Many managers use the stick and carrot approach to try and influence results. This does have merit but shows far less gain than applying psychological theory. I believe this “old school” methodology exists because of tradition. This is primarily driven by profit margin and is necessary to gain competitive advantage in the market. Managers and supervisors are expected to know how to reduce cost. It’s a requirement, and sometimes leads to the use of coercive power; “coercive power forces people to do things against their will by manipulating penalties and rewards,” (Northouse 2015 p. 12).
Historically, my experience has been that most HR Departments apply a weak form of industrial psychology. This includes job analysis, hiring, training & performance appraisals which are measurement/metric oriented. These methods do not necessarily place the right skills in the right positions including positions of leadership.
Recently I have been involved in high performance work team formation. In this process, I now see organizational psychology principles being applied. We are trying to understand motivation and attitude, influencing culture change and evaluating leadership qualifications as well as organizational development.
Through education and training we can teach employees and leaders behaviors that are motivated by recognized change, improvement & accomplishment. Focusing on improvement paths and measuring the journey, yields noticeable results that the Team can use as a catalyst to increase motivation leading to success and reward. The three components of Mumford’s Skill model (Mumford, et. al. 2000) explain this process. By developing individual attributes people who have beginning traits can become leaders. This starts with having motivation to be a leader. Cognitive abilities (general intelligence) that enables crystallized cognitive abilities increases knowledge based on learned experiences which increases competency in a leadership role (Northouse 2015).
Another aspect that is apparent in this process and an indicator that change is occurring is the presence of emergent leaders. Employees, who typically were not engaged, have stepped up and assumed roles leading their Team in aspects of safety, production, quality, and continuous improvement. This is possible because of the relationship with coworkers and the trust and support that these workers give to the emergent leader (Northouse 2015). In areas where one supervisor was responsible for all these functions, a team of employees leads the charge and measure their own progress. It encourages employees to work toward a common goal, increase engagement and commitment, enabling them to meet goals without coercion.
The definition of leadership is transforming as personal growth and development bring about new roles requiring leaders to change their approach.
Works cited:
Mumford, M.D., Zaccaro, S.J., Harding, F.D., Jacobs, T.O., & Fleishman, E.A. (2000). Leadership skills for a changing world: Solving complex social problems. Leadership Quarterly, 11(1), 11-35.
Northouse, Peter G. (2016) Leadership, Theory and Practice, 7th ed., Sage Publications.