Motivational Techniques at Jack Stores: Applying Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and McClelland's Achievement Motivation Theory

This case study discusses the motivational techniques used at Jack stores of Tesco by applying Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and McClelland's Achievement Motivation Theory. It explains the advantages and disadvantages of these theories and how they can increase productivity and job satisfaction. The report concludes by stating that the appropriate motivational theory must be employed to bring efficiency in the organization and make employees committed to the overall objective of the organization.

Case-Study -
Motivational
Techniques at Jack
stores

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
TASK...............................................................................................................................................3
Maslow's theory of the hierarchy of needs..................................................................................3
McClelland's achievement motivation theory.............................................................................4
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Motivation is a crucial factor in increasing the productivity of employees. It is a method
of stimulating individuals for functioning to accomplish the objectives of organization. To get
the competitive advantage, businesses must employ motivational factors to increase the
productivity of their employees. They must use appropriate motivational theories by considering
their advantages and disadvantages to be used in increasing the efficiency of the enterprise (Khan
and et. al., 2022). The following report will be based on the case study of motivational
techniques at Jack stores of Tesco. It will cover the applicability of appropriate motivational
theory at the stores to job satisfaction of employees there.
TASK
Motivational theory is the study of understanding what makes an individual to take more
tasks and be committed towards the objectives of the organization (Pettigrew and Howes, 2022).
At its Jack discount stores , the HR manger of Tesco may employ the following motivational
theories to motivate its employees for increasing the productivity of business by making them
committed to the individual goals of stores and thereby to overall objective of the business :
Maslow's theory of the hierarchy of needs
This theory includes 5 basic needs of the individuals to be satisfied to motivate them to
work. Those needs are :
 Psychological needs : These are the most fundamental needs such as providing food,
shelter, water and other basic necessities to employees.
 Safety needs : Company needs to ensure safety of employees from accidents at
workplace or while travelling to office.
 Love and Belonging needs : Employees need to feel connected with individuals to share
feelings and feel satisfied at the workplace. They want to feel belongingness.
 Esteem needs : It includes self worth, respect and accomplishment. Employees need to
be respected in the organization for their accomplishments and increased status.
 Self-actualization needs : It is the highest level in the hierarchy and refers to the growth
needs. It includes self fulfilment and needs for personal growth.
Advantages

 It will help the HR manager of Jack stores in understanding the basic needs of its
employees and in fulfilling them to increase their productivity as it is the most simple ,
common and easily understandable theory of motivation that can be used by those with
less experienced as well as in this case.
 By employing this motivational theory, the management of Tesco jack stores will be able
to identify both inter-personal and intra-personal variations in the behaviour of
employees that will help in motivating the employees to take more tasks and engage more
customers. It will help in both employee as well as customer satisfaction.
Disadvantages
 Sometimes the employees are not aware about their growth needs that makes
management unable to understand their needs and due to which they are not able to
employ motivational factors that causes lack of productivity (Bahari, 2022). So,
Management of Tesco must strive to understand growth needs of its new employees.
 There is a problem in operationalisation of this theory that makes management face
difficulties in identifying the needs such as the self actualisation needs of new employees
at jack stores will be difficult to be measured.
McClelland's achievement motivation theory
This theory states that individuals require three main motivators i.e. Achievement,
Affiliation or Power. These motivators are developed through culture and experiences of
organization, for instance, achievers prefer to achieve objectives by solving problems (Hermessi,
2022). These motivators are as follows :
 Achievement : Employees have a need to accomplish challenging tasks by taking risks.
They want to get feedback on their performance and growth. So, the management of
Tesco needs to engage its employees in this way by providing them with achievement
work and also provide them with balanced appraisal.
 Affiliation : These characteristics state that employees want belongings in the
organization by ensuring collaboration. It prefers collaboration over competition. They
want a group environment. So, the HR manager of Jack discount stores must ensure to
integrate its employees by assigning them with less risky projects. These employees
should not be appraised publicly in front of others for the purpose of motivation.

 Power : This motivational-driven factor includes desires to control and influence others.
This kind of employees prefer competition an winnings. They enjoy status, recognition
and reputation in the organization. So, Manager should be direct with these employees
and motivate them accordingly as due to their power, they are good at negotiations with
clients and customers.
Advantages
 One of the best advantage of this theory is that the individuals are given tasks according
to their needs that helps the management in accomplishing the objectives efficiently as
employees get the desired job roles that increases their productivity by providing job
satisfaction.
 This motivational theory ensures that the organization has satisfied employees as they
have their desired job profiles. It does not have any scope for excuse on any failure of the
tasks given as they are given the tasks of their own choice, capabilities and needs.
Disadvantages
 This theory does not consider the fulfilment of basic needs. It only focuses on the needs
for achievement, power and affiliation. The basic needs such as food, water shelter must
be a priority for employing motivation before thinking about other advance needs to
motivate the employees (Samara and Serhan, 2022).
 Another disadvantage is that with this motivational theory, employees get stereotyped
with the job role irrespective of their qualification. They would not like to shift to
affiliation or power department just because of stereotype. Also, Tesco would not be able
to find the employees matching the needs i.e. affiliation , power exactly.
CONCLUSION
From the above discussion, it has been concluded that to increase productivity and to get
the competitive advantage in the market, management of the business must employ motivational
factors to bring efficiency in the organization to make its employees committed to the overall
objective of the organization. Tesco can use the above explained motivational theories for its
new Tesco Jack discount stores for increasing the productivity of its employees according the
suitability. It will help the company in competing with Aldi and Lidl as well.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Bahari, A., 2022. Affordances and challenges of technology-assisted language learning for
motivation: A systematic review. Interactive Learning Environments, pp.1-21.
Hermessi, T., 2022. Motivation for learning EFL in Tunisia: an eclectic theoretical approach and
a structural equation modeling approach. Innovation in Language Learning and
Teaching, pp.1-19.
Khan, M.A., and et. al., 2022. Game-based learning platform to enhance cybersecurity
education. Education and Information Technologies, pp.1-25.
Pettigrew, J.E. and Howes, P.A., 2022. COVID-19 and Student Perceptions toward a Swift Shift
in Learning Format: Does Experience Make a Difference?. American Journal of
Distance Education, pp.1-18.
Samara, K. and Serhan, O.A., 2022. Micro-foundations as a grounding for readiness-for change
in knowledge sharing initiatives. International Journal of Business Performance
Management, 23(1-2), pp.34-53.