Wetherspoons: Management Theories, Motivation, Conflict & Leadership

This report analyzes the management practices within Wetherspoons, a UK-based fast-food pub chain, focusing on motivation, conflict resolution, and leadership approaches. It explores various tools and techniques for enhancing employee motivation, including soliciting employee input and improving benefits. Maslow's hierarchy of needs and Herzberg's two-factor theory are discussed as frameworks for understanding motivation. The report also outlines conflict resolution strategies, such as defining acceptable behavior, accommodating, collaborating, and investigating situations, to address issues like team conflicts and communication gaps. Furthermore, it examines the application of behavioral and participative leadership theories to improve employee retention and foster better communication within the organization. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of effective management in creating a positive work culture and resolving organizational challenges.

Management: Putting
theory into practice

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
TASK ..............................................................................................................................................3
Tools and techniques of motivation............................................................................................3
Conflict resolution strategies.......................................................................................................6
Leadership approach to overcome the organizational issues......................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERNCES:................................................................................................................................10
Books and Journals:..................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Management is a fundamental function in any organization that consists various activities
such as planning, decision-making, organizing, directing, guiding or controlling in order to attain
organizational goals. It manages all the resources that are essential to a company that are
financial resources, human resources or information resources to reach goals effectively and
efficiently (Dong and et.al., 2020). This assignment is based on the Wetherspoons Company
which is knowing for serving fast food in UK. As of now, it operates 925 pubs such as former
banks and cinemas. The assignment considers various tool and techniques of motivation that can
be used by the line manager. It also highlights the strategies that can be used in conflict
resolutions. Furthermore, it considers a leadership approach to could help in the issues of lack of
communication and lower job retention rates.
TASK
Tools and techniques of motivation.
Motivation is one of the driving forces behind human behaviour. It is a desire to act in
service of an objective. It leads competition and make humans more socially connected. If it is
absent in an organization can lead to mental stress and depression. In case of Wetherspoons, in
order get positive results of employees, it is very vital to raise motivation in the business,
otherwise it can result in lower productivity.
Tools and techniques of motivation:
Motivation includes both ways intrinsic and extrinsic in order to increase the employees’
productivity in the organization. It will lead to job satisfaction and more contribution in the
projects and tasks. The manager of the chosen company can exploit following tools and
techniques of motivation:
Techniques:
 Ask for employee input: It is quite impactful to survey employees on regular basis for
their satisfaction. The manager of the company can conduct anonymous polls to signifies
the workers that are valued by the company about their perspectives and opinions and
value their input. Moreover, they can also ask to put suggestions in order to improve the
working conditions. It is essential to take actions after getting the suggestions which
demonstrate the company is truly value their workers and employees.

 Take benefits to the next level: It is very common that one can give standard benefits to
the employees such as health insurance, paid-time off, flexibility. In case of
Wetherspoons, it can be improved by taking benefits to the next level. Fir instances, add
game room to support workers to de-stress throughout the day, wellness or childcare
plans are also a best method to incentivize employees. It will boost the team motivation,
boosts health and encourage employees to stay longer with the organization.
Tools:
 TINYpulse: It enables leaders to pin-point issues in the company. It features real-time
feedback of recognition and technologies for feedback, weekly check-ins and goal setting
(Langley and et.al., 2020).
 HighGround: It provides an HR cloud platform aimed for workers to assist the business
develop high-performing and highly engaged cultures through feedback, real-time
recognition and ongoing employee development.
Theories of motivation:
Maslow theory of motivation:
This theory of Maslow considers the human needs. He classified all the needs of human
in a pyramid from bottom to top. In case of Wetherspoons, the classification of needs is
discussed one by one:

 Physiological needs: These are the basic human needs which consists food, shelter,
clothing air water and other necessities of life. It relates the maintenance and survival of
human life.
 Safety needs: It covers freedom, security or no pain. these needs require more money
and employee tends to work hard. For example, financial security, personal security and
many more.
 Social needs: It relates to a sense of acceptance and belonging. These needs are essential
as human do not want to feel alone, depressed and isolated (Love and Matthews, 2019).
 Esteem needs: It relates to self-respect and self-esteem. It covers achievement, self-
confidence, knowledge, competence and independence.
 Self-actualization needs: It relates to self-fulfilment. It means the motivation of person
to convert insight of self into reality.
Two-factor theory:
It is also known as Herzberg theory of motivation. It states that there are two main factors
through which motivation can take place in the organization.

 Motivation: It encourages employees to do their work in a productive way. It covers
recognition, achievement, responsibility, the work itself, growth and advancement.
 Hygiene factors: This will not influence the workers to work harder but though they
will result in the demotivation if they are not existing in the company (O’Rourke, 2019).
It consists supervision, work conditions, company policies, salary, relationships, security
and salary.
Conflict resolution strategies.
Conflict management refers to a practice of being able to know and handle the conflicts
fairly, sensibly and efficiently. It is a natural part of an organization, so it is very vital for the
managers to understand conflicts and know how to resolve them. The main objective is to
enhance the team learning and results, incorporating performance and effectiveness in a business
setting. In context of Wetherspoons, it is observed from the Component 1 is that the organization
is facing various issues and problems such as team conflicts, low job retention, lack of

communication and cultural issues. So, with the help following conflict resolution strategies, the
manger could be able to resolve conflicts among employees:
 Define acceptable behaviour: If there is any sign of a conflict, then one can cut or
eliminate potential issues by developing a standard of behaviour in the organization. If
the line manager of the company provides a room to the employees to explain what is
right or what is not, they surely will (Wu and et.al., 2019). It is responsibility to define
certain job descriptions, developing a framework for how discussions are made,
explaining proper practices of firm, selecting the right management tools and many more.
The more the guidelines are set, the better employees can follow and which will cause
lesser conflicts.
 Accommodating: The way the conflicts have been resolved, also called as smoothing. It
consists one party yielding, providing the opposing party what it requires to resolve the
conflict.
 Collaborating: It consists working or dealing with another party to identify a mutually
courteous solution to a risen issue. For example, a customer and sales representative may
work collaboratively to negotiate the terms of contract until both sides know it agreeable.
 Investigate the situation: In order to resolve a conflict, listening is not enough but it
needs proper investigation of the case and must take proper time. the manager of the

chosen company must not prejudge only on the basis of listening but also must go deeper
in the case to know more about the situation and parties involved in it. Concluding
statements and recall them back can be very effective in resolving conflicts.
Leadership approach to overcome the organizational issues.
Leadership relates to an art or ability to influence and lead others to do collaborative and
productive work in an organization. In a business setting, it can be leading workers with a tactic
to satisfy the objectives of organization. In context of Wetherspoons, the following approaches
of leadership will help to resolve the issues of low job retention rate and lack of communication:
Behavioural theory of leadership:
This theory of leadership is dependent on a belief that great leaders are made, not born.
The main focus is on the particular actions and behaviours of leaders rather than their feature or
characteristics (Zwikael, Chih and Meredith, 2018). It relates that great leadership is an outcome
of several learned skills. Individuals require three main skills to guide their team that are
technical, conceptual and human skills. Technical skills relates to a knowledge of leader
regarding technique or process, conceptual skills allows leader to come up with thoughts for
functioning the company, while human skills is relate with an interaction with other individuals.
In case of Wetherspoons, the manager can use such skills in order to interact more with the team

members so that they can tell their ideas, issues or any other responses so that they feel involved
in the company.
Participative theory:
It suggests that ideal leadership is that one in which leader take the opinions and inputs of
members. These leaders promote involvement of employees in the decision-making and support
followers to feel more committed and relevant (Kerzner, 2018). In case of chosen company, the
manager could involve members in the decision-making, allow their inputs and opinions over
something which could result in the more productive work.
CONCLUSION
It is concluded that management is an essential function of the company in which various
activities are consisted from planning to controlling. Motivation is necessary to promote a
positive work culture in the company. It can be done by using various tools and techniques.
Leaders and managers must not neglect the conflicts in the company and try to resolve as soon as
possible but in an effective way. With the help of leadership theories, various issues such as lack
of communication or low job retention rate can be reduced.

REFERNCES:
Books and Journals:
Dong, D. and et.al., 2020. The role of imaging in the detection and management of COVID-19: a
review. IEEE reviews in biomedical engineering, 14, pp.16-29.
Kerzner, H., 2018. Project management best practices: Achieving global excellence. John Wiley
& Sons.
Langley, C. J. and et.al., 2020. Supply chain management: a logistics perspective. Cengage
Learning.
Love, P. E. and Matthews, J., 2019. The ‘how’of benefits management for digital technology:
From engineering to asset management. Automation in Construction, 107, p.102930.
O’Rourke, J. S., 2019. Management communication: A case analysis approach. Routledge.
Wu, W. and et.al., 2019. A critical review of battery thermal performance and liquid based
battery thermal management. Energy conversion and management, 182, pp.262-281.
Zwikael, O., Chih, Y. Y. and Meredith, J. R., 2018. Project benefit management: Setting
effective target benefits. International Journal of Project Management, 36(4), pp.650-
658.