Organizational Motivation Leadership Effective and positive leadership is a basic foundation for any administrative institution to yield good results and therefore cause a great impact.

In this study we base our focus on a critical organization which is the infant daycare.

Infant daycare organization

Infant daycare centers are organizations that focus on the welfare of the child by providing care while the parent goes to work or gets engaged in other activities that may not allow the mother of father to be around the child during the day. The state requires that such organizations meet certain standards of safety, health and that the staff should have proper training. These institutions are normally equipped with fun toys and learning materials with the qualified caregivers trying as much as they can to make the life of infants as comfortable as possible. With the many challenges that infants face including having to master the ability to learn and regulate their own behaviors to suite the different social and emotional developments, the caregivers should aim at influencing the child's behavior towards a positive direction by constantly role-modeling the kid when they are around the kid. The caregivers are able to nurture children's development in relation to their appropriate ages as well as give an account to the parents. Study shows that children tend to get attached to their caregivers because they spend most of their time with them and learn a lot from them (Kendra Cherry, 2012).

However, most parents desire the best for their children and look for quality care centers. Some of the features that one should look at while selecting a good care center include:

Dynamic features- this means that the caregivers should have incredible expertise in relating with infants since infants are at a stage in which they learn by interacting with the adults.

Contextual features -- the caregivers' stability should be looked into in a way that their welfare is also catered for so that they may have the zeal and passion to do their work.

Structural features- the qualification of the caregivers should be considered as well as the ratio of the staff to the children; this ensures that one is not overwhelmed and that a positive outcome is achieved.

Employee apathy at the day care center

Due to the extreme interpersonal participation of care giving, one may suffer the burnout syndrome which most people find it hard to believe when issue to do with stress arise. Just like in any other institution, caregivers also face external and internal challenges. External challenges include economic constraints and security threats while internal pressures include apathy. In a manner, the external factors can highly contribute to apathy among the staff in a day care center. If the individual is under absolute economic constrains or has a security problem from the family level, this is sure to affect the commitment and the performance at work.

Reasons and solutions for apathy

Apathy is a state which may affect the caregivers when they feel a lack of personal accomplishment especially when the infant looks up to him/her as a role model but in real sense the caregiver feels like his delivery of service is not enough. There are some pointers that can easily show one that a given member of staff is suffering apathy, and some of them are that one tends to develop a sense of insecurity by feeling inadequate or unable to satisfy the needs of the kids, one being easily irritable even by the kids whom she previously liked and had proper control over, one behaving in ways that are contrasting with his/her usual self-image or principles.

This lack of interest may be stirred up by the state of environment one has to put up with within the day care center on a daily basis as well as the seemingly monotonous situations that the person may be undergoing on a daily basis, yet at times it could be as a result of one caregiver being overwhelmed due to an imbalance in the teacher to child ratio, resulting in absolute strain on the caregiver with too many kids in her hands to handle a consequence of which will be apathy.

In order to manage this kind of situation effectively there are various ways that an individual can effectively minimize the chances of apathy as well as the emanation of apathy in case it sets in;

One has to have a clear understanding of his aim, goals and review how he is faring on with the daily work as a caregiver. There should be an expressed level of self-awareness among all the caregivers found within a given center.

One has to have an understanding of his own talents and skills...

Effectiveness in dealing with little kids can be widely derived from the innate skills and talents hence identification of the talents that one has is a very significant step towards beinf effective hence fighting apathy.
One has to get support from colleagues, family, community and friend as well as take time off without feeling guilty. This support will ensure that one has all the necessary extra information about how to handle a particular task with the kids hence not feeling insufficiently informed and the time offs will ensure the individual is rejuvenated for the work hence keeping burnouts at bay.

It is also important for one to use the holidays and vacation times well to refresh ones self and getting away from the work environment is a major step towards this as it helps refresh ones spirit.

There is also need for one to participate in training programs to improve on their skills and professionalism (Sharalee Whitehead, 1984).

Role of leadership in the daycare center

In any institution, the leadership style and the personalities that are in the leadership positions can greatly influence the kind of services that are offered in terms of quality. Apathy can be widely attributed to lack of motivation within the day care center therefore there is need for leaders in such institutions to adopt cultures that will help the caregivers feel energized at work and attain their full potential (Bob Whipple, 2012).

In this case, the leadership should ensure that the caregivers have sense of enrichment and that they are empowered; this may be achieved by:

Ensuring that the leadership operate with absolute intelligence and sensitivity towards the emotional needs of the caregivers.

Ensuring that there is a clear set vision of the future to help the caregivers gain a sense of direction for working. The knowledge of a common goal that has been well communicated by the leadership makes the teaching process effective.

The administration also needs to foster teamwork that will help build the morale and passion of caregivers. The caregivers should also be allowed to contribute in decision making processes.

Building trust so that one does not feel like they are being monitored but rather they have some empowerment that emanates from the administration.

The leadership should also be to the habit of rewarding excellence to improve the meaning of work. Since apathy is as a result of being ignored, which makes employees have an emotional shutdown, the caregiver will be motivated by being recognized.

The leadership should also ensure that opportunities to learn new skills are provided to the caregivers so that they may be appropriately prepared for advanced jobs. One may also come up with activities that will help build engagement between the leadership and staff. Such informal programs as employee open door policies help ease the tension within the day care center environment.

The leadership approach should be packaged in a system known as 'management by objective, (MOB)'. This kind of system bridges the power distance gap between the workers and the leadership hence allows free talk between the employers and employees (Kuldeep, 2011).

How motivational theories can be used in motivating an apathetic employee

The issue of apathy should be looked at with a lot more attention to avoid costly consequences and cause a feeling of irresponsibility. Motivation can be attained from within the organization as the employer can only inquire what works for the caregivers and make the relevant changes by restructuring the style of management and monitoring the results.

Some of the theories that can be applied in the correction of employee apathy in an infant daycare organization include:

The achievement motivation theory

In this kind of situation, one may be allowed to come up with innovative solutions that would give the participants a great sense of satisfaction if one achieves positive feedback. This also requires one to plan and think ahead about the future of his career and what he would like to have achieved within a certain span of time. According to David McCelland, (2012) this theory is hinged on the fact that each individual is has the intrinsic need to be appreciated as having achieved something.

The intrinsic motivation theory is also one that the employees find by getting the sense enjoyment and purpose in what they are doing. In such a situation, the organization is not overly dependent on the CEO for the effective…