Question
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM PROPOSAL
As an MBA and leader, you must be able to present your management plans
and leadership strategies to inform stakeholders and gain buy-in. For this
assignment, you’ll practice this by developing a proposal for a professional
development training program. The program centers on motivational strategies
and how an emotional intelligence management approach would benefit
department managers.
PREPARATION
Continue with the same organization you selected in Assignment 1. Imagine
that the CEO has charged you, the task force leader, with researching emotional
intelligence (EI) in order to propose a professional development program.
Your proposal should detail how a new incentive program, based on an EI management approach, will foster teamwork, strengthen interpersonal relationships,
enhance communication, and increase overall performance. You need to help
the CEO gain approval for this initiative. Your program’s proposal must include
supporting research concerning how motivational strategies enhance job satisfaction and team output.
Sample paper
Uber Technologies Inc Professional Development Proposal
How Emotional intelligence (EI) management approach overall performance at Uber Technologies Inc
Employee performance and job satisfaction are core aspects in enhancing productivity at organizations. Emotional intelligence (EI) management approach can help in improving overall performance at Uber Technologies Inc. EI can enable the organizational leadership to improve employee motivation. The interpersonal realm of EI enables organizational leaders to acquire the right people skills. Organizational leaders who bear the interpersonal skills are able to develop good relationships with others. This is because such leaders are in a position to understand and appreciate the thoughts and feelings of others. Organizational leaders with interpersonal skills are empathetic, develop and maintain good interpersonal relationships, and show social responsibility. The task force will utilize the motivational theory to influence the employees into becoming productive members of the organization. It will be possible to reinforce employee behavior by introducing rewards once desired behavior occurs.
The core concepts of EI are fundamental in enhancing the social skills and decision-making capabilities of leaders. These core concepts include interpersonal skills, decision-making skills, self-perception, stress management, and self-expression. The concept of effective teams is important in managing teams in organizational settings. The core attributes of effective teams include clear goals or vision, participative leadership, open and clear communication, diversity, balanced participation, positive environment, clear definition of roles, conflict management, and among others. With regard to developing team dynamics, the team leader should ensure effective communication, solve problems early, break down barriers, encourage open communication, and develop a deep understanding of the entire team. The appropriate reward system for the organization is one that provides intrinsic and extrinsic rewards to the employees.
Uber Professional Development Proposal
EI and Motivation
The EI building block that would impact management’s ability to enhance employee performance and job satisfaction is the interpersonal realm. The interpersonal realm comprises of the people skills, which is the ability to establish and nurture good relationships with others (Stein & Book, 2011). The interpersonal real has three categories. These are empathy, interpersonal relationships, and social responsibility. Empathy refers to the ability to understand and appreciate other people’s thoughts and feelings (Stein & Book, 2011). Empathetic leaders are able to understand the world from another person’s perspective. This is a critical attribute in organizational management. Empathetic leaders can better understand the challenges and fears facing the employees. As such, they can address the fears leading to a positive work environment that promotes job performance and satisfaction.
Interpersonal relationships concern the ability to develop mutual and trusting relationships with others (Stein & Book, 2011). In such relationships, the parties involved develop a sense of trust towards each other. It is important for leaders to forge sound relationships with the employees where no party exploits the other. The management can influence the employees to perform various tasks where both the management and the employees have forged strong relationships. This can promote job performance and job satisfaction. Social responsibility refers to the ability to be a valuable member of a particular social group and the larger society (Stein & Book, 2011). Where management shows social responsibility through sound leadership, employee performance is also high.
Motivational theory provides a conceptual framework for motivating employees. Positive reinforcement involves introducing rewards or a pleasant consequence each time an employee displays desired behavior (Slocum & Vollmer, 2015). On the other hand, negative reinforcement involves withdrawing the unpleasant consequences when the employee displays the right behavior (Slocum & Vollmer, 2015). Uber Technologies Inc. can apply motivational theory to encourage the development of desired behavior among employees. For example, positive reinforcement through words of praise or giving rewards to leaders and employees who exhibit desired behavior. Uber Technologies Inc. should reward organizational leaders who exhibit ethical leadership and decision-making. This will encourage other leaders to engage in ethical decision-making. Negative reinforcement should apply to drivers who upon displaying desired behaviors should have negative reviews removed from their profiles and given a higher rating.
EI and Social Skills and Decision Making
The core concepts of emotional intelligence would be integral in enhancing the social skills and the decision-making efficacy of the management team. The interpersonal realm of emotional intelligence enables individuals to learn how they can relate with others and in a cordial manner (Stein & Book, 2011). The interpersonal realm can enhance the social skills by enabling the organizational leaders to learn how they can develop and maintain positive work relationships. For instance, organizational leaders can understand the need to be empathetic in their relationships with the employees. Another core concept of EI is self-perception. Self-perception enables individuals to understand themselves in a better way (Stein & Book, 2011). Leaders with self-perception are able to understand their feelings in a more profound way. For instance, they can understand how their emotions affect their own actions as well as the actions of others. This is critical towards improving the social skills of the organizational leaders since they can be able to tell how their emotions affect their behavior or the behavior of others.
Another core concept of EI is decision-making. Decision-making involves the ability of the individual to use emotions to make the correct decisions (Stein & Book, 2011). Under the decision-making realm, there are three major categories. The first is impulse control, which is the ability to avoid the temptation to take decisions without evaluating all the facets of a situation. Organizational leaders with impulse control are able to avoid making rash decisions. The second category under the realm is reality testing. Reality testing is the ability to see the truth of the matter without interference from personal prejudices. This enables leaders to see things as they are rather than seeing them in the way they wish that things might be (Stein & Book, 2011). The last one is problem solving, which is the ability to develop solutions to problems. Stress management enables leaders to control stress and manage their impulses. Lastly, self-expression is about assertiveness among leaders.
Effective Teams
There are a number of core attributes of effective teams. The first core attribute is clear goals or vision (Biech & Dawsonera, 2008; Sturt & Nordstrom, 2015). Effective teams must have clearly defined goals. Team members work towards the achievement of the goals. The established goals motivated the team members in working hard. Another attribute is leadership. Effective teams have inspiring leaders who steer them forward (Sturt & Nordstrom, 2015). A good leader should develop trust, openness, guide others, and share responsibility. Effective teams maintain open and clear communication. Team members should be able to express freely their opinions. All team members should communicate in ways that other members understand. Definition of roles is another important attribute (Biech & Dawsonera, 2008). The team leader should assign roles to various members depending on their capabilities. Another core attribute of effective teams is diversity. Effective teams encourage diversity among members not only in terms of gender and race, but also with regard to experiences, ways of thinking, skills, and in other aspects.
Effective teams enhance balanced participation of all members. Balanced participation ensures the involvement of all team members. This involves ensuring all team members participate in decision-making. Another core attribute is cooperative relationships. Cooperative relationships refer to the ability of the team members to feel they need each other’s knowledge, skills, and expertise in achieving the set goals. Cooperative relationships closely relate to the need for a positive atmosphere. A positive atmosphere is characterized by trust and openness among team members. A positive atmosphere is critical in encouraging team members to contribute their ideas or thoughts towards the team. Another core attribute of an effective team is the ability to manage conflict. Teams are bound to experience conflicts regardless of the level of cooperation among members. An effective team resolves conflicts arising between group members in an amicable way.
A number of strategies may help in developing team dynamics that will benefit the organization. As the team leader, it is important to know the team in order to learn how one may develop and encourage the group to remain focused. The leader should understand the various phases that teams go through such as group development, forming, storming, norming, and performing. As the group leader, it is important to act fast in correcting any problems emerging from the group. Another strategy is to define clear roles and responsibilities for all members. The team may lack direction if members do not understand their roles. It is important to break down barriers among group members at the early stages of the group. The team leader can break down barriers by organizing team-building events for all group members. Another strategy is to maintain open communication. The team members should be able to communicate using a variety of channels to increase their choices.
Rewards Systems
Reward systems are important aspects in ensuring employee motivation. A motivated workforce is of great benefit to the organization due to improved productivity (Saifullah et al., 2015). The rewards should be appealing to motivate people towards achieving them. The rewards system should improve both motivation and job satisfaction levels of employees. The employees should desire the rewards on offer for the reward system to work in motivating the employees. It is worth noting that employees may have different needs. As such, a single reward item may not be appropriate for all employees. Giving bonus, promotions, and salary increase are the most common form of rewards in organizations. The reward system should be variable and under the Human Resource (HR) department function of the organization. There are three important aspects in ensuring the effectiveness of reward systems. First, there should be no physical limitations to the performance of the employees. Second, the rewards should fulfill employees’ personal needs. Third, there should be room to expand performance.
A reward system should consider the intrinsic and extrinsic needs of the employees (Saifullah, Alam, Zafar, & Humayon, 2015). Intrinsic needs arise from the internal desire to do something or achieve a particular task. Extrinsic needs are those relating to the desire for tangible rewards. Uber Technologies Inc. should develop a reward system that improves job satisfaction and job performance of employees by ensuring that it meets the intrinsic and extrinsic needs of the employees (Saifullah et al., 2015). Intrinsic rewards are important in enabling employees achieve motivation. Intrinsic motivation enables employees to achieve goal-directed behavior.
The reward system will include various aspects of intrinsic motivation. Employees who show exemplary performance in ethical leadership should receive various forms of intrinsic rewards including promotions, recognition, higher autonomy to do their work, providing work that is more challenging, and raising their status. The extrinsic rewards will include bonuses (for drivers with highest ratings and rides), paid holidays, higher salaries, paid vacations, and insurance plans. The basis of the reward system is purely on performance. Employees with the highest ratings and performance records (number of rides) will receive rewards. The factors that may influence the type of reward an employee receives are age, sex, years of service, marital status, and personal preferences. There is need to consider all these factors in making the reward system.
References
Biech, E., & Dawsonera. (2008). The Pfeiffer book of successful team-building tools: Best of the annuals. San Francisco, Calif: Pfeiffer.
Saifullah, N., Alam, M., Zafar, M. W., & Humayon, A. A. (2015). Job satisfaction: A contest between human and organizational behavior. International Journal of Economics and Research, 6(1), 45-51.
Slocum, S. K., & Vollmer, T. R. (2015). A comparison of positive and negative reinforcement for compliance to treat problem behavior maintained by escape: positive versus negative reinforcement. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 48(3), 563-574. doi:10.1002/jaba.216
Stein, S., & Book, H. E. (2011). The EQ edge: Emotional intelligence and your success. Mississauga, Ont: Jossey-Bass.
Stein, S., & Book, H. E. (2011). The EQ edge: Emotional intelligence and your success. Mississauga, Ont: Jossey-Bass.
Sturt, D., & Nordstrom, T. (2015, Oct. 29). 5 must-have attributes of every successful team. Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidsturt/2015/10/29/5-must- have-attributes-of-every-successful-team/#1f3cb7b51c0
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