Motivation and Leadership in Social Work Management: A Review of Theories and Related Studies

Social work managers are confronted with the responsibilities of leading employees and motivating them to succeed. Managers may yield better results when they couple their practice wisdom with a theoretical foundation. This conceptual paper may help social work administrators and educators by providing an overview of relevant theories of motivation and leadership and how they apply to social work. The theories that are introduced include Maslow's hierarchy of needs, Herzberg's two-factor or motivator-hygiene theory, McClelland's trichotomy of needs, McGregor's Theory X - Theory Y, Likert's System 1 - System 4, Blake and Mouton's managerial grid, Hersey and Blanchard's situational leadership, and Atwater and Bass's transformational leadership.