Human Behavior & Motivation

Human Behavior
According to businessdictionary.com, human behavior is
the "capacity of mental, physical, emotional, and social activities
experienced during the five stages of a human being's life-
prenatal, infancy, childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. It
includes the behaviors as dictated by culture, society, values,
morals, ethics, and genetics.
Encyclopedia Britannica (2012) states that human beings
have a typical life course it consists of successive phases of
growth, each of which is characterized by a distinct of physical,
physiological, and behavioral features. These phases are prenatal
life, infancy, childhood, adolescence, and adulthood (including old
age). Human development developmental psychologist a field of
study that attempts to describe and explain r changes in human
cognitive, emotional, and behavioral capabilities and functioning
over the entire life.

Motivation
Motivation encompasses the internal and external factors
that stimulate desire and energy people to be continually
interested in and committed to a job, role, or subject, and to exert
persistent efforts in attaining a goal. It results from the interaction
among conscious and unconscious factors such as the (a)
intensity of desire or need, (b) incentive reward value of the goal,
and (c) expectations of the individual and of his/her significant
others.
According to Swindell (2012), motivation means the drive
and ambition needed to achieve our goaIs. We all need that extra
push at some stage of our life, whether it be at 'work, in school, or
home; or maybe to give up a bad habit or shed a few pounds. We
need motivation to get a job done and achieve a goal. Self-
motivation can work for some people. For example, if you are
trying to lose some weight, just imagine how you will look and feel
when you can fit again in your smaller-sized clothes. An old
photograph of a slimmer you could help motivate you to keep
going.
If you work in sales, it is important to stay motivated to
achieve your targets in order to earn cash bonuses or even job
promotion in addition to commission. It is also easy to become
demotivated. For example, you may be way off your sales targets
and you realize there is no chance of reaching them, so you just
give up. Negative people can demotivate you as well.
Good Leadership, Transactional and Transformational Leadership

Good Leadership

Leadership pertains to the quality exemplified by a

leader. It also refers to acts of leading or the process of social
influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of
others in accomplishment of a common task.
Characteristics of a Good Leader
Here are ten essential characteristics of a good leader. Do
you think you possess them?

1. Good leaders know where they want to go and they can

motivate people to believe in their vision for their country,
community, and family. Good leaders view things as what they
could be and not simply as what they are.
2. Good leaders can make sound judgments and decisions
even during crucial situations.
3. Good leaders are very passionate and intensely obsessed in
whatever they are focused on, be it business, sport, or hobby.
4. Good leaders show compassion for their supporters and
followers. They possess exemplary coaching and development
skills. While these leaders have goals to accomplish, they can
still consistently care for their constituents. They are not
selfish individuals who think only about their own wants and
needs. They have a heart for others.
5. Good leaders are captivating, charming individuals who tend
to draw people toward them. It could be because of the way
they talk themselves. They excel in building relationships and
eliciting performances from their groups.
6. Communication skills. Good leaders are usually great orators
and persuaders. They can express their ideas convincingly.
7. Good leaders are determined to attain their goals in spite of
the obstacles and problems. They believe that the benefits of
attaining their goals outweigh the risks and hardships.
8. Good leaders mean what they say. They walk the talk,
practice what they preach, and keep their promises. They are
reliable.
9. Good leaders are bold, willing to take risks, and determined
to chase their dreams amid the reality of their fear and
uncertainty.
10. Good leaders observe self-control and order. Where most
people are easily distracted or dejected, good leaders manage
to stay focused and steady regardless of the situation.
Maxwell (1999) says that a leader should recognize,
develop, and refine certain personal characteristics needed to
be a truly effective leader, the kind of leader people will want
to follow. These are some of the traits of that leader:

1. Character is the quality of a person's behavior as revealed

by his/her habits, thoughts and expressions, attitudes and
interests, actions, and personal philosophies in life. Be a
piece of the rock. There are always two paths to choose
from character and compromise. Opt for character.
2. Charisma is a special spiritual gift bestowed temporarily
by the Holy Spirit on a group or an individual for the general
good. It is an extraordinary power in a person, group, or
cause, which takes hold of popular imagination and wins
popular support.
3. Commitment engages one to do something as a
continuing obligation. It is a state of intellectual and
emotional adherence to some political, social, and religious
theory of action.
4. Communication is a two-way process of reaching mutual
understanding, in which participants do not only exchange
 (encode-decode) information but also create and share
meaning. The meaning of communication is in the response
and not in what is said or how it is said.
5. Competence indicates a sufficiency of knowledge and
skills that enable someone to act in a wide variety of
situations. It is the capacity of a person to understand a
situation and to respond to it accordingly and reasonably. A
core competency is fundamental knowledge, ability, or
expertise in a specific area.
6. Courage is the quality of the mind that enables a person,
to face difficulty and danger without fear. It begins with an
inward battle. It is a right not just smoothing them over. It
inspires commitment from followers. Life expands in
proportion to one's courage.

Transformational Leadership
Bass (1990) explains that transformational leadership is
a form of leadership that curs when leaders broaden and
elevate the interests of their employees, when they generate
awareness and acceptance of the purposes and mission of the
group, and when they stimulate their employees to look
beyond their own self-interest for the good of the group.
Transformational leaders have a clear collective vision,
and most importantly, they manage to communicate it
effectively to all employees.

Transactional and Transformational Leadership

Transactional Leadership is based on power that makes
use of rewards and coercion to deliver benefits to members
(patronage), or to force or instill fear as illustrated by
colonization, vote-buying, and similar methods.
Transformational leadership or real leadership starts
from the recognition of what the members need and the steps
toward achieving these needs, and relating rewards to effort.
 The leader acts as a role model. He / She lives out
values, demonstrates personal qualities, is approachable and
accessible treats people as individuals and involves many in
decision making, seeks to empower and give maximum
freedom, and is concerned with developing members
collectively and individually.
Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
Adopted from Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by
Stephen Covey (2007)

1. Be proactive. Proactive means being able to take

responsibility for our freedom to choose your behavior and
response to the stimuli. Use your creativity and have some
initiative. You are the one in charge.
2. Begin with the end in mind Know where you want to go.
When making plans and decisions, see to it that the time
and effort that will be spent conform to what you want to
achieve. Envision your goal and make it happen.
3. Put first things first. Practice self-management. Know your
priorities.
4. Think win-win. Look at life as a cooperative arena, not a
competitive one. Enter agreements or make solutions that
are mutually beneficial and satisfying to both parties.
5. Seek first to understand, then to be understood. As the
saying goes, "the best way to understand is to listen:' the
practice of empathy governs this habit. It is about putting
yourself in someone else's shoes. By listening to a person's
explanation, only then can you evaluate, probe, give advice,
and interpret his/her feelings.
6. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. More tasks
can be done if all things within reach are maximized and
utilized. Synergize is the habit of creative cooperation.
Better results can be produced as a group than as
individuals.
7. Sharpen the saw. What you have learned a couple of
years back will have become outdated. Many things evolve
and develop so fast that you need to update through various
food-for-the brain resources. A sense of humor is vital to
 relieve tension and boredom as well as to defuse hostility.
Effective leaders know how to use humor to energize his/her
followers. Humor is a form of power that provides some
control over the work environment even as it fosters
camaraderie. .

Teamwork, Time Management & Decision Making

Teamwork
Teamwork is the process of working collaboratively with
a group of people in order to achieve a goal. It is often a crucial
part of a business as it is often necessary for colleagues to
work well together and try their best in any circumstance.
Teamwork means that people will try to cooperate by using
their individual skills and providing constructive feedback,
despite any personal conflict between individuals. Teamwork
brings people together for a common purpose or goal and
subordinates the needs of individuals to the needs of the
group. Many management gurus define team as a group of
individuals passionately committed to their end goal. When
groups have common goals, teamwork is vital to success.
Teachers expect teamwork among students; employers expect
employees to function effectively as a team; and most
organizations convene teams to handle problems or projects.
Therefore, it is important to learn teamwork skills even if you
prefer to work independently.
What does teamwork look like in action? Basically, group
members focus on the goal. They put aside individual
differences and petty grievances to get the job done. They
show passion for the project and each contributes to its
success.

Time Management
The succeeding sections have been adopted from the writing
of Paulla Estes edited by Niki Foster (May 28, 2012).
 Time management is the art of arranging, organizing,
scheduling; and budgeting one's time for the purpose of
generating more effective work and productivity. There is an
abundance of books, classes, workshops, day-planners, and
seminars on time management, which teach individuals and
corporations how to be more organized and productive. Time
management has become crucial in recent years, thanks to the
24/7, busy world in which we live.
Time management is important for everyone. While time
management books and often place their focus on business
leaders and corporations, time management is also necessary
for students, teachers, factory workers, professionals. Time
management is perhaps most essential for the person who
runs a business of his or her own or not. Managing work and
home responsibilities under the s roof takes a special type of
time management.
Decision-making
Decision-making is a process that involves selecting the
most logical choice from among two or more options. An
example is deciding whether to move to a new apartment, to
live with the in-laws, or stay in the same apartment. Making a
decision is instrumental in the survival and prosperity of
human beings. The right choice is what al from the rest.
Although the ability of making the correct decision within a
short span of time is a highly valued trait, we cannot simply
follow aset of patterns when deciding on a course of action at
all points in time. There are k4ifferent types of decision-making
that we do depending on the situation at hand.
Consider the following in decision-making:

1. Identification of alternative solutions

2. Evaluation of possible options to determine which one meets
the decision objectives
3. Selection of the best option after an in-depth evaluation
Volunteerism
Volunteerism is a practice, or principle of
contributing one's time, talents, and resources freely to
 worthwhile purposes without tangible compensation. It is
considered the most fundamental act in the society. It is
geared toward good causes that help alleviate the sufferings
of others. It promotes peace, solidarity, and trust among
citizens.
Volunteerism can serve in various areas ranging
from medical, environmental, and educational support
groups to child protection and human rights advocacies, poll
or election work, peacekeeping missions, and relief
operations, to name a few
Moore (2002) describes a volunteer as follows:
"A volunteer is a person who is a light to others,
giving witness in a mixed-up age, doing well and willingly
the tasks at hand, namely, being aware of another's need
and doing something about it.
"A volunteer is a person who strives to make
other people happy, who takes the loneliness out of the
alone by talking to them, who is concerned when others
are unconcerned, who has the courage to be a blessing
and to say the things that have to be said for the good of
all.

Benefits of Volunteers
Volunteerism yields the following benefits:

1. Community development
2. Development of the skills of volunteers
3. Peace, solidarity, and trust among citizens
4. Career opportunities for volunteers
5. Friendship among citizens 6
6. Experience and self-esteem gained by volunteers
Values Expected of Volunteers
Here are some core values expected of volunteers:

1. Volunteers are attached to, identified with, and involved in

community service.
2. Volunteers observe work ethics in performing their
responsibilities with socially and morally accepted behavior.
3. Volunteers search constantly for new strategies and methods
of doing a task for improved results.
4. A volunteer supports teamwork to achieve the common goal.
Community Service
Community service is identified by the higher
educational institution (HEI) in consultation with the local
government, community-based organizations, and non-
governmental organizations as designed to improve the quality
of life of community residents, particularly low-income
individuals, or to solve particular problems related to their
needs. Community service includes the following:

1. First aid training or health care, preschool storytelling,

social welfare, social services, trauma counseling, group
dynamics, crime prevention, recreation, street cleaning,
and community improvement.
2. Serving in the youth corps as defined in the NSTP Act of
2001
3. Assisting students with disabilities
4. Tutoring, supporting educational and recreational
activities, and counseling, including career counseling
Volunteer community-service can be rendered in
government offices, private companies or in any place
where services may be needed. Volunteers can also work
from their homes.