Different Ways of Motivating Employees at Starbucks and John Lewis - Assignment Example

Different ways of motivating employees at Starbucks and John Lewis Inserts His/her Inserts Grade Inserts s Name Date Findings From the questionnaires that I sent to various employees at Starbuck and John Lewis organizations, I managed to gather various findings regarding to the research. My findings normally majored on my objectives which are motivation taking into consideration how employees got motivated in these organizations. I asked questions considering the level of income that the employees earned in order to establish whether this could be one form of motivation that the employees received. There were several responses of the salary ranging from the Baristas who earned the minimum income of $8 per hour to the managers who earned an average of $90 per hour. The vertical axis is just a representation of the number of employees because they were many. The results of the income were as follows Graph 1: Payment in Starbucks Graph 2 Payment rates at John Lewis were different as presented in the following graph I also gathered research basing on motivating factors that the employees considered important and what was most valuable to them. Various results were given which gave a range of those factors that they found motivating in the organization. I analysed the data that was presented and was able to group it into major factors that were raised and left those with the minimal or no response. I presented the responses in percentage because the numbers of the employees are large. Percentage was to easily enhance clear understanding. The data collected can be summarized by the following table. Table 1 factor percentage Open communication 73 Opportunity for growth and advancement 95 Job security and welfare measures 87 Compensation and benefits 70 Building relationships 72 pay 60 In regard to what factors would motivate them most, a large percentage (80%) replied that they would be more motivated if they were given ownership to the company. This is basing on the results that were obtained from Starbucks. A lot of employees, both from the john Lewis and Starbuck agreed that motivation is of importance to their work. 90% percentage of the total that responded were of the view that motivation boosts their morale. That it is a basis for their confidence to be gained even in the areas where they had previously failed. 72% were of the view that motivation increases productivity. This comes about by them putting a lot of effort and working harder when they are motivated. There were also other importance raised such as reducing the cost of operation and stability of the workforce. Ninety five per cent of the respondents in both the organizations gave their view that satisfaction was important because it led to the lower turnover rates in the employees. They said that when employees were satisfied, there were more likely to stay in the organization than to leave it. Other role of satisfaction that 77% of the respondents gave was to give quality services to the customers. They responded that when they were satisfied they worked with determination to give their best which enhances quality. Performance-based incentives proved to be effective because they motivated them to improve on their performance; this was a view by 66% of the total respondents. In regard to what they consider to decrease their motivation level, employees from Starbuck gave varied responses. 30% said that their motivation went down from the product lines that they were engaged in, 46% said it was due to the way the management treated the baristas by not including them the decision making process and also difficult customers. Other responses that were given as factors that decreased motivation from John Lewis were stress and lack of recognition. Factors that would motivate them were analysed as listed and the answers were as follows Table2 Praising good efforts 40% Compensation 56% Benefits 45% Giving ownership to staff. 80% The factors that made employees leave their past organizations can be represented in the following table Table 3 factor percentage Lack of growth 75 Lack of communication 62 Poor working conditions 50 stress 34 Analysis From the research that I carried out it is evident that the employees in both organizations receive good income. The average earning in Starbuck is $44 per hour while that in John Lewis is 26 pounds. This income can be a source of motivation to the employees even if only a few consider it that way. There were various factors that motivated the employees. To analyse the companies differently, those at Starbucks had various factors as their motivation. The table shows that offering opportunity for growth was the most important factor that motivated them. There were also other factors that motivated them such as open communication, job security, compensation and benefits and public factor. For more understanding of the factors, I gathered evidence from research that supported the results Research proved that one of the motivating factors was how the employees were listened to (Waddock, 2006).It states that Starbucks has a clear communication channel for its employees. That the management plans well for the working hours and time off in order to meet the organizational requirement. They involve the employees in the development of plans and make the achievement of goals a collective thing. They offer feedback mechanisms for feedback from the employees’ through tools such as a website and also suggestion boxes. Another factor that is evident in the organization is offering of growth opportunities. The study says that the company offers growth to those employees who perform in their work. This even involves the Baristas who feel disadvantaged in terms of the communication they receive. Because of these high opportunities, the Barista will also stay in the organization for there is hope that they will get promoted. This study however gave different results in that other respondents considered the growth factor to be 80% as compared to mine that was 95%. Building of relationships was another strategy that was used in motivating the employees (Steers and Porter, 2007) the study expounds that the company kept the size of the employees as small as possible which ranges from 3-6 employees in department. They found this to be useful in order for the staff to develop acquaintance with each other. This helped them identify with one another in terms of their roles which helps them to coordinate with one another and give effective results. The study interviewed the employees and said that if they worked together, they were able to identify their skills and match them in order to achieve a common goal. Another factor that the respondent raised from the interview was that the organization was concerned with public welfare. They said that Starbucks did this by contributing some of their profits to the public service and also give some donations in order to improve the whole society. This makes the staff be motivated in that they know that whatever they do will benefit the society where most of them come from. By knowing that their efforts go to their families, they put more effort. In making comparisons, it shows that there are few differences. My study says that a smaller percentage took pay as a consideration of a motivating factor that was used. In ranking their importance; growth came first, job security, open communication, good relationships, benefits and compensation while pay comes last. This issue of pay is different to other studies in that other studies show pay as one of the major motivators of employees. In my critical analysis, I believe that this difference comes into being depending on the organization that was studied. Small organizations that are growing have employees who are more attracted to pay than those organizations that were developed. The factors of motivation in John Lewis are more similar to those of Starbuck and that is why I did not establish a different table. The main factor that is used in motivating employees in Lewis however is different from Starbuck. In Lewis, employee partnership in the organization is the major factor. This motivates the employees because they know they are the main beneficiaries. This is the reason why all the staff gets similar percentage of the pay-out that may rise or fall depending on their fortunes. Just as Starbuck, they also have a way of putting across their ideas. They have a council that allows complains and ideas to go up to the board (Haith, 2001) they also have a weekly magazine in which the staffs air their views about various policies. This is a motivator because the employees feel that they are recognized and that their ideas are taken into consideration. In analysing what factor that the employees considered to give them more motivation, it is evident that giving employees some ownership to the organization carries much wait while the minimal one is praising their good efforts. According to other researches with similar results, this is so because praising does not add the value of raising the Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy. Ownership is considered to be of great importance because it moves one close to the achievement of self-actualization. (Sirota and Meltzer, 2005) A greater number of respondents considered motivation as an important tool in boosting their morale. Various researches in support of this show that it gives the employees the inner drive to do work and do it efficiently. With morale, there need not be supervision because the employees will work whether supervised or not. This is because motivation gives the employees a sense of recognition and a view that they are important to the organization. Others were of the view that motivation increases employee productivity. This is also supported by various researches that say when employees are motivated, they are likely to work harder which in turn increases the production of the organization. I am of the view that not in all cases that motivation relates positively to increased productivity. People may be motivated but not be willing to change their work schedules such as working for extra hours. The main consideration may be adding quality but not increase the level of output. Another importance of motivation is that it reduces the cost of operation. Other researchers say this is so because motivated employees have a low turnover rate. This saves the organization a great deal because they do not have to spend more money in recruiting new employees as well as training them. The organization spends much less on motivated employees than those who are not because they do not need to give them continuous incentives in order to keep them on the job. Giving employees power and responsibility seems to have a positive relation to motivation and job satisfaction. This is explained by other researches as being related to Abraham’s hierarchy of needs. According to Goldsmith (1997) this motivates them because it gives them authority to contribute to making of major decisions in the company and that they oversee over a group of people who need their direction. It also motivates them because it proves that their skills and talents are useful which the reason they believe they get this power is. Giving people such power even plays a major role in satisfaction because they feel they are climbing the ladder than remaining on the bottom. It is clear from the results that different employees had different reasons why they left their past organizations which could be as well a source of lack of motivation. Most employees responded that lack of growth was the major factor. This is because they felt that they remained stagnant at one position without moving. In my own view, I can say this is the case because growth comes with status. That it is the lack of status that reduces motivation more because it comes with other benefits such as respect and even higher pay even if it is not mentioned. Other reasons that made the employees leave the organization was due to poor working conditions and structures that normally have communication breakdown. Evidence has shown that employees in such organizations feel neglected because they are not consulted in whatever that is happening in the organization and sometimes are not aware of what is happening. This makes it the reason why such employees flee in their organizations to others where they will find recognition. Recommendations I would recommend that the management takes into consideration of all employees by practicing equality by action and not just by the word of mouth. I draw this case normally from the Starbuck where the baristas, those in lower ranks are not considered in decision-making which makes them feel neglected. This may destroy the image of the organization which may lead to such people leaving the organization. When motivation is done, it should be all round. It is better to consider ways of motivating people though their performance but not on their rank. Another recommendation to motivation is that management should consider giving their employees intrinsic motivation compared to extricate one. This is because people who are motivated by such things such as pay and gifts do not remain loyal to the organization and cannot stay in it for longer periods of time. This is different when people are given motivations such as promotion and the will to succeed because they will be more willing to stay in order to meet their goals. Another recommendation is that organizations should consider giving some ownership to their employees. This will make the employees be partners and hence be involved in every step. The employees are more likely to utilize their talents well and also their skills because of the knowledge that it is for the overall success of everyone. I also recommend that both companies should include the interventions of perfomance management. This is an important process that integrates the process of defining, accessing as well as reinforcing the behaviours of the employees. It includes performance appraisal and reward systems. Conclusion From the study and various, I can conclude that both companies have been a success in the way they motivate their employees even if there has been some few weaknesses. This is because from various interviews that were conducted, there was a question on how likely were the employees to leave their organization. Most of the employees said that there were comfortable in their work and could not leave. They further added that they could recommend others to join the organization. In general terms, it is clear that motivation is an ingredient to job satisfaction. Most organizations portrayed a positive relationship between motivation and also satisfaction. Satisfied employees work efficiently therefore making it a necessity for the need for organizations to adopt motivation into their structure. Reinforcement is of necessity to achievement of success in various organizations. Motivation should be an on-going process, one that comes each year. Organizations that show commitment to motivation are more successful than those who motivate in only peak times and lack motivation in other times. My objectives were met because there was a clear identification of factors that caused motivation in these organizations and how they related various matters such as performance and satisfaction. I was also able to know what factors that were responsible for decreasing motivation and also learn on ways to motivate people from other studies. References Haith, M. M., Brown, C. C., & Kagan, J. 2001. Psychology: adapted readings. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York Hesselbein, F., Goldsmith, M., & Beckhard, R. 1997. The organization of the future. San Francisco, Jossey-Bass Publishers, Calif. Sirota, D., Mischkind, L. A., & Meltzer, M. I. 2005. The enthusiastic employee: how companies profit by giving workers what they want. Wharton School Pub, Indianapolis, IN: Steers, R. M., & Porter, L. W. 2007, Motivation and work behavior (5th ed.). McGraw-Hill, New York: Waddock, S. A. 2006, Leading corporate citizens: vision, values, value-added (2nd ed.). McGraw-Hill,Boston, Mass Read More