How leaders motivate employees for better performance and results : A quantitative study on employees’ motivation and how they experience their leaders in Finland
Törnqvist, Carolina (2018)
Törnqvist, Carolina
Yrkeshögskolan Arcada
2018
All rights reserved
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2018060512592
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2018060512592
Tiivistelmä
This research is based on the fact that the relationship between organizations and its em-ployees has changed because of the fast digital development. The aim is to create an un-derstanding to what motivates employees, how these motivation factors are taken into consideration at workplaces as well as how employees experience their leaders today. The research is limited to workplaces in Finland but not to a specific branch. Data has been collected from 54 participants in a questionnaire, where the requirement to answering was that they had to work in Finland and not be in a leader position themselves. The theoreti-cal part is based on already existing research and different theories on leadership, motiva-tion and leadership styles. Leadership has many definitions and this research this defini-tion is relevant; Leadership is a process whereby an individual influence a group of indi-viduals to achieve a common goal. Different motivation factors are presented together with theories on physiological and emotional needs which are intended to increase the performance and motivation of employees. Leadership styles and skills are brought up as very important parts of employee motivation since leaders have a certain responsibility ensuring the employees are well and motivated to do their job. Emotional intelligence is one of the most important skills a leader needs. They need to know how to manage and understand their own and their employees’ emotions and use them right in situations to create better relationships to the employees. This is a quantitative research and the results from the empirical study has been analysed so that the results give a picture of the whole which is presented in different forms of statistics. The results imply that the motivation in Finland is on a good level and so is the leader’s style and skills. The theoretical part sup-ports the analysis of the results and the conclusion is clearly linked to existing theories on leadership and motivation. The leadership style is between an autocratic and a democratic one and the employees have reached a good level of independence and self-actualization. Further research needs to be done because some differences between how employees are being motivated compared to the demand exist.