Establishing Leadership and Motivation in an Organization

Establishing Leadership and Motivation in an Organization

Introduction

Target Corporation, the second largest retailer in the world behind Wal-Mart, is known for having their customer expect more, by paying less. Target was founded by George Draper Dayton in 1911 with the original name of Dayton's department store. Dayton's department store carried that name until 1962 before Target emerged. Dayton-Hudson Corporation was renamed to Target Corporation to better reflect core business in the year 2000. Target was introduced with great fashions and merchandise at discounted prices. In 1990 Target supersized by building stores that featured a variety of foods, wider aisles and larger pharmacies.

Opportunities within the Organization

As with any company when you emerge into a power giant, the people's demand will not keep up to the demand of store operations. This is a problem for one of America's favorite retail chains, which hired management, but failed to hire leaders that lead and motivate their team members. Any business can hire managers; however can a company prepare that manager into a leader that will take the company to the next level? The writer believes that all leaders are not the same, however by understanding what makes each leader effective, organizations can focus on the leadership styles and behaviors that fit their environment.

Leadership Styles in the Organization

Some of the best leaders showcase different ways of directing a team, a division, or a company. Although a leader may have a dominate style, at some point he or she will find a need to survey the situation and make a decision about the best action to take. A vision without communication, inspiration, and charisma will never fill its potential to empower employees into creating productive and efficient change. A leader must be the primary individual to transmit this message through energetic and creative methods.

There are many characteristics that describe leaders. However, one of the main characteristics a leader should seek is to be a visionary. Visionary leadership is the ability to dream, create, and execute a reliable and attractive vision for the future (Robbins & DeCenzo, 2010). According to Hoyle (2007), it takes followers and employees help to successfully implement a vision. Hoyle (2007) conveys the three characteristics of visionary leaders as one who has a profound vision of service to their country and the world, a gift of communicating superbly through a message of hope, and a commitment to persist as symbolized through their words. He illustrates the significance of the three spirits of leadership through outstanding examples of leaders both historically or otherwise, as exemplary models. Hoyle (2007) believes that individuals who have passion for their vision and