Theories of Motivation: A Case Study of Mark and Spencer

This report explores the various theories of motivation, including Maslow's hierarchy of needs, Alderfer's ERG theory, and McClelland's achievement motivation theory. It applies these theories to the case of Mark and Spencer, a multinational company based in London, UK, that operates in the clothing, home products, and food products sectors. The report examines how Mark and Spencer uses traditional cost-cutting methods, employee rewards and awards, and open communication to motivate its employees.

Theories of motivation

Table of Contents
INTRDOUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................1
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................2

INTRODUCTION
Theories of motivation is the understanding of behaviour of the person that drives them
to work towards the particular goal or objectives. It is related to ell the society, business and
management(Ford and et. al., 2020). Therefore the employer use various tools to enhance the
confidence and morale of the workers and convince them to work more for the organisation. The
tools may includes the reward, recognition, trust and career development programmes, purpose,
good office environment and feedback. In this report, Mark and Spencer has been taken into
consideration which is multinational company that is based on London, UK. It involves in
business of clothing, home products and food products. The report will cover the various theories
of motivation which are applied by the organisation to encourage the worker to work more and
perform better.
MAIN BODY
Theories of motivation include the Maslow's hierarchy of needs, Herzberg's motivation-
hygiene theory and McClellad's achievement motivation theory. The Maslow theory stated that
people are motivated to achieve the certain needs therefore it has stated the five different levels
of it. The first level is physiological needs which are life requirement for the survival of human
such as food, drink, shelter, clothing, sleep etc(Hattie, Hodis, and Kang, 2020). These are the
most essential needs for the people therefore this needs is very important from all the other needs
because it maintains the system of the body. The second level is safety and security needs which
arises after the physiological needs are satisfied. Maslow pointed out that security needs are
required to be fulfilled for the safety of the people which creates fear or anxiety for the many
factors. These needs can be fulfilled by the society and family which includes job security needs,
financial needs, insurance for health and well-being and so on. The people wants control in their
life therefore they contribute money to their saving accounts and move into the safer
neighbourhood. The third level includes the love and belongingness needs which are referred to
the human emotional needs for interpersonal relationship, affiliation, friendship, family, social
group, community group where human need love and accepted by others. In order to avoid
depression, anxiety and loneliness people needs love and personal relationship. The fourth level
of Maslow's theory is self esteem needs where a human required to be self respected and includes
worth, dignity, achievements, mastery and independence. At this stage people have feeling of
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self recognition, accomplishments and prestige. This level has become very important for the
people to gain appreciation and respect from others. The people want that they are valued by the
other persons everywhere in the world(Goodman, 2018). So there are may activities which help
the person in gaining the self esteem such as team participation, athletic, personal hobbies and so
on. The fifth stage explained the self actualisation needs that are to be fulfilled by the realisation
of person's potential, self-fulfilment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences. Self
actualisation means that a feeling to do something for others it can be achieved by helping others
and can be accomplished by the artistic or creative work.
The another theory is Alderfer's ERG theory which is the expansion of the Maslow's
needs hierarchy. It has divided the needs into three pars name as existence needs, relatedness
needs and growth needs. This theory has been developed by the Clayton Paul Alderfer who
believe that each needs has some value therefore, he has classified it into lower to higher needs.
He found some level which were related to on the physiological, security and social needs along
with the esteem and self actualisation needs. The first stage is existence needs that comprises all
those needs which are related to the physiological and safety needs of the human beings that are
very important for the survival. This may includes air, food water, shelter, health, secure
employment and property(Beckmann and Heckhausen,2018). Both needs of Maslow are
classified into one concept because they are similar in nature and have same impact on the
behaviour of an individual. The other need is related needs that is refers to the social needs of an
individual whereby he wants an establishment of relationship with their friends, family and the
people who care for them. This needs have great importance to maintain the interpersonal
relationship which are based on the social interaction with the others. It cover the needs
Maslow's social needs and a part of the esteem needs which is gain from the relation with others.
The third stage described the growth needs which explained the Maslaw needs of self
actualisation and part of the self esteem needs. It is the need where people have desire for the
personal development and a feeling of being unique(Todd, Jones and Ross, 2019). The growth
needs influence the individual to look into the maximum possibility in the present situation. This
covers the needs of self esteem, self confidence, achievements, morality and creativity.
The another theory is McClelland theory of motivation that was developed by David C.
McClelland where he believes that each person has specific needs that are acquired through the
experience in life. This motivational stated the needs for the achievements, power and affiliation
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which influence the behaviour of an individual(Reisenzein and Rudolph, 2018). This is also
extension of the Maslow's hierarchy of needs where the first need is need for achievement
where person struggle to achieve the objective that he want to get while working. The people
who get the high achievements need avoid the law risk situation because there is lack of the real
challenge. It is the behaviour of the people which is directed toward the competition with the
standard of excellence where McClelland explained that people who have high achievement
perform better that those who have low or moderate achievements. It includes the characteristics
that the high need achiever have strong desire to assume the responsibility of performing task to
find out the solution. The another need is need for power which is desire ion a person to hold
and controls the authority over another person so that they can influence the decision in
accordance with their own desire. The people have desire that their ideas and views considered
better and accepted over the ideas and views of others. They have desire to change the people
and to make difference in life so that they can influence the life of the person. It may include the
characteristics like people desire to control the life of others and want to consider the leader and
follower relations(McCoach, and Flake, 2018). The another need is need for affiliation where a
person urge for the interpersonal and social relationship with other person. These people want to
collaborate with other person so that they can avoid high risk situation and the uncertainty. They
prefer to be a part of the group and want to establish and maintain friendly and warm relationship
with the other people. It is similar to the Maslow' social needs where the person intend to spend
time in socialising and maintaining relationship and posses the strong desire to be loved and
accepted. The people who work in group follow the norms of the culture at the workplace and
do not want to change the norms because they have fear of rejection. It may involves the
characteristic of the approval and acceptance from others and give value and feeling to others. In
an organisation a manager also facilitates the social interaction so that they can spend more time
in making group by bringing all individuals together.
With reference to mark and Spencer, it motivates its employees by using traditional cost
cutting method to engage its staff. It also rewarded the person with the employee of the month
who perform better so that the confidence level of the employee can be boosted and he is more
encouraged towards the best performance. The company also provide the clear and open
communication to the employees for giving their feedback directly to the line manager which
help them to get motivated. Mark and Spencer rewarded its employees on the basis of their
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performance and also provide them opportunity to share their ideas and concern with
management.
CONCLUSION
From the above discussion, it has been concluded that the theories of motivation plays a
significant role in an organisation so that they can motivate employees with such reward or
award and encourage them to perform better and work more towards the achievement of goals.
The report has explained about motivation theories of Maslow's hierarchy of needs which stated
that the basic need of the human being need to be fulfilled after that he would go ahead to
accomplish another need. Further, it explained that Alderfer gave their explanation which is the
extension of the Maslow' needs where he explained the need from lower to the higher. The
another theory that has been discussed is McClellan theory which stated that people who are high
achievement performer are better than those who have low or moderate achievements.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Ford and et. al., 2020. Understanding district support for leader development and success in the
accountability era: A review of the literature using social-cognitive theories of
motivation. Review of Educational Research, 90(2), pp.264-307.
Hattie, J., Hodis, F.A. and Kang, S.H., 2020. Theories of motivation: Integration and ways
forward. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 61, p.101865.
Goodman, S.G., 2018. Gale Researcher Guide for: Value-and Incentive-Theories of Motivation.
Gale, Cengage Learning.
Beckmann, J. and Heckhausen, H., 2018. Motivation as a function of expectancy and incentive.
In Motivation and action (pp. 163-220). Springer, Cham.
Todd, S.Y., Jones, C.W. and Ross, W., 2019. Process Theories of Motivation Inside Tour
Operations Staff. Case Studies in Sport Management, 8(S1), pp.S52-S55.
Reisenzein, R. and Rudolph, U., 2018. The attributional theory of motivation and emotion: Not
surprisingly, true.
McCoach, D.B. and Flake, J.K., 2018. The role of motivation.
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