Strategic Management
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APPLIED SUMMARY PAPER
STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
PREPARED BY RICHARD JOHN
Motivational Concepts.
The New York City Transit Authority being a public benefit company cannot give economic rewards, for example bonuses, profit sharing, stocks, to motivate its employees, it instead uses being employed by the company and the comprehensive benefits packages that comes along with it, as the main motivator for its employees system wide. The comprehensive benefits package includes, Equal Employment Opportunity, protection against discrimination based on gender, race, religion, and sexual orientation. Wages are usually comparable with other companies. Employees are also entitled to paid vacation and sick leave, collective bargaining, the right to arbitration of disputes, medical and dental benefits, on going training and opportunities of promotions, generous pension plans, and the option to join other retire plans such as 401k plans, free transportation in New York City on its trains and buses. These benefits, along with the retirement plans, make the NYTCA a very desirable place to work and as such it is very competitive to become an employee. Other motivational methods are letters sent to all employees for different goals that have been achieved, and there are various competitions that employees can enter voluntarily to win cash prizes. Competitions such as “The Suggestion Program” enables employees who win, earn cash prizes if their suggestions have value and it can save the company a lot of money by either improving something like a mechanical device, or a way to do something different. These competitions give extrinsic and intrinsic value to the winners and intrinsic value to the other participants (Bateman & Snell pg, 407). Motivational and congratulatory letters are sent to employees who have reached a number of years service, or having a clean record, or having a good attendance record.
These motivational approaches are very effective, and they encompass and facilitate the five categories that motivates productive people (Bateman and Snell pg, 398). The five categories are (1) Joining the organization; Most titles requires passing a test. This gives legitimacy, levels the playing field and creates a standard of high skill level for the process. Prospective employees are motivated to trying to get the highest score. (2) Remaining in the organization; Employees remain in the organization because of the good benefits and also the knowledge that when they retire they will be receiving 70% of their salary every month in addition to other entitlements due to them. (3) Come to work regularly; Employees know that not coming to work regularly and on time is grounds for termination of employment, and this motivates them to come to work regularly. (4) Performance; Poor performance can create havoc and put lives at risk, which can result in criminal charges being leveled against offenders. Employees are conscious of these at all times, and it motivates them to perform to the best of their abilities most of the time. (5) Exhibit good citizenship; employees are generally cooperative and respectful to their peers and seniors at all times.
I have learned that in addition to the above mentioned, all important work behaviors are motivated. Setting goals that are specific, quantifiable, and challenging (Bateman & Snell pg 399). Reinforcing good performance; Behavior that is followed by positive consequences will probably be repeated (Bateman & Snell pg, 400). Maslow Needs theory; the theory of people satisfying their lower needs before satisfying their higher needs. Maslow believed that that people will satisfy their lower needs before satisfying their higher needs (Bateman & Snell pg, 405). Create a motivating and empowering job: Well designed jobs can lead to high motivation, high quality and performance, high satisfaction, low absenteeism and turnover (Bateman & Snell pg, 410). Achieving fairness using the equity theory; this theory proposes that people assess how fairly they have been treated according to two factors; input and output (Bateman & Snell pg 413). The causes and consequences of a satisfied work force; the importance of quality of work programs that can enhance employees well being and satisfaction. Advocates of these programs claim that it improves organizational effectiveness and productivity (Bateman & Snell pg, 417).
Leadership and Management Styles.
A leader is one who influences others to achieve goals (Bateman & Snell pg, 366). They must also be able to bring about change, set direction and motivate people to overcome obstacles and move the organization towards its ideal future (Bateman & Snell pg, 387). Leaders must have vision and know what they want and their followers must be able to understand what they want. Leaders must articulate their wants properly so that their followers can grasp and act accordingly. Leaders must have have power, the ability to influence other people. Five important sources of power are legitimate, reward, coercive, referent, and expert power. These sources of power can make a person very powerful in an organization (Bateman & Snell pg, 370). There are also three traditional approaches to leadership. They are the trait, behavioral, and situational approach. The first and oldest the trait approach was dominant for several decades (Bateman & Snell pg, 371). It assumes that leaders are born not made. Personality characteristics of trait leaders are drive, leadership, motivation, integrity, self confidence and knowledge of business (Bateman & Snell pg, 371). The behavioral approach to leadership attempts to identify what good leaders do (Bateman & Snell pg, 372). Personal characteristics are considered less important than the actual behaviors the leader exhibits (Bateman & Snell pg, 372). Three categories, task performance, group maintenance, and employee participation in decision making are important aspects in this approach. The last, situational approach is the belief that effective leader behaviors vary from situation to situation. The leader should first analyze the situation and then decide what to do (Bateman & Snell pg, 377).
Management styles can take either autocratic, democratic, or performance verses maintenance oriented behaviors (Bateman & Snell pg, 374.). Autocratic leadership, makes decisions, and then announces them while democratic leadership seeks input from others. The style of management, many times, is determined by the situation. Autocratic is usually the best in times of crisis and urgency. Leaders can also use performance and maintenance behaviors to help them in their roles as leaders. Performance behavior is