Exercises: Management, leadership, and motivation

The management function is usually summarised in four tasks: planning, organising, leading, and controlling. Explain what each consists of with an example applied to a clothes shop owner preparing the January sale campaign.

Being a boss, a manager, and a leader are not the same thing. Explain the differences between holding a position with formal authority (boss), managing resources and processes (manager), and being voluntarily followed by others (leader). Reason, with an example for each case, whether a person can be a boss without being a leader and whether they can be a leader without holding any formal position.

The figure shows Maslow's hierarchy of needs applied to the company, with what the company can offer at each level. Identify the missing level, marked with "?", and give an example of what a company can do to satisfy it.

Three bosses manage very differently: one decides everything alone and gives rigid orders (authoritarian), another consults and decides with the team (democratic or participative), and a third barely intervenes and leaves them to it (laissez-faire). State which style fits best in each situation and why: a construction crew where a mistake could cause an accident, a team of veteran designers creating a new collection, and a group of expert researchers accustomed to working independently.

According to Herzberg, there are hygiene factors (if missing, they cause dissatisfaction, but having them is not enough to motivate) and motivating factors (those that truly drive people to do more). a) Classify these six: salary, cleanliness of the workplace, recognition for a job well done, relationship with colleagues, taking on more responsibility, and the possibility of promotion. b) Using this theory, explain why a pay rise alone rarely turns an unmotivated employee into a committed one.

McGregor described two opposing types of manager: Theory X believes that people are naturally lazy and only work if controlled and feared; Theory Y believes that people want to work well and seek responsibility. a) Describe how each would manage the same team: controls, deadlines, communication, rewards, and punishments. b) Explain what the "self-fulfilling prophecy" means in this context: what happens in the long run to a team that is always treated according to Theory X.

A delivery company loses 40% of its couriers every year. It pays the minimum wage, route managers only appear to shout when something goes wrong, there is no training or possibility of promotion, and shifts change every week without notice. a) Diagnose the problem using Maslow's hierarchy (which needs it satisfies and which it does not) and Herzberg's theory (which factors are missing). b) Propose three measures to reduce staff turnover, one financial and two non-financial, justifying each with the previous theories. c) Reason why reducing turnover can be profitable even if it costs money (recruitment costs, training new recruits, errors, and poor image).

The same manager faces three situations in one week: an urgent safety warning that forces an evacuation of the plant, a team of veteran and highly qualified technicians assigned to a new project, and a group of newly arrived interns who do not yet know how to do the job. a) Recommend which management style is suitable in each situation and why. b) Conclude what situational leadership says about the idea that there is "one best style" of management for all cases.

Design a motivation plan for a sports shop with six sales assistants earning little more than the minimum wage and who have been doing exactly the same job for years. Include: a) two specific financial incentives (for example, sales performance pay or a performance bonus) explaining how they would work; b) three non-financial incentives (training, autonomy, recognition, flexible hours, internal promotion), indicating which need or motivating factor each addresses; c) a way to measure after one year whether the plan has worked.