Primark: Motivational Strategies - Literature review Example

Primark - Motivational Strategies Motivation in simplest terms can be defined as a means of providing motives. Motives can act towards making or marring the work, towards doing a job more efficiently or for distorting the work environment. Primark is required to serve its customers in diverse markets through its retail network of 173 stores in UK, Ireland and Spain. Though there are standard procedures in effectively handling the customer requests, providing services etc. but while dealing with diverse customer base, there has to be some sort of customisation as well. This helps in value creation for the customers together with making way for profitability and earning revenues. The extent to which the employees feel motivated to put the best foot forward depends upon the policies adopted by the company in towards motivation. McGregor's X/Y Theory Douglas McGregor in his paper "The Human Side of Enterprise", in 1960 came out with the X/Y theory of motivation (McGregor, 2005); According to McGregor theory X assumes that; People inherently dislike work People must be coerced or controlled to do work to achieve objectives People prefer to be directed People act in a very selfish manner, seeking security above everything else This theory presumes that the management has to adopt a coercive role in controlling the employees and it is the management which has a primary role in running the organization. McGregor's theory Y assumes that; People view work as being as natural as play and rest People will exercise self-direction and -control towards achieving objectives they are committed to Commitment to objectives is a function of the rewards associated with the achievements of people People learn to accept and seek responsibility Creativity, ingenuity, and imagination are widely distributed among the population and they are capable of using these abilities to solve an organizational problem. People have potential Theory Y assumes that all employees have key roles to play in running the organization and management's role is to develop the potential in employees and help them to release that potential towards common goals. The biggest drawback of McGregor's theory is that it sort of draws a dividing line. But in practice there's no such fine dividing line between type X and type Y. An organization cannot have all the people having similar capability and attitude towards work. Similarly all the students in a classroom cannot have similar calibre and IQ. Moreover a person who behaves in a particular manner today may come around and start taking things in different perspective once the manager takes him in confidence and makes him understand couple of things. Sometimes circumstances prevail upon the person and he starts behaving in a different way. Motivation may be defined as the state of an individual's perspective which represents the strength of his/ her natural inclination to exert efforts towards some particular behaviour. How somebody makes use of his/ her efforts towards a goal is determined by the motivating/ de-motivating factors. It is through their behaviour that employees give expression to their commitment to work, level of motivation and their attitudes. Behaviour includes all actions overt or covert, and verbal or non-verbal. This affects the overall efficiency of the person and the performance of the organization. For Primark, the main target segment includes the youth segment. This under 35 segment prefers to go for the trendy fashion, requires quality at reasonable prices. To serve this segment is challenging but interesting as well, because today the spending power of youth segment has comparatively gone up. Moreover the young workforce at Primark will surely enjoy dealing with their age group customers, as it might require them lesser efforts to sell the idea to youth as compared to senior age group persons. The 'look good, pay less' proposition from Primark fits perfectly well with the youth segment. The brand identity being created by Primark amongst the youth helps in offering a valued product to the customers and the workforce has to put in lesser effort in convincing the customers about the aspects like quality. Primark has been working with this strategy whenever it plans to open up a new retail outlet. The HR team tries to raise the profile and reputation of the company so that the employees feel empowered enough to work for the company. Working with a reputed brand makes the workforce feel much better. According to Argyris (1998), a CEO once said, "No vision, no strategy, can be achieved without able and empowered employees". Therefore, empowerment in different forms also provides motivation to the workforce. Leitch et al, (1995) also state that management can encourage employees' empowerment by changing the organisational structure that supports empowerment. In practice, it is observed that the human behaviour is a function of a person in relation to the situation, having 'personality' and 'situation' as the two variables. Motivational factors arouse a need, propelling a person to channelize his efforts and energies in the direction of fulfilling those needs. These needs are aroused in the employee of an organization to increase the output, provide quality, increase efficiency, maintain industrial peace etc. For a student the need for better marks is aroused by the class teacher to improve the results of the school, class and the teacher himself. Need arousal too is an art in itself, which requires a good understanding of the human behaviour. An effective manager must understand the fact that there are at least two ways by which the behaviour of employees could be directed towards the productive pursuits in the organization. One is by changing the personality, i.e. the internal psychological structures of the person, which is a long-drawn and uncertain process. Another strategy is to modify the characteristics of the situation prevailing around the employees. These situational factors have tremendous influence in shaping one's personality. Fulfilling the desires and needs of deserving employee in timely manner helps in motivating them to further improve their performances. Maslow's Hierarchy of Need Abraham Maslow along with Fredrick Herzberg introduced the motivation theories focusing on the needs of human beings. Maslow's premise is that human beings are "wanting" organisms that are motivated to fulfil and satisfy certain needs in their lives. Maslow postulated that people want meet various goals and they are forever striving to meet these goals. He recognized five basic human needs in people, which constitute a hierarchy (fig). It also shows that higher level needs are not considered until lower-level needs are met, because the lower level needs are more immediate and urgent. Fig: Maslow's Hierarchy of Five Basic Human Needs As per this theory, a person starts at the bottom of the hierarchy (base of the pyramid) and seeks to satisfy his basic needs like food shelter etc. which make him physiologically strong. Once the physiological needs are satisfied, they remain no longer as motivators and now the person starts to look for safety needs like protective clothing, protection against retrenchment/ unemployment, loss of income-source etc. Then comes the social need which recognizes that most people want to belong to a group and feel the love and belongingness. Esteem needs are about given recognition for a job well done e.g. recognition in the form of promotion etc. Having fulfilled all the needs the person starts to discover himself by talking to his inner-self. This is the concept of fulfilling one's potential and becoming everything one is capable of becoming. If an employee, putting more efforts and energy, coming out with better results than another one having a lethargic attitude towards the work, are treated in the same manner than this may act as a negative motivation for the efficient employee. Most human resource management strategies are eventually meant to optimally utilize the capabilities of individuals and groups towards achievement of organizational objectives. Performance of an individual is a function of his ability and willingness to use his efforts towards achieving personal or organizational goals. This willingness or desire to act and to behave comes in the ambit of motivation. Primark is a member of the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI), an alliance of companies, trade unions and other organisations aiming to promote worker's rights. Therefore, Primark has shown its commitment to improve the working conditions, which is another motivating factor for the workforce. Motivation or lack of it gets manifested in human behaviour. A good manager is supposed to keep observing such behaviour and draw inferences accordingly. In general motivation helps in; i. Better performances for the organization ii. Better working environment in the organization iii. Sense of achievement for the organization as well as the employee iv. Honor and recognition for the workaholic employees v. Sense of belongingness and responsibility amongst the employees vi. Advancement of career opportunities for the employee and business opportunities for the organization vii. Overall growth for the organization. Now a days, Multi-National Companies in particular take good care of their employees or that is the kind of impression they wish to circulate around. The main reason for attempts to avoid bad publicity is because as per a recent study seventy percent of world trade-"including one-third of all manufacturing exports, three-quarters of all commodity trade, and four-fifths of technical and management services trade"-was accounted for by the 500 largest MNCs. And as more innovative approaches came on the horizon, efforts also started to design the job in such a manner that the workers full potential is utilised, which again gave rise to the debate on the effectiveness of such efforts. Jobs are in general classified based on the types of requisite qualifications, expertise and experience and accordingly people are selected for each job. The process of reclassifying, enlargement, specification of jobs is an evolutionary process within an organisation and continues with newer inputs to the industry and job profile. For example Primark needs Weekend Managers for which job specification includes; Management functions on registers, Merchandising, Customer Services, Staff Management on the Sales Floor. The weekend manager is also supposed to take care of deliveries and administration in the stock room, while in cash office he is supposed to take count of the cash lifts and floats etc. If for example the staff management is taken out of this job profile, then the manager might have little control over his subordinates, which means he can exert lesser authority for completing the tasks. This will surely hamper the working environment and the morale of the manager. Such thoughts lead to the approach of job design and job evaluation. The process of job evaluation is a prerequisite to effective recruitment, compensation, labour relations, employee development and all other aspects of human resources management. Seven major steps in the job analysis process are; Step-1: Reviewing the existing information about jobs. This requires examining the job descriptions and job specifications together with their evaluation for relevancy and accuracy in the present context. Step-2: Determining the process of job analysis. A suitable technique of job analysis is defined for carrying out the task. For this adequate support is required from different quarters like the HR professionals, managers, executives etc. This process is a time consuming process and requires patience and an eye for observation. Preparations are made for a thorough analysis of the job with the help of questionnaires, interviews, observation and the reports about the job gathered over time. Step-3: Data collection: Data is collected with the help of questionnaires, surveys, observations and other reliable reports. Step-4: Data Compilation: The data collected in step-3 happens to be in raw form and requires grouping in different segments, tabulation etc. so that conclusions can be drawn out with comparisons and analysis. Step-5: Verifying job description and job satisfaction. This process is required to take care of any loose ends that could have been left during the data collection process. Under this process the documents are sent to the participants for reviews for ascertaining the accuracy. Step-6: After the participants review the document and give a seal of approval the jobs are provided specifications with the approval of middle level supervisors and senior management. Step-7: Maintaining the Job specifications for future reference: The jobs thus specified and described are to be documented and maintained for references in future so that whenever a need is felt to undertake such an exercise again, these documents are available for reference. Pennys (n.d.), while presenting the case study on Primark, analyses the company in detail. As per this study it is quite apparent that Primark has consistently worked towards the training & development of its competent staff and allowed them to take more responsibilities by developing their talents and potential. The healthy economic outlook of Ireland's has also given a boost to the business prospects of retail industry in general and Primark has been able to consolidate its position as well. Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory Frederick Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory suggests that rewards affect work behaviour in substantially different ways depending upon whether they are intrinsic rewards (motivators/ satisfiers) or extrinsic rewards (hygiene factors etc.). Intrinsic rewards are those that are built into or inherent in the job such as recognition, responsibility, accomplishment and autonomy. Employees gain or experience these rewards as they perform their job. Extrinsic rewards are external to the job and include such aspects like pay, benefits, working conditions, job security, etc. The extrinsic rewards, largely form part of the compensation package and some of these in fact become intrinsic, as entitlements once give are seldom withdrawn. Job Security, status in the society or company hierarchy, relationship with seniors/ subordinates, sense of achievement in personal life, better salary, suitable working conditions, relationship with supervisor and company policy and administration are known as some of the hygiene factors. While some of the motivational factors according to Herzberg are; Growth prospectus and job advancement, advancements in responsibility, scope for challenges, recognition and achievements in the organisation. Deepak Chopra (2005) an internationally renowned Indian philosopher says, "The first spiritual law of success is the Law of Pure Potentiality. This law is based on the fact that we are, in our essential state, pure consciousness. Pure consciousness is pure potentiality; it is the field of all possibilities and infinite creativity. Pure consciousness is our spiritual essence. Being infinite and unbounded, it is also pure joy. Other attributes of consciousness are pure knowledge, infinite silence, perfect balance, invincibility, simplicity, and bliss. This is our essential nature. Our essential nature is one of pure potentiality." An effective HRM therefore tries to carve out this potentiality of the individual towards achieving the larger goals of the organization. Organizations have persons of different backgrounds and temperaments. The likes, dislikes, preferences, and different needs of individuals come to interplay in the work situation. Hence not only is the formal interpersonal relationship important for the organization, but informal person-to-person relationship is also equally important. It is imperative for an HR Manager to develop a sound interpersonal relationship among his people and also enhance their positive aspects. Good interpersonal relationship makes the environment more congenial to work. There are essentially four stages of developing interpersonal relationship; i. Forming First Impression: When an individual joins an organization, he forms an impression about the organization. Similarly the organization and fellow colleagues form an impression about the individual. 'First impression is a lasting impression', they say, as it influences the way people see each other, but a professional HR manager has to discount this as well. This may not guarantee long-term relationship but it is important to make favorable impression for starting an enduring relationship. ii. Developing Mutual Expectations: Organization has recruited the individual with some expectations. Similarly the individual has also joined the organization with some expectations as well. A set of mutually synchronized and realistic expectations are then worked out by the HRM. This involves a series of exchanges and adjustments to each other's expectations. Individual expects rewards/ good compensation for his work while organization wants optimum out of the individual. Organization's HR Department has to play a very crucial role in this adjustment process. iii. Honoring Psychological Contracts: A set of mutual expectations, which is worked out and understood by the concerned parties is called a psychological contract. For an effective interpersonal relationship, the participants must honor their psychological contracts. Each party must be faithful in the relationship and should not take any arbitrary action. iv. Developing Trust and Faith: Honouring of psychological contracts results in an increased level of trust and influence, which in turn increases each party's ability to affect the behaviour and thinking of the other. Mayo's Theory of Motivation Mayo, worked around the belief that the fulfilling the social needs of workers together with the monetary benefits help more in motivating them. He basically introduced the Human Relation School of thought which believed in treating the human beings as an integral part of the society and encouraging them to remain in social groups. This theory realized and accepted that people enjoy interacting with each other. This theory believed in an enduring relationship amongst the human beings and their surroundings. Mayo concluded that employees are best motivated by; Better communication between the managers and employees More managerial involvement in working lives of employees Encouraging team/ group spirit This theory, though not enlisting all aspects, still appears to be adopting a practical approach. Primark has undertaken the task of 'manpower planning' at crucial junctures in its history, which has helped the company in looking at the needs of a company now and in the future so that the company possesses sufficient qualified workforce when they are needed (Penneys, n.d.). Taylor's Theory of Motivation Frederick Winslow Taylor came out with the findings that workers are motivated mainly by the monetary benefits. He put forward the theory of scientific management and argued that; Employees do not enjoy the work naturally and instead they need close control and supervision. The production should be broken down into a series of small tasks Employees should be given appropriate training and tools to work efficiently. Employees are then paid to the number of items they produce in a time period Therefore the employees are encouraged to work hard and maximize their productivity. It is quite apparent that in propounding his observations Taylor made the following key assumptions; That man is a rational economic animal mainly concerned with maximizing his economic gains. People respond as individuals and not as groups People can be equated with machines as far as working is concerned. Primark has been investing in its workforce quite well as far as conducting training programs is concerned. For example, the sales assistants are imparted an induction training, before placing them in the live environment. The trainees receive training in areas like customer service, register operation, merchandising stock and health and safety (Penneys, n.d.). This helps in motivating the workers to do well and take up the progress path. Many sales assistants have progressed on to the Trainee Management Development Programme. Taylor found takers to his theory in the likes of Henry Ford, who used it to design his production line for ford cars. But this theory suffers from the drawback that it propagates the autocratic style of management. In today's context when corporations are more concerned about image building and brand building, they can't afford a negative publicity in the overenthusiastic media, arising out of the autocratic behaviour of a manager. Moreover this theory treats human beings like machines, which leaves little room for its practicality in modern days' management techniques. References: 1. Argyris, C (1998). 'Empowerment: The emperor's new cloths'. Harvard Business Review. 2. Deepak Chopra (2005). Seven Spiritual Laws of Success: A Practical Guide to the Fulfillment of Your Dreams. Amber Allen Publishing. 3. Leitch, J.; Nieves, D; Burke, G; Little, M; and Gorin, M (1995). 'Strategies for involving employees'. The Journal for Quality and Participation. 4. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Available online at http://www.netmba.com/mgmt/ob/motivation/maslow/ (Dec 29, 2007) 5. McGregor, Douglas (2005). The Human Side of Enterprise. McGraw-Hill. 6. Penneys (n.d.)-The Force Behind Success. Business-2000. Available online at http://www.business2000.ie/cases/cases/case419.htm (Jan 13, 2008) 7. Smith, Adam. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776) quoted in R.H. Campbell, et.al. (Eds), 1976. Oxford University Press, London 8. The force behind the success. Available online at http://64.233.183.104/searchq=cache:FDgbbIdDR60J:www.business2000.ie/images/pdfs/primark_4th_ed.pdf+primark+employee+profile&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=uk (Jan 13, 2008). Read More