HR Case Study: Analyzing Tesco's Employee Motivation Techniques

This case study delves into the human resources management practices of Tesco, a British multinational retail organization. The report explores the core concepts of HR and motivation, discussing the importance of employee engagement for productivity and profitability. It examines two prominent motivational theories: Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory, providing insights into their application within a business context. The case study then focuses on Tesco's specific strategies for motivating employees, including valuing employees, implementing reward systems, and measuring staff satisfaction through initiatives like the 'Viewpoint' survey. The analysis highlights how Tesco strives to create a positive work environment, retain talented employees, and align HR practices with its business objectives. The conclusion emphasizes the crucial role of HR in fostering employee motivation and achieving organizational goals. This document is a valuable resource for students seeking to understand real-world HR practices and motivational strategies.

HR: Case Study –
individual work

Table of Contents
MAIN BODY.............................................................................................................................3
What is HR?...........................................................................................................................3
What is motivation?...............................................................................................................3
Talk about 2 motivational theories.........................................................................................3
Background about the company.............................................................................................4
How is the company of your case study motivating their employees? What steps have they
taken/are taking to ensure employers remain motivated?......................................................5
CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES...........................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Human resources management can be defined as an integral part of the organisation
which is related to managing the resources of the firm for achieving the goals and objectives.
Human resources management is also important for maintaining the motivation which helps
in increasing the productivity level as well as profitability. In this current report the chosen
organisation is Tesco, the British multinational organisation selling products in retail
industry. In the current report, there is discussion about motivation in humans where the
theories of motivation related to increasing motivation in employees will also discuss. There
is also a discussion about a structure which can be followed by the organisation to achieve
motivation.
MAIN BODY
What is HR?
Human resources can be defined as set of people within the organisation which make
a workforce and can be used by the organisation to perform different activities for achieving
the goals and objectives. Human resources are the important part of organisation
performance, where it includes the different aspects related to management of each and every
individual on different job (Brewster and Söderström, 2017).
What is motivation?
Motivation can be defined as an inner feeling of an individual or desire of an
individual. In relation to business motivation can be defined as a requirement of individual
where the fulfilment of this requirement will bring positivity within the mind of a person and
help them to work with full efficiency by internal and subjective aspects (Masri and Jaaron,
2017).
Talk about 2 motivational theories
Hierarchy of needs theory:
Maslow hierarchy of needs theory was developed by Alford Maslow where this
theory is dependent on five types of needs and fulfilment of these needs will directly
influence the motivation within an individual. These needs are discussed below:

Psychological needs: These are the basic needs which are related to food, drink,
shelter and many more items for basic requirement (Oke, 2016). According to Maslow
fulfilment of these needs will help individual in attending beginning level of satisfaction.
Safety needs: It includes those needs which are required by individual after fulfilment
of basic needs. These needs are also important for business because they help in managing a
secured behaviour of individual by fulfilment of needs related to school, business, medical
care and many more.
Love and belongingness needs: These needs are related to the need of socialism
within an individual. Include needs related to friendship intimacy trust and acceptance within
the environment where the individual is working. This can be fulfilling by providing formal
and informal meetings and working environment within the organisation.
Esteem needs: These need include requirement of individual in relation to respect and
reputation within the firm so that they can fulfil their needs related to their self-esteem
(Tambe, Cappelli and Yakubovich, 2019).
Self-actualization needs: These needs are directly related to the achievement of a
realisation value within life of individual where it always seeks to self-fulfilment and
personal growth. These needs can be fulfilled by organisation with the help of increasing the
security and level of individual within the organisation.
Herzberg’s 2 way theory:
This theory was developed by Frederick Herzberg in 1959 where he divided the theory in two
parts where one is related to hygienic factors at other is related to motivation factors.
Hygienic factors: Factors are those factors essential to maintain motivation at
workplace but don’t involve indirect modification of individual. According to author is kind
of motivation is related to maintaining the motivation within the individual not to increase the
motivation in individual. It includes company policies and administration, fright benefits,
physical working conditions and many more (Terziev, 2018).
Motivating factors: These are those factors which are directly related to increasing
the motivation within an individual. Motivation factors are directed towards the behaviour of
individual made the boost the motivation within the person working on a job. It includes

actors like Growth and promotion opportunities, responsibilities and meaningfulness of the
work.
Background about the company
Tesco is the British multinational retail organisation which mainly deals in grocery
and general merchandise. Headquarter of Tesco is situated in Hertfordshire in England
United Kingdom. It is world's third largest organisation if it is measured from its gross
revenue and ninth largest if it is measured with net revenues. Overall market share of Tesco is
28.4% within UK. It was founded by jack Cohen in 1919 (Wehrmeyer, 2017). Tesco is using
diversity and global expansion strategy since 1990 where organisation is also focusing on
human resources so that it can easily achieve its business objectives by employing talented
employees within the organisation and placing them at right job. All these functions are
performed by human resources department in Tesco.
How is the company of your case study motivating their employees? What steps have they
taken/are taking to ensure employers remain motivated?
Motivation is a mandatory part in human resources of the organisation because it
helps in management of human resources as well as retaining the talented employees within
the organisation for a longer period of time. In relation to Tesco, organisation always follow
proper system enable the function of motivation within the organisation as well as its
objectives related to expansion across the world. This makes it possible for test to operate
2200 stores including different Tesco outlets by meeting the customer requirements and
managing its human resource. There are different steps which are followed but to maintain
motivation within the organisation some of these are discussed below.
Valuing employees: TESCO is a global organisation and performing its function at
larger level within the market of retail industry. This became the reason that Tesco has
discovered the importance of creating trust and respect towards its employees within the
organisation which also help from in maintaining the motivation as well as increasing the
partnership with its employees so that they can remain in the organisation for longer period of
time by realising their value (World Health Organization, 2016).
Employee reward: Employee reward is also a technique which is used but within the
organisation where it try to reward according to the Taylor's theory. Under this system there
are various factors other than money which help the organisation in motivating the
employees. Organisation also use monetary benefits like increasing in their pay which help

organisation in building the motivational spirit within an individual who are working on
different job.
Measurement of staff satisfaction: It is also method which is adopted by Tesco to
maintain motivation within the employees where company organised different initiatives
where the staff has to take part in a staff satisfaction survey which is named as view point. In
the survey organisation provide opportunity to its employee to express their views on almost
every aspect of their job so that company can identify the problems related to working within
the organisation and try to minimise these problems by taking corrective actions. This is
directly related to motivation of the employee is because solution of their problems related to
work place will help them to change their mind as well as being motivated while working.
These are some points which are used by Tesco to remain motivation within the
organisation and promote its functioning by proper management of different individuals. This
can be seen that using this effect help the organisation in motivating the employees and
increasing the productivity and profitability because of motivated workforce.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from the above-mentioned information that human resources
department has to play various roles within the organisation which are directly related to
motivation within the employees. There are various theories of motivation which can be used
by the organisation manager to achieve the motivation and maintain it for achieving the
different goals and objectives of organisation. In the end it can be concluded that motivate the
employees by following a particular process related to valuing employee and measuring the
staff satisfaction objectives in an efficient way.

REFERENCES
Brewster, C. and Söderström, M., 2017. Human resources and line management 1. In Policy
and practice in European human resource management (pp. 51-67). Routledge.
Masri, H.A. and Jaaron, A.A., 2017. Assessing green human resources management practices
in Palestinian manufacturing context: An empirical study. Journal of cleaner
production, 143, pp.474-489.
Oke, L., 2016. Human resources management. International Journal of Humanities and
Cultural Studies (IJHCS) ISSN 2356-5926, 1(4), pp.376-387.
Tambe, P., Cappelli, P. and Yakubovich, V., 2019. Artificial intelligence in human resources
management: Challenges and a path forward. California Management Review, 61(4),
pp.15-42.\
Terziev, V., 2018. Importance of human resources to social development. Proceedings of
ADVED.
Wehrmeyer, W. ed., 2017. Greening people: Human resources and environmental
management. Routledge.
World Health Organization, 2016. Global strategy on human resources for health: workforce
2030.