Report on Employee Motivation and Teamwork Strategies for M&S

This report focuses on employee motivation and teamwork strategies within the context of Marks and Spencer (M&S), a large retail store. It explores how personalized learning can be implemented to enhance employee skills and productivity. The report investigates employee motivation and teamwork by evaluating relevant theories such as Tuckman's model for team development and Maslow's hierarchy of needs for understanding employee requirements. It analyzes the stages of team development and the importance of fulfilling employee needs to boost motivation and improve overall business performance. The report provides specific recommendations for M&S to apply these theories, aiming to improve the skills of the workforce and increase their contribution towards achieving company goals. The conclusion emphasizes the significance of employee needs and learning in maximizing business resources and establishing a positive working environment, referencing key academic sources.

PERSONALISED
LEARNING

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Aim and objective...................................................................................................................1
Research Questions................................................................................................................1
TASK...............................................................................................................................................1
RECOMMENDATIONS.................................................................................................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
Personalised learning is a process through which instructions are followed in a manner
that pace of learning and the institutional approach are optimised for the needs of each learner.
M&S (Marks and Spencer) is a big retail store which deals in garments and other consumer
products. A number of employees are employed under this brand and hence, it is important that
they work with high dedication. The following report will discuss the ways through which
motivation and teamwork can be provided to workforce using distinct theories.
Aim and objective
To explore and evaluate theories relating to employee motivation and teamwork
Research Questions
 What is employee motivation and teamwork?
TASK
There are a number of programs which can help in fulfilling the desires of an individual
to learn. It helps in developing the skills of employees to perform duties on their own which
further arise the productivity level of an organisation (McLoughlin and Lee, 2010). In M&S
organisation, most of the employees are in direct contact with the customers. It is important that
they are motivated as only then they can give their maximum contribution towards the
development of business (Sampson and Karagiannidis, 2010). There are different theories of
learning which can be implemented at the workplace and skills of every employee can be raised.
Tuckman's model explains the way a team can be developed and better relations can be
established. There are four stages in this style which are:
 Forming – In this, the dependency of workforce is higher on leader. After assembling
different team members, project is allocated to them. Each person performs his duty at his
own level and participates in the growth of business.
 Storming – At this stage members of team give their suggestions towards the common
task which is being given to them. In this way, every individual develops relation with
each other as exchange of thought takes place at this stage. It is of very much importance
that high attention is given by leader at this stage so that positive results can be achieved.
 Norming – After passing the above stage the level where everyone who are part of a
team are ready to work with the provided guidelines and follow the values and rules
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together as a team. Level of trust is increased among the team members which further
adds quality to the production (Peter,Bacon and Dastbaz, 2010).
 Performing – It is a final stage where the team knows what it is doing and why. Leader’s
requirements after reaching to this point is minimum as a common vision is achieved by
the members through which they can carry out their duties and responsibilities (The
Stages of High Performance Teams, 2011). Though there are chances where
disagreements occur with different individuals who are a part of a team but same are
resolved timely due to the developed trust among team members.
Apart from learning, motivation is also required so that capacity of an individual can be
raised. For this, the most suitable one is Maslow's hierarchy of needs. According to this study, a
person’s needs are arranged in an order and accordingly, they should be fulfilled so that level of
enthusiasm is maintained. It starts with the fulfilment of physiological needs which if are not
fulfilled then it is difficult to get the basic work done. It includes food, clothing and shelter. Once
these are fulfilled than comes, the esteem needs and then the demand of belongingness (Maguire,
Ball and Braun, 2013). Only when these are met employee work with a free mind and contributes
in the productivity of business. Thereafter after getting the assurance of family and friends
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Illustration 1: Tuckmans leadership theory
(Source: Mcmahon, 2011)

person wants to get the assurance that he is safe at his work place and home both. It is due to the
reason that when a person knows that he is secure where he is working than his productivity also
increases. Once getting all the above demands fulfilled the needs further rises and person wants
to get recognition at the work place which motivates him to work with better efficiency
(McLoughlin, 2013). At last, comes the development requirements so that creativity can be
further raised and accordingly business expansion can be done. Specific examples of each stage
under this theory are given below:
RECOMMENDATIONS
After going through different theories of learning and motivation, it is suggested to M&S
that same should be applied in the business so that skills of workforce will get improved and they
would contribute more in achieving the desired results of company.
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CONCLUSION
From the above discussion, this has been summarised that in order to utilise the resources
of business to their full capacity, it is required that employee’s needs are fulfilled and provided
with required level of learning. For this, different theories were discussed which shows how a
positive working surroundings can be established in the discussed organisation.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
McLoughlin, C. and Lee, M.J., 2010. Personalised and self regulated learning in the Web 2.0 era:
International exemplars of innovative pedagogy using social software. Australasian
Journal of Educational Technology, 26(1).
Sampson, D. and Karagiannidis, C., 2010. Personalised learning: Educational, technological and
standardisation perspective. Interactive educational multimedia, (4), pp.24-39.
Peter, S.E., Bacon, E. and Dastbaz, M., 2010. Adaptable, personalised e-learning incorporating
learning styles. Campus-Wide Information Systems, 27(2), pp.91-100.
Maguire, M., Ball, S.J. and Braun, A., 2013. What ever happened to…?‘Personalised learning’as
a case of policy dissipation. Journal of Education Policy, 28(3), pp.322-338.
McLoughlin, C.E., 2013, June. The pedagogy of personalised learning: exemplars, MOOCS and
related learning theories. In EdMedia: World Conference on Educational Media and
Technology (pp. 266-270). Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education
(AACE).
Online
The Stages of High Performance Teams. 2011. [Online]. Available through:
<http://www.aleanjourney.com/2011/04/stages-of-high-performance-teams.html>.
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