Leadership & Motivation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Leadership & Motivation - Essay Example Employees accept transformational leadership, although some of its aspects within the company need reconsidering to improve both work performance, and financial stability and results. This will also mean that a good understanding is needed regarding the process of managing change within the company. My analysis at Southsea Engineering plc ascertained that many of the issues regarding leadership and motivation need to be analyzed in the prism of organizational change, which has been an ongoing process at Southsea over the years. When Rachel Southsea first headed the company, she introduced a range of organizational changes at all company levels. These changes proved to be not just simple structural reorganizations, but affected employees' attitudes and expectations, also their behaviour and dedication to the work processes. In other words, these novelties caused dramatic cultural changes and influenced the state of the psychological contract within the company. The psychological contract at Southsea plc, as defined by Schein (1978) represents "a set of unwritten reciprocal expectations between a single employee and the organization" (cited by Guest, 2003, p. 10). By the time Rachel Southsea headed the company, employees and even senior managers had an established positive psychological contract with clear expectations, presumably high degree of subjective employment security, and organizational commitment (Guest, 2003) within the "conservative structure" of an engineering company. Introducing new working approaches, such as relaxation of organizational controls caused confusion and irritation among senior managers, who felt that their expectations for their future within the company were no longer to be delivered (Guest, 2003). Release of control also influenced employees in that they felt insecure in the changing organizational environment, and exercised the freedom of not obeying to strict rules. Kurt Lewin, and later on Edgar Schein (1995, cited by Wirth R. 2004) defined this early stage of organizational change as "unfreezing", meaning removing old structures and cultural influences. As Schein ascertains, culture is deeply seated in people's minds (cited by Jossey-Bass, 1992) and change at Southsea Engineering plc was a difficult and time-consuming process. Senior management had to fight anxieties about the uncertain future. The duration and the intrusiveness of these changes made it difficult for employees to accept them and to adapt. The disrupted state of the psychological contract decreased employees' dedication, as they could not identify their role in the new organizational environment. This all lead to impaired work performance and financial results. It was by