Leadership and Motivation, Determinants of Sustainability

Abstract

This article pays more attention to the analysis of the direct relationship between staff motivation and applied leadership, with the final result - the sustainability of the organization's activity. Organizational culture and the environment are characterized by mutual adaptation, by the way in which human practices and organizations are led to a cohabiting relationship. Their adaptation is defined as a learning process, rather than an activity in itself, guided by material forces. Through this article we aim to highlight the importance of the interdependent relationship between staff motivation, leadership and sustainability. A big obstacle is the lack of awareness of this triangular relationship, at the level of the organization's management. Starting from the theory of self-motivation and from the research of psychologists Edward Deci and Richard Ryan, we deduce that each individual has three basic psychological needs: the need for connection, the need for competence and the need for control, which must be met. If, at the level of the organization's management, there is a real concern about these needs, employees will feel motivated to maximize their involvement in achieving proposed objectives. The need to connect refers to the desire to be visible, valued, respected, unique, self-confident, connected, belonging to a group. The need for competence implies the need to be able, to succeed. The need for control is the power to make decisions, to make choices, to be the source of your own behaviors. Satisfying these needs of the team members must be a real concern of the leader, if the sustainability of the organization's activity is desired.