the failures and improve. This was not motivated by extrinsic factors, therefore it could be assumed even if extrinsic factors were present, he would have found the motivation separately.
Hertzberg's Two-Factor Theory is not widely supported for several reasons. A few of the reasons that it relies on self-reporting, and it does not measure the level of satisfaction. Despite the criticisms, you can examine a leader like Elon Musk and find a level of relationship with Hertzberg's Two-Factor Theory. Elon Musk is a man who seems to be driven, at least in part, by intrinsic factors.
Question: 2
Examine the motivational concepts from Chapter 8 and show how the Leader either applied or missed applying these concepts.
In this particular situation, Elon Musk of Tesla Motors has displayed some aspects that have enabled him to be termed as one of the greatest employees when it comes to the issue of employee motivation. To begin with, this particular CEO has employed some tactics that have significantly motivated the employees working in this particular organization and thus improving the overall performance of these specific individuals.
To begin with, Elon Musk is one of the best CEO, and this is due to his outstanding leadership qualities. This particular CEO is known to let the employees work on their timelines without having to give them a deadline necessarily. This ensures that the employees can work at their pace and thus this motivates them to perfect on their current tasks that they are performing (Byrne, 2005)
However, some issues have made Elon Musk miss in applying the various motivation concepts on his employees. To begin with, Elon has been known to possess poor communication skills. This has been a great barrier when he is communicating with the other employees of this particular organization. In most cases, poor communication skills result in poor delayed projects and this mainly because if individual information is not well communicated, then this may lead to chances of errors. Additionally, at times Elon is known to push his employees extra hard and this at times may cause the employees to feel uncomfortable and thus interfere with the process of service delivery. It is clear that Elon Musk of Tesla Motors has some motivational concepts that have been an excellent source of his success. In addition to this, his motivation skills have also helped him to become one of the smartest CEO’s in the face of the earth. However, due to his over ambitiousness, he has not been able to portray these motivation concepts throughout his career, and this has led him to brush shoulders with some of his employees who at times have ended up quitting their jobs at Tesla Motors (Sostrin, 2013).
References
Byrne, H. (2005). Job descriptions and duties for church members and workers. Longwood, Fla: Xulon Press.
Sostrin, J. (2013). Beyond the job description : How Managers and Employees Can Navigate the True Demands of the Job. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
Elizabeth Eyre (The Mind Tools, May 2017), McClelland's Human Motivation Theory. Retrieved May 19, 2017 from: https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/human-motivation-theory.htm
Pressman, Matt. (November, 2016). Great Leadership: 10 Elon Musk Quotes That Provide A Glimpse Into The DNA Of Tesla. TeslaNews., Retrieved from https://evannex.com/blogs/news/great-leadership-10-elon-musk-quotes-that-provide-a-glimpse-into-the-dna-of-tesla
Laudon, K. C., & Laudon, J. P. (2016). Management information systems managing the digital firm. Hoboken: Pearson.