Cultural Dimensions of Leadership
February 12, 2025
In the 21st century, it is being increasingly recognized that Democracy has emerged as the alternative to other systems of political thought in delivering the fruits of economic success to the citizens of the world. With the rise of liberal democracy in the world since the demise of communism in the 1990’s, there has been […]
The organizational game is changing fast these days. The HR manager today acts as an associate with line management to crack important business issues. We therefore, have the emergence of Business HR function these days. One of the most common factors in all organizations these days is the Change. This “change” brings “Risk” along with […]
Ethics Management Programs are designed by an organisation or an employer as an attempt to have formalised structures for ensuring the organisation is perceived as fair, honest, responsible and just. Ethical programs globally are designed keeping four things in mind: Considering oneself and the organisation as part of the larger social framework. Considering the development […]
The previous articles touched upon the role of hierarchy in decision making. In this article, we consider whether top down decision or bottom up decision making is effective. To consider this comparison it would be useful to think of top down decision making as being akin to someone sitting on top of a tree telling […]
Successful leaders must have certain exceptional traits which serve as the pillars of the foundation of successful leadership. Effective leaders should have enabling capabilities, must be able to share the common vision, are supposed to be deft in challenging the existing system/processes, should have encouraging qualities and be able to model behaviour. Inspirational Leaders as […]
The previous article introduced the concept of leadership development and the steps that organizations can take to ensure that leaders are groomed by identifying potential leaders and then fast tracking them.
This article looks at one trait of potential leaders that goes a long way in determining the success or otherwise of the leaders. This trait is motivation, the will to succeed, and the desire to do well, which is an integral part of leadership development.
Motivation is necessary for leaders to reach the top and the types of motivation are intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is the will to succeed by changing oneself from within and extrinsic motivation is the performance that is driven by external rewards.
The point here is that individuals have to be motivated from within and then they have to be rewarded with external benefits and benefits to achieve the best results in organizations.
This is clear from the emphasis that HR managers and senior executives place on matching rewards with performance that is first driven from within. To explain further, leaders have to be motivated to perform by a strong urge to succeed from within and then the external rewards have to match their performance.
Employees who are only motivated by external rewards do not make great leaders and conversely, employees who are not rewarded for their performance stagnate and lose morale. Hence, the strategic fit between intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation has to be just right for organizations to get the best from their employees. This is the reason many organizations go the whole distance in aligning incentives with performance.
Unless employees are motivated from within, incentives and rewards can only help that much and unless high performers are rewarded appropriately, intrinsic motivation withers away.
The recent global economic crisis brought to the fore the system of flawed incentives that was in place in the investment banks and Wall Street firms.
The point here is that though the bankers were performing well, the rewards were too high and this made them take unnecessary risks and not heed to the “inner voice” that guides us all in our daily life and career.
Since this internal director compels us to be ethical and normative, the absence of conscience among the bankers led to their taking unnecessary risks with their business practices. The underlying incentives that were disproportionate to their actual performance made them oblivious to risk and ethics. Hence, the balance of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation has to be just right for high performance that is also ethical and normative in nature.
Finally, all of us need a higher vision for ourselves to succeed and this is the extra something that drives us to greater heights.
As many theorists have pointed out, once the need for wealth and status is achieved, the higher needs of self-actualization or the need to be driven by vision appears. Hence, the conclusion is that intrinsic motivation is the driver for success as leaders and the rewards have to match this but not exceed beyond a certain point.
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *