Herzberg brought to the matter meant a u-turn in previously thinking. He

stated as first that the opposite of satisfaction is not dissatisfaction,

as was traditionally believed, but that both are distinct and separate.

Intrinsic factors such as the work itself, responsibility, and achievement

seem to be related with satisfaction (motivators), while extrinsic factors

such as supervision, pay, company policies and working conditions are

associated with dissatisfaction (hygiene factors). This theory has had a

major impact on management in the last 30 years and the fact that managers

nowadays allow workers greater responsibility in planning and controlling

their work can probably be attributed largely to Herzberg’s findings and

recommendations

2. Goal-Setting Theory (E. Locke):

The primary idea of this theory is that specific and difficult goals, with

goal/ feedback, lead to a higher performance. This means that, for example,

to motivate someone, you don’t say “Just do your best”, but you say

specific what has to be obtained, for example “You should strive for 85

percent or higher on all your work in English”. Research supports this

theory in that this do can lead to a higher performance, although it may

not lead to job satisfaction (cfr. supra).

3. Reinforcement Theory:

This theory states that reinforcement conditions behaviour. Behaviour is

thereby environmentally caused. What controls behaviour are reinforcers –

any consequence that , when immediately following a response, increases the

probability that the behaviour will be repeated. The theory ignores the

inner state of the individual and concentrates solely on what happens to a

person when he or she takes some action. Because it does not concern with

what initiates behaviour, it is not, strictly speaking, a theory of

motivation. But it does provide a powerful means of analysing of what

controls behaviour, and it is for this reason that it is typically

considered in discussions on motivation.

4. Equity Theory (J. S. Adams):

This theory poses that individuals compare their job inputs (i.e. effort,

experience …) and outcomes (i.e. salary, recognition …) with those of

others and then respond so as to eliminate any inequities. For example a

person who does the same job as another employee but gets paid less will be

motivated to perform better in order to eliminate the existing inequities.

5. Expectancy Theory (V. Vroom):

This is currently one of the most accepted explanations of motivation. Most

of the research evidence is supportive of this theory. Concrete, this

theory says that an employee will be motivated to exert a high level of

effort when he or she believes that effort will lead to a good performance

appraisal; that a good performance appraisal will lead to organizational

rewards such as a bonus, a salary increase, or a promotion; and that the

rewards will satisfy the employee’s goals.

The major theories briefly presented, we can now look at how in reality a

manager can implement these. Robbins mentions 6 applications. These are:

1. Management by objectives (MBO) (cfr. Goal-Setting Theory):

This means in realty, as a manager, you make sure that the organization’s

overall objectives are translated into specific objectives for each

succeeding level (divisional, departmental, and individual) in the

organization. You develop a program that encompasses specific goals,

participatively set with the employees, for an explicit time period, with

feedback on goal progress. MBO programs are used in many business, health

care, educational, government and non-profit organizations.

2. Employee Recognition Programs (cfr. Reinforcement Theory)

Consistent with reinforcement theory, rewarding a behaviour with

recognition immediately following that behaviour is likely to encourage its

repetition. For example: personally congratulating an employee, or sending

a letter or an e-mail, having a celebration because of good achievement, or

publicly recognizing, such as organizing a prize “Best Employee of the

Month” (he/she then gets a plaque on the wall). These programs are widely

used because it costs no money and according to research bears effective.

3. Employee Involvement Programs (cfr. Theory X and Theory Y, Two-Factor

Theory, Hierarchy of Needs Theory & ERG Theory):

The idea here is that by involving workers in those decisions that affect

them and by increasing their autonomy and control over their work lives,

employees will become more motivated, more committed to the organization,

more productive, and more satisfied with their jobs. Examples:

- participative management: subordinates share a significant

degree of decision-making power with their immediate superiors.

- representative participation: rather than participate directly

in decisions, workers are represented by a small group of

employees who actually participate

- quality circles: a work group of 8 to 10 employees and

supervisors meet regularly to discuss their quality problems,

investigate causes, recommend solutions, and take corrective

actions.

- employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs): these are company-

established benefit plans in which employees acquire stock as

part of their benefits.

4. Variable Pay Programs (cfr. Expectancy Theory):

Here a portion of an employee’s pay is based on some individual and/or

organizational measure of performance. Examples:

- Piece-rate pay plans: you are paid a fixed sum for each unit of

production completed.

- Bonuses: extra payment because of certain achievement.

- Profit-sharing plans: compensations based on some established

formula designed around a company’s profitability (direct cash

outlays or stock options).

- gainsharing: an incentive plan in which improvements in group

productivity determine the total amount of money that is

allocated.

5. Skill Based Pay Plans (cfr. ERG Theory, Reinforcement Theory, Equity

Theory):

These plans set pay levels on the basis of how many skills employees have

or how many jobs they can do. For example, if you are a machine operator in

a certain company, you earn 14$/hour, but because of the skill based pay

plan, you can earn up to a 10 percent premium if you broaden your skills to

for example material accounting. Several studies have confirmed that skill

based pay generally leads to higher performance and satisfaction. These

plans are expanding and already widely used with success.

6. Flexible Benefits (cfr. Expectancy Theory):

These allow employees to pick and choose from among a menu of benefit

options that exceeds the traditional benefit programs. The options might

include hearing, dental and eye coverage; life insurance; extended vacation

time; …. This way the different needs of the employees can be met. The

major theories and their applications were provided; we want to conclude

here with some general guidelines:

Recognize Individual Differences

Use Goals and Feedback

Allow Employees to Participate in Decisions that Affect

Them

Link Rewards to Performance

Check the System for Equity

The conclusion then is that нf you have the skill as a manager to tailor

the perfect motivation method for each of your employees, you will be more

effective.

2 Communication skills

With Rees (1991, p. 159), we can say that this characteristic is probably

the most important of all the characteristics an effective manager needs to

possess. Everything a manager does involves communication, his verbal and

nonverbal behaviour. Communication between managers and employees is

important in the sense that it provides the information necessary to get

work done effectively and efficient in organizations. Effective

communication is the critical factor that moves a team toward a resolution

or consensus (“How to be an effective manager”, 2000, p. 14).

Robbins & Coulter provide us with the following communication model (see

attachment 1). As we can notice by looking at this model, there are seven

factors involved in communication: (1) the communication source, (2)

encoding, (3) the message, (4) the channel, (5) decoding, (6) the receiver

and (7) feedback. The definition of communication is then “the transfer and

understanding of meaning” (Robbins & Coulter, 2002, p. 282). This means

that (1) the message has to reach the receiver ( for example a speaker who

isn’t heard does not communicate) and (2), more important, the message has

also to be understood in the way it was meant by the sender. Interesting to

note is that communication can be affected by noise, by which we mean any

disturbance that interferes with the transmission, receipt or feedback of a

message, for example a phone ringing in the background.

Robbins and Coulter (2002, pp. 288-291) distinguish 7 different barriers to

effective communication. These are (Robbins & Coulter, 2002, pp. 288-291):

1. Filtering: this is the deliberate manipulation of information to

make it appear more favorable to the receiver. For example when a

manager tells his boss what his boss wants to hear.

2. Selective perception: when people selectively interpret what they

see or hear on the basis of their interests, background, experience

and attitudes. For example an employment interviewer who expects a

female job applicant to put her family ahead of her career is

likely to see that in female applicants, regardless of the fact

that it is true or not.

3. Emotions: how a receiver feels when a message is received

influences how he or she interprets it.

4. Information overload: when the information we have to work with

exceeds our processing capacity. For example tons of e-mails. You

are bound to select and this way information gets lost.

5. Defensiveness: when individuals interpret another’s message as

threatening, they often respond in ways that hinder effective

communication.

6. Language: words mean different things to different people. Age,

education and cultural background are three of the more obvious

variables that influence the language a person uses and the

definitions he or she gives to words. The use of jargon, a

specialized terminology or technical language that members of a

group use to communicate among themselves, can be a barrier to

effective communication.

7. National culture: cultural differences and consequently different

values (cfr. the problems of intercultural communication).[39]

To these we can also add gender differences[40], status differences (for

example boss vs. subordinate) and interference of nonverbal communication

factors (for example smell as a personal physical characteristic).

Now what can a manager do to overcome these and as such be effective in his

communication? If we know that an average manager spends 80% of his or her

time communicating in one form or another (10% writing, 15% reading, 25%

listening and 30% speaking), communication is affecting a company in every

possible way (“How to be an effective manager”, 2000, p. 14). Therefore

effective communication is of extreme importance.

Robbins (2001, pp. 302-304) mentions 8 rules by which the barriers can be

bridged:

1. Use feedback: question the receiver to know if he understood the

message in the way it was intended.

2. Simplify language: choose words and structure your messages in ways

that will make those messages clear and understandable to the

receiver.

3. Listen actively: this means an active search for meaning, in

opposite to passively hearing

4. Contrain emotions: when emotionally upset, refrain from

communication until u have regained composure.

5. Watch nonverbal cues: to ensure that the receiver conveys the

desired message.

6. Empathize with others: put yourself in the shoes of your listeners.

This way you’re more likely to see things from their perspective.

Then you can choose the proper channel and the right words to

transfer your message (cfr. infra).

7. Use multiple channels: this increases clarity because (1) it

stimulates different senses and (2) it takes into account that

people have different abilities to absorb communication.

8. Match your words and actions: actions speak louder than words. When

nonverbal messages contradict official messages as conveyed in

formal communications, people become confused and the official

message loses its focus.

9. Tailor the message to the audience: different people in the

organization have different information needs. Individuals in

organizations vary in the type of information they need to know,

their preferred channel for receiving the information, and their

understanding of language, so you should take this into account and

tailor your message to your audience.

10. Remember the value of face-to-face communication when dealing with

change: as we shall see immediately, some channels are more rich

than others. Especially in times of uncertainty, it is appropriate

to use a rich channel to convey ambiguous and nonroutine messages.

11. Channels: understand that some channels have different effects on

different audiences.

To conclude, I want to give some additional information to these last two.

As a manager in the 21st century, you can make use of a wide variety of

communication methods thanks to the rapid progression in information

technology. These include: face-to-face, telephone, group meetings, formal

presentations, memos, traditional mail, employee publications, bulletin

boards, audio and videotapes, hot lines, electronic mail, computer

conferencing, voice-mail, teleconferences, and videoconferences. As a

manager, it is of crucial importance that you select the appropriate

method/channel to communicate a specific message. Recent research has found

that channels differ in their capacity to convey information. Some are rich

in that they have the ability to (1) handle multiple cues simultaneously,

(2) facilitate rapid feedback, and (3) be very personal. Attachment 2 shows

us the hierarchy of channel richness. The rule to choose one channel above

another depends then on the fact of whether the message is routine or

nonroutine. For example firing a person by sending him/her an e-mail isn’t

quite effective. Instead, sending an e-mail to let him know that he/she’s

invited for a personnel party this Saturday do is so.

As a conclusion we can say that effective communication is of extreme

importance if you want to be an effective manager. However, this doesn’t

mean that good communication skills alone make succesfull managers. We do

can say that нf the suggestions made here to communicate effective are

applied in a correct manner, then a lot of problems for a manager can be

avoided and surely the company as a whole will benefit from this.

5. Decveloping Trust inside the organization

Ethics and values have always been an important part of business, but they

are now looked at more closely as there have been many instances where they

were not adequately defined. According to Szwajkowksi in “The Myths and

Realities of Research on Organizational Misconduct”, managerial ethics are

“principles that guide the decisions and behaviors of managers with regard

to whether they are right or wrong in a moral sense.”[41] Because not

every manager and individual follows the same principles, ethical dilemmas

occur. It is crucial for a manager to first develop a list of core values

for himself in order to be consistent in his business practices. As a

manager handles each situation with these values, trust is built.

It is difficult to decide which values a manager should pay more attention

to. According to Stephen Robbins’s in “The Essentials of Organizational

Behavior” trust is defined as a “positive expectation that another will not

– through words, actions or decision -- act opportunistically”.[42] He

goes on to present that trust is multi-dimensional and therefore

encompasses a vast range of values within it. The Five Dimensions of trust

that he mentions are as follows:

. Integrity: honesty and truthfulness

. Competence: Technical and interpersonal knowledge and skills

. Consistency: Reliability, predictability, and good judgement

. Loyalty; Willingness to protect and save face for a person

. Openness: Willingness to share ideas and information freely[43]

By developing each of these qualities, a manager will encourage a

trustworthy environment in his relationships with his employees as well as

his superiors.

As Robbins suggests, trust is something that we expect as the outcome from

a person through our experiences with them. Over time, we get a sense of

how that person behaves and acts accordingly to our behavior. Trust is a

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