Leadership and Motivation

Introduction

American corporations are trying hard to regain the market leadership position which they have lost in the last two decades. Many American corporations have implemented various management and operations philosophies and theories such as reengineering, Total Quality Management, empowerment, and coaching with the hope that these new methods will solve their problems. Poor leadership has been the primary reason for American companies remaining behind of their foreign counterparts in the last two decades. The current decade is very crucial for American position in the world and prosperity of our children in the future. Today's world changes more rapidly than ever before. The constant changes in the technology with the tough global competition remind us without effective leadership we might slide even further in the competition with top countries. On February 8, 1967, Vince Lombardi, in his speech to American Management Association said, "Leadership is ability to direct others, but more important is to have those people so directed accept it. The strengths of members of group and the group is in the strength of the leader." Leadership is not just a matter of position, it is communication, creation, vision, innovation, value, confidence, participation, and intellectual curiosity. Today's Leader must be able to communicate, discuss, and ask for inputs from everybody in the team and organization. He or she must be able to articulate a vision and involve people willingly in the operations. In today's organization processes, jobs and structures, leaders, and values are four points of diamond which are linked together (Hammer & Champy, 1993). The top point is the process--the way work gets done; second is its jobs and structure; third is its management system; and finally is its culture--what are its employees' values and