Follower Motivation Paper

803 Words2 Pages

Effective leadership and employee motivation varies widely depending on the industry an organization operates within. Finding the most effective leadership style to motivate followers is dependent upon the type of level of power a leader has within the organization and with his followers. Additionally, a leader, employing any of the leadership styles, will only be successful if they understand what motivates their followers. A balance between power and motivation must be maintained in order to attain the goals of an organization.
Follower motivation, in the simplest terms, is the leader’s ability to satisfy the follower’s needs. There are many theories about follower motivation but they all fall under one of two categories: process and content. …show more content…

Process theories include Adam’s Equity Theory and Vroom’s Expectancy Theory. The Equity Theory, developed by J. Stacy Adams, demonstrates how motivation is related to how people compare themselves to others. The theory states that a person will look at their own qualifications as well as their salary and benefits to see how they compare to others. They then judge if they are being treated fairly (Harell & Daim, 2010). Vroom’s Expectancy Theory is based on the belief that three factors drive how an employee thinks and motivates how they perform. “The theory contends that human behavior is a function of three related factors: (1) belief that effort will result in a desired performance level, (2) belief that performance will lead to rewards, and (3) the value of performing and accomplishing a task and the associated believed reward for that performance” (Harell & Daim, …show more content…

While most of the employees come to the organization with the desire to help children and families, that desire does not keep them motivated for the long hours, on-call weekends, low industry pay and very little recognition by the people they serve. The content theory of motivation is the most appropriate for this industry. Employees often base their satisfaction on the salary or benefits they receive. An example of this is when one employee works additional hours to complete service plans and case notes before the deadline in order to receive an off-call weekend while another employee puts with a family to reunite them with their children for the simple pleasure of having helped that

Open Document