Introduction of Volkswagen Leadership and Motivation

                    The business organizations have to go through so many things, so there are many aspects to look at so that business can run smoothly and effectively. One of such aspects is to have the essence of organizational behavior and management. It is a fact that managers are the ones, who have the responsibility to get the work done for their organizations. They are the ones who handle human resources as well as other resources, and make viable decisions to keep things in right direction (Northwest Missouri State University 2018). The organization is a collective unit, where all of its resources work collectively to achieve a common goal. Therefore, it is important for mangers to understand the fact that organizational behavior is very crucial thing to separate between success and failure. If organizational behavior is properly focused by the leaders and managers of an organization, then they can achieve so many things with it such as diverse workplace, increased productivity as well as decreased turn over & absenteeism. How it is possible to do so, the answer is by motivating people with the help of an effective organizational behavior as well as management (Frederick, 2014). In this particular paper, the focus will be given to leadership and motivation by keeping Volkswagen in context. The paper will first present a review of literature about leadership and motivation, and then Volkswagen will be analyzed to see its leadership and motivation.

Part 1 – Review of Literature of Volkswagen Leadership and Motivation

        Leadership is very critical for any organization in so many different ways. Its role in organizational growth and success is pivotal. The behavior of leadership is a key element to keep things on right track and their behavior defines that how an organization will perform in long term. It is a fact that employees are very essential element of an organization, and if leaders want to achieve something for their organization, then they have to rely on those employees. So dedication, commitment and motivation of employees is indispensable for success, otherwise organizations may not achieve their long terms goals and objectives. Keeping this fact in view, it is vital for leaders to keep their employees motivated so that they may come up with their 100%. Leaders can motivate employees by developing proper communication with them as it is one of the powerful tools to develop a great work environment. Moreover, leadership can share their optimism and vision with their followers so that they can get some inspiration to do well (HEATHFIELD 2018)

        It is important to understand that why motivation is such a crucial factor to encourage employees to work hard with utmost commitment. The good thing about motivation is that it is goals oriented element, which allows people to stay focused on their job. They feel encouraged to perform to their full potential. That’s why a leader must understand the importance of motivation that how effective it is to inspire other and bring honesty in their work. If a good leader must possess a mindset, which has a broad vision along with creative thinking, integrity as well as good decision making skills. These characteristics of a leadership have great effect on people (Kornelius 2018). If leadership can show a behavior of gratitude towards its follower, and respect as well as value them, such behavior is too beneficial for the organization in so many ways. Such tactics by leadership develop an organizational behavior, which allows employees to develop their skills, capabilities and creativity (McPheat 2017)

            It has been observed in various research studies that there is a strong relationship between leadership and motivation of employees. A study was conducted to see the motivation level of teachers by analyzing the role of leadership. The teaching staff of 184 was taken from different high schools to see that how staff feels motivated with the essence of their leadership. The leadership styles observed in this study were transformational and autocratic styles. The study found that commitment of staff had great relationship with positive behavior of leadership. It was also found that if leadership has a vision as well as if the trust their staff and encourage them to be more creative, then motivation level was significantly increased (Naile and Selesho 2014). In another research study, the researchers tried to found the relationship between productivity of employees and leadership. The study found out that workforce in Nigeria was lacking on so many things, which resulted in low productivity. It was found out that leadership was the most important reason behind this, because leadership was not effective and efficient enough to manage workers. It means that if leadership is effective, skilled, competent, creative, target oriented, and innovative, then they can help and inspire employees to do well and increase their productivity (Sakiru, et al. 2013)

        A literature review was performed by ÇELİK (2017) to analyze the relationship between leadership and motivation of employees. After analyzing various empirical studies in detail, the researchers came to a conclusion that relationship between managers’ leadership behavior and motivation of employees. If leaders or managers are able to inspire employees through their great leadership skills, then employees showed more commitment and motivation towards organization. The study also revealed that different leadership types came with different effect on employees. For instance, democratic leadership and transformational leadership was found to have more positive effect on employees as compared to autocratic leadership. So, it becomes more important to look at these leadership styles to see how they are related to motivating employees. According to Almansour (2016), different leadership styles have different elements to talk about. It was found out through the study that transformational leadership, situational leadership as well as transactional leadership, they all proved effective in motivating others as managers with these styles of leadership were able to motivate and inspire their followers (Almansour 2016)

        The leaders can also adopt different means to motivate their followers for better performance. The leadership should understand that motivation is not only an internal element, but it is also an external element as well. It means that it not only is personal will of employees to remain committed, but external factors also influence them to be motivated. So, leaders should come up with methods, which are based on fun, value, encouragement and engagement of employees in every process so that their motivation can be sparked. Moreover, leadership should develop ways to link motivation with employees’ performance. It means that helping employees in achieving high level of performance by influencing their behavior towards work. Moreover, employees should also be trusted, valued and dealt with lot of respect as these elements creates an element of gratitude, and they respond with positive attitude towards their job (Bruce 2012)

Part 2 – Volkswagen Case Study Analysis and Recommendations of Volkswagen Leadership and Motivation

            Volkswagen has been one of the major auto mobile companies in the world, and its history goes back to 1937, when under the leadership of Adolf Hitler, Germany started this automobile company owned by the state. The name of the company in the beginning was Gesellschaft zur Vorbereitung des Deutschen Volkswagens mbH. Later this name was shortened and it remembered as Volkswagenwerk. After the WWII, company started its real growth as it expanded its business by exporting automobiles to countries like United States. The initial response was not that welcoming, but with their utmost commitment and hard work, Volkswagen became one of the top selling and major player in United States auto import. Beetle was the car, which helped the company to gain this success, and this model was redesigned with New Beetle car in 1998. It is amazing to learn that Beetle car was produced for almost 70 years by Volkswagen and almost 21m units of this model was produced by the company. Finally, this model was closed in 2003 (History.com Editors 2018)

        It is interesting to look at the story of Volkswagen that how it became one of the best selling as well as largest car manufacturer in the world. Despite various issues, hurdles and economic crisis, the company stood firm and came out of every problem to make its name as one of the famous automobile brand in the world. The key decision, which made Volkswagen a huge worldwide success, was made in 1948, when it was decided by the company that its cars will be exported outside Germany to different parts of Britain. In coming years, the exports were also started for Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Luxembourg, Belgium, and Switzerland. Later United States was also included in this list of exporters. The other major success factor for the company is its international marketing strategy as well as organizational principles, which kept things on right track (Bhana 2015)

        It is a fact to keep in mind that Volkswagen is one of the largest private sector employers in the world. The statistics shown that number of employees including joint venture of China was 642,292 in 2017. Out of these total employees, the total percentage employed in Germany was 44.9%. It means that Volkswagen has such huge number of employees across the world, and it is important for them to manage these employees effectively, otherwise it will be an issue for them to sustain their growth and success. That’s why Volkswagen has developed a well planned human resource strategy with thoughtful principles to move in the right direction. They have a principle policy to be an employer, which aims at becoming an excellent player in the market. They have created a great corporate culture through their leadership so that an open work environment is created, which is based on mutual collaboration and trust. They organizational behavior is very employee oriented, where they allow their employees to get operational excellence and achieve personal as well as professional success (Volkswagen Group 2017)

        The company has been able to come up with policies implemented through its organizational behavior, which allowed the company to increase its performance and productivity. It is important to understand that productivity cannot be achieved without the help of employees. So, company has not only focused on its employees, but it has also given more focus to its management as well. The company’s CEO said in a statement in 2017 that “"We are expecting our management levels to become younger and slimmer,” It shows that they are committed to bring in positive energy into their company by getting younger and energetic employees as well as managers, who can inspire each other. These steps taken by the company are crucial for their long term success as they will be able to deal with future competition and challenges. They are trying to link motivation with performance by managing things with the policy of performance orientation. Thee junior manager will flow new blood in the company to set up a new roadmap of success with new energy and enthusiasm (Volkswagen-Newsroom 2017)

        The company is also looking to achieve sustainable growth by integrating its vision and mission into its strategy 2025. This future program with the name of Strategy 2025 is to adopt one of the major changes in the history of automobile industry. They are making these changes to become a leading force in automobile industry as a sustainable company. The company has a mission to achieve its sustainable growth and success path by becoming one of the excellent employers for their employees. Moreover, they want to serve customers to get them excited about the company, and attain competitive profitability. They are also looking to be a leader in the market by becoming a role model of integrity, safety as well as environment (Volkswagenag.com 2019). It is important for Volkswagen to understand that they cannot achieve this strategy without the help of its most important asset; the employees. So, leaders of the company has to make sure that they implement this strategy by inspiriting and motivating their employees, otherwise success is the least likely result to happen.

Figure: Volkswagen Strategy 2025

Recommendations of Volkswagen Leadership and Motivation

        The company has to understand that long term growth, success and sustainability is not an easy feat to achieve and they cannot do it without a visionary leadership. Moreover, the leadership has to realize that role of employees will be crucial in achieving future strategy of sustainable growth. If employees will not participate with some level of motivation in this process, then company may not achieve its future goals and objectives. They must increase the role of leadership in increasing the participation level and motivation level of their employees. They have to invest in their employees and come up with some attractive opportunities for them to keep their interest alive. They should work to ensure that they achieve satisfaction level of employees so that they can work hard to satisfy the needs of their customers. One of the strategies of “Idea Management” by the company is recommended to be continuing in the future as well so that suggestions can come from employees to improve every business process (Volkswagen Annual Report 2016)

        Volkswagen has to make sure that they keep their employees happy and satisfied by making work as a fun activity, where work pressure is eliminated and employees are valued more in every decision making process. Such strategy will drastically improve their trust level of employees and they will be more loyal and honest to their job. It is also recommended for Volkswagen to come up with ethical guidelines to be implemented at every level so that they can avoid the blunders such as cheating in tests of emissions. Such unethical practices de-motivate employees as well as create a bad name for the brand, and sometimes damages can be irreparable. They must assess risk in every business process and refine their work procedures to enhance productivity of employees. They should also set some considerable learning goals for their leaders as well as employees to achieve high performance. They should also develop a policy, which admits its mistakes, learn from it, and makes processes better to avoid those mistakes in the future (DOSHI 2015)

Conclusion on Volkswagen Leadership and Motivation

            After looking at literature related to organizational behavior, leadership and motivation, it can be said that all of these elements are crucial for Volkswagen to achieve success in its all aspects. The company has to realize that leadership and motivation are closely related to each other and they have to develop this relation further to achieve set goals and objectives. The future of automobile industry is going to be more competitive so company’s leadership should ensure that they derive policies, which motivate and inspire their employees to be honest and loyal workers with dedication to achieve competitive advantages. The company can look at above mentioned recommendations to fulfill their future sustainable growth objectives.

References of Volkswagen Leadership and Motivation

Almansour, Dr. Yaser Mansour. 2016. "THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LEADERSHIP STYLES AND MOTIVATION OF MANAGERS CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK." Journal of Arts, Science & Commerce III (1): 161-166.

Bhana, Yusuf. 2015. How Volkswagen Became the World’s Largest Car Manufacturer. Accessed April 29, 2019. https://www.translatemedia.com/translation-blog/how-volkswagen-became-the-worlds-largest-car-manufacturer/.

Bruce, Anne. 2012. Manager's Guide to Motivating Employees. 2nd Edition. McGraw Hill Professional.

DOSHI, NEEL. 2015. The “Bug” in Volkswagen’s Culture and 6 Ways to Treat It at Your Company. Accessed April 29, 2019. https://www.vegafactor.com/blog/2015/10/8/the-bug-in-volkswagens-culture-and-6-ways-to-treat-it-at-your-company.

Frederick, Prabha Renuka Horo. 2014. "Organisational Behaviour and its Role in Management of Business." Global Journal of Finance and Management 6 (6): 563-568.

HEATHFIELD, SUSAN M. 2018. What Daily Leadership Behaviors Inspire Employee Motivation? Accessed April 28, 2019. https://www.thebalancecareers.com/leadership-inspires-motivation-1918765.

History.com Editors. 2018. 1937 - Volkswagen is founded. Accessed April 28, 2019. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/volkswagen-is-founded.

Kornelius, Lana. 2018. Motivation in leadership. Accessed April 28, 2019. https://www.skillsportal.co.za/content/motivation-leadership.

McPheat, Sean. 2017. 5 Keys to Motivation and Leadership. Accessed April 28, 2019. https://aboutleaders.com/5-keys-to-motivation-and-leadership/#gs.8m4ctk.

Naile, Idah, and Jacob M Selesho. 2014. "The Role of Leadership in Employee Motivation." Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences 5 (3): 175-182.

Northwest Missouri State University. 2018. Why It Is Important for Managers to Understand Organizational Behavior. Accessed April 28, 2019. https://online.nwmissouri.edu/articles/mba/why-managers-understand-organizational-behavior.aspx.

Sakiru, Oladipo Kolapo, Jamilah Othman Aliyu yero, Mohammed Abdullahi, and Narges Kia. 2013. "Relationship between leadership and employee productivity in an organization." IOSR Journal of Business and Management 9 (4): 62-66.

Volkswagen Annual Report. 2016. Employee participation. Accessed April 29, 2019. https://annualreport2016.volkswagenag.com/group-management-report/sustainable-value-enhancement/employees/employee-participation.html.

Volkswagen Group. 2017. Employees. Accessed April 29, 2019. https://annualreport2017.volkswagenag.com/group-management-report/sustainable-value-enhancement/employees.html.

Volkswagenag.com. 2019. Strategy 2025: Our strategy – For tomorrow’s growth. Accessed April 29, 2019. https://www.volkswagenag.com/en/group/strategy.html.

Volkswagen-Newsroom. 2017. Volkswagen brand continues to boost productivity – also in management. Accessed April 29, 2019. https://www.volkswagen-newsroom.com/en/press-releases/volkswagen-brand-continues-to-boost-productivity-also-in-management-993.