In every organization, leadership and managership are vital tools of management that enable managers to influence the behavior of employees in the achievement of organizational goals. A leader is a person capable of influencing others so as to pursue particular goals. A manager is an individual responsible for performing managerial functions, which include planning, directing, controlling and organizing. A manager holds formal positions in every organization. For a manager to be successful in the management of an organization, he/she must possess the attributes of managership and leadership (Carlson, 2000).
There are excellent managers as well as poor managers in various organizations. Effective leadership and management of the workers encourage the accomplishment of goals at the workplace. This paper will look at the relationship that exists between managers and employees. It is crucial to note that low production and poor work ethics in an organization are caused by poor relationships between the manager and the employees.
In every organization, there is a management hierarchy that ensures smooth running of all operations. A good manager motivates and respects all the employees. A manager, should have qualities such as; fairness, honesty, be a role model, have insight and possess good communication skills. There are always ineffective and bad managers in most organizations nowadays. These bad managers do not have respect for their employees, use abusive language, bully employees and even criticize them openly in front of other workers. Most of these managers do not possess a positive role model, and are only promoted to management positions because they are experts in a specific field (Kaplan, 1998).
A good manager always has a positive impact on the employee’s performance and also the workforce. Successful management promotes positive employee motivation, recognition of outstanding persons, rewards, morale, development and engagement. Employees, who feel much connected to their employers, are highly productive and committed to their work. When both employees and the manager understand the various dynamics at the workplace, both parties will have a mutual understanding that will yield good working relations and increased productivity. A manager should comprehend the characteristics and strengths of employees faster, to be able to manage and coach them effectively.
A bad manager makes the worker feel demotivated, weary when at work and general unhappiness at the place of work. Employees always avoid interaction with such managers, – they never have a positive feedback on their employees, and they also tend to miss most of the meetings that are scheduled. Such bad managers are not in touch with their employees, and the results are poor morale and low productivity at the work place (Mathis, & Jackson, 2000).
Good leadership requires that the manager selects the proper communication channels and has good communication skills. Good communication skills and proper channels of communication are vital in every organization (Fisher, 2001). Currently, many organizations are using communication managing tools for employees to be fully engaged in the workforce and be highly productive. Various organizations and companies are using motivations to improve the employees’ performance. The communication management tools help measure the employees’ attitude, their opinion on human resource, roles at the work place, what they would prefer at the workplace, what motivates them to continue working and the role that the work they are undertaking is playing in their lives. By use of good communicating tools between managers and employees, employees’ attitude, outlooks on their managers and motivation can be measured, and this helps the organization gain a real picture of the experience of the workers at the workplace. Proper communication between the employees and the manager is critical as it enables managers to have knowledge of how the employees fit with their job, and how the employers can efficiently and effectively work with the employees for high productions.
Motivating employees is a key to every organizations success, and for that reason managers must devise ways to ensure that their employees are motivated for higher productivity. Managers need to know what will motivate the employees and what will not be a motivator to the employees. Most employees occasionally need motivation and only a few employees can perform to their full potential with no motivation. Employees can be motivated by being given vacations, insurance covers or other social amenities at the place of work such as a gym. This makes employee motivation a key challenge to many managers and employers (Klubnik, 1995).
A good manager needs to know that salary and benefits is not the biggest motivator to any employee since only 15% quit their jobs because of low salaries. These are other issues such as poor management, lack of respect at the place of work, few advancement opportunities, boring jobs, and career change. Good managers will always want to address every individual’s needs in the company or organization to create an extremely motivated workforce (Torrington, 1998).
Most organizations have adopted employee assessment in order to get the employees’ motivation strategies. These strategies are aimed at ensuring that the workers target to live up to their full prospective. Employees’ assessment produces good results since all employees have unique and different reason for working (Herman, 1994). There is a technologically advanced system available nowadays for measuring workers potential and predicting their job performance. It measures employee’s motivation and unveils why some employees who are well qualified perform averagely. This technology has resolved this problem by encouraging managers to place people in the right positions where they can have more positive impacts.
Another technology measures engagement levels and employees’ motivation across the organization by measuring the job satisfaction and the working environment. It looks at all members working within that organization. Information obtained here is vital to the manager because it represents the reality at the workplace.
Effective ongoing development and training promotes employees’ success in their current role in the organization. Ongoing training can be conducted in a classroom and on-the-job. Employee’s development can be through training classes and seminars. Training and employees’ development assures the organization that the workers are ready for their next promotion. Employee’s promotion depends on the training and development that they have undertaken.
Performance management includes performance development, regular performance feedback, training and challenging assignments. Performance management focuses on improvement of strategies entirely. An effective performance management system can be achieved by managing the performance of employees every day. By setting goal, stating the expectations of the organization and regularly providing feedback, employees are obliged to perform more effectively.
Managers should have crucial skills due to changes in the working environment. As leaders, managers should know how to address employee’s resistance to change to ensure that the organization’s goals are met. Employees who wish to succeed in their career must have good leadership skills. Employers have the opportunity lead and impact the skills of other workers. Employers should involve the employees in decision making in their jobs. Through involvement, employees are empowered, which helps them in their work in the organization and enables them to be responsible. Involvement enables employees make decisions about their works. Employee’s teambuilding, involvement and empowerment, fosters ownership. Irregular and ineffective meetings affect the workers’ morale negatively.
Employees should have progressive self-discipline especially when they are dealing with job related behaviors to understand that there are opportunities for them to improve their current status. Work relationship guidelines, Leadership skills, professional skills are qualities that every good manager should have for management success since they have broad workforce which frequently changes.
