Description
Motivation and Empowerment
Leaders must often motivate team members to perform at their optimal levels and remain engaged. Motivation can be broken down into two types of motivators–internal and external or intrinsic and extrinsic. Given what you are learning in this class, write a paper describing a system designed for motivation and empowerment in your organization. In your assessment address the following questions:
- What would you do to make your team members excited about the work?
- Find some examples of each type of motivator, and which is more powerful for leaders to use?
Based on your experiences in teams or organizations, which types of motivators are used most often?
Power Base and Leadership
British historian of late 19th century, (Acton, 1887) said that “power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely,” suggesting that a person’s sense of morality lessens as his or her power increases. Do you agree? Considering this idea, is it ethical for leaders to try to increase their power? Is all power the same or are there different power bases and different corresponding influence techniques? How does the use of power impact the leader-follower relationship?
Choose any organization and describe the power base(s) in that organization. What types of techniques do leaders use to influence team behavior in that organization? How does the leaders’ approach affect team relationships? As a leader, how would you use power in your relationships with team members and why?
