4 management questions

 Below is 4 questions that I need answered. I usually just get other peoples responses and take bits and pieces of every one to create mine. If you could please do the same and make my discussion question answers touch every important detail that my fellow students have also touched on. Please make my disscussion answers original not following the same answering format as my fellow students. I dont want my teacher to know that All I do is take bits and pieces of others post to create my own

*Explain what motivation is and why managers need to be concerned about it.

*Explain what leadership is, when leaders are effective and ineffective, and the sources of power that enable managers to be effective leaders. 

*Explain how different elements of group dynamics influence the functioning and effectiveness of groups and teams.

*Explain why strategic human resource management can help an organization gain a competitive advantage.

 Below is all of these questions answered by different classmates in my class. Please use their answers as a base to formulate your own...

Motivation is the psychological forces that determine the direction of a person’s behavior in an organization, a person level of effort and a person level of persistence in the face of obstacles.    Managers should be concerned with motivation because it explains why people behave the way they do.  It can explain why a waiter is mean or nice, or why the customer service representative you are dealing with is helpful and understanding or rude and unhelpful.

 Leadership is the process by which a person exerts influence over other people and inspires, motivates, and directs their activities, to help achieve group or organizational goal.  Leaders are affective when they can unite a group to achieve a common goal.  There are five types of power that a leader must balance.  Legitimate power: the authority that a manager has by virtue of their position in an organizations hierarch.  Reward power: the ability of a manager to give or withhold tangible and intangible rewards.  Coercive power: the ability of a manager to punish others.  Expert power: power that is based on the special knowledge, skills, and expertise that a leader possesses.  Referent power: power that comes from subordinates’ and coworkers’ respect, admiration, and loyalty. 

There are five key elements of group dynamics.  Group size:  the number of members in a group can be an important determinant of members’ motivation, commitment and group performance.  Group roles: a set of behaviors and task that a member of a group is expected to perform because of his or her position in the group.  Group leadership: leadership is a key ingredient for high- performing groups, teams, and organizations.  Group development over time: it sometimes takes a self-managed team two or three years to perform up to it true capabilities.  Group norms: shared guidelines or rules for behavior that most group member follow.  Group cohesiveness: the degree to which member are attracted to or loyal to their group. 

Strategic human resource management can help an organization gain a competitive advantage because the components are designed to be consistent with each other, with other elements of organizational architecture, and with an organizations strategy and goals, its objective is to enhance an organizations efficiency, quality, innovation, and responsiveness to customers. 

1. Explain what motivation is and why managers need to be concerned about it.

Motivation is an approach used by an organization to influence employee's behavior in a way that demonstrates quality work performance. The contribution an employee gives to an organization is enhanced by motivation. Therefore, managers need to be concerned about keeping their employees motivated. In addition, motivation keeps employees efficient and satisfied when working in the organization. Then again, when highly skilled employees are not satisfied with the motivational tools used in an organization, they tend to look elsewhere for employers who will meet their personal need. For this reason, within the organization, managers need to be concerned about implementing the right type of motivational tools, to satisfy their highly skilled employees.

2. Explain what leadership is, when leaders are effective and ineffective, and the sources of power that enable managers to be effective leaders.

Since leadership is a method is which a leader encourages an employee to see things the way he or she sees them, good leadership skills tend to lead employees in a path that favors the goals of a leader. As a leader, leadership qualities must be successfully implemented to be effective. Taking steps to ensure that leaders are effective, managers should utilize the sources of legitimate, reward, coercive, expert, and referent powers effectively. So when leaders are effective, positive contribution by employees become valuable to a successful performance goal. On the other hand, ineffective leaders need to develop better leadership skills. A leader who is ineffective does not display the right skills to help improve the performance of an organization. Therefore, ineffective leaders need to incorporate the sources of power to improve their leadership skills and create better chances of attaining effective performance goals for the organization.

3. Explain how different elements of group dynamics influence the functioning and effectiveness of groups and teams.

Organizations have major tasks in creating well balanced groups and teams that will function together effectively. Making sure the right element of group dynamics is right for the task is crucial. Controlling the right number of people who are committed to the group, who know their role within the group or team, and who are willing to work together must be taken into account. Setting rules and guidelines that each member is willing to abide by is another effective element. Each element of group dynamics affects the way a group or team function and throughout the task the organization will find out how effective they will eventually become.

4. Explain why strategic human resource management can help an organization gain a competitive advantage.

Strategic human resources management (HRM) objective is to make a position attractive to highly qualified persons. Then HRM recruits and selects them for the position. The Strategic HRM is also tasked with training and developing each person to become an effective member of the organization. In addition, HRM needs to make sure each employee appraisal and feedback is consistent with his or her pay and benefits. Lastly, having good labor relations between employers and unions to ensure the health and well-being satisfies both employer and employee. Components must be consistent with each other and must be in the best interests of the organization. When all components work together, a competitive advantage over competitors is established.

Reference:

Jones, G. R., & George, J. M. (2013). Essentials of contemporary management: (5th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

Explain what motivation is and why managers need to be concerned about it.

Motivation may be defined as psychological forces that determine the direction of a person’s behavior in an organization, a person’s level of effort, and a person’s level of persistence in the face of obstacles. The direction of a person’s behavior refers to the many possible behaviors a person could engage in. Effort refers to how hard people work. Persistence refers to whether, when faced with roadblocks and obstacles, people keep trying or give up.

Motivation is central to management because it explains why people behave the way they do in organizations. It explains why some managers truly put their organizations’ best interests first whereas others are more concerned with maximizing their salaries and why – more generally – some workers put forth twice as much effort as others.

Explain what leadership is, when leaders are effective and ineffective, and the sources of power that enable managers to be effective leaders.

Leadership is the process by which a person exerts influence over other people and inspires, motivates, and directs their activities to help achieve group or organizational goals. When leaders are effective, the influence they exert over others helps a group or organization achieve its performance goals. When leaders are ineffective, their influence does not contribute to, and often detracts from, goal attainment. Leaders who exert influence over organizational members to help meet goals increase their organizations’ chances of success.

No matter what one’s leadership style, a key component of effective leadership is found in the power the leader has to affect other people’s behavior and get them to act in certain ways. There are several types of power: legitimate, reward, coercive, expert, and referent power.

Legitimate power is the authority a manager has by virtue of his or her position in an organization’s hierarchy. Reward power is the ability of a manager to give or withhold tangible rewards and intangible rewards. Coercive power is the ability of a manager to punish other. Expert power is based on the special knowledge, skills, and experience that a leader possesses. Referent power is more informal than the other kinds of power. Referent power is a function of the personal characteristics of a leader; it is the power that comes from subordinates’ and coworkers’ respect, admiration, and loyalty.

Explain how different elements of group dynamics influence the functioning and effectiveness of groups and teams.

How groups functions and, ultimately, their effectiveness hinge on group characteristics and processes known collectively as group dynamics. The five key elements of group dynamics are: group size and roles; group leadership; group development; group norms; and group cohesiveness.

The number of members in a group can be an important determinant of members’ motivation and commitment and group performance. In deciding on the appropriate size for any group, managers attempt to gain the advantages of small group size and, at the same time, for groups with sufficient resources to accomplish their goals and have a well-developed division of labor. A group role is a set of behaviors and tasks that a member of a group is expected to perform because of his or her position in the group. In forming groups and teams, managers need to clearly communicate to group members the expectations for their roles in the group, what is required of them, and how the different roles in the group fit together to accomplish group goals.

All groups and teams need leadership. Effective leadership is a key ingredient for high-performing groups, teams, and organizations. Whether or not leaders of groups and teams are managers, and whether they are appointed by managers or emerge naturally in a group, they play an important role in ensuring that groups and teams perform up to their potential. When teams do not live up to their promise, sometimes the problem is a lack of team leadership.

As many mangers overseeing self-managed teams have learned, it sometimes takes a self-managed work team two or three years to perform up to its true capabilities. Knowing that it takes considerable time for self-managed work teams to get up and running has helped managers have realistic expectations for new teams and know that they need to give new team members considerable training and guidance. Although every group’s development over time is unique, researchers have identified five stages of group development that many groups seem to pass through: Forming; storming; norming; performing; and adjourning.

Group norms are shared guidelines or rules for behavior that most group members follow. Groups develop norms concerning a wide variety of behaviors, including working hours, the sharing of information among group members, how certain group tasks should be performed, and even how members of a group should dress. Managers should encourage members of a group to develop norms that contribute to group performance and the attainment of group goals.

Group cohesiveness, another important element of group dynamics that affects group performance and effectiveness, is the degree to which members are attracted to or loyal to their group or team. When group cohesiveness is high, individuals strongly value their group membership. When group cohesiveness is low, group members do not find their group particularly appealing and have little desire to retain their group membership.

Explain why strategic human resource management can help an organization gain a competitive advantage.

Strategic human resource management is the process by which managers design the components of an HRM system to be consistent with each other, with other elements of organizational architecture, and with the organization’s strategy and goals. The objective of strategic HRM is the development of an HRM system that enhances an organization’s efficiency, quality, innovation, and responsiveness to customers – the four building blocks of competitive advantage.

Explain what motivation is and why managers need to be concerned about it.

Motivation is the psychological forces that determine the direction of a persons behavior in an organization, a persons level of effor, and a persons level of persistence.  From first hand working experience i would say that having a motivated work force is one of the biggest keys to a successful company.  The form of motivation that i notice working the best is a reward system.  If an employe does well or goes above what they are supposed to do then they will recieve a reward.  No matter how small the reward just having something to work for will motivate that employe.

Explain what leadership is, when leaders are effective and ineffective, and the sources of power that enable managers to be effective leaders.

Leadership is the process by which an individual exerts influence over other people and inspires, motivates, and directs their activites to help achieve group or organizational goals.  To me a good leader is a person that is good working with people.  They have to know how to interact on a daily basis with the workers that they are assigned to.  They should be able to learn the little things that make each person tick so that they know how to get that person to do what needs to be done.  They are also someone who is willing to get down and dirty and do what it takes to get the job done.  A bad leader is someone who does not know how to spread workload amongst the people working with them.  They do not know the strengths and weakness of their employees and are not sociable people.  Their are five sources of power when it comes to leaders.  Legitimate, reward, coercive, expert, and referent.  Legitimate is the power that a person has due to their position in management,  reward is the ability of a manager to offer rewards,  coercive is the ability a manager has to discipline employees, expert is based solely on the knowledge a person has on a task,  and referent is the power that one gets just from their peers.

Explain how different elements of group dynamics influence the functioning and effectiveness of groups and teams.

Having the right group dynamics can make or break the way that a group gets a task done.  If you do not have the right balance your group will be destined to fail.  Group dynamics is made up of a few different factors; Size, Roles, and leadership.  The size of the group can determine how committed and motivated the members will be.  The smaller the group the less problems will arise when you are trying to set up meeting,  and seeing the contributions that each member makes.  This also helps when you assign roles to the individual members,  you will be able to set specific tasks and goals for each person and not have problems with overlapping subjects.  It is also very important to make sure that at least one member of the group is a good leader so that they will be able to keep the task within the time frame that it needs to be completed.

Explain why strategic human resource management can help an organization gain a competitive advantage.

Strategic human resource management is the process by which managers design the components of an HRM system to be consistent with each other and with the organizations strategy and goals.  This is very important to make sure that all of the goals that a company sets are align with the tasks that need to be completed. 

1. As defined by the text, Motivation is the psychological forces that determine the direction of a person's behavior in an organization, a person's level of effort, and a person's level of persistence.  Also stated in the text, motivation is central to management because it explains why people behave the way they do in terms of the organization they are involved with.  As explained, the motivation of lower level employees can be determined by their interaction with management.  If a management team, or individual is overly concerned with their own personal gain, then the motivation of the lower level employees reflects this in their productivity, where as if the motivation of the management is concerned about the overall goals and benefit of the organization and its employees the efficiency and motivation of the lower level reflects that.

2. Leadership is the process by which a person exerts influence over other people, and inspires , motivates, and directs their activities to help achieve group or organizational goals.  When leadership is effective, the influence they exert over others helps a group or organization achieve its performance goals. Conversely when leaders are ineffective, their influence does not contribute to, and often detracts from goal attainment,  There are several sources of power that allow for management to be successful, those are: Legitimate power, reward power, coercive power, expert power, and referent power.  These different types of power allow for different approaches to be taken based on the circumstances at hand allowing for maximum performance to be attained from employees, ultimately effecting productivity and the successfulness of the organization.

3. As stated in the text, the different elements that make up a group dynamic are: group size and roles, group leadership, group development, group norms, and group cohesiveness.  Each of these elements contribute differently to the group and overall performance as a whole.  Group size can play a large factor in the division of labor, where as group roles can be determined by preexisting positions within the company.  Group leaders are often chosen by their level of position within the organization, but can also be chosen based on their expertise and ability within a certain area which might allow them to be a more effective leader for the task at hand. Group development is something that tends to be a little more time consuming.  This comes with time and effort spent of the current task, having to face challenges or changes within the group forces development within its structure.  Group norms are shared guidelines or rules for behavior that most of the members follow, this can include work hours, sharing of information, and different tasks that should be performed by all members.  Group cohesiveness is in my opinion one of the most important,  this is the level at which the members of the group are comfortable and willing to participate with the other members.  Without a cohesive group often times the task at hand gets pushed aside due to disagreement or just plain inability to work together for an end result.  Without members who are willing to work together and share responsibility for a group project, there really is no group at all.  Often times this is a more destructive situation, which ultimately leads to a lack of production and efficiency.

4. Strategic Human Resource Management is the process by which managers design the components of an HRM (Human Resources Management) system to be consistant with each other, with other elements of the organizational architecture, and with the organizations strategy and goals.  The overall objective is to help the organization meet the four building blocks of competative advantage: efficiency, quality, innovation, and responsiveness to customers.  By using this strategy the organization allows itself to gain a competative edge against its market counterparts by aliveiating errors and defects from its product, but also by customizing the consumers needs and allowing the company to grow to meet those demands.