Interview a Manager: Theories of Motivation - Assignment Example

Interview A Manager: Theories Of Motivation The person interviewed was d as Jason Rodriguezand the individual is a (owner) manager of his own furniture store named as Canal Furniture and is currently managing a workforce of 25 employees. The outcome of the interview was that the owner of Canal Furniture was using goal-setting theory in order to motivate the production levels of his workforce. According to this theory employees working within organizations can be motivated if they are assigned with clear goals are constantly provided feedback (Landy 376).

Goal setting theory states that a manager needs to set clear goals for his employees in order to increase the motivation levels of the employees. Clear goals are those in which the outcome or the element that the employees are trying to achieve is clearly defined and the outcomes of the effort the employees use to achieve the goals can easily be measured. Along with clear goals, employers even need to provide timely feedback to their employees regarding their performance as this will help them in managing their own performance to meet the expectations of the employer.

During the interview with the owner of Canal Furniture, the owner stated that he allocates each sales person of his team with a target of furniture that an employee needs to sell. He stated that this helped in measuring the individual targets that individual employees have gained. Those employees who are able to attain the required target are not only paid commission for each piece of furniture they have sold, they are even paid with hefty bonuses. The bonuses helps the employees in identifying that they are performing in consistency with the expectations of the employer and those who are not paid bonuses get the signal that they need to meet the employer’s expectations.

Another motivation theory that the interviewed owner of the businesses suggested that he was using to motivate his employees was the equity theory. The equity theory suggests that employees are motivated if they perceive that the amount of benefits such as compensation and commissions they are being paid are consistent with the amount of time and effort they have invested in performing a particular job (Landy 376). If the employees feel that the benefits that are being paid to them are less than their efforts and time invested in performing a job, they become de-motivated and dissatisfied with their jobs.

The employer stated that he was paying the highest commission to employees for every piece of furniture that is sold by the employee throughout the area in which the business is located. He states that over the years several employees have moved from competitors to gain employment with Canal furniture and he still hires those employees who were with him when he started the business. He states that the commissions attract other employees and help in retaining older employees. He even stated that the bonuses for attaining the set targets are even quite high which makes the employees feel that I am compensating them in a just manner.

Works CitedLandy, Frank J, and Jeffrey M Conte. Work In The 21St Century. 1st ed. Malden, Mass.: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010. Print.