Improving Staff Performance

It is very important to make sure staff performances is high within any organisations and business for its success therefore you need to identify any areas where you can improve your performances, Developing the skills of your staff is very important and bring out new skills can improve your productivity, competitiveness and profitability.

The differences between content and process theories are as follow process theory is when individuals select their goals and choose how to get to them by a process of calculation, A process theory define motivation as a realistic cognitive process occurring within the individual e.g. Adams’ Equity theory. While on the other hand, a content theory define motivation in terms of need satisfaction, e.g. Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs theory.

The two organisations that I will talk about that identify all the ways in which they motivate their employees are John Lewis and Royal Mail.
The first organisation that I have chosen to study is John Lewis which is a public limited company PLC, it belongs to its employees as a group it is also the largest partnership and is one off the UK’s top ten retail businesses with its 26 John Lewis department stores, and 183 Waitrose supermarkets as well as other interests including textile production units and a farm all producing a combined annual turnover of over £5.7billion.
The John Lewis partnership aims to deal honestly with customers, securing their loyalty and trust by providing outstanding choice, value and services. Their 68,000 permanent staff are partners in the business and share in its profits. The 26 John Lewis department stores offer more than 350,000 different product lines including clothing and accessories for customers of all ages. A wide range of home and giftware and a fast growing range of own brand goods.
Ways in which John Lewis meets the needs of Maslow hierarchy in the organization is by offering the following:
Needs from Maslow Hierarchy and How John Lewis meet the needs
Physiological or basic needs A Fair wage is provided for employees working in the work place, as well as extra needs such as these: meals, rest facilities and the following:
Subsidised dining facilities
Most of our sites have subsidised dining facilities that offer good food at reasonable prices.
Pay
Every Partner has the right to know the range of pay for their type of work and what is required to improve their performance and, therefore, their pay.
At the Annual Pay Review in March, we look at each Partner's pay rate to make sure that it is consistent with the local market rate and reflects the Partner's contribution to the business. We encourage Partners to discuss their pay review with managers so that they understand fully the pay decision.
Benefits
The most tangible advantage of being a Partnership is the annual bonus, where we distribute a proportion of profits equally to Partners as a percentage of salary. But the John Lewis Partnership has always believed that there should be more to a job than just work and pay.
In line with our aim to provide a market-leading range of benefits, the Partnership continuously explores ideas for new policies and benefits. Here is a summary of the valuable benefits, on top of pay and bonus, that we receive as Partners.
Pension Discount Paid holiday Extended leave Life assurance Subsidised dining facilities Holiday and leisure facilities Sports clubs Societies Ticket subsidies Education subsidies Bursary for the pursuit of excellence Working for a charity Special help in time of need Voluntary benefits and discounted deals
Discount
After three months' service, all Partners are entitled to a 12 per cent discount on most purchases from John Lewis and Waitrose, increasing to 25 per cent on many products after one year's service.
Paid holiday
All Partners have four weeks' holiday a year, rising to five after three years. Management Partners, including graduate trainees, start with five weeks' holiday. Holiday increases for all Partners after 10 and 15 years
As you can see above are all the services and facilities that John Lewis is offering their staff and I have come to a conclusion that John Lewis does meet the basic needs.
Security and safety John Lewis has provides Job security as they offer a, safe working environment and pension schemes as well as a contact for all employees, they also have free heath check ups.
Here are a few Security and safety needs that John Lewis provides
Pension
The John Lewis Partnership is one of the few companies that still offer a non-contributory, final salary pension scheme.
Special help in time of need
In cases of particular need, we will help Partners with a loan or grant.
Extended leave
Partners with more than 25 years' service can take paid leave for six months.
Voluntary benefits and discounted deals
John Lewis also negotiates a range of benefits for Partners such as discounted private healthcare and a car purchase scheme, along with a number of one-off deals with hotels, amusement parks and so on. We also look to join corporate membership schemes that Partners are interested in such as that offered by the National Trust.

Social- belonging and love Ways in which John Lewis meets these needs are by introducing team work and perhaps providing social facilities like a club or sports pitch for all the staff
Esteem needs that John Lewis provides are the following:
Bursary for the pursuit of excellence
The Partnership provides support and financial help of up to £5,000 per year for Partners who are currently performing, representing or competing at a national or international level. One Partner to be awarded financial help is Mark Harris who is a World Free diving Champion.
Working for a charity
Apply for a full- or part-time volunteering secondment with a UK registered charity for up to six months as part of the Golden Jubilee Trust (GJT) scheme.
Self-actualisation: is achieving your full potential. A business must ensure that promotion is possible and that there are opportunities to use initiative. As you can see John Lewis offers these opportunities through the summer placement and the graduate course that they are providing
Below are other services and facilities that John Lewis provides for its staff in order to keep them motivated, these facilitates allow the staff to work harder:
Holiday and leisure facilities -We have four locations around the UK exclusively for Partners with one year's service and their families and friends, who can take holidays there for a subsidised rate.
Sports clubs -We support a large number of subsidised sports clubs including football, netball, golf, skiing, sailing, squash, riding and gliding.
Societies -We have many subsidised societies, open to all Partners, including drama, photography, music and art.
Ticket subsidies -Partners can get a 50 per cent subsidy on theatre, opera and concert tickets, up to a maximum of £60 per year. We also have corporate membership of English Heritage, the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust and the Royal Academy of Arts.
Education subsidies -The Partnership gives generous financial support to Partners who want to continue their education or learn new skills.
Self-esteem needs:
This is about how others see us at work and how they can be provided with rewards, staff with status symbols like cars, offices and new job titles. Allowing staff to gain qualifications at work can boost self-esteem too. As you can see all the benefits that John Lewis is providing are more likely to keep staff well motivated within the organization as they provide a wide range of facilities and services which is making them, work harder and to achieve for the best. The self esteem services that John Lewis provides for staff are the following: Recently a course has been set up for graduate students in order to get the best out of them and to provide them with broader opportunities.
Below is information about the course that they providing. As you can see this course will allow staff to become motivated and to work harder in order to achieve this great opportunity, this will be like a challenge and reward if staff complete this.
NEW - Finance Graduates
We are currently recruiting Graduates for our newly launched Finance scheme.
The role of Finance in the Partnership
Your role in Finance as a Graduate Trainee
Beyond training - a long term Finance career in the John Lewis Partnership
John Lewis also provide a summer scheme placement for all staff and its last for six to eight months and is offered to all internal and external staff in order to develop their skills in the work place and make them more motivated so they can achieve the best.
Summer Schemes
Our Summer Placements last six to eight weeks and offer the opportunity to develop skills in the workplace.
This has been taken from the John Lewis Website www.Johnlewis.com
I have come to a conclusion that John Lewis is meeting all the needs of the Maslow Hierarchy for its staff. The reason why I think this is because the physiological needs are the basic needs of employees such as survival, the need for shelter, food and air to breathe. In John Lewis this is the basic wage they are providing for the employees in order for them to feed their families. Security and Safety is also another important feature that John Lewis is providing and this is the need for security, safety and protection against any dangers. In the work place this includes a safe working environment and job security such as a written contract for all employees. The Social needs that John Lewis is providing is need for employees to feel accepted and part of a group, this therefore includes working in a team or developing work friends. Esteem is the need for recognition, praise, self respect and status. In John Lewis this includes rewards given to employees for achievement such as promotional or best sales person of the month award, this will therefore encourage staff to work harder in order to get the reward.
The second organisation that I have chosen to study is Royal Mail as it is public services, which are relied upon communities and business all over the country. Royal mail are joined with Parcel force Worldwide (UK parcels) and General Logistics Systems. Post Office Ltd., which provides counter services, and are by owned subsidiary.

Royal Mail believes in providing good work/life balance, and therefore they provide benefits such as:

Allowances - Some roles pay shift allowances - usually for working flexible hours.
Holiday entitlement - During the first five years, you’ll be entitled to four and a half weeks’ paid holiday per year, plus eight Bank Holidays.
Pension – As an employee, you’ll have the choice of joining one of our two pension schemes.
Other benefits –it’s a season ticket loan, discounts on a car, or gym membership you’re after, Royal Mail Group has special offers and ongoing discounts to suit everyone.
Time out - policies supporting maternity and paternity leave, to career breaks and time off in exceptional circumstances
Health and Welfare - Independent advice and assistance is available on a range of issues such as debt, health in relation to work, relationships, trauma and bereavement.
Training Programmes Ongoing educational opportunities


As you can see both organisation offer a different range of services and products to motivate their employees in certain ways and as we know these motivational techniques will have a major affect on the company and its staff, it will help the employees feel more motivated and it will encourage them to work harder therefore its important to recognise and encourage this for both the company and its employees.

Motivation

Motivation

Motivation is the desire to achieve results or targets. The strongest form of motivation comes when an individual desires to achieve results for their own benefit or to help others. Motivation is also a decision making process, through which the individual chooses the desired outcomes and sets in motion the behaviour appropriate to them.

As we know there are a number of factors that motivate and de-motivate individuals either in a work place or individually. The factors depend on the needs of the individual and the organisation. Below are some motivational theorist that have been identified and they are as follow:

• Fredrick Herzberg- two-factor theory
• Abraham Maslow- hierarchy of needs
• Douglas Mc Gregor- the X and Y theory
• Aldefer’s- ERG theory
• Elton Mayo- argued that people respond not only to financial rewards, but also to other factors such as working environment and social interaction.
• McClelland’s- proposed that an individual's specific needs are acquired over time and are shaped by one's life experiences.
• Vroom says that motivation for a given act depends on the desirability of the expected outcome of a situation, whether you believe you can affect the success of the situation and whether you believe the success of the situation is linked to the desired outcome.

The motivation theory that I have chosen to study about is Fredick Herzberg and Abraham Maslow

Fredrick Herzberg- In 1966 Fredrick Herzberg put forward a theory based on research he carried out by asking employees what motivated them at work. He therefore created the 2 factor theory hygiene factors and motivators.

Abraham Maslow- In 1935 Abraham Maslow developed his hierarchy of needs based on research about what motivates people to work. He suggested that there were 5 levels of need that influence a person's behavior

Taken from http://www.msjc.edu/hs/www/lecture_graphics/maslohier.gif on 22/10/09

In this hierarchy the things at the top are more important than those at the bottom. Maslow said the lower levels (basic needs) have to be satisfied first. Only when these needs have been satisfied will the individual strive to satisfy the higher needs (safety, social, self-esteem and self actualisation). For example, hungry, cold people will seek food and shelter first. Once they are well fed and comfortable, they will turn their attention to higher needs, for example the pleasure of being with colleagues. Maslow suggested that people have a hierarchy of needs that must be satisfied in order. People have to meet one set of needs before they can satisfy the next and higher order needs. The follower of Maslow theory is likely to adopt a democratic or paternalistic management style. They will be concerned for their workers needs and encourage two way communication, they are likely to be willing to delegate appropriately and give opportunities where possible for personal development and progression.

My motivation for starting my degree was my own personal goal to study more into higher education and do and achieve something valuable in life, I am a very hard working mature student and felt that I had the ability to study and to do something in the field that I really enjoy and to receive a well known higher education qualification which can also help to lead to increased earning potential later in life , I felt that I would benefit from this and it would open doors to a wider range of opportunities and a more rewarding career also because many employers target graduates in their recruitment and you are more likely to get a better job with a degree and also higher income. The other things that really motivated me to start my degree was mainly because most of my relatives have gone into higher education and have a very good job but one of the main reasons was that my two older brothers who have finished their degree, one has qualified in Biomedical sciences and is currently doing his master in leeds and the other has a degree computer sciences and has recently set up his own business in high Wycombe which is doing very well.

The reason why I have chosen to come to Bucks new university was mainly because the BA Human Resources course suited my need and the program was flexible and interesting and was exactly what I was looking to do. The things that have motivated me to stay and study is the friendly environment and staff who are so welcoming and give time to explain things properly and help you to understand it, also the support and encouragement, access to technology and equipment as well as other activities outside of the University and new opportunities.

For the next 2-3 years the things that will motivate will be the Hygiene factors created by Herzberg such as: University policy and administration, Status and security within the university from lecturers and collages, Relationship with tutors, working conditions such as the library and the equipment available to use, university atmosphere and the lecture rooms. Herzberg also found that there were some things that actually made people work harder, these were called the Motivation factors and are the following: The Work itself, Achievement made my completing work on time and recognition by tutors, Responsibility given such as to hand in work or to complete group work, Recognition for achievement, interest in the task, Growth and advancement to higher level tasks for example to do better in exams and presentations. Motivating factors create satisfaction and motivate people to work harder, without hygiene factors in place people would become dissatisfied and they wouldn’t motivate beyond a certain level of satisfaction. Hygiene factors include: Working conditions, Relationship with colleges and your own personal life.

Herzberg stated that if you want to keep people motivated then you must first meet their basic requirements in terms of hygiene factors and then provide the motivators.

The time when I was most de-motivated was when I failed my driving test twice this was because I was so nervous and let my self down by thinking that I am not capable of this, I felt that I jus couldn’t achieve something that I wanted so much and felt upset as all of my friends who were not be bothered were able to drive before me, after failing once I lost my will power and dropped out of driving for a couple of months I became lazy and lost my ambition this was due to failure. Every time I drove I had low confidences and felt that I couldn’t achieve my target in the time I wanted. The lack of confidences made it difficult to do things and I was very negative about things in life. Another time when I was most de-motivated was at my part time work where my floor manger was awful her attitude was unpleasant and she spoke to staff like they were nothing no respect or discipline, she just didn’t understand personal feelings of how an employee might be feeling by the way she spoke to them all she cared about was that the job gets done and that it. Therefore this caused many workers to leave and others hated the job, she gave no recognitions for the hard work instead demanded more to be done effectively, Every time I went to work the atmospheres and environment was unsettled and tensed that de-motivated me because I enjoyed my work but at that time I would do anything to hand in my resignation and leave I felt that she was very controlled and feelings didn’t matter to her this relates back to Douglas Mc Gregor- theory X where staff don’t really want to work and if they had a choice they would not want to commit themselves to work for the employer in the employer's time. They avoid it wherever possible. Basically they are self-interested and prefer leisure rather than working for someone else. This also relates to Maslow’s concept of safety security as people did not feel safe in the working environment and had low esteem to do anything, after many complaints she did leave and everyone felt back into the normal working environment.

Conclusion

Herzberg argued that monetary rewards are not real motivators; Maslow argued that they simply relate to lower- order needs. A theory X manager might believe that offering pay helps to get people to meet their targets. These are various ways of structuring payment schemes to motivate people at work. It is important that work is designed in such a way that it in corporate the needs of the individual and the organization.

I have come to a conclusion that motivation can have a major effect on the behaviour of individual because if you have well motivated staff this means there will be lower staff costs and higher profits, staff will perform better and there will be more productivity. If an organisation motivate their staff then the staff will feel wanted and valued as they will know they are being recognised for something good, this will then lead them to work harder. De-motivated staff in an organisation can cause conflict, bad behaviour, staff are more likely to be laid back and the organisation could suffer because of that so its important that staff are well motivated and happy.