Motivation and Leadership in Social Work Management

Motivation and leadership are very important components in social work management. Good managers should be aware not only of practical facets of that but also have a theoretical bases. That is why the work titled "Motivation and Leadership in Social Work Management" was written. The author of that composition is Elizabeth Fisher from Shippensburg Uniwersity in Pennsylvania. In that paper she is articulating some kinds of motivation or leadership theories and how they apply to social work. First part of the lecture is dealing about motivation theories which are divided on: content theories of motivation and process theories of motivation. In the first group we can find Maslow 's hierarchy of needs which one of the most popular theories in this area. In Maslow 's opinion there are five levels od needs which are pshysiological (food, shelter), security (protection from loos of treats), social (affiliation and acceptance), ego (self-esteem, recognition) and self-actualization. He created a pyramid in which all that needs are cointaned. In that hierarchy pshysiological needs are on the bottom and self-actualization is lying on the highest level. Good manager should motivates workers by the need that corespond with the level that they are currently at. The point is that the need from lower level will be not motivating for them. For example if worker has good salary, house and a good car, pshysiological need will not attracted him unless his situation changes. Another thesis regarding of motivation is Herzberg 's Two Factors of Motivator-Hygiene Theory. The basic promise of this theory is that there are two types od needs that motivate workers, ie. hygiene and motivator. Hygiene factors are realated to the work environment and include things like salary, benefits, policies, working conditions and realtionship. They are really important to prevent job dissatisfaction by the worker. Motivator factors are focused on personal growth and self-actualization. They are the