Motivation Theory: What Motivates Me
As an employee, I am motivated by items that are personal to my life’s situation. These items have to deal with things that affect my family, my future financials, and me. With considering these things, the company that I work for must have a positive influence on these personal motivational factors.
In the workplace, my motivation to get work done and complete task is based upon the leadership style of my supervisors. A supervisor must understand that my family and future success are key motivational factors for me and my future within the organization. Having an employer that threatens these motivations will result in me putting forth less effort to satisfy my work responsibilities. Moreover, I would begin looking for ways in which to leave the company and instead follow a company that positively influences and aligns with my personal motivational factors. Because family and future are important, it means that steady income, business reference, reliability, likeability, and financial advancement are also important.
The style of leadership that I look for in an employer matches that of a transformational, servant, and transactional leader. A servant leader would take my personal needs and motivations into consideration and will be able to develop upon them (Liden, Wayne, Liao, & Meuser, 2014). This type of leader is said to be sensitive to the personal motivations of their followers (Liden, Wayne, Liao, & Meuser, 2014). While a servant leader would be desired, I believe it would be unlikely to find such a leader considering my belief that workplace employers have other responsibilities outside of serving their employees. A transformational leader can be an ideal point of reference for my learning advancement. This type of leader could motivate me by being optimistic about my future position within the company and would help me reach my career goals (Kovjanic, Schuh, Jonas, Quaquebeke, & Dick, 2012). I would be able to use this type of leader as a role model and they could help me reach my mental capacity for achieving my goals. A transactional leader could provide me with short-term project and task exchanges as motivation to reach my short-term goals (Northouse, 2013, p. 195). The types of rewards and incentives that a transactional leader provides would be motivational throughout the journey of achieving my long-term objectives and satisfying my personal motives.
Overall, nothing is more paramount for me than trust in my employer’s leadership. Having a leader that I trust, would keep me not only motivated for reaching my personal goal, but would build motivation for me to achieve my current and future career goals. Following leaders and working for organizations that provide transactional, transformational, and servant leaders would be effective and beneficial to both myself and my employers if they desire my dedication, knowledge, and creativity within their organization.
Credits
Kovjanic, S., Schuh, S., Jonas, K., Quaquebeke, N., & Dick, R. (2012). How do transformational leaders foster positive employee outcomes? A self-determination-based analysis of employees’ needs as mediating links. Journal of Organizational Behavior. Retrieved November 11, 2014, from wileyonlinelibrary.com
Northouse, P.G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and practice (6th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications
Liden, R.C., Wayne, S.J., Liao, C., & Meuser, J.D. (2014). Servant leadership and serving culture: Influence on individual and unit performance. Academy of Management Journal, 57, 1434-1452. doi:10.5465/amj.2013.0034