Business Management Assignment: Examining Motivational Theories For Jack Discount Stores

Question

Task: Case-Study - Motivational Techniques at Jack stores Recently Tesco announced opening of new discount stores “Jack” as part of their ongoing strategy to compete against Aldi and Lidl. These stores will have competitive pricing similar to Aldi and Lidl (BBC, 2018). The management is keen to display that new stores will be well looked after and funded just like other Tesco stores. They have assured that “Jack” stores will have similar culture and carry same values as Tesco stores. They also want to make sure the employees are highly motivated to work for “Jack” stores. Motivation plays a very important role in increasing employee productivity. Motivated employees have high job satisfaction and loyalty. They tend to be less absent and sick. They show high commitment and dependability towards their work. Tesco management wants to make sure that new employee needs are well understood and taken care of.

You are a HR Assistant at Jack Store.
Your business management assignment task - As a HR assistant examine and analyse different motivational theories you think will work for Jack discount stores and satisfy Tesco management. Write a 1000-word report covering at least two motivational theories and applying their advantages and limitations to Jack discount stores.

Answer

Introduction
The case study used within the business management assignment highlights the situation where Tesco is going to open their new discount stores named ‘Jack’. The retail market is highly competitive and to compete with Lidl and Aldi and sustain in this market, Tesco thought of the strategy to open discount stores. This ongoing strategy of Tesco has been formulated to offer competitive prices for the goods at discount stores. The Jack discount stores would be funded and looked after by the parent body, Tesco. Jack would operate like any other Tesco stores and would nurture similar values and culture. As Jack stores is a new line of stores being opened by Tesco, the company needs to ensure that the employees are motivated to work. The highly motivated employees would generate better results.

Employee Motivation: Jack Stores
As perSuhartanto et al (2020), motivation is a crucial and determining factor in the success of a business. Jack Stores are the new line of discount stores which have been announced by Tesco. The management of Tesco wants to compete with Aldi and Lidl through competitive pricing at the discount stores of Jack. To make Jack a success, the company needs good, productive and motivated employees. Motivation depends on various factors, which Tesco needs to take care of. The company aims at understanding the needs of the employees and taking care of them.

Motivation theories
McClelland's Human Motivation Theory
McClelland’s theory of motivation states that every individual is driven or motivated by one of the three key driving motivators. These driving motivators include the need for achievement, the need for affiliation and the need for power. The theory also states that the motivators are not derived through inherence. When an individual grows and lives his/her life, they develop these motivators. This implies that who will be motivated by what, depends on their life experiences and culture (Arquisola and Ahlisa, 2019). The McClelland’s theory would be effective in the context of Jack stores only when the drivers are rightly identified and the approach of the management towards the employees is appropriately structured. Through the McClelland’s theory the management will be able to identify the key, dominating motivators for the workforce at Jack. After knowing the motivators, the management could utilise the information for influencing how the goals are set and also providing constructive feedback to the employees (Bataeva, 2018). The management through this theory will know which rewards or strategies will work best as motivators for the given team. The first motivator as per the theory of McClelland is achievement. The employees who are driven by achievement at Jack,should be given challenging tasks. The accomplishment of the task would give these employees the required motivation. These employees could be put in difficult situations or given to handle problems. This would keep these achievers engaged and the success out of the resolution of the problem would be motivating for them. The second motivator is affiliation, which implies that the individuals who are driven by it prefer working in group. They like to be integrated in the team as they desire the belongingness with the organization. Jack should identify these employees and make them work in teams. These employees dislike taking risks or working in uncertainty. Therefore, the management at Jack should cater to these needs of these affiliation driven employees to get the best results from them. The third motivator is power, which implies that the individuals motivated by power should be given charge of teams or tasks. These employees are expected to perform better and remain motivated if they are given the charge of goal-oriented assignments as they enjoy power and competition (Werdhiastutie, Suhariadi and Partiwi, 2020). The power-driven employees at Jack should be made team in-charge of teams so that they remain motivated at work.

Advantages
The advantage of the McClelland’s theory is that it enables identifying the motivators. Besides, it facilitates implementing the right motivator for the right person, ensuring best possible outcomes. The achievers as per the theory, are highly productive and work effectively to deliver desired outcomes. This would be an advantage for Jack, as it would be able to generate better performance and business outcomes. The other advantage is that at Jack going by the McClelland’s theory the employees will be given tasks as per their motivational needs (Rybnicek, Bergner and Gutschelhofer, 2019). Therefore, the results should be best with no excuses. The employees are expected to remain satisfied.

Limitations
The disadvantage of the McClelland’s theory is that the basic needs like shelter, food and safety of the employees is neglected as the theory values achievement, affiliation and power over the basics (Bataeva, 2018). The other problem with this theory is that as employees work as per their comfort and need, they get stereotyped. Furthermore, it is difficult to always allocate work as per the needs or motivators of the employees.

Maslow’s theory of motivation
Maslow’s theory of motivation would be effective in Jack stores as it takes into account the five most crucial human needs which dominates a person’s behaviour. The company needs to understand that first things come first. At first, the physiological needs of the employees need to be met. Once these are satisfied, the management could move up the pyramid and focus on safety needs, followed by need of belongingness, esteem needs and finally the need of self-actualisation (Bridgman, Cummings and Ballard, 2019).

Advantages
As per tefan, Popa and Albu(2020), the advantage of Maslow’s theory is that one meets the basic needs before targeting a higher need of the audience. This ensures appropriate level of motivation. Once the basic needs are met, the employee is satisfied. Further their needs develop and change, which can be addressed in later stages. The other advantage is that no need of the employee is missed in this theory. It takes into account all the needs starting from basics up to the highest need of self-worth and fulfilment.

Limitations
The main limitation of Maslow’s theory of motivation is that, the theory does not apply to the contemporary competitive world because the needs of the people have changed (Fallatah and Syed, 2018). The employees are motivated when more than one level of need is satisfied. They expect physiological needs to be satisfied along with safety and belongingness. Thus, addressing one need at a time does not seem relevant any longer. Besides, there are other important motivators like perception, experience and expectation, which are disregarded by Maslow.

Conclusion
It can be concluded that the motivation theories are important in the study of the factors which drives an individual to work towards the achievement of a specific goal or accomplishing a particular task. The motivational theories are directly linked to the performance outcome. Motivation is significant in all paths of life. However, motivation has a greater significance in management and business. The interrelationship between motivation and outcome is simple. The motivated employees are more productive. These employees with higher productivity are more profitable to the organization. The implementation of Maslow’s motivation theory and McClelland’s motivation theory would generate better results for Jack discount stores.

References
, E.V., 2018. Motivational content analysis of primary school textbooks on literature in context of D. McClelland's theory. , 20(1), pp.136-151.
Arquisola, M.J. and Ahlisa, S.U.W., 2019. Do learning and development interventions motivate employees at PT Danone Indonesia Applying McClelland’s theory of motivation to FMCG industries. FIRM Journal of Management Studies, 4(2), pp.160-176.

Bataeva
Bridgman, T., Cummings, S. and Ballard, J., 2019. Who built Maslow’s pyramid A history of the creation of management studies’ most famous symbol and its implications for management education. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 18(1), pp.81-98.

Fallatah, R.H.M. and Syed, J., 2018. A critical review of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. employee motivation in Saudi Arabia, pp.19-59.
Rybnicek, R., Bergner, S. and Gutschelhofer, A., 2019. How individual needs influence motivation effects: a neuroscientific study on McClelland’s need theory. Business management assignmentReview of Managerial Science, 13(2), pp.443-482.
tefan, S.C., Popa, .C. and Albu, C.F., 2020. Implications of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory on healthcare employees’ performance. Transylvanian Review of Administrative Sciences, 16(59), pp.124-143.
Suhartanto, D., Brien, A., Primiana, I., Wibisono, N. and Triyuni, N.N., 2020. Tourist loyalty in creative tourism: the role of experience quality, value, satisfaction, and motivation. Current Issues in Tourism, 23(7), pp.867-879.
Werdhiastutie, A., Suhariadi, F. and Partiwi, S.G., 2020. Achievement Motivation as Antecedents of Quality Improvement of Organizational Human Resources. Budapest International Research and Critics Institute-Journal (BIRCI-Journal) Volume, 3, pp.747-752.