Improving
Staff Performance
Briefly explain the difference between content
and process theories, and outline one of the process theories covered in the
lecture.
Motivational theory's are
broken down into two main categories, Content theories such as Maslow’s
hierarchy of needs, Aldefer’s ERG theory, Herzberg’s two factor theory and
McClelland’s achievement motivation theory. On the flip side there are Process
theories such as Vroom, Porter and Lawler’s Expectancy theory. Adam’s Equity
theory and Locke’s Goal theory. “Content theories profile different needs that
may motivate an individual’s behaviour, whereas process theories try to examine
the thought processes that motivate an individual’s behavioural.” (John R Schermerhorn, 2011).
One Process covered in
lecture was Vroom, Porter and Lawler’s Expectancy theory. This theory has three
main parts to it, Effort, Performance and Reward.
(Uni, 2011)
Expectancy theory suggests
that behaviours result from consiuse choices to seek out and maximize
pleasureable experiences and avoid behaviours that cause pain/harm. Expectancy
theory discovered a relationship between people’s behaviour at work and their
overall goals was far more complex than previous theories had suggested. This
was the first theory to understand that individual factors like a person’s
personality past experience and technical abilities all affected how well an
individual employee could perform. Vroom’s theory understood that different
employees would have different types of goals, and there for will have
different motivations. The theory also states that an employee can only be
motivated if.....
1. Good performance will give them a
reward
2. Rewards will satisfy the initial
motivation to improve performance
3. The effort is worth wile to appease
their satisfaction desires
In
summary Expectancy theory believes that every individual must undergo a mental
process before any choices can be made. Vroom defined motivation as a process
that governs choices among alternative forms of voluntary activities, this
process is controlled by the individual. Choices are made on estimations on how
well results of given behaviours are going to eventually lead to the desired results
wanted by the individual.
Choose one organisation and identify all the
ways in which they motivate their employees. Use primary research and/or
secondary sources. This information can
often be found within the careers section of the website for that organisation.
Waitrose is one of the best companies to work
for in the UK. Waitrose has been in business since 1904 and was founded by
Wallace Waite, David Taylor and Authur Rose. In 1937 the company was bought by
the John Lewis partnership and they are still owned by them today. All Waitrose
staff are given the title of ‘Partner’ suggesting that all employee’s are
somehow co-owners in the business as well as working for it.
(Diagram shows Waitrose partnership card for
staff discounts in john lewis and Waitrose stores.) (Anon., n.d.)
This partnership has many benefits such as the
‘Partnership Bonus’ ware by Waitrose usually pay employee’s around 10% of a
partners salary in march in the form of a lump sum. Critically all staff are
seen to be valued by the entire company helping them work better as a team. This
bonus that staff receive is a great incentive to work harder for the company as
the harder they work the more profit will be made in turn giving the employee a
larger bonus. This is closely linked to Vroom’s expectancy theory as staff are
motivated because their initial efforts will be repaid to them causing great
satisfaction. The video below show how the staff look
forward to the annual bonus revelation.
Waitrose are following Vroom’s expectancy
theory to the letter in the respect that they are able to please employee’s by
giving them breather job satisfaction as well as increasing their workforces
overall output. This system is the best in its market; this may be why more
people would like to work for Waitrose than some of the other big food
retailers such as Asda.
Your section on Improving Staff Performance in
your blog should finish with a brief conclusion which evaluates your findings
of this topic.
To conclude it seems that
there is a clear coloration between how well a work force can be motivated to
work harder and the resulting overall performance of the business that employs
them. This means that companies should try to keep staff motivated for the
entirety of their employment otherwise their productivity could be severely lessened
not to mention a de-motivated work force is generally an unhappy workforce. The
knock on affect could lead to lower intake of staff as the company is not known
for keeping their staff happy and wanting to work. Before studying this topic
it was unclear to me how important motivation in the workplace, and the
theory's that analyse it could be. When entering the business world my advice
to anyone would be keep your staff motivated and they are de-motivated follow
Vroom’s expectancy theory as a means to re-motivate your staff.
Bibliography
Uni, B.N. (2011) Expectancy theory.
[Picture]. Bucks New Uni, High Wycombe.
Anon. (n.d.)
[online]. Available from: http://assets.reviewcentre.com/cms//images/857/290/4884-jpg-1.jpg.
John R Schermerhorn,
R.N.O.M.U.-B.J.G.H. (2011) Organizational Behavior. In: Sons, J.W.&.
(ed.) Organizational Behavior. 12th ed., p.102.
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