Leadership, Organisational Structures and How They Affect Motivation.

This is just a few ways for leaders to motivate your staff…….

1. You should use Motivational Quotes, such as

·        The Secret of Getting Ahead is Getting Started

·        You can never quit. Winners never quite and quitters never win.

·        The greater the hardship, the brighter the flame.

·        Who you are isn’t the result of your work. You are the journey you took to get there!

      
2. Use the most suitable leadership style with you staff!

There are three different leadership styles; Autocratic, Democratic and Laissez-Faire Leadership Style. In an autocratic leadership style, the leader has total authority and control over decision making. The leader does not only control the team, but also monitors them for completion ⁽¹⁾. In this leadership style, the leader has absolute power over the people under him. The democratic leadership style is very different from autocratic leadership style. The democratic leadership style is a very open and collegial style of running a team ⁽²⁾. Ideas flow in his leadership style, and everyone is given the opportunity to voice out ideas, opinions and thoughts. Therefore, meetings and discussions will be quite smooth flowing, as compared to the autocratic style of leading. The Laissez-Faire leadership style is very delegative, in which leaders are hands-off, and give the authority of making decisions to the team members. This leadership style is found to be the least productive among all three leadership styles ⁽³⁾. The best leadership style, based on my opinion would be democratic leadership style, as it is not too controlling, and hands off.

If I was the leader, I would try my level best to apply the democratic style of leadership to my team members. This is because I feel that it will make the leadership style effective, and the communication will be able to go across all the team members, and it will motivate them at the same time. Some staff like to be involved and given the authority to voice out, and therefore, if they are given the chance to do so, it will make them motivated to strive for better opinions and ideas every time. However, this leadership style may not work with certain people, and leaders should be able to detect whether it works or not. If the leaders do not have to have the abilities to detect of the style they are using is working or not, the message that they are communicating will not be understood by the staff/team members and this can lead to demotivation to work and get involved. When the staffs become demotivated, the quality of work produced will definitely reduce, and this is a negative impact on the staff and the leader. If the leaders find that the method isn’t suitable for his team, he should change and try out other leadership styles. To sum up, leaders should know his team by the tip of his fingers, and this will allow him to choose the appropriate leadership style to communicate with them. Therefore, leaders should make changes from time to time, in terms of leadership style, depending on staff, and always make sure that whatever technique used is effective.

3. Decide on an appropriate Organizational structure for you to use on your staff.

Tall Organizational Structures are very complex, as compared to the wide/flat organizational structure. This organizational structure has a taller hierarchy, which means that they are not many people on the same level/rank, which means that each person is in control of a small area ⁽⁴⁾. This means that the span of control is lower, due to the fact that there are not many people under each person and the chain of command is longer, because of the existence of many ranks. When the organization grows and develops, there are even more ranks, which makes the structure even taller.

This is an example of a tall organisational structure ⁽⁵⁾:

As shown in the hierarchy above, there is only one person who works on one part. Therefore, I can deduce that the motive of this organisational structure would be to focus on quantity over quality. This is because, they company might have the motive to do various areas, but not go detailed into each area, maybe due to the expectations and demand of the society.

In Wide/Flat Organisational Structures, there are less management levels. The main focus is to have a few employees, who have solid skills in them, rather than hire so many employees, who are not very skilled and experienced ⁽⁴⁾.

An example of a Wide/Flat Organisational Structure is the one on the right side of this image⁽⁷⁾:

Based on this hierarchy, there are more people of the same job on the same level,       which means that the style of working would probably be in a team, rather than individual. As shown, there are 2 priests who work under each Bishop. If this hierarchy is compared to the hierarchy on Tall organisational structures, I would definitely say that this is one would probably be focusing on quality over quantity, since there is more than one person on each rank.

To motivate staff in different organisational structures, the leader has to know which staff prefers to work on his/her own, or in teams. What the leader can do to motivate his staff, after knowing their personality, would be to organise them accordingly. For instance, those staffs who like to work in groups should be placed in groups, and those who like to work individually should be placed alone. This way, the manager is actually giving the staff the necessary job satisfactions, which will be a form of motivation. Staffs would be motivated this way as they would feel that the manager/leader has faith in them, and knows that they will be able to give their best shots at all tasks given. 


References:

1. "Leadership Styles: Autocratic Leadership." Leadership Styles: Autocratic Leadership. Leadership-toolbox.com, n.d. Web. 10 Jan. 2013. <http://www.leadership-toolbox.com/autocratic-leadership.html>.
2.  Leadership Styles: Democratic Leadership Style." Leadership-toolbox.com, n.d. Web. 10 Jan. 2013. <http://www.leadership-toolbox.com/democratic-leadership-style.html>.
3. Cherry, Kendra. "What Is Laissez-Faire Leadership?" About.com Psychology. About.com, n.d. Web. 8 Jan. 2013. <http://psychology.about.com/od/leadership/f/laissez-faire-leadership.htm>.
4. Griffin, Danna. "Tall Vs. Flat Organizational Structure." Smallbusiness.chron.com. Small Business, n.d. Web. 9 Jan. 2013. <http://smallbusiness.chron.com/tall-vs-flat-organizational-structure-283.html>.
5. Tall Organizational Structure. N.d. Photograph. Blogspot.com. Web. 10 Jan. 2013. <http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VqPK2z4-feQ/UDKM0gQXoSI/AAAAAAAAAFc/MWNcTtHIlg8/s1600/w7503e09.gif>.
6. Organization and Teamwork. N.d. Photograph. Http://pages.paloverde.edu. BUS 101. Web. 8 Jan. 2013. <http://pages.paloverde.edu/staff/lmartin/bus101/lesson8.htm>.

How Does Communication Affect Motivation?

Communication is defined as a two way process of understanding something, in which people exchange ideas and information ⁽¹⁾. Motivation on the other hand is defined as the process that initiates, guides and maintains goal orientated behaviours ⁽²⁾. Motivation is what makes us act, or in simple words, motivation is what makes us do something. If a person does not have motivation to complete a task, he would most probably not complete or, do it half-heartedly or even do it, but not by the deadline. Motivation is a very crucial and basic need in every human. Without any sort of motivation, nothing in this world would have been created, and therefore, no one will know anything. In my point of view, with motivation and a goal, that one wants to achieve in the end product, that product will have quality in it. From this, I have to agree that communication and motivation have a lot to do with each and other. This is because, communication can help motivate someone. In this essay, I would be discussing about communication, leadership and organisational structures, and how they affect motivation.

Types, Methods and Internal/External Communication.

There are three types of communication, verbal communication, visual communication and written communication. The type of communication used depends on whether it is an internal or external communication. Internal Communication means a communication that occurs within a company, between the employer and his employees. This means that internal communication might be private and confidential, and cannot be shared openly to everybody.  External Communication on the other hand means communication that occurs outside of a company, and is most of the time open to the public. One method to market and advertise would be by communicating externally.

           

Verbal communication is a medium for communication that entails talking using the spoken word such as talking face-to-face, on a telephone, or as a speech ⁽³⁾. This form of communication can either be external or internal. A real life example of verbal communication would be a prime minster giving a speech during the yearly Budget. He is speaking to the public and other minsters, and therefore, it is classified as a verbal communication method and it is a form of external communication.

           

Visual communication instead is a form of communication in which an image is used to communicate an idea or message ⁽⁴⁾. Methods used to communicate visually would be; a sign, poster, flyer, advertisement, drawing and a photograph. This form of communication can either be internal or external.  A real life example of visual communication would be the flyers by Domino’s Pizza ⁽⁵⁾. Domino’s would place their flyers, which have coupons on them in the newspaper, so that they are advertising to many people, since many of us do buy newspapers. This is an effective method of communicating and marketing.

           

Written communication on the other hand means a medium for communication that entails the written word ⁽³⁾. Examples of written communication are letters, emails, and manuals. A real life example of Written Communication would be including manuals in the products and gadgets sold, like what Apple does when they sell their products ⁽⁶⁾. They even have the manuals online and in the packaging of the gadget, so that customers who own Apple products to learn how the gadget works. This is one very effective way of communicating, so that users will know how to use the gadget, and therefore, will find out features that the Apple products have in which may not be in other products.

Types, Methods and Internal and External Communication and how it affects motivation.

           

The types and methods of communication relate to motivation as it is how the idea is communicated to people. In a manager staff relationship, the manager has to communicate in the way that the way the message is communicated, motivates the staff to do his/her job. For instance, in a visual communication, a certificate might motivate a staff. This is practiced in schools, where they actually give the teachers and staff who have been doing an excellent job on teachers’ day, or during the annual dinner. The leader could motivate the staff by recognising their effort, in the form of a certificate. This will make the staff feel that his effort is appreciated and recognised. Therefore, every time he does a job, he will do it really well. Since this form of communication occurs inside a company, it is considered as an internal communication method occurring between the manager and his staff.

            

An example of how verbal communication can affect motivation would be in a meeting. The manager who is conducting the meeting has to try his best to make the meeting as interactive and interesting as possible, like what is done in the company Google ⁽⁷⁾. The meetings here are not boring, and the person conducting the meeting will not just read the problem that has to be resolved and expect the staff to do all the work, the staff might get fed up and bored. What they do to make them motivated is try to engage all of them in the conversation, and start guiding them on how they could resolve the problem. They also do not conduct meetings with a large amount of people, to avoid some people from getting lost or not participating in the discussion. In this case, again, it is an internal form of communication, which occurs in a company.

           

An example of motivation in written and internal communication would be in a letter or email. When the manager writes an email to his staff, he should make it straight forward, and hit the points, and not go round the bush, and make the task/ message seem so complicated. He should also try to be polite in the message, and not make it seem like he is forcing the staff to do something. For instance, if his staffs likes smileys, and smileys motivate them, he should try to use some smileys in the email. This would make the staff feel that their boss is trying his best to make them feel comfortable. This would make the staff feel they are valuable.

Formal and Informal Communication

Formal Communication is defined as a type of verbal presentation or document intended to share information and which conforms to established professional rules, standards and processes and avoids using slang terminology ⁽⁸⁾. This means that this form of communication is professional, and is most of the time used for official uses, for instance in a project paper, annual reports, bulletins and handbooks. In this communication, language has to be precise and as said, slang terminologies cannot be used. An example of formal communication used in an Annual Report by Maybank ⁽⁹⁾. Based on how the information is addressed and communicated in this report, the words used are suitable, and the sentence structures are grammatically correct. This shows that the report is written formally. From this, it can also be said that formal communication can be trusted as it has to be certified before being published to the public.

Informal Communication on the other hand is a casual form of the sharing of information, which is typically used in personal conversations, with friends or family ⁽¹⁰⁾. This form of communication is unofficial and can only be used in certain communications, like on a phone call, certain e-mails and instant messaging. An example of an informal email would be when a boss wants to send an invitation to his staff, on an expo sale that will be held. He does not need to communicate the message in a formal way. Wherelse, if the staff needs to send a report on a recent project to his manager, the report has to be written in a formal way, which makes it a formal communication as it has to be kept as a record for the company. This report might also be used for other purposes in the future.

Formal and Informal Communication and how it Affects motivation.

Formal Communication affects motivation as it is also a way that is used to communicate, and there are definitely ways to use formal communication, that will still be motivating for staff. One way that a manager can motivate staff, is to recognise if a staff prefers messages to be communicated in a formal or informal way. It cannot be denied that certain documents have to be written formally, and this is the duty of staff to be able to accept them. However, for other communication purposes like reminders, tasks and many more, the manager can choose if he wants to communicate the message formally or informally. This is when knowing your staff plays in handy. When the manager knows what his staff prefer, he will be able to communicate the message accordingly. This will definitely play a part in the understanding of the staff. In a case in which the manager has to send a formal document to a staff that does not like formal communication, he should at least give the staff enough time to be able to understand or work on the task. This again will make the staff know that his/her leader understands him/her.

However, if managers use too much informal communication when communicating, the communication will seem not professional, which might make the company seem not very professional and in-official, and therefore, the leader should be able to distinguish whether formal or informal should be used in a specific situation. This is a skill that should be acquired by a good leader. Based on my opinion, I feel that there are more people who prefer informal compared to formal communication, because formal communication is sometimes quite complicating, and if it is very long, some people might get bored reading it. Therefore, I feel that leaders have to know how to motivate their staff, even in formal communication, by suing some of the methods that I have stated.

Upward Vertical Communication, Downward Vertical Communication and Horizontal Communication.

Upward Vertical communication is communication that occurs between a staff from a lower rank, to someone on a rank higher than him/her. For example, if the staff wants to send an email to the manager, it will be a form of upward vertical communication. Downward vertical communication on the other hand means the flow of information from a higher level to a lower level on the hierarchy ⁽¹¹⁾. 

Downward vertical communication occurs when someone on a higher rank wants to communicate with someone with a lower rank in the hierarchy. For instance, if a manager wants to talk to his staff, the communication would be a downward vertical communication. Horizontal communication on the other hand occurs when two people on the same rank communicate with each and other.

This is an example of Upward Vertical Communication in a bank ⁽¹²⁾:

From this image, I can deduce that if the officer wants to communicate a message to the branch manager, he would have to go through the operation manager and then to the Branch Manager. This would not only apply to verbal communication, but it all three types of communication. This is because, before submitting something to the main manager in a department, staff would have to consult their immediate leaders, who in this case would be the Marketing Manager, Finance Manager and the Operation Manager, so that they can know if what they have done is right or not, before sending it to the Branch Manager.

This is an example of Downward Vertical Communication, also in a bank ⁽¹³⁾:

From this image, I can deduce that if there is a message to be communicated by the Branch Manager to the Cashier, the message has to be passed to the finance manager, so that he will know what his staff would be doing, and then he has to inform the cashier on the message. This is to ensure that the sub-managers would know exactly what their staff would have to do, so that they will be able to advise them on how to complete the task well.

This is an example of Horizontal Communication in a bank ⁽¹⁴⁾:

           

From this, it is shown that all the members on the same level would communicate with each and other on a matter. I can deduce that this maybe because it is a major project, which involves all staff, and therefore, all the staff have to collaborate, as each of them have the areas that they specialise or work on, and all their knowledge is needed. 

Upward Vertical Communication, Downward Vertical Communication and Horizontal Communication and how it affects Motivation.

Upward vertical communication and downward vertical communication and how it affects motivation has been discussed throughout the essay, and therefore, I will not be discussing it alone. I have linked it with other sub topics in communications in the earlier part of the webpage. However, I will be discussing on how Horizontal Communication affects motivation.

Horizontal Communication, as said earlier is communication between people on the same rank. It will link to motivation as all staff in the same level would have to work together, and motivate each and other in the working environment. This is most likely because they work on the same thing most of the time, and know what each and other are doing. Therefore, it is not only the job of managers to motivate staff, but staff to have to motivate other staff and managers, to create a peaceful and smooth flowing working environment. Staff can motivate each and other by helping each and other out, and being there when people need help. For instance, in a real life situation like when one of the staff from a team is on medical leave, the other staff in the team should try their best to help out the sick staff by trying to cover for what he has to do as well. This does not mean that they should do his work, but they should just assist and guide him with it, so that he does not get overworked once he comes back to work. This way, there will be some sort of cooperation and form of teamwork among each and other. This can also improve the relationship between staff, which would also add on to the positive environment in work.


References:

1. "Communication." BusinessDictionary.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Jan. 2013. <http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/communication.html>.
2. Cherry, Kendra. "What Is Motivation?" About.com Psychology. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Jan. 2013. <http://psychology.about.com/od/mindex/g/motivation-definition.htm>.
3. SUPERVISOR ESSENTIALS TRAINING: ESSENTIALS OF COMMUNICATION 120." Www.toolingu.com. Tooling University, n.d. Web. 9 Jan. 2013. <http://www.toolingu.com/definition-950120-92941-verbal-communication.html>.
4. "What Is Visual Communication." Http://degreedirectory.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Jan. 2013.
5. Dominos Pizza Malaysia. Domino's Deals. N.p.: Dominos Pizza Malaysia, n.d.Domino's.com. Domino's Pizza. Web. 8 Jan. 2013.
6. "Manuals." Apple. Support.apple.com, n.d. Web. 7 Jan. 2013. <http://support.apple.com/manuals/>.
7. "Google’s Recipe for Effective Meetings." The Higher Ed CIO. Blog.thehigheredcio.com, 10 Jan. 2012. Web. 6 Jan. 2013. <http://blog.thehigheredcio.com/2012/01/10/googles-recipe-for-effective-meetings/>.
8. "Formal Communication." Http://www.businessdictionary.com. Business Dictionary, n.d. Web. 9 Jan. 2013. <http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/formal-communication.html>.
9. Maybank Report. Rep. Maybank, n.d. Web. 8 Jan. 2013. <http://www.maybank2u.com.my/WebBank/AU03.01B_ar2009_eng.pdf>.
10. "Informal Communication." BusinessDictionary.com. Business Dictionary, n.d. Web. 9 Jan. 2013. <http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/informal-communication.html>.
11. "Downward Communication." BusinessDictionary.com. Business Dictionary, n.d. Web. 6 Jan. 2013. <http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/downward-communication.html>.
12. Upward Communication in a Bank. N.d. Photograph. Http://www.rizwanashraf.com. By Adnan. 4 Feb. 2008. Web. 10 Jan. 2013. <http://www.rizwanashraf.com/2008/02/04/business-communication-and-its-types/>.
13. Downward Communication in a Bank. N.d. Photograph. Http://www.rizwanashraf.com. By Adnan. 4 Feb. 2008. Web. 10 Jan. 2013. <http://www.rizwanashraf.com/2008/02/04/business-communication-and-its-types/>.
14. Horizontal Communication in a Bank. N.d. Photograph. Http://www.rizwanashraf.com. By Adnan. 4 Feb. 2008. Web. 10 Jan. 2013. <http://www.rizwanashraf.com/2008/02/04/business-communication-and-its-types/>. 

An Introduction to Communication

What is Effective Communication?

Communication is defined as a two way process of understanding something, in which people exchange ideas and information ⁽¹⁾. Effective communication means the communication that has been done that will contribute to a positive and correct outcome. For instance, if a message is transferred correctly to the right person, the communication is effective. Similarly, if the message isn’t sent to the right person, the communication wasn’t effective. 

What is Internal and External Communication?

There a two kinds of communication; External Communication and Internal Communication. Internal Communication is any kind of communication that occurs within a company, between the employer and his employees. This means that internal communication might be private and confidential, and cannot be shared openly to everybody. Some examples of internal communication would be Video Conferencing among staff and the bosses, emails and many more too. External Communication means the communication that occurs outside of company, and is open to the public. Types of external communication include posters, advertisements and many more.

Suitability of Communication Methods in Different Situations.

There are so many methods of communication that are used in the current world. However, not all of these methods will be suitable and applicable in all situations. For example, in a situation involving a manager who has twenty staff below him; the method he would use to communicate with his staff’s would be different from a manager who has only six people under him. In the situation with twenty staff, it is not suitable to use verbal communication. This is because it would take too long time, and the message that it communicated might not be right. He would instead write an email, conduct a meeting, or write a memo to the staff. However, if the manager has only six staff to communicate too, it will be fine to use verbal communication.

Barriers of Communication

There will definitely be some sort of barrier or conflict that will be faced in communication. Some of it include; 

• Misunderstanding, 
• Physical and Environmental barriers
• Cultural barriers ⁽²⁾.

An example of misunderstanding can occur even at home, and might be common among all of us. When we call for food delivery or take away, the order that we place can be mistaken for a different order. For instance, if the costumer says: I would like to take away 3 Chicken Burgers and one Set D. The message that the staff got was: I would like to take away the Chicken Burger and one Set D. From this, there is a huge difference between the original message and the message understood, and a really small error can make such a big difference. Misunderstanding can cause a lot of major conflicts worse than this too. This barrier can be overcome by the staff repeating the costumers order before ending the call, so that he can ensure that what he understood from the message was correct, according to the demand and what the customer wants.

An example of physical and environmental barrier would be network issues; when a manager is in a rural area, with no Internet access and Network, he would not be able to communicate and connect with his staffs, who are in the city. Therefore, if there is an urgent message that he needs to pass to them, this message might not be passed on time, or might be passed, but the message passed might be incorrect. Innovations that have been done in technology can be used to overcome this barrier. The manager can always subscribe to a Data Plan, by his mobile phone line, which would allow him to obtain Internet Access at all times, at any corner of the world. Another real life example on physical/environmental barriers in communication would be the disruption n train services by the Central Railways of Mumbai ⁽³⁾. The Central Railway authority only informed the public one day before there was going to be a disruption in train services. This has affected many of the people living there, as majority of them travel via train every day to their destinations.

An example of cultural barrier would include language barriers. For instance, if someone who does not understand/speak Mandarin go to a China and want to know how to get to a specific place, the people around him might not be able to direct or understand what he wants to know. Language issues take place all the time, all around the world, because there are so many languages, and not everybody would be able to understand/speak all these languages. This barrier can be overcome by carrying a dictionary to the place to travel to, so that you will be able to understand their language, and they will be able to understand what you are saying too.

References:

1. "Communication." BusinessDictionary.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Jan. 2013. <http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/communication.html>.
2.    N.d. Photograph. Communicationtheory.org. Communication Theory Organisation. Web. 8 Jan. 2013. <http://www.google.com.my/imgres?hl=en>.
3.  DNA(Daily News and Analysis India). Central RailwayÂ’s Communication Failure to Blame. Central RailwayÂ’s Communication Failure to Blame. DNA India, 31 Dec. 2012. Web. 9 Jan. 2013. <http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_central-railways-communication-failure-to-blame_1784080>.