Organizational Management

The employees are considered as the most important assets of the company, hence, each industry is trying to find ways on how to make their employees become more productive and effective to sustain competitive advantage. One of these is through motivation. Motivation is uniquely defined by psychologists as a manner of stimulation which causes the generation of aroused, sustained and directed behavior. Such behavior results in different individuals to work and perform to achieve the common goal (Accel Team, 2004). Successful companies are implementing different motivational approach.

Primarily, the goal of this paper is to assess the motivation approach of three successful companies in their respective industries: Wal-Mart, Starbucks and Wholefoods. Overview of the Companies a. Wal-Mart One of the largest retail industries in the international market is Wal-Mart Stores Inc. It is known to be a retail-giant due to its success in the United States and other countries. With its effective management approach and marketing strategies, Wal-Mart has been able to successfully operate in the global market (Wal-Mart, 2009). b.

Starbucks Starbucks Coffee is referred to as the fastest growing brands in global environment. Starbucks was based in the USA and has been considered as the largest coffeehouse industry in the international market and have more than 15,000 stores in 44 nations overseas. The main objective of this industry is to be the most recognized and respected coffee brand all over the world. c. Wholefoods Wholefoods Market is known to be one of the largest retailers of organic and natural foods with their stores in United Kingdom and North America.

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The company aims on providing quality and unique organic and natural foods across UK and North America and strongly committed in sustainable agriculture. Discussion and Analysis a. Ways of using the theories and models of Motivation As mentioned, the companies that will be given emphasis in this report are Wal-Mart, Starbucks and Wholefoods. Each of the company has their way of using and considering theories and models of Motivation. For instance, in the Starbucks, the CEO of the company has been able to give value to their employees as part of using motivational theories and models.

The company constantly accumulates their employees’ working experience and provides chances of promotion. Starbucks management attempts to adhere to motivational theories by considering perfect education as well as training and development policy, to ensure that their company and employees perform better (Michelli, 2006). The management also provides an interactive structure which enables employee to instill themselves into their work commitment; thus, they can motivate partners for self satisfaction then achieving a new level of performance.

It can be regarded that Starbucks are using Maslow Hierarchy of Needs (1943). Herein, the management of Starbucks aims on achieving the needs of their employees in terms of social, physiological, ego, self-actualizing and safety needs. In the case of Wal-Mart, it can be said that their strategy of managing people, is considered to be the important ways to using and considering employee motivation which enables the company to become the biggest company with the the highest amount of employees.

Herein, the company aims on achieving the reinforcement theory and the expectancy theory. The reinforcement theory (Skinner, 1953) entails that the behaviors of the employees have a direct impact on the outcome of their performance. Hence, those employees with positive behavior will bring positive output and those with negative will lead to negative outcomes. On one hand, Expectancy theory (Vroom, 1964) states that the effort of the employees results to performance and such performance must be given due incentives, rewards and recognition.

Wal-Mart is able to take all their efforts to make their employees feel that they are an essential part of the industry since they are the sources of new ideas for the company to perform well (Soderquist, 2005). They motivate their employees in various ways so as to prove the Wal-Mart does not only care about company profit but also the crises of employees. The company uses the term association instead of employees. Just like Wal-Mart and Starbucks, Wholefoods also adheres to motivational theories and models. The management of Wholefoods also considers the expectancy theory and the reinforcement theory.

Herein, the company sees to it that they give value to their employees by empowering them in terms of decision making. The management of Wholefoods sees to it that all their employees are well motivated. They allow their employees to take decisions and become responsible for the decisions they made. The company gives due recognition and rewards to their employees. In addition, they also consider teamwork within the company to promote team efforts and productivity. b. Employee motivation and organizational cultures

Accordingly, company increases their productivity through their employee motivation approach. It is said that influencing the employee motivation is frequently made easier if the management tries to integrate employee motivation with their organizational cultures. In the case of Wal-Mart it is said that the tone of its culture is its being innovation which needs adopting culture of change. In line with employee motivation, it can be said that the company tries to become innovative in making their employee perform better and they use employee motivation approach to do it.

To integrate their organizational cultures and employee motivation, Wal-Mart is using change management approach. Wal-Mart’s organizational culture consists of three basic beliefs which include the respect for the individual, service to the customers and strive for excellence (ICMRINDIA, 2009). In the case of Starbucks, it can be said that the company has a culture of motivation. The management has been able to create a culture which is dedicated to challenging their employees to be the best in their performance (Thompsons, Strickland and Gamble, 2005).

The culture of motivation of Starbucks includes the use of proven models and theories of motivation but they try new approaches and prove new theories to obtain employee motivation and inspiration. In the case of Wholefoods, the company seems to be especially aware of the need to integrate their organizational culture with their individualize programs for motivation. Wholefoods has been able to combine their cultural commitment to increase employee motivation and achieve the level of employee satisfaction. c. Motivational methods of the Companies

Starbucks, Wholefoods and Wal-Mart are said to be the leading industries in their field because of considering their own motivational approach. Since Wholefoods and Wal-Mart are two of the largest retail industries in the global market, they are able to combine a creative standardized approach with the initiative of the employee to build enthusiasm and raise the level of their services. Both companies have been able to use the Formal levers to enhance the understanding of their employees on how their own actions influence the success of the entire business.

These companies do this by integrating sophisticated store operations management and letting their employees have their own freedom in the field. The company also provides training and development programs to motivate their employees (Kliger & Tweraser, 2009). In the case of Starbucks, it shows that the motivation is the vital aspect of the company policy. In this regard, the company is using unique motivational approach to enable their employee become more productive. The company provides training and development and also promotion for their deserving employees (Michelli, 2006).

The company also considers equal treatment, employee empowerment, teamwork and also considers harmonious relationship among employees. Conclusion Based on the given analysis, it can be concluded that successful companies comes from motivating their employees and valuing their employees. By considering motivational theories and models, Starbucks, Wal-Mart and Wholefoods have been able to successfully motivate their employees which help them to become successful in their respective industries.

It can be concluded that motivation is one of the most important factors that may lead to organizational success. Reference Accel Team (2004). Employee motivation, the organizational environment and productivity. Historical Perspective. Scientific Management. Available from: http://www. accel team. com/scientific/scientific_04. html ICRMINDIA (2009). Online available at http://www. icmrindia. org/casestudies/catalogue/Human%20Resource%20and%20Organization%20Behavior/Organizational%20Culture. htm. Retrieve February 2, 2009.

Kliger, M and Tweraser, S (2009). Motivating front line staff For bottom line results. Online available at http://www. mckinsey. com/practices/retail/knowledge/articles/Motivatingfrontlinestaff. pdf. Retrieve February 2, 2009. Maslow, AH 1943, ‘A theory of human motivation’, Psychological Review, (July), pp. 370-396Michelli, J (2006) the Starbucks’ experience. McGraw-Hill Skinner, B. F. (1953). Science and Human Behavior. New York: Free Press. Starbucks Coffee Company. (2009) Available in: http://www. starbucks. com. Retrieve February 2, 2009.

Thompson, AA Strickland AJ & Gamble J 2005, “Starbucks in 2004: Driving for Global Dominance”. Crafting and Executing Strategy (Fourteenth Edition), McGraw-Hill, New York, pp. C2-C32. Vroom, V. H. (1964). Work and motivation. New York: Wiley, pp 229. Wal-Mart (2009). Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Online available at http://walmartstores. com/media/resources/r_2571. pdf. Retrieve February 2, 2009. Wholefoods (2009). Whole Foods Market: Natural and Organic Grocery. Online available at http://www. wholefoodsmarket. com/. Retrieve February 2, 2009.

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