Unit 5: Managing Employees: Motivation, Empowerment, and Conflict Resolution
One of your most important functions as a manager is motivating your employees to do their best while attempting to meet corporate goals. When employees are motivated, they will seek out ways to improve their work production and maximize their performance. By giving employees the freedom to act on their own knowledge and skills, you will encourage them to ultimately be more productive for the company by fully utilizing their skill sets and, in the process, growing as professionals.
Every work environment encompasses a wide variety of personalities and professional styles. As a result, conflicts are sure to arise. Effective managers know how to address a conflict when it arises and how to frequently work in concert with others to ensure a speedy resolution.
Completing this unit should take you approximately 5 hours.
Upon successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- list the factors that motivate people;
- explain the value of empowering employees;
- analyze methods of recognizing and managing conflict; and
- assess the impacts of conflict in the workplace.
5.1: Motivation
Watch this video, which examines the puzzle of motivation, starting with a fact that social scientists know but most managers do not: traditional rewards are not always as effective as we think. Listen carefully to the illuminating stories that the speaker shares.
5.1.1: Case Study: Zappos Creates a Motivating Place to Work
Read the introduction and section 14.1, which provide an excellent glimpse into the concept of motivation by examining the company Zappos and the methods Zappos uses to identify and motivate effective contributors to the company's organizational success. Once an employee's initial training is complete, Zappos offers that employee a significant financial payment to quit his or her new job. That's right: after training is complete, Zappos will pay an employee to leave the company if they choose to. By implementing this unusual practice, Zappos attempts to create a strategic motivational environment in which all the people who work for the company have a strong desire to be there.
Read this article and consider the following questions: What makes you, as an employee, truly happy? Does money alone provide you happiness at work? How might applying Tony Hsieh's four components to building happiness at work affect your own work happiness? Does the organization you currently work for, or one you are familiar with, incorporate Hsieh's four components? If yes, how so? If not, how could you consider implementing these components in your own organization?
Reflect on the article that you just read on workplace happiness. Consider the following questions: Are you happy at your job? If not, what is preventing you from finding work that is more satisfying?
Share your thoughts on these questions in the course discussion forum. Read the responses that other students have posted and post your own comments. Be sure to take advantage of this opportunity to connect with your peers and to receive meaningful feedback of your own.
5.1.2: Need-Based Theories of Motivation in Management
Read this section, which discusses several theories that will broaden your understanding of motivation as a management concept. While there are indeed some similarities among these theories, each will have distinct characteristics that will allow you to better understand this valuable management tool. Be sure that you pay careful attention to each of these theories on motivation and that you are able to distinguish each from the others in terms of application. Each of these theories of motivation has a foundation in the identification of an individual need or desire that may be a perceived or a real deficiency.
5.1.3: Process-Based Theories of Motivation in Management
Read this section, which discusses a management approach that focuses on how the design of a job impacts the motivation of an employee. Rather than focusing on a perception of deficiency, this approach draws on a succinct analysis of the effects of an employee's surrounding work environment.
5.1.4: How to Develop Your Personal Motivation Skill Set
Read this section, which introduces you to the process of giving and seeking feedback. The effects of feedback are especially apparent when a manager completes a performance appraisal of an employee or when a member of an organization completes a self-appraisal. This section offers guidelines for giving feedback to employees and seeking feedback from your managers.
5.2: Empowerment
Read this article and consider the following questions: What is empowerment? Why is empowerment important to organizations and to employees? How can an organization's culture encourage or discourage employee empowerment? Do you feel empowered in your own work environment? Why or why not?
Read this article and consider the following questions: What are some of the benefits associated with empowering employees? How important is employee empowerment to improving an organization's productivity? Does the company you currently work for, or one you are familiar with, empower employees? If so, how does this philosophy benefit the organization?
5.3: Conflict Resolution
5.3.1: Case Study: PointCast
Read this section, which discusses negotiation failure through the example of a situation that occurred at the now-defunct PointCast Internet company. Workplace conflict stems from a multitude of sources; on occasion issues will arise after a manager mishandles resources or makes poor decisions that have a negative impact on an individual, a department, or even the entire company.
5.3.2: Management's Conflict Essentials
Read this section, which discusses several different types of conflict and how they should be framed within a workplace context. Note especially the idea that not all conflict is bad; in fact, some types of conflict can actually help bring about organizational change, which may in turn lead to improved working conditions and productivity. A healthy debate about conflict can often shed light on how to address several issues at once.
5.3.3: Identifying the Causes and Outcomes Associated with Conflict
Read this section, which attempts to establish some of the root causes of conflict. Pay particular attention to the discussion of some core jobs in the workplace that are prone to conflict.
5.3.4: Implementing Conflict Management
Read this section, which discusses some of the foundational ways to address conflict and identify specific styles of conflict management that fit with leadership styles. These styles fall on a continuum that observes levels of cooperation and levels of competitiveness. Sometimes there is actually a deficiency of conflict in a workplace environment, which can negatively affect productivity.
5.3.5: Management Must Understand Negotiations
Read this section, which introduces the process of negotiation and identifies the phases of negotiation and how to avoid common mistakes. Managers should develop the skill of identifying the BATNA (the best alternative to a negotiated agreement) within a given situation.
5.3.6: Conflict Resolution
Read this article and consider the following questions: Why does conflict occur in the workplace? Have you experienced conflict at work before? If so, why did the conflict occur? How was the conflict resolved? How can managers help reduce conflict?
Read this article. How important is it to resolve conflict at work in a peaceful way? What steps can a facilitator use to resolve conflict? How can a facilitator encourage resolving conflict healthily and positively? How can these four steps help you promote positive conflict resolution in your own workplace?
Read this article and consider past viewpoints you may have held about conflict. What issues have you encountered that resulted in conflict? Have you ever considered conflict to be a productive activity rather than one that is negative? Have you participated in positive conflict as a way of increasing productivity?
5.3.7: Bringing It All Together
Watch this video, which features Carol Bartz, the former CEO of Yahoo! and Autodesk. In this brief video, Bartz discusses how managers should actively make an effort to find enjoyment in leading others, especially since they (like everyone else) spend most of their waking hours at work. As you listen to this presentation, be mindful that as a manager, your job includes having compassion for others. Carol Bartz provides a sound example of this tip, which you should use as a jumping-off point to analyze your own personal approach to management.
Unit 5 Assessment
- Receive a grade
Take this assessment to see how well you understood this unit.
- This assessment does not count towards your grade. It is just for practice!
- You will see the correct answers when you submit your answers. Use this to help you study for the final exam!
- You can take this assessment as many times as you want, whenever you want.