Managing and Motivating Teams

Managing and Motivating Teams

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Part 1

Managing and Motivating Teams

Introduction

Managers tend to face many challenges in motivating a workforce to achieve organizational and personal goals (Colquitt et al., 2011). For instance, managers across all organizations are tasked with ensuring that employees meet the goals of an organization, which has been proven to be a very difficult task. According to Jiang (2010), the term motive refers to something that makes a person to behave in a particular way such that motivation involves the process of offering a motive that causes an individual to take a particular action. Motivation usually comes from some need leading to behavior that results in some type of reward when one fulfills that particular need.

Managers are expected to exert some influence among employees, which will, in turn, make them act in a productive way (Colquitt et al., 2011). Jiang (2010) stated that motivation is a process combining psychological and physiological needs driving an individual in adopting a given behavior. Managers require every team member to show an improvement in his or her performance, which results in productivity in the workplace (Colquitt et al., 2011). However, achieving this level of productivity is usually dependent on the employees’ behavior, which is influenced by the environment they find themselves in (Jiang, 2010). However, employees’ behaviors are usually functions of their innate drives and opportunities they have in satisfying the needs in the workplace (Boni, Weingart, & Todorova, 2014). The central focus of this paper is to explore the topic of managing and motivating employees in an organization by covering areas like ways of motivating employees and managing their performance.

Managing Teams in Organizations

The success of a project or business is usually relies on teamwork and a project is deemed to fail if the team is unorganized or disoriented (Boni, Weingart, & Todorova, 2014). Managers are tasked with responsibility of improving the team’s workflow and introducing proper team management. Team management is essentially the ability of an individual to perform several activities that will ensure team members carry out their duties as planned (McHugh, Conboy, & Lang, 2010). The critical aspect in team management is to incorporate tasks that bind team members together to achieve the set targets (Hu & Liden, 2015).

Importance of Team Management

One major importance of team management is that it facilitates effective team building (McHugh, Conboy, & Lang, 2010). For instance, with team management, a manager can ensure that the right team member is assigned right duty that suit his or her skills. Jiang (2010) emphasized that team management will ensure that a manager assigns individuals tasks that align with their education, experience, and skills. Furthermore, when an individual within the team is assigned a task that suits his skills, he or she is able to work comfortably and be willing to corporate with other team members, which may result in better performance (Hu and Liden, 2015). Another importance of team management is that it helps boost productivity within an organization (McHugh, Conboy, & Lang, 2010).

For instance, the implied chain of task allocation with team management will ensure that the right team members are paired in crafting new ideas and finding an efficient solution to a given problem (Hu & Liden, 2015). The implication for successful team management according to Jiang (2010) will be quicker turnover and time-saving in addressing a given problem. Another significance of team management in an organization is that it promotes and encourages learning. Teams that learn also constantly improve so that team management tends to promote an environment that encourages members to learn, develop, and grow.

Proper team management usually aligns with discussions, employee training, and constant interactions that help improve the team’s experience and knowledge. The last significance of team management is that it results in the satisfaction of team members as managing involves finding the best ways of making group members work together at a team (Hu & Liden, 2015). Solutions adopted by managers of a particular team include adopting team building activities, cultivating a supportive team atmosphere, and giving appraisals where they are due.

Skillset for Effective Team Management

Team leaders play an essential role in managing the team towards achieving the set objectives and the goals of each individual. Therefore, every team leader needs to possess certain skills that will enable him or her to effectively manage the team. According to Hu and Liden (2015), one important aspect of team leaders is their abilities to mentor their team members instead of being strict bosses, which may undermine effective team management. Team leaders need to understand their team members since modern times demand employees and managers to foster healthy working relationships in order to succeed.

As a team leader, one should also ensure that every member willingly participates in the team discussion. A team leader needs to invite suggestions from all members while avoiding holding separate discussions with other members in the absence of the entire team as argued by Hu and Liden (2015). A team leader should also clearly state the objectives of the team and circulate them among the members while ensuring every member is aware of his or her roles and responsibilities (Jiang, 2010). Communication is also an essential component of effective team management where a team leader must ensure clear and transparent communication within a team (McHugh, Conboy, & Lang, 2010). For instance, a team leader must ensure that every member gets the same information to avoid conflict among the members.

Another important aspect of effective team management involves motivating team members regularly, which shall be discussed later. Hu and Liden (2015) contended that appreciating the extraordinary performance of any team member is important and come be done through incentives, performance appraisals, prizes, and trophies, which shall motivate the members to perform even better the next time they are allocated various tasks. Furthermore, a leader should also avoid criticizing members that underperformed but rather encourage them to perform better. While it may be easy to create a team, Colquitt et al. (2011) insist that it is usually difficult for team leaders to bind the team members together and make them work towards achieving the set objectives. Adopting the skills highlighted above will enable a team leader to strengthen and bond members while creating an environment where they can trust each other.

Characteristics of a Good and Effective team

The success of an organization depends on the ability to build teams as this will enable members to accomplish the work that cannot be done by one individual thus creating synergy. A successful team depends on a team leader’s ability to incorporate several skills that enable members to trust each other and work together. An effective team is characterized by several factors as will be discussed in this section (Hu & Liden, 2015). The first important aspect of an effective team involves having a clear elevating goal that has been communicated to all members (Jiang, 2010). An effective team should also comprise of competent members who have the required skills in achieving team objectives.

Additionally, there is a need for a unified commitment on the part of team members in achieving organizational goals. A team that creates a collaborative environment is also considered efficient as this leads to the creation of a productive work environment (Hu & Liden, 2015). The team members should also understand the team goals clearly if they are to achieve the successful completion of the project at hand.

Styles for Managing Teams

Team leaders have nine key team management styles they can implement when managing their teams for effective and productive work as discussed below:

1. Coaching Style

According to Gîlmeanu (2015), the use of coaching style in managing team involves maintaining a team member’s professional development in the long run. Team management that uses coaching style involves passing on knowledge to team members and watch these teachings result in growth among the members. Team leaders that employ coaching style usually overlook short term problems as they expect the team members to learn from their mistakes and get better (Gîlmeanu, 2015). Motivation is achieved through a combination of rewards and trust. The main advantage of this style is that it produces a productive environment and allows the team members to grow and develop their skills (McHugh, Conboy, & Lang, 2010). The central limitation of coaching is that it requires specific coaching for each situation.

2. Laissez-Faire style

The style involves granting the team member almost complete freedom in doing what they think should be done leaving them self-directed with no interference (Randeree & Chaudhry, 2012). This style allows team leaders to give members the freedom to handle their assignments without interference (Gîlmeanu, 2015). The central advantage of this style is that it promotes innovation and creativity and allows team members to experiment with a solution. however, the problem with this style is that it is not suitable when dealing with inexperienced members and is potentially risky as a problem may go for a long time without being realized resulting in time wastage.

3. Democratic Team Management Style

Democratic style is based on the notion that every member has a say in the team and the best idea will always win regardless of the member that came up with it. Thus, this style is characterized by team members who are given the chance to share ideas and contribute to growth in an organization. Motivation in such a style involves making every team member equal regarding participation (Gîlmeanu, 2015). The main advantage of this style is that it promotes innovation and creativity and makes team members feel appreciated and valued.  However, the key limitation of democratic style is that it is not suitable when fast decisions need to be made.

4. Visionary Team Management Style

The visionary style for managing teams involves defining the vision and overall strategy to the team members then allowing them to work the way they see fit with regular progress check-ups (Gîlmeanu, 2015). A visionary management style motivates team members by giving them full work autonomy (Kimberley, 2016). The advantage of visionary team management is that it encourages team members to find goals and solutions that suit every member and facilitates team building. However, the main limitations of this style are that great visions tend to fail to lead to great actions and are not suitable for team members that need more direction (Randeree & Chaudhry, 2012).

5. Transformational Team Management

Transformational team managing style usually emphasizes changes, growth, and innovation as the key ways of cultivating an efficient organization (Kimberley, 2016). The central aspect of this team managing style is inspiring team members to develop their skills and improve their performance through setting for them high expectations. Motivating team members in this style usually entails constantly raising the bar as members will feel motivated to work harder (Gîlmeanu, 2015). The main advantage of this style is that it helps assess the team’s situation quickly while triggering passion through constant innovation. However, this style of managing teams has been criticized as depending too much on passion usually overestimates the realistic reach.

6. Transactional Team Management Style

The transactional team managing style focuses on making results through the implementation of a reward-penalty system and establishes a clear structure and hierarchy in the team (Kimberley, 2016). Thus, it entails setting criteria and requirements for the team members while using performance review to determine if set objectives have been met. Motivation under this style of team management is achieved through the provision of an extrinsic reward for the team members when they perform well and penalties for underperformance (Gîlmeanu, 2015). The advantage of this style of managing teams is that it is suitable for achieving short term goals and useful for repetitive tasks. However, such a style is not suitable for a long time and when promoting creativity and innovation.

7. Servant Team Managing Style

Here, a team leader servs a team through mentoring, advising, and supporting members. The managing style requires a team leader to place his or her team members’ interests first before performing other tasks (Kimberley, 2016). Motivation is achieved by keeping employees happy and motivated to perform their tasks (Osabiya, 2015). The advantage of this style is that it emphasizes building a healthy team culture and helps members learn from each other’s mistakes. The limitation of this style is that it makes the decision-making process take long loses formal authority for the team leader.

8. Autocratic Team Managing Style

The style involves giving clear direction to the members and having complete control over all activities that members are required to undertake. Team leaders embracing this style usually prefer having complete power to make decisions without expecting advice or idea from other members of the team (Osabiya, 2015). Such a team managing style usually requires the team members to find motivation by themselves. The central advantage of this style is that it is effective in cultures where a leader is expected to have high-level power. The limitation of this style is that it demotivates members while leading to micromanagement.

9. Pace-Setting Team Management

Under this style, the team leader sets the pace for the work to be accomplished by the team members while providing guidance and direction (Kimberley, 2016). Thus, a leader is required to set high standards and a challenging pace, which is required to motivate the team members to work hard if they are to keep up with the rest of the members (Kimberley, 2016). The main advantage of this style is that it is suitable when tackling demanding challenges and short goals (Osabiya, 2015). However, the style is criticized for not being suitable in the long run while the emphasis on personal success can lead to resentment and unhealthy competition among team members.

Motivating Teams in an Organization

Motivating individuals usually improves their attitudes and commitment to work and relies on how supervisors and team members behave. Jinag (2010) proposed that team members will be motivated by tangible rewards like remuneration and intangible factors like contributing to the common good. One major task of a team leader involves creating an environment that permits all team members to do their best in achieving the set goals (Colquitt et al., 2011). One of the key advantages of having a motivated team is that there will be the delivery of a high level of performance as members work hard and will be loyal to the organization.

Approaches for Motivating Team Members

Several strategies can be employed by team leaders when trying to achieve a motivated team that helps achieve the organization’s goals. One major strategy according to Osibaya (2015) involves asking the team members about the things they want and understand the things that make every team member behave the way they do. Understanding the things that make team members tick gives the team leader an understanding of the way to keep the members motivated (Jiang, 2010). The team leader should also focus on enriching team members’ jobs.

A leader can opt to make a job challenging but interesting, which in end make the members enjoy their duties after adapting to it. The members should be provided with challenges matching their skills while offering opportunities that will help the members excel (Colquitt et al., 2011). Adopting such an attempt will help the organization in achieving long term improvement in attitude and performance (Jiang, 2010). The team leader should also provide opportunities for advancement as most team members will be motivated by opportunities that help their individual growth through the addition of new responsibilities.

The team leader should also consider respecting the team members and getting to know them by taking time in learning their interests and things the members do value in their lives as concluded by Colquitt et al. (2011). Recognizing the team members’ efforts and achievement while rewarding their performance is an important part of motivating the members (Osabiya, 2015). The team leader can consider taking the time to personally thank the members for work well done. Osibaya (2015) also found that public recognition can also be used as a motivational tool. The team can also consider creating opportunities for social interaction among members, which shall help members develop a sense of belonging thus building commitment to other members and the organization (Jiang, 2010). The team leader should understand the things that motivate their members, which is an important part of developing a motivated team.

A motivated team will be energized and excited in performing various tasks assigned to individuals and usually focus on doing what is important for the team and organization. Team leaders need to understand the best way to influence their members in performing specific tasks and should be able to persuade members to stay in the team.

Theories of Motivation

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory

The theory as proposed by Abraham Maslow assumes that every individual is motivated according to five universal needs rated in order of influence on a person’s behavior. Maslow’s theory can be presented as shown in the figure below:

Fig 1: Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

The first, the physiological needs are needs deemed to be the lowest level needs including food and water, and usually exist as a motivating and driving force in an individual’s life when not satisfied (Colquitt et al., 2011). The second is the safety need for shelter and security including the desire for stability, security, dependency, and protection. Such needs usually translate to a minimum degree for employment security (Kaur, 2013). The next need is social needs that include a sense of belonging to the team, which can be satisfied by the ability to interact with other members. The next need to satisfy under this hierarchy is esteem and ego that become motivating needs that include the desire for self-esteem, prestige, reputation, recognition, and status (Kaur, 2013). The highest need is self-actualization that involves the need for self-realization and self-development.

Alderfer’s Hierarchy of Motivational Needs

The theory is a rework of Maslow’s theory that aligns with empirical research focusing on relatedness, existence, and growth. Existence denotes members’ concerns with basic material existence requisites or what was earlier referred to as the safety and physiological needs (Miner, 2005).

Fig 2: Alderfer’s hierarchy of needs model

Relatedness refers to the desires that members of a team have to maintain interpersonal relationships such as love. Growth entails the intrinsic desire for personal development and was a modification of esteem needs and self-actualization (Gîlmeanu, 2015). The theory argues that an individual can be influenced by various needs at the same time though there is a need to satisfy the lower needs before moving to the next level (Colquitt et al., 2011). The theory also focuses on frustration-regression such that when a higher-order need is frustrated, the team members will try to improve their satisfaction with a lower-order need.

Therefore, like Maslow’s theory, Alderfer’s theory notes that frustrating a higher-order need will result in an increased desire for lower-level needs by the team member (Miner, 2005). For instance, not being able to satisfy a need for social interaction with fellow team members will improve the desire for higher remuneration and better working conditions.

Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory

This theory was found from a test on the idea that individuals have two sets of needs; one being their needs as animals to avoid pain and second, their needs as humans in growing psychologically (Miner, 2005). The aspects that make people happy and unhappy can be defined from two separate themes of dissatisfaction and satisfaction. The strong determinants of job satisfaction included recognition, responsibility, achievement, and advancement.

Based on this theory, the factors that may lead to job dissatisfaction are salary, company policy, interpersonal relations, administrative policies, supervision, and working conditions (Colquitt et al., 2011). Therefore, conditions that surround job like pay, supervision, and working conditions are characterized as hygiene factors such that their adequacy will not make people feel dissatisfied or satisfied (Miner, 2005). Thus, motivating people in a team will require an emphasis on factors related to the work itself or the outcomes directly derived from work like promotion, recognition, and achievement.

McClelland’s Theory of Needs

In his theory, David McClelland argues that individuals are driven by the motive of achievement, influence, and affiliation regardless of their culture (Miner, 2005). Achievement can be seen as being characterized by the wish to take mandate of finding a solution, setting goals, and mastering complex tasks (Miner, 2005). Affiliation is characterized by the desire to belong and is concerned with interpersonal relationships and enjoyment of teamwork.

Finally, power or influence relates to the drive to control and influence other members such as the need to prevail, persuade, and win an argument.

Incentives and Reward In Motivation

As pointed out in the various theories of motivation and approaches to motivating team members, motivation results from a combination of incentives taking the form of extrinsic and intrinsic rewards. Extrinsic rewards comprise of external things that team leaders can offer as incentives for team members when improving their performance and productivity (Osabiya, 2015). Some of these incentives include money in the form of bonuses, benefits like vacations, flexible schedules, promotions, job responsibilities, praises, and changing status (Gîlmeanu, 2015). The extrinsic rewards are tangible as opposed to intrinsic rewards. Intrinsic rewards are usually internal to the team member and less tangible.

The rewards are subjective representing the way team members perceive and feel about work (Miner, 2005). Examples of intrinsic rewards for motivating team members include health relationships that allow team members to develop a sense of connection, meaningful work that makes team members feel they make an impact in the teamwork, competence by encouraging members to develop skills to perform above standards, and choice by encouraging members to participate in organization activities by expressing their views.

Conclusion

The paper has covered several factors and concepts that team leaders need to understand if they are to effectively manage and motivate their team members. Team leaders have a great responsibility of keeping their team members on track so that they can achieve both personal and organizational goals. When managing team members, team leaders need certain skills that enable them to build effective teams. Effective team management is vital as it helps in team-building and in boosting productivity among the team members. Furthermore, the effective team management will encourage learning among team members while promoting innovation, which is important when addressing the project at hand.

For effective team management, team leaders must possesses skills that enable them to understand their team members and create an atmosphere that allows every member to participate in team discussions and decision making. Team leaders can select from several team managing styles when developing solutions for their team members such as coaching style, Laisez-Faire style, and democratic style among others. Motivation as an aspect under team management is also essential as it helps tailor a system where team members willingly pursue solutions for various organizational problems.

Team members can be motivated by several factors like rewards and are upon the team leader to choose the most suitable approach to motivating their members. Various theories have been shown to help understand the concept of motivation within an organization including Maslow’s need theory, Two-factor theory, Alderfer’s need theory among others. Having a clear understanding of these concepts will help team leaders within an organization come up with an effective and motivated team that focuses on achieving organizational and individual goals.

Part 2

In this section, I will express my opinions and perspectives regarding the views presented in the term paper about managing and motivating team members within an organization. I will argue from a former employee perspective at a logistics company, where I was a procurement intern. I plan to express my views on different aspects I have learned from writing this paper and the new information I have gained from studying the concept of managing and motivating teams.

What I have learned from writing the term paper?

Having written and gone through the paper, there are several things regarding organizational management that I have learned and now I acknowledge there existence. While undertaking my duties as a procurement intern, our team leader used to make certain moves that I could not understand their reasons but they had an impact on the interaction of members in the procurement department. For instance, there was a time when our team leader arranged for each member to be present during a team-building activity over the weekend. During the event, our leader was open and asked each individual to share their views regarding work without fear of criticism. While at this time I did not find it suitable for me to be open and tell what I was going through as an intern, writing this paper has helped me understand the reasons our team leader came up with the team building event.

From writing this paper, I have learned that employee motivation represents a critical part of a workplace that promotes the performance of a given department and the organization at large. Initially, I could not understand the significance of several team building events that I was part of, I now realize that such events are important when trying to build trust within a given team or among employees in a given department. Another important factor that I have learned while writing the paper is that people tend to have a major misconception regarding the motivation of employees. Most people believe that motivation only comes through incentives like bonuses and vacations. However, from learning the various types of team managing styles, I have learned that employee motivation can be perceived through several factors like public recognition of an individual’s good work or even the addition of extra responsibilities to an individual.

I am also confident that this paper has helped me understand the importance of motivating employees and team members as this results in a positive attitude, which translates to good behavior in the workplace that contributes to improved performance. For instance, my analysis has revealed that motivating employees contributes to increased commitment to work, employee satisfaction, improved communication and innovation, all of which I believe are essential in promoting performance among employees in a workplace. Furthermore, despite having served for a short period as a procurement intern, I am confident that the information gained from writing this paper will help me understand the way around the workplace and adopt a positive attitude that can promote interaction with fellow employees.

Apart from the impact of this paper on my role as an employee in an organization, I have also learned that team leaders and managers are critical to the success of any project assigned to the department. Therefore, given the opportunity to lead other members of my team, I will have to understand and adopt specific skills that are essential to creating a conducive environment where each member feels included in finding a solution to organizational problems or achieving the goals of the department. My overall analysis based on my writing of this paper is that employee motivation and team management are critical factors that contribute to the success or failure within an organization.

What has surprised me based on the teachings in the paper?

Most literature tends to put a leader’s role separate from that of a manager. However, from what I have learned from writing on managing and motivating teams, I am surprised about the way a manager is supposed to play the role of a leader. For instance, given the various styles of managing teams, I think managers need to possesss effetive leadership skills if they are to get the best out of their team members and drive projects forward. Furthermore, leaders are believed to have people who follow them while managers tend to have people who work for them. However, from my understanding of how to motivate and manage teams, I believe getting the best from the team members would require team leaders to be more like leaders rather than managers.

Another issue that has surprised me is that there are so many simple initiatives that employers can use to motivate employees, for instance, public recognition. Initially, as a procurement intern, I believed that the best way to motivate us was through some form of remuneration. I have learned that despite having been on an unpaid level internship, there are several factors that the department leader explored that made me keep working in the position despite having to spend my money at work. For instance, the department leader used to appreciate my work, which encourage me to work even better but at that time, I did not realize that this was just but one of the approaches a leader can use to motivate employees. Despite this new knowledge, I believe that team leaders should appreciate the wide range of strategies that can be used in motivating employees.

What do I wish to know more about based on the paper?

Most lessons I have learned from writing this paper focus on the way team leaders can manage and motivate their team members to achieve their goals and those of their organizations. However, most organizations have various departments ranging from finance, procurement, human resources, and IT among others. While working at the company as a procurement intern, I noticed that the level of information exchange was limited, which I believe undermined the success of the company. Therefore, having understood the nature of operations within a given department or team, I wish to further understand the way various teams within an organization can work together in achieving organizational goals. The level of protagonist witnessed at the company I worked for has raised the need to understand the way different departments in an organization can impact performance among other departments and create a conducive environment where each department feels recognized and appreciated.

References

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