Prime Gold Motivation the Leadership

Prime Gold Motivation

The Leadership Approach to help in Motivating, Inspiring and Energizing employees in Prime Gold Plus.

A challenge commonly encountered by businesses and professional organizations alike is in the motivation of personnel to perform and to succeed. This results in a set of obstacles to organizational performance, knowledge integration and preparedness for subsequent levels of professional and organizational advancement. It thus falls upon an organization's leadership to overcome such obstacles through the cultivation of motivation, engagement, knowledge accessibility, a sense of the value of the work one is doing within the context of the organization and its demands.

There is a core necessity in a business realm flagging economically, structurally and ethically, for a consideration of that which motivates effective employment and dedicated organizational affiliation. With the global economy altering patterns in trade, commerce and service sectors, it is necessary to begin to understand employee motivation from a multitude of perspectives, with practical, ethical and cross-cultural concerns all placing heavy demands on the organization as a whole to accommodate these needs. The objective of the discussion here is to better reinforce the theoretical understanding that employee motivation as a facet of business success is underscored by close correlation between a positive employee experience and an overall organizational productivity. A case discussion will consider the financial firm Prime Gold Plus, which is in a challenging position today with respect to the increasing internationalization of the global financial industry.

The literature review and interview analysis which are to follow here are intended to demonstrate that within the context of this fast-evolving business world, there remains an emphasis on such classically important features as qualified leadership and an orientation toward positive personnel motivation. These two features are inextricably linked in business theory and in the practice executed at Prime Gold Plus. The literature review here considers motivation, performance evaluation and managerial leadership in giving prelude to the Case Study and Analysis of Prime Gold Plus.

Literature Review:

Given the state of the global economy and the general demands placed upon us simply to remain balanced in the midst of responsibilities for the maintenance of living expenses, utilities, home and family, optimum pay tends to be a top priority for individuals in the job market. Therefore, most individuals feel they must find a position which assures that this concern will be addressed first and foremost. It is the motivation to many to achieve a comfort and a financial balance through employment which assures that major living expenses and recreational interests are accounted for.

This process is directly underscored by motivation, a condition which inclines the employee according to the core identification of driving forces in the success of meeting organizational objectives. Separate from the concept of organizational orientation, motivation may be more simply seen as that which drives the actions of an individual who will have certain expectations as the end result of said actions. As crucial social theorist Abraham Maslow (1970) contends, motivation is a force which is founded on certain desires, wants and needs. Reflected in these needs is an intent to be satisfied through the pursuit of the intended ends. This pursuit is underscored by this concept of motivation. (Maslow, 2) Therefore, for the purposes of the discussion which will here apply to work at Prime Gold Plus, it is worthwhile to accept the definition of motivation which states that this is a determinant variable in the way that an employee will behave with respect to opportunities both to work and to be evaluated.

As we have already applied a definition to motivation, it is appropriate to consider motivation now defined as an organizational priority. This is to note that "the study of motivation is the exploration of the energization and direction of behavior. Psychological theories are motivational theories only insofar as they address these two aspects of behavior." (Deci, 3) Namely, managerial leadership must today be armed with the ability to recognize these conditions as they are evident in individual employees. The increasing diversity of gender, ethnicity and cultural background is likely to experience a proportion of these two behavioral aspects that is distinct. This proposes a clear challenge for management to be able to recognize and seize on such proportions while simultaneously abiding traditional organizational goals relating to individual and collective performance outcomes.

In reinforcement of this idea, we consider a premise of historical theoretical importance to organizational behavior. This concerns the ideas proposed by B.F. Skinner. The 20th century behavioral psychologist would be the founder of his school of clinical examination and a key architect of the theoretical framework by which we have come to understand motivation as it relates to behavior and performance outcomes.

B.F. Skinner's ideas regarding operant behavior would become crucial to the discourse over organizational psychology. Matters of productivity, his theories would begin to illuminate, would be directly implicated by the personal experiences of individuals. Human beings, Skinner would surmise, could be understood by way of behavioral observation, which would reveal much about the psychological relationship between inward disposition and external context. Specifically, Skinner would argue that most intelligent animals can be understood quite simply by way of their responses to external circumstances. His theoretical construct depended upon the principle of behavior modification, which he believed demonstrated a quality of human response instinct that could be channeled into a better understanding or organizational tendencies. Skinner would note that in any interaction between an animal and his external environment, a "behavior is followed by a consequence, and the nature of the consequence modifies the organisms tendency to repeat the behavior in the future." (Boeree, 1)

This idea would, though seemingly simple, become a crucial paradigm for identifying causes to shared and institution-wide motivation. A further refinement in defining the nature of this study denotes that energy in motivation theory is fundamentally a matter of needs. . . . Direction in motivation theory concerns the processes and structures of the organism that give meaning to internal and external stimuli, thereby direction action toward the satisfaction of needs." (Deci, 3) In order for the organization to be able to meaningfully distill these behavioral aspects in employees, it is necessary for leadership to be versed in the theoretical bases which are directly relevant hereto. Chief among these, findings today are increasingly more inclined to the implications of Maslow's theoretical structure.

Here, in consideration of this subject, our reading of Deci references Maslow's hierarchy of needs, which is reinforced by the commonly high and shared priorities present also amongst deeply individualized employees. Specifically, Maslow cites such conditions as the need for self-actualization, for socialization and for personal security all as having a direct bearing on the ways people will tend to prioritize when making major life decisions such as how to proceed professionally.

Indeed, the notion of motivation is essential to seizing on the individualized ambitions and demands of employees in order to help each member of an organization succeed according to his own strengths and virtues. The discussion here on motivation touches on the issues of labor diversity and such theories as those relating to gender diversity, ethnic diversity and cultural organization within the organization in order to better understand that which motivates or demotivates employees. The focus is especially shaped by the modern emphasis on a globalizing economy, with differing cultures coming increasingly to interact with one another in the interest of common goals. A case discussion hereafter will revolve on a specific organization fitting this description, with the multinational implications of Prime Gold Plus demanding a discussion on personnel motivation in a globalizing economy.

An initial assumption, which comes through early in this discussion, is that the core of employee motivation may be found in the premise of positive reinforcement. Interestingly, a study by Effie MacLellan offers some insight into the potential drawbacks inherent in relying too heavily upon praise and positive reinforcement as means to promoting organizational motivation. The author warns that implementing such a rewards system in lieu of applying penalties for poor performance may promote what she refers to as 'learned helplessness.' (MacLellan, 196) By coming to depend upon such extrinsic positive reinforcement for the germination of personal motivation, an employee may come to fear failure, to depend on others for indices of his success and to build essentially unrealistic expectations of perfection for himself. In this regard, it may be suggestible that any sensible model for applying positive reinforcement as a means for improving individual performance attempt to balance this system with supplemental means to enabling the emergence of individual, intrinsic motivations for the pursuit of success. Herein lay the challenge at the crux of organizational leadership, where we are engaged in an ongoing effort to improve our capacity to integrate individual and institutional qualities in the professional setting. The primary risk in utilizing such methods of demonstration of a positive assessment is that these tend to conflate reward with assessment.

The Herbig (1997) text demonstrates to contrast this approach that "the assumption that motivation comes from within and cannot be imposed." (Herbig et al., 563) These motivational priorities, manifesting concretely in such terms as pay rate and personal interest, are relatively common throughout the working world. However, a point of distinction in this discussion may be raised from the fact that different cultures often produce distinct motivational forces. To this extent, the differences that are accounted for betwixt nations and demographics may be seen as directly pertinent to specific cultural realities within each of these contexts. Moreover, as our reading on the subject of significantly culturally divergent nations suggests, "the type of work goals whose pursuit is encouraged and rewarded depend in part on the prevailing cultural value emphasized in society." (Jaw et al., 2) This is consistent with our findings here thus far, including the intrinsic ideals of Maslow, which may be read to suggest that the exact manifestation of work values will be reflected on a larger social level but may be still be traced to such internally valued goals as self-preservation and acceptance within a specific social context.

This is a theoretical approach which would provide fundamental basis for the theories of Herzberg thereafter, who believed that the common and shared needs should be considered in direct balance to those individualized needs to create something of a motivation and performance matrix. Essentially, Herzberg introduces the idea that every individual is constituted of a balance of intrinsic and extrinsic motives. Therefore, he argues, every individual must be recognized according to this unique equation of factors. We find that this has been an extremely useful theoretical construct for many researchers who have proceeded in Herzberg's wake. For one example, "a new measure of motivation toward education has been developed in French, namely the Echelle de Motivation en Education (EME). The EME is based on the tenets of self-determination theory and is composed of 28 items subdivided into seven sub-scales assessing three types of intrinsic motivation (intrinsic motivation to know, to accomplish things, and to experience stimulation), three types of extrinsic motivation (external, introjected, and identified regulation), and a motivation." (Vallerand et al., 1003) Such instruments are designed to create a means to individual assessment where the balance between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation is understood, recognized and, thereafter, utilized in making individualized performance decisions.

Thus, a major role of leadership is to provide an organization with the context and organizational culture which can help to identify and apply that which motivates employees. This is perhaps the preeminent skill underscoring good leadership, with heavy demands being placed upon a managerial team to provide the company with a clear vision, with concretely definable benchmarking metrics and with the motivation to help move the organization toward success. According to Mitchell (2001) this helps to draw an important and perhaps an academically obscured principle that leadership is not the same as authority, with the managerial position naturally endowing one with the structures to demonstrate the latter. Essentially, without learned and demonstrated leadership, authority is an empty force with little of the necessary intrinsic motivation impacting team members. It is only in possessing the skill of the former that a leader can hope to credibly assimilate into an organization's strategy such important demands as proper planning and a readied preparedness to contend with change.

From the collective perspective which is of interest to the organization, there is also considerable evidence that where effective methods are applied to understanding and inclining motivation, success is usually experienced organization-wide. Indeed, according to one text used for this investigation, drawn from the Work and Employment Research Centre (WERC) of The University of Bath (2003), there is a many-variabled scenario which translates concretely to the equation that effective motivational tactics produce desirable performance outcomes and, ultimately, productivity and success.

Methodology:

The purpose of the study conducted here is to gather data on the effectiveness of Prime Gold Plus at channeling theories of employee motivation, performance evaluation, organizational management and leadership orientation into a broader success. The research will thus be based on a set of approaches intended to produce a cohesive set of findings regarding the future prospects of Prime Gold Plus.

Therefore, the study first is underscored by a comprehensive literature review which is designed to report upon the theories of motivation, leadership, performance evaluation and organizational management that give academic root to the discussion. Gathering a host of online sources, scholarly journal articles and texts on the subject, the study provides a firm basis for understanding that which works and that which doesn't in terms of organizational management.

Subsequently, the research will be driven by the data gathered in a survey questionnaire. Comprised of ten open-ended questions, the questionnaire would be administered to the manager of Prime Gold. The responses yielded here would be used to assess Prime Gold Plus both internally and externally. The Case Study is reported according to the cross-section of the responses provided and supplementary literature for the clarification of analysis. Consequently, these responses would be used to inform a SWOT analysis and an analysis of the company within the context of Porter's Five Forces.

The analysis thereafter would provide an overview of the prospects facing Prime Gold Plus in a changing global context.

Case Study:

As noted in the introduction and referenced throughout the literature review, this study is centered on the conditions and patterns in place at Prime Gold Plus. Prime Gold Plus is a business unit of Prime Credit Ltd., a subsidiary of Standard Chartered PLC Hong Kong, a Financing Industry that conducts money lending for OFW (Overseas Filipino Workers in Hong Kong). It has 3 branches that consist of 20 employees including the supervisors and branch managers. Its main competitors are UA Finance and Public Finance. In order to remain ahead of these competitors in spite of the modesty of its size, it is necessary for Prime Gold Plus to remain highly conscientious of the soundness of its business practice, beginning with such key personnel conditions as the presence of employee motivation, sound managerial practice and the oversight of an effective center of leadership.

The core of leadership at Prime Gold Plus is represented by a manager with a dedicated orientation to training, motivating and communicating with personnel at every level. The manager interviewed for the purposes of the case study would provide an insight that may be seen as reflective of the values of the company as a whole. The interview questionnaire would yield open-ended responses of significant value to the discussion conducted hereafter. Indeed, the responses are particularly useful in deconstructing the differences between management and leadership which drive the data-gathering instrument.

Of the functions and qualities attributed to managerial competency in the theoretical setting, perhaps leadership is an organizational and theoretical term most difficult to discern from the overall roles prescribed by a position in the fold of a company's management core. But in fact, leadership is a concept unto itself, that is necessary for sound management but is not exclusive to the purview of such positions. So is this revealed by the survey process used to underscore this study. By evaluating the position of the manager of Prime Gold Plus on the differences between leadership and management, we are given a number of responses that align with existing research to illustrate the distinctions between these. Indeed, we find in the responses here provided that leadership is a quality which can often mean the difference between effective management or authoritative impotence. So is this difference critically underscored in the response by the manager to the first question in the written survey. This asks the respondent "Can someone be a good leader, but not a good manager? Which is better for the company?"

To this, the respondent would indicate that "leadership is an in born quality of a person which some managers does not posses. Being a manager is a job position which at times may be achieved with the help of politics, thus sacrificing the good qualities needed for the position." This is a perspective which would seem to have been confirmed by the literature encountered during our research. Here, taken apart from a discussion of management roles and corporate hierarchy, leadership is an ability which, either inborn or, developed through hard work and ingenuity, presents the members of the organization with a paragon to forging action toward rational and collective goals. While it is the responsibility of managerial personnel to issue directives, instructions and clarifications on goal-orientation, it is only a leader who can find ways to motivate the members of his organization.

This is to argue that "when we function as leaders, we take on a unique set of ethical challenges in addition to a set of expectations and task. These dilemmas involve issues of power, privilege, deceit consistency, loyalty, and responsibility. How we handle the challenges of leadership will determine if we cause more harm than good." (Johnson, 10) In the absence of proper leadership, it may be difficult to channel these responsibilities toward the fulfillment of organizational expectations.

These difficulties are addressed by the questionnaire, which asks the manager to determine the importance of such management functions as that which provides oversight to the performance of employees. To this point, the questionnaire asks "how important is Performance Management in a Finance Company?" The response provided by the manager would underscore many of the points previously raised in the literature review, illustrating that there is a necessity for good leadership to find balance between delegation and oversight in yielding the desired results from patients. As the respondent would tell, "Performance Management is very important to all organizations not only to Finance Company. The system makes your employees perform their duties and responsibilities to the best of their abilities and encourages them to strive hard to meet management expectations. It allows you to maximize the full potential of your manpower that can lead to profitability."

This is, of course, a key to the successful coordination of responsibilities across an organization, As this response shows, the quality of an organization's output will only be as good as the performances which are dedicated to its completion. Thus, it is central that proper oversight and leadership acknowledge individual and group performance markers in order to properly interpret the ongoing effectiveness of meeting a project's goals. A crucial and preemptive approach to ensuring that project contributors are meeting expectations, our research shows, is to provide in advance all such contributors with benchmarks of achievement. This way, individuals are made aware of concrete and easily definable responsibilities. "The importance of establishing baseline measurement" is both instrumental to maintaining a gauge for performance quality and to ensuring that project contributors know how to read and respond to this gauge. (TSG, 1)

It is also important to tailor evaluation strategies to individual strengths and abilities. As such, proper performance monitoring will be stimulated by close interaction between management and those under consideration, with a project's advancement hinging on proper exploitation of talents and virtues. In order to accomplish this, employees should be consulted in private one-on-one sessions with Human Resources, in which "an open dialogue should occur which allows the exchange of performance oriented information." (OHR, 1) This approach would have a positive reciprocal effect of bringing to the surface the abilities and shortcomings of individuals while simultaneously offering them feedback on the administrative perceptions of such strengths and weaknesses. By ensuring that employees are aware of and engaged in the process of their own evaluation, an organization may ensure that such is a mutually beneficial process, which can be a key to maintaining an effectively motivated atmosphere.

So is this illustrated in the respondent's attendance of the question which asks "How does Prime Gold Plus motivate your staff in their workplace?" The response here indicates that management is highly conscientious of the connections between motivation and reward discussed in the literature review. Here, the manager would indicate that "staff performance is evaluated periodically and management rewards through monetary renumeration and work progression those deserving staff who consistently meet management standard." This response is a demonstration of the fulfillment of various needs as these needs are highlighted according to such theories as that by Malsow (also addressed in the literature review.) Clearly, Prime Gold Plus is dedicated to success through the motivation of its employees on economic terms, prospects for advancement and, at the very least, the awareness of regular and purposeful evaluation processes and procedures. This echoes much of our discussion regarding employee performance management. This centers on the changing nature of business today, within which companies "must continually improve their performance by reducing costs, innovating products and processes, and improving quality, productivity, and speed to market." (Becker, 770) By considering each of these as a function of employee performance and motivation, organizational management can and must direct its attention to evolving its operational capacity through the accommodation and happiness of its personnel. In this effective construction of a motivational environment, productivity will be yielded and the ability for Prime Gold to monitor this in such aspects as financial earnings, customer satisfaction and customer retention will have a substantial effect on its ability to meet such ambitions as expansion.

Analysis:

SWOT

The questionnaire responses provided have created the prospects not just for a useful case study on motivation, leadership, performance evaluation and organizational success. Indeed, the responses yielded by the questionnaire also allow for the effective evaluation of the organization as a whole. An analysis of the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats to the company is enabled by the questionnaire responses and the contextualizing research produced here within.

Accordingly, we evaluate the Strengths of Prime Gold Plus as revolving on its product, which is identified as sound financial consultation, constructive financial planning assistance, reliable money management and a fundamentally stable internal structure upon which to base confidence in these elements. A core strength then for Prime Gold Plus is the relative degree of assurance which it is able to provide to its customers based on a clean track record, a healthy measure of experience and a willingness to devote the time needed to each customer.

This latter point indicates another of the company's fundamental strengths, which the manager identifies in the questionnaire as being a concerted focus on customer service. Here, the manager would indicate that "aside from our product, we are proud of the quality of service we offer our clients and this is greatly appreciated and admired by them. We prioritize customer service above the rest." This is a great strength enabled by the modest scale of the Prime Gold Plus compared to its larger competitors. Armed with the ability to devote a special level of private attention to each and every customer, Prime Gold is uniquely situated as a financial firm with a far reach into the financial world and a simultaneous intimacy in meeting the desires of its clients.

Still, its small scale does promote some difficulty in balance to its benefits. Namely, Prime Gold Plus is a multinational firm that, nonetheless, is more modest in resource availability than many of its competitors. That means that we generally carry fewer employees, operate in fewer national contexts and offer fewer facilities for operation than many of our competitors. The outcome is a more modest capacity to generate attention, notoriety, business and reputation.

However, Prime Gold does have myriad opportunities before it to gain improvement in these areas based on this very feature. Because of its small scale, Prime Gold requires less capital for the implementation of a major transition. The opportunity identified by the manager in response to the questionnaire instrument indicates exactly this. Here, the respondent would indicate that "there is still a large room for improvement because total business is just a small fraction of the target market of Prime Gold." As Prime Gold continues to grow as a player in the global financial market, it may have the opportunity to expand along with its geographical reach. In the present atmosphere of deregulation, there truly is a potential for the financial firm to become a more noted player in the marketplace. Its unique orientation toward product and customer service will be greater virtues as it grows to provide these to a wider array of potential clients.

As far as threats are concerned, this unique orientation may not be unique for very much longer. In spite of its modesty in scale, Prime Gold Plus has attracted the attention of upstart competitors, who view its model as attainable and desirable for its balance of strength and smallness. As the manager would denote in his response to the questionnaire, "other financing companies are starting to imitate and duplicate Prime Gold products and promotions. They are beginning to understand how we conduct our business operations."

It is also fair to observe that the current state of the economy registers as no small element in determining the success or failure of an organization. Therefore, Prime Gold Plus must remain dynamic and effective in confronting the ups and downs of a global economy in recession and correction. In noting the balance required in seizing opportunities and defending against threats, the manager would note that "these opportunities and threats need to be addressed properly in order for the business to continuously grow and achieve the desired targets. In doing so business as well as management and staff can learn from these experiences. Use these situations as tools to enhance knowledge and techniques for better performance in the changeable market situation."

Theory X and Theory Y:

Another important consideration for Prime Gold Plus relates to its personnel orientation. The focus of management must take a balanced approach between regulatory oversight and the delegation of independent responsibility. This inclines a consideration of Theory X and Theory Y Another way to understand leadership orientation within a business context considers that there are two opposing and yet complimentary theories on how best to gain the desired performance from personnel. This is the purpose of Douglas McGregor's Theory X and Theory Y, which provides two sharply antithetical views of employee orientation. To McGregor's view, each of these impressions tends to shape the approach taken toward employees by management, the organizational culture produced by this dynamic and the general level of results produced by employees.

Managers who appeal to the Theory X perspective on their workers will take the approach that micromanagement is necessary in order to yield desired performance outcomes. Most workers, the Theory holds, are independently lazy and unmotivated, and therefore must be pushed to meet workplace objectives. Accordingly, the theory holds that "because of their dislike for work, most people must be controlled and threatened before they will work hard enough." (ATD, 1) Management which subscribes to this view will be inclined to impose tight control, regulation, regiment and oversight to the achievement of day-to-day and longterm goals. Low morale is often reported amongst workers in this context.

To serve as a counterpoint, Theory Y takes the perspective that most workers have taken their positions because of a combination of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. The former of these will incline most employees to seek independent success, advancement and contribution to the workplace. This denotes the need for a hands-off style of management that simply rewards and acknowledges positive performance while providing an atmosphere in which growth is possible. The research conducted here indicates that, according to Theory Y, "if a job is satisfying, then the result will be commitment to the organization. The average man learns, under proper conditions, not only to accept but to seek responsibility." (ATD, 1) This indicates that management has the responsibility of seeing that employees' needs are met and that they are challenged in their positions. The outcome will be a higher level of creativity, energy and achievement by employees.

Though these two theories strike an extremely sharp contrast from one another, they are not mutually exclusive to one another. There is measure for consideration of both in any organization, where leadership will find the need to incorporate elements of performance oversight and the encouragement of independent ingenuity. Different ratios of each are required depending on the nature of the work, the scale or structure of the organization and the level of ability or compensation afforded to personnel. McGregor intended for these theories to be considered in concert with one another to address the pragmatic needs of the organization in question.

Least Preferred Co-Worker:

A useful way to determine the proper balance in leadership and management orientation between regulatory oversight and the delegation of independent responsibilities is the Least Preferred Co-Worker survey, which would be used in this research to determine the features expected of the ideal Prime Gold Plus employee. The survey instrument measures 18 separate variables on an 8 point Likert Scale. Different dynamics pose positive and negative traits against one another and ask management to judge that which is most or least desirable. Examples of such pairs include the qualities of being pleasant vs. unpleasant; supportive vs. hostile; tense vs. relaxed; open vs. guarded; considerate vs. inconsiderate; and backbiting vs. loyal. The points noted for each variable denote something different about the type of employee expected at Prime Gold Plus. An analysis of responses held in light of one another will produce a complete profile for the type of personnel desired for the firm.

Porter's Five Forces:

According to Porter's Five Forces, we can begin to more clearly understand the position and opportunity before Prime Gold Plus. These terms offer us a way to accurately recognize the implications of Prime Gold's emergence as player in the global financial markets, both in terms of its position of strength and its relative vulnerability.