Obstacles to Leadership and Motivation in Student Organizations: A Field Study Griffin McGrath MG 610 As a student leader, there are many obstacles that must be overcome in order to manage and lead a staff of students effectively. Many students join organizations because they want to meet new people, learn a new skill or to have something that they can add to their professional resume. The problem that we see is that many of these students are not enthusiastic about their role in the organization or they are not living up to the expectations of the managers of these organizations. In these cases, the fault may not lie solely on the manager or member, but rather on the obstacles that both people must deal with in a student organization. The obstacles that will be discussed are organizational structure, confidence of leadership, lack of incentives, differing motivation, time constraints and adversity.
Organizational Structure as an Obstacle to Decision-Making Student organizations differ in many ways from professional organizations, just as a small design firm is very different than a large financial corporation. The hierarchy of power is such that there are many different levels of decision-making that must occur. Let us look at an example that many student leaders may be familiar with. (Though the examples in the article are factual, names and identifying details have been changed.) James is the president of the school’s newspaper and is faced with a difficult decision to either continue guiding the newspaper in the same direction that it has been headed for many years, or to drastically alter the course of the organization by adopting a new technology. James knows that by adopting this new technology he will dramatically
increase the readership of his paper and increase the school’s reputation, but he is afraid that this new course of action will not resonate well with the administration who are not as technically savvy as he is. James also worries that he will not be able to fund the project fully without the help of the administration, so he must find a way to convince them that this is the right course of action. He not only has to plead his case with his advisor, he must also win over the student center’s director, the vice president of student affairs, the senior vice president of academics and the university president. After realizing that his idea may not make it through all of these levels of administration, James gives up and resorts back to the traditional ideas that he and the organization know well. In a traditional organization, a manager or vice president of a certain division must only convince one or two “higher-ups” that their new idea is valid and will make a positive contribution to the firm, and their job is made easier by the fact that they are, more often than not, making their appeals to their professional peers. In student organizations this task is made much more daunting due to the fact that a “student leader” is still only a student, and gaining the attention and respect of a vice president or president of a university is no small feat. These presidents have other priorities, many of which may seem more important to them than approving a larger budget for a student organization. This disconnect between student leader and university administration leads to decentralized decision making that often leaves the needs of the student organizations on the back burner, even though their needs are just as great as faculty and other administrative offices. Let us look at another example of organizational structure that almost all student leaders must deal with at one point or another. Sarah, a sophomore, was just appointed to
the executive board of the Student Programming Board by a general vote of her peers. She has been put in charge of a popular event and has been given a staff of general members of the organization that she must delegate tasks to. Joe, a senior on the general staff, is upset that he is being told what to do by a student that is two years younger than he is, so he decides to slack off and his task is not finished on time. Sarah is upset at Joe’s lack of effort, but she is afraid to confront him because she feels that he will not take her seriously because of their age difference. Sarah takes no action, and the event must be delayed because of Joe’s lack of effort. This issue of class status versus organizational hierarchy is a difficult one to deal with because it has to do with a lack of respect between members of the group. It is always difficult to confront a person when you assume that your words will fall on deaf ears, but it must be done because, regardless of age, Sarah was chosen to lead her organization by her peers. At a recent roundtable discussion on leadership, a student leader from the Quinnipiac University chapter of Phi Sigma Sigma astutely noted, “In this case there is a need for confrontation no matter what. The majority of voters chose them as a leader, so they must act accordingly.” It must be remembered that to get respect, you must first give respect. It does not matter whether a freshman is leading a group of seniors or whether a senior is leading a group of freshmen, there must be a mutual respect between them, and an understanding that they are making the correct decisions, in order to accomplish their goals.
Finding Ways to Motivate Without Monetary Incentives
In the professional workplace, providing incentives to reward hard work is always an option to increase productivity and output. In a student organization, however, it is not always that easy. Many students who join these organizations are doing so because they have a sincere interest in the activity they have chosen. What happens, though, when they fall into a rut and are not producing at the level that is needed? Nicholson states, “… each of us has a unique profile of motivational drivers, values and biases, and we have different ideas about what is reasonable (Nicholson, 2004).” An effective manager has to be able to find these unique motivational profiles and be able to use them to their advantage. Let’s look at an example from an actual organization. Sue is the editor-in-chief of the student newspaper on campus. She is in the office 15 – 20 hours per week and oversees the layout of the paper during the weekends. She enjoys what she does, but is having a hard time staying motivated to keep putting the hours in. Sue does receive a stipend from the school, but it is in the form of a tuition break, not a paycheck. The organization’s manager sees that Sue’s effort has been waning and needs to act fast to remotivate his editor-in-chief. He wants to increase her stipend, but when he cannot convince the school administration to do this, he needs to find another way to keep her working hard. In this situation, the manager must take a step back and reevaluate the goals of the editor-in-chief and the organization in general. By taking this step back and talking to the editor, a new perspective can be gained and taken advantage of. In this example, it was found that Sue was feeling that she was not getting the recognition from her staff and student body that she thought she deserved. This led to a simple motivational strategy
that was acted upon quickly and effectively. The manager decided that it would be a good idea to set aside time during general staff meetings and editorial board meetings to recognize the hard work and dedication of his staff. His satisfaction of the organization’s members is voiced, and it has led to increased productivity not only from the editor-inchief, but also from the general staff as well. The writers work harder and spend more time editing their pieces so they can be publicly recognized for their hard work. Another approach that is recommended by Michael Beer is to “experiment with innovative workplace practices (Beer, 1993).” The staff and managers of the same organization are acting upon this approach. Their industry is one that is currently evolving, and they have taken it upon themselves to be at the leading edge of this technological revolution. This new and innovative approach to their craft has led to a rejuvenation of their efforts and a significant increase in participation by many members of the staff and editorial board. It certainly is interesting to see the way this new technology has motivated the group members compared to the way monetary incentives motivate other workers. It seems to have instilled a new sense of meaning into the work that they do, and they return to the office daily to see the new strides that have been made. It is promising to see the staff of this organization respond so well to these new motivational tactics, but it is even more inspiring to see the work they have done in response to adversity on their campus. This has been the main motivational factor in the study of this organization to date. In the previous academic year, their organization had been cast into a negative light after a feud with the university’s administration that garnered international attention.
The organization was nearly disbanded, and the previous members of the organization left to become an independent entity. The staff that volunteered to come in and rebuild this failing organization has been extremely motivated by this adversity. Feeling a sense of pride for their organization has led them to work very hard and to put in long hours over the weekends and to put in the extra effort to find a story. I believe that it is difficult to manufacture this feeling in a professional organization, but pride seems to be one of the most powerful motivational tools available.
Obstacles to Effective Leadership of Student Members In a system that is based on peer-to-peer leadership, it is often difficult to command respect as a leader of a student organization. As mentioned earlier, class status versus organizational hierarchy often leads to conflicts within the members of an organization. This is not the only obstacle, though. Issues also arise over a lack of experience by the leader and time constraints due to coursework. Becoming the leader of a student organization is no small task. It involves an enormous time commitment and the stress of leading and managing a group of your peers. Despite these facts, it is a task that many unqualified students choose to take on. Managing is not a skill that every person is born with, and when it comes to managing your peers, members of an organization can tell if a leader is adept or not and they will take advantage of these weak leaders. In the previous examples of student media organizations, weak leaders are taken advantage of by members missing meetings, missing deadlines and not upholding their organizational constitutions. In these cases, leaders need to be aware of their managerial shortcomings, or be made aware of them by
others, and either step down from their position or not apply for the leadership position at all. It seems like an obvious suggestion, but many students can drag the potential of their organizations down. Other leaders can stubbornly cling to ideals and philosophies, which can lead to trouble with administration and other students. One of the biggest obstacles to leading a student organization is practically unavoidable and one of the largest inconveniences to any leader: members’ course schedules. At any given university, a full time undergraduate student will take 15 hours of classes per week, if not more. This may not sound like a significant amount of time, but when it comes to scheduling meetings, interviews and office work, these fifteen hours wreak havoc on an organization’s schedule. Trying to find an hour per week when every member of an executive board can be present is nearly impossible due to the nature of class scheduling. Not only do class schedules interfere with meeting and scheduling times, it also is a distraction from helping the organization. It is unfair to ask a student to sacrifice their studies to do extra work for their extracurricular activities, so leaders must be aware that the time that is given by student members is maximized. The leader needs to be aware of where everyone is at a given time, especially in a media organization, and he or she need to be aware that any effort that is given by a member needs to be recognized and praised. It must be remembered that these students are taking time out of their busy schedules to further the cause of the organization. Becoming a leader of a student organization is no small task. It must be taken very seriously; nearly as seriously as a manager in the professional world takes his or her job. There are many obstacles that stand in the way of effectively managing an
organization, but with a mix of hard work, a strong foundation of leadership knowledge, and motivational skill, a student can lead an organization as smoothly and efficiently as any professional manager can.