The importance of motivation for successful leadership

Izziv vsake vodje je motivirati svoje zaposlene tako, da bodo s svojimi dejanji pripomogli k doseganju organizacijskih ciljev. Motivacija je individualna stvar, zaradi česar mora vodja dodobra poznati lastnosti in potrebe svojih zaposlenih kot tudi naravo dela. Bolj, kot bodo zaposleni motivirani, tem bolj bodo pripomogli k uspešnosti podjetja. Na motivacijo lahko vodja vpliva z različnimi motivacijskimi dejavniki, kot so npr. plača, denarne nagrade ter napredovanja, a vendar nanjo vpliva tudi odnos, ki ga imata vodja in zaposleni, ter vodstveni stil, ki ga vodja uporablja. V diplomski nalogi smo raziskali vpliv, ki ga ima motivacija na vodenje ter opredelili njuno medsebojno soodvisnost. V prvem delu diplomske naloge smo tako najprej opredelili motivacijo, motive in izvore motivacije ter različne motivacijske teorije in dejavnike motivacije. Temu sledi poglavje vodenja, kjer smo najprej pojasnili, kaj vodenje sploh je, in kakšne vrste oziroma stile vodenja poznamo. Ob koncu prvega dela diplomske naloge smo opredeli tudi, kdaj govorimo o uspešnem vodenju in o medsebojnem vplivu med motivacijo in vodenjem. V drugem, empiričnem delu diplomske naloge, smo opravili raziskavo med zaposlenimi v izbrani enoti Nove kreditne banke Maribor d.d. Pripravili smo dve anketi, eno za vodje in eno za zaposlene, skozi kateri smo nato analizirali razkorak med motivacijskimi pristopi, ki jih uporabljajo vodje, in tistih, za katere si zaposleni izbrane organizacijske enote najbolj želijo, da bi jih vodje uporabljale. V empiričnem delu diplomske naloge smo ugotovili, da na motivacijo zaposlenih najbolj vplivajo denarne nagrade, najmanj motivirajoč dejavnik pa je delo od doma. Za slednjega je management mnenja, da le ta v veliki meri vpliva na raven motivacije zaposlenih, kar predstavlja največji razkorak med motivacijskimi dejavniki, ki dejansko motivirajo zaposlene, in tistimi, za katere vodstveni delavci menijo, da vplivajo na motiviranost.The challenge for every leader is to motivate their employees so that their actions will contribute to organisational goals. Motivation is an individual matter, which is why a manager needs to have a good understanding of the characteristics and needs of his/her employees as well as the nature of their work. The more motivated the employees are, the more they will contribute to the success of the company and, consequently, to the success of management. A manager can increase employee motivation through a variety of motivational factors such as salary, financial rewards and promotions, but it is also influenced by the relationship between the manager and the employee and the management style that the manager is using. In this thesis we focused on the influence of motivation on leadership and their interdependence. In the first part of the thesis, we defined motivation, its motives and sources, as well as the different motivational theories and motivational factors. This is followed by a chapter on leadership, where we first explain what leadership is and what types and styles of leadership we know. At the end of the first part of the thesis, we also defined what is successful leadership and the interplay between motivation and leadership. In the second, empirical part of the thesis, we conducted a survey among the employees of the chosen organizational unit of Nova kreditna banka Maribor d.d. Within the survey, we prepared two questionnaires, one for the manager and one for the employees, through which we then analysed the gap between the motivational approaches used by management and the ones that the employees of the chosen organizational unit would most like the managers to use. In the empirical part of the thesis, we discovered that employees’ motivation is most influenced by monetary rewards, while the least motivating factor is working from home. The latter is considered by management to have a large impact on the level of employee motivation, representing the largest gap between motivational factors that actually motivate employees and those that managers consider to have an impact on motivation