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Problem Based Learning

Leadership and Motivation in a Changing Business Environment

This Problem Based Learning (PBL) activity looks at the role of leadership and motivation in the workplace. In many business courses, motivation consists of looking at the work of Maslow, Herzberg and others and leadership focuses on different types of leadership. Students also look at organisation charts under the assumption that all businesses have some form of formal organisation, which can be represented diagrammatically.

Is it time to cast aside the ideas of Maslow and the rest? Are we looking at leadership and business organisation through the wrong lens? Is the textbook approach really the way that many businesses now operate?

These might be some of the problems and issues to explore against the background of a new book by former Shell Chemicals Chief Executive, Gerard Fairtlough, who seeks to question the idea of hierarchies in business and focuses instead on 'getting things done'.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of the PBL activity, students might have covered some of the following:

• Different theories of motivation in the workplace
• Different leadership styles
• Different forms of business organisation
• New theories on management and leadership in business
• The idea of a 'learning organisation'
• The problems of traditional forms of business organisation
• The importance of thinking differently in an environment of change and uncertainty
• The importance of knowledge management and sharing in contemporary business

Resources:

• The Problem: Leadership and Motivation in a Changing Business Environment
• References for Investigation: Business Environment, Leadership and Motivation