...Motivation and Teams Case Study It is imperative for companies to motivate employees so they can achieve success for the company they work for and for themselves. According to Introduction to Business, work motivation is the “psychological force within people that arouses their interest, directs their attention, and causes them to persist and work intensely to find a way to achieve their work goals” (Jones, 2007, p. 210). Maslow’s needs hierarchy, expectancy, goal setting, equity, and job-enrichment are five theories that illustrate various sources of employee motivation. In the first case study, Two Men and a Lot of Trucks, the owner, Mary Ellen Sheets used Maslow’s needs hierarchy theory. This theory specifies why and how people try to satisfy their needs through their behaviors at work. Sheets was helping her two sons with the moving business, but when they left for college, she continued to receive moving inquires. Rather than turning down business, she kept the company going to fulfill her own psychological needs. She felt great pride in her ability to provide a service where her clients were being treated with respect and got what they paid for. She understood that moving had a negative reputation, which is why her company put a premium on customer service. For example, “Sheets put her movers in uniforms and gave them business cards, charged by the hour instead of weight, and paid for any damage to be fixed” (Jones, 2007, p. 234). The company’s mission statement...
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...I think the motivation theory that can be found in this case study is the Expectancy theory. I think Mary Sheets was motivated to start her moving company this way because the harder she worked the more business she had come in. When Mary started seeing more business and profits, she quit her “day” job in order to build her business. I believe she saw the rewards the business was starting to show, and decided to devote all her time and energy into the moving company. Mary Ellen Sheets approach to creating high-performing teams within her company was to build a school called “Stick Men University”. Here she trained franchise operators and employees the basics of the company, from answering the phones to how to move furniture. Doing this helped to train her workers and franchise operators how to maximize their profits and make the business successful. Siemens’s New Boss The motivation theory that I feel Kleinfeld used was Goal-setting theory. I believe he set goals for his workers in his medical equipment unit in order to keep this unit of Siemens open and profitable for the company. All of the employees would have lost their jobs if Kleinfeld did not motivate the workers to become more productive, and with their efforts and team work, they were able to build a 100,000 dollar machine in one week versus the 6 weeks it previously took them. This generated more income for the company, and helped keep this part of the company open. Kleinfeld’s approach to creating high-performing...
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...Checkpoint: Motivations and Teams Case Study The Mary Ellen Sheets study showed Maslow’s Needs Hierarchy Theory in action. By making her company mission statement “Treat everyone how you would want your Grandma to be treated”, she immediately brings the belongingness needs into view. It shows a strong cultural tie to family, and shows the supportive side of her as a leader. By franchising the company, she put the success in the hands of the owners, bringing the self-actualization and security needs to the front. By owning that part of the company, it gives the owners job security and (almost) complete control. To help ensure her franchises high performance, and to help with esteem needs, she gives pre-paid post cards with a simple five question survey to all customers, of which only 1% have been negative. In the Siemens case study it is easy to see the prevalent motivation theory is the Expectancy Theory. As Kleinfeld was quoted when speaking to students at the University of Rhode Island, “Working hard earns the right to play hard.” By putting in the time and energy himself, he showed his employees the rewards that could be reaped. He had to convince them to work on days and at times that they had not done before. He made himself available at all time, and held 10 different positions within the company over a 17 year period. This showed the employees, and provided them with good reason to perform highly as hard work would be rewarded with new opportunities, raises, and...
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...CheckPoint: Motivation and Teams Case Study • Resource: Ch. 7 of Introduction to Business • Read the two case studies on pp. 233–236 of the text. • Answer the following in a 200- to 300-word response: • What motivation theories may be found in each case study? • Describe the theories found in each case study and cite specific examples. • What was each business owner’s approach to creating high-performing teams within their company? In the first case study, The Two Men and a Truck, the motivation theories used by Sheets were Maslow’s needs hierarchy theory, the expectancy theory, and the job enrichment theory. Originally, Sheet’s motivation was to assist her two sons part-time moving business attract more customers. By doing this, Sheets was using the Maslow’s needs hierarchy theory because she was focused on her sons’ physiological needs of earning income. Because she did not want to reject the business call, she decided to take advantage of the orders she was still receiving. Sheets saw a demand for a localized moving company. After her last child completed college, the expectancy theory applies because she believed that she had a service that would serve the needs of other individuals to begin their own business by creating a franchise opportunity. She believed that she possessed the ability, self-efficacy, to create the moving franchise opportunity. By creating this opportunity for others to reward for their work efforts and efficiencies, she empowers the job enrichment...
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...Introduction to Business Read the two case studies on pp. 233–236 of the text. Answer the following in a 200- to 300-word response: What motivation theories may be found in each case study? Describe the theories found in each case study and cite specific examples. What was each business owner’s approach to creating high-performing teams within their company? In the first case study, The Two Men and a Truck, the motivation theories used by Sheets were Maslow’s needs hierarchy theory, the expectancy theory, and the job enrichment theory. Originally, Sheet’s motivation was to assist her two sons part-time moving business attract more customers. By doing this, Sheets was using the Maslow’s needs hierarchy theory because she was focused on her sons’ physiological needs of earning income. Because she did not want to reject the business call, she decided to take advantage of the orders she was still receiving. Sheets saw a demand for a localized moving company. After her last child completed college, the expectancy theory applies because she believed that she had a service that would serve the needs of other individuals to begin their own business by creating a franchise opportunity. She believed that she possessed the ability, self-efficacy, to create the moving franchise opportunity. By creating this opportunity for others to reward for their work efforts and efficiencies, she empowers the job enrichment theory. Her approach to creating a high-performing team was to provide a personal touch...
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...content theory of motivation and a process theory of motivation and illustrate how they can explain actions of individuals in the case study Motivation refers to the factors either with in or to a person that stimulate enthusiasm and determination to chase a certain course of action. Often people confuse the idea of happy employees with motivated employees.these may be related but motivation actually describes the level of desire employyees feel to perfrom regardness of the level of happiness in management,motivavtion is the process though which mangers encourage employees to be productive and effective.these are the some of motivation theories 1. hierachy of needs theory 2. ERG Theory 3. Two –factor theory People are motivated by 5 steps of motivating which exist in a hierarchical order 1. Physiological 2. Safety 3. Love 4. Esteem 5. Self-actualization Vroom’s expectancy theory “Vroom was the first person to propose an expectancy theory aimed specifically at work motivation. His model is based on three key variables: valence, instrumentality and expectancy The theory is founded on the idea that people prefer certain outcomes from their behavior over others. They anticipate feelings of satisfaction should the preferred outcome be achieved” (Mullins, 2010) According to this case study person who reads can identify what are content theory of motivation and process theory...
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...proposes possible argued solutions, supported by academic literature and incorporating aspects of different organizational behavior theories. In the first case study, we present how the need theories of motivation (Maslow’s hierarchy pyramid, Alderfer ERG Theory and Herzberg’s duality theory) are applied, by analyzing the concrete individual behavior of an employee in given work situation. In addition, achievers needs based on McClelland are also addressed. At the end, by summarizing the overall particular situation, we are suggesting a proposal based on the findings from several motivation theories, in order to resolve the elaborated motivation problem. In the second case study, we present the organizational structure of a large telecommunication company which fits to classical departmentalization by business functions. We analyze the organizational structure of this company, addressing its weaknesses in a situation when the market is changing fast and rapidly. At the end, we made a recommendation based on Mintzberg adhocracy organization design and the benefits of cross functional teams. Table of Content 1. Abstract 2 2. Case Study I 4 2.1 Introduction 4 2.2 Problem Analysis 5 2.3 Recommendations for problem solving 7 2.4 Conclusion for the Case Study I 8 3. Case Study II 9 3.1 Introduction 9 3.2 Problem Analysis 10 3.3...
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...Mt. Everest Case Study Review Jackie Cheng, J.P. McIntosh, Josephine Richardson, Stephen Winfree Harding University Abstract The 1996 Mont Everest tragedy, no doubt-ably, has marked terror in the lives of the survivors and climbers alike. The analyses do a fantastic job of sifting through the different situations that the climbers came across on the mountain and the possible reasons for the outcomes of each situation. In retrospect, effective and ineffective leadership skills are displayed in various situations, prudent verses imprudent decisions are targeted, the trust and faith in each climber, and in oneself, is identified and the planning and timing of the hike is examined. Overall, each situation has been analyzed from different angles and suggested decisions have been implemented to help the reader in collecting a better understanding of why this climb ended up becoming so disastrous. Introduction The journey to Mount Everest was a tragedy and a sorrowful one at that. A journey that was expectant on great victory turned to a grave catastrophe. A reflection of what happened nearly two decades ago reveals likely flaws taken at the time. Rob Hall and Scott Fischer were the leaders of two of the largest commercial expeditions on Everest in the spring of 1996. In the years leading up to the expedition, the climbing seasons had been tame and had drawn much less experienced...
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...M. AMABILE ELIZABETH A. SCHATZEL The Lumen and Absorb Teams at Crutchfield Chemical Engineering Realizing that his next appointment would be starting momentarily, Paul Burke hurriedly attempted to tidy up his somewhat chaotic desk. The meeting was going to include discussion of some troubling data he had recently received, and he wanted space for spreading out and making notations on the charts. It was April 2003, and Burke was in his sixth year as director of the Polymers Department in the Corporate Technology Development (CTD) division of Crutchfield Chemical Engineering (CCE), a large, international chemicals and fibers manufacturer. CCE was in the last stages of a companywide downsizing that had resulted in an 18% reduction in force over the past six months. At 52, Burke had seen a number of prior downsizings and other organizational upheavals in his years at CCE and other firms in the industry. He was well aware that, following such changes, employee morale and performance often suffered initially but soon rebounded. However, a recent Human Resources (HR) survey and his own observations had led him to become particularly concerned about drastic differences among his five research and development (R&D) teams in both motivation levels and performance. Wishing to reverse what seemed to be a dangerous trend, he had engaged organizational psychologist Joanna McKinty, an external consultant, to study his department and report back on what might be accounting...
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...Motivation and Team Case Study BUS/211 March 21, 2016 Motivation and Team Case Study Many differences can be found within the two case studies that we discussed. Both companies, however have become successful in their endeavor to build a good, solid reputation and increase profitability for their respective businesses. A lot of their success can be attributed to how they approached and interacted with the employees. Another factor of their success is being able to build high-performance teams that work effectively and efficiently toward the common goal. Motivation There are several theories that motivate people to work, and attributed to how well they work. In both cases I saw the motivation of self actualization, of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Mary Ellen and Klaus each started at the bottom, acquiring skills and knowledge that would help them reach their goals. Mary Ellen Sheets worked for the state, earning benefits and vacation time. The business started with her two boys as a part time job, and Mary Ellen took over when they went off to college. Over time she saw the business continually grow with the demands and increase of customers. She eventually made it into a franchise, and when she felt comfortable enough with the success of the company, she left her job to give her full attention to the moving business. "With no formal business background, Sheets says she has relied mostly on her own instincts and experience. She credits her time volunteering at a hospital...
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...Case Study Report Starbucks’ Corporation: Case Study in Motivation Submitted to: ----------------------------- Faculty, MBA Program, BRAC University Submitted by: SNS MBA, BRACU Course Title: Organization Behavior and Leadership Course Code: HRM 501, Section: 03 Semester: MBA, Fall-2013 Date of Submission: 8 November 2013 Introduction: This report is a part of Masters of Business Administration (MBA) program, Organization Behavior and Leadership (HRM 501) course of BRAC Business School. My respected faculty Mr. KMK assigned me to solve some questions related to the case named “Starbucks Corporation: Case Study in Motivation”. I am thankful to my faculty as solving this case helped me to get knowledge about motivation and teamwork. Data Sources: Two types of data are used to prepare the report, which are primary and secondary data. Primary Sources: • Case: “Starbucks Corporation: Case Study in Motivation” http://www.freeonlineresearchpapers.com/starbucks-case-study Secondary Sources: • Lecture notes on Motivation by Mr. Kazi Monirul Kabir • Published Documents related to Motivation Question-1: Starbucks’ employees can be seen as a formal team as opposed to an informal team. Differentiate between ‘formal’ and ‘informal’ teams. Answer: There are two types of teams: formal and informal teams. Starbucks’ employees can be seen as a formal team as they have managers and employees; a set of challenging plus specific...
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...Leadership can be described as the manner and approaches that leaders uses to direct, implement plans and motivate people. Basically, it describes how leaders react, interact and treat employees at work. According to Bass (2007, p. 1), leadership can be defined as “an interaction between two or more members of a group that often involves a structuring or restructuring of the situation and the perception and expectations of the members”. There are various leadership styles namely the autocratic, democratic, laissez faire and charismatic. Basically leaders tend to use all these leadership styles depending on the situations; however, one of the styles is always the predominant on them. It has to be noted that a particular leadership style will not be effective in an organisational setting. Hence, different styles are needed according to different situations. Steve Jobs CEO of Apple has been a successful leader in this modern era. His approach to leadership is both fascinating and confusing and that is the reason why he has been able to make Apple a successful company. He has brought a lot of changes in the life of people through his greatest advanced technology ever made namely the Mac, the iPod, the iPad and iPhone but has also introduced a new concept for business and leadership. His approach to creative leadership was remarkably high, that is inspiring others to do the impossible but at the same time Steve Job’s leadership style was complex because he always put a...
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...MA International Business Management Cross-Cultural Management -HRP009N ‘Learning strategies rely heavily on employee involvement’ you need to add the full title of the topic as given in the handbook Autumn Semester 2011-12 December 5th 2011 Dayana Lima Rodriguez Table of Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 2 Summary of the case study......................................................................................................... 3 Theories .................................................................................................................................... 34 Criticism ..................................................................................................................................... 6 Analysis of the case study .......................................................................................................... 7 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 7 References ................................................................................................................................ 10 Page | 1 Introduction Globalisation has forced markets to be in constant development and with that companies are also becoming more knowledge-based than ever before. Therefore, it is of great importance for any...
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...Case-1 Question#1 What performance problems is the captain trying to correct? Answer – In the given scenario the problem projected by the police captain is that the young officers who come to the police force are not at all good at doing paper work, they find it boring and hate it. They are much interested to stay out on the streets, either in cars or on a beat instead of doing paper work while sitting in the office. They frequently put off the job or do it inadequately which results in unclear and ambiguous reports which cause the police department to lose court cases. Another problem is that the captain is finding it difficult to figure out the possible ways to motivate them to do the paper work effectively and efficiently. There are various problems related to the employee motivation, ability of officers to perform task, lack of role perception and different situational factors. Question # 2 Use the mars model of individual behaviour and performance to diagnose the possible causes of the unacceptable behaviour? Answer- According to the MARS model of individual behaviour there are four factors that directly influence voluntary individual behaviour and performance. Those factors are Motivation, Ability, Role perceptions and Situational factors. We can use the mars model to diagnose the causes responsible for different problems in the given scenario. The causes are as follows - 1. Lack of motivation – Motivation is the force within the person that affects his or her...
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...Introduction Organisational behavior is a subject that covers a wide variety of topics such as, such as motivation, leadership and organizational design- that relate to different aspects of behavior in organizations. Examining these topics has involved incorporating perspectives and insights from a number of disciplines including psychology, economics, sociology and politics.’ (Knights and Willmott, 2007:p.3) Numerous disciplines that explore the complexity and diversity of collective human activity have contributed to the formation and development of OB. Something of this complexity is apparent in the sometimes conflicting purposes and objective embraced by, or attributed to, management and organizations. Given the demanding nature of organizing and managing people, it is not surprising that OB is widely regarded as the foundation of management studies. (Knights and Willmott, 2007:p.3)Within the notion of behavior, including thinking and feeling as well as acting. OB aspires to have relevance for understanding the behavior of people working at all hierarchical levels- from the workers employed part-time or on a casual basis on the shop floor or in the office to the most senior executive. Each is involved in processes of organizing and being organized and managing and being managed. OB should be better to understand how and why people are organized; to identify and assess the likely consequences of making changes; and to introduce changes in ways that anticipate and minimize...
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