Management Theories and Principles

The Enthusiastic Employee: How Companies Profit by Giving Workers What They Want, by David Sirota, Louis A. Mischkind, and Michael I. Meltzer Worker motivation, morale, and performance are the main topic of the first two chapters of the text and the authors provide examples, quotations, and research data that explains what workers want from a job and what makes them enthusiastic about coming to work. The three primary sets of goals are; equity (the desire to be treated fairly and equally), achievement, and camaraderie. * Equity: or the desire to be treated fairly. Here, the authors discuss important concerns like job security, compensation, and respect. Everyone wants to be securing in his/her job, earn a decent wage, and be treated in a professional manner. This part of the literature investigates just how important compensation really is to job satisfaction and what level of trade-off employees are willing to accept in terms of income in order to gain more job security. * Achievement: The purpose and mission of a company, the annoyances caused by layers of management, the desire to have challenging work, and the importance of recognition for a job well done. The consensus among workers is clear: They not only want to be treated with respect and earn a decent living, they also want to work for a company they feel proud of and perform a task that is challenging and rewarding. * Camaraderie: Or employee relationships. Socializing with co-workers, dealing with uncooperative co-workers, and building partnerships are very imperative to a department’s success and overall performance.
Contained within these three sets of goals are common factors that are universally desired in the workplace, such as safety, good working conditions, competence of supervisors, recognition, positive relationships with co-workers, etc. WellPoint management teams are continuously reminded of these principles in order to lead their prospective units. To sum it up, employee enthusiasm and the greater productivity that comes with it can be accomplished by doing one thing: giving employees what they want. Employees are very specific in what they feel are important components in their workplace and while it is unrealistic to think that every desire of every individual employee can be implemented, the bulk of employee needs and wants can be satisfied. The results of moving an organization in an “employee satisfaction” direction are almost always positive, with employees showing up to work motivated and ready to achieve. The necessary steps to reach this goal are not always easy but it is important to get started quickly.
Psychological Capital: Developing the Human Competitiveness Edge, by Fred Luthans, Carolyn Youssef, and Bruce Avolio.
Positive psychology is a latest and revolutionizing addition in the organizational behavior studies and issues related to organizational framework. Previously, the focus of the scholars had been fixing the problem and issues at the workplace by taking in account the observed flaws of system and individuals. Positive psychology follows the rule of “positivity begets positivity” and thus the focal point of studies are the “strengths” of the system and individuals and the ways to foster those strengths to get maximum positive organizational outcomes. Research regarding Positive Organizational behavior comes under the umbrella of Positive Psychology. It refers to investigation role of four constructs of hope, optimism, resilience and self-efficacy in an organizational set-up. Employees with all the aforementioned psychological capacities are found to be more efficient and effective regarding organizational outcomes. Overall, self-efficacy, hope, optimism, and resiliency are four key psychological resource capacities that make the best fit for the inclusion criteria for positive organizational behavior that result in enhancement of the managing effectiveness and organizational performance.
Why Pride Matters More Than Money: The Power of the World'" s Greatest Motivational Force, by Jon R. Katzenbach
When people learn they’re capable of much more than they thought possible, anticipatory pride becomes their driving motivational force, according to Katzenbach. He believes that companies and institutions wanting to inspire their employees, members or participants with primarily non-financial incentives (team spirit, camaraderie and excitement, for example). “Money by itself is likely to produce self-serving behavior and skin-deep organizational commitment rather than….institution-building behavior,” Katzenbach asserts. Citing specific case studies, Katzenbach considers companies and institutions such as General Motors and its diverse management programs and U.S. Marine Corps’ emphasis on honor and courage. Employee recognition, he says is a crucial element of any campaign to bolster group morale. A Microsoft employee, for example, likes to tell people that “we work on products that everyone is likely to sue, and I mean everyone. More than one hundred million people use Office, my product.” The lure of monetary reward may always be a primary motivation for employees, but in clear and persuasive prose, Katzenbach cautions that because most of the rank and file cannot hope to compete with those at the top, other, less tangible motivations must propel group successes. Ultimately, money is not the big motivator that most organizations think that it is; most people are motivated by feelings of accomplishment, approval, and camaraderie. A pay for performance program isn’t always the best answer per Katzenbach.
At WellPoint, the organization highly promotes a pay for performance program. While many studies have been conducted to indicate that employees have a tendency to reach their goals and metrics for financial motives, it’s not all that matters to an employee (so I’ve observed). As Katzenbach mentions, it’s imperative for an employee to feel valued. This can be accomplished by management by giving a simple paper certificate at a team meeting or even sending a quick note via email thanking an employee. Unfortunately, these recommendations are not always accomplished leaving employees feeling unappreciated.
Leadership for Everyone, by Peter J. Dean Businesses today have a vital need to create self-directed employees-individuals who can positively and progressively fill leadership roles at every level of their organizations. But where will all these leaders come from? Dr. Peter Dean indicates that whenever interaction exits, so does opportunity for leadership. Employees who share positive intentions, creative ideas, and laudable goals or who express insights that allow others to work beyond the status quo are, according to Dean, “everyday, everywhere leaders” who can and should be tapped due to their remarkable potential.
Dean reveals how you can become such an influencer, mentor, and teacher, regardless of your title and position. He explains why leaders exist at all levels of the company—from the shop floor to the boardroom—and gives you a proven framework for asserting yourself as a leader in any situation. Whether you communicate with coworkers, managers, suppliers, or customers, Dean emphasizes how to practice leadership with every interaction, providing tools and advice one can use immediately to expand your influence and improve your leadership abilities.
Based on Dean’s popular L.E.A.D.E.R.S Method, which he developed during his many years of leadership study and experience, he stress the seven critical skills you must possess to perform as a true leader: * Listen to learn * Empathize with emotions * Attend to aspirations * Diagnose and detail * Engage for good ends * Respond with respectfulness * Speak with specificity
According to Dean, true leaders should honor these skills through everyday practice in actions and conversations. This will enable a leader to have greater influence in all the spheres of your life-both at work and at home- and prepare you to accept and attract more responsibility.
Bad Leadership: What It Is, How It Happens, Why It Matters, by Barbara Kellerman Leaders come in all shapes and sizes. There are leaders we would consider to good, like Abraham Lincoln or Martin Luther King, Jr. Through their leadership the United States stayed united. Others would consider bad, like Adolf Hitler. He used his leadership skills to promote the genocide of the Jewish people. All of these leaders had excellent leadership abilities, but what about leaders with poor or bad leadership skills. What can we learn from them?
Barbara Kellerman suggests bad leadership can be categorized into seven types. The seven types are: Incompetent, Rigid, Intemperate, Callous, Corrupt, Insular and Evil. When referring to Adolf Hitler, one might think of him in all seven of these types. Although, he had many “followers” he was downright evil. Forcing people to live in inhabitable camps and killing people because of their religion could be viewed as being one of the most incompetent men to ever exist. How people like him are able to attract others to follow them is honestly beyond me. However, in corporate businesses there is what I call “undercover” bad leaders just like Hitler, just not as extreme.

Followership: How Followers are Creating Change and Changing Leaders, by Barbara Kellerman. One of the most basic human instincts, a quality that every person is born with, is the act of imitating another person. Children often imitate behaviors as seen from their parents, friends, or media. These influences determine the character that this particular child develops. As time progresses, imitation gives way to reasoning, opening the door for this person to start influencing others. The contrast between followership and leadership is analogous to this; once an individual is established as a follower, he or she can become a leader. The difference between leadership and followership, then, are a process of learning and the time needed to gain experience in assigned responsibilities. Once a follower has demonstrated mastery of self-discipline, motivation, responsibility, and other important traits, he or she has the competence to become a successful leader and pass this wisdom on to future generations.
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, by Doris Goodwin. The life and times of Abraham Lincoln have been analyzed and dissected in countless books. Do we need another Lincoln biography? Doris Goodwin proves that we do. Though she can’t help but cover some familiar territory, her perspective is focused enough to offer fresh insights into Lincoln’s leadership style and his deep understanding of human behavior and motivation. Goodwin makes the case for Lincoln’s political genius by examining his relationships with three men he selected for his cabinet, all of whom were opponents for the Republican nomination in 1860: William H. Seward, Salmon P. Chase, and Edward Bates. These men, all accomplished, nationally known, and presidential, originally disdained Lincoln for his backwoods upbringing and lack of experience, and were shocked and humiliated at losing to this relatively obscure Illinois lawyer. Yet Lincoln not only convinced them to join his administration-Seward as secretary of state, Chase as secretary of the treasury, and Bates as attorney general-he ultimately gained their admiration and wisdom and confidence to select and work with the best people, she argues, he could have led the nation through one of its darkest periods.

CITATION PAGE * WellPoint . (n.d.). WellPoint Inc. Retrieved September 25, 2013, from www.wellpoint.com * Pierce, J. L., & Newstrom, J. W. (1993). The Manager's bookshelf: A mosaic of contemporary views (9th ed.). Pages 1-38.