Mary Kay Cosmetics: Sales Force Incentives Case Analysis

Path-Goal Theory assumes that leaders are flexible and that they can change their style, as situations require. The theory proposes two contingency variables, such as environment and follower characteristics, that moderate the leader behavior-outcome relationship. The leader must consider follower’s valences, instrumentalities, expectancies, equity of rewards, and accuracy of role perceptions when assessing the requirements of his followers. Additionally, personal characteristics of subordinates determine how the environment and leader are interpreted. Effective leaders clarify the path to help their followers achieve organizational goals and facilitate the journey by reducing roadblocks and pitfalls. This approach assumes that there is one right way of achieving a goal and that the leader can see it while the followers can not. This casts the leader as the knowing person and the followers as dependent, thereby limiting the development of the follower. While the path-goal theory has some validity, Bass argues that better leaders integrate a task-oriented and relationship-oriented approach (Blake & Mouton, 1964) as well as demonstrate their ability to clarify the path to the goals (Bass, 1960, 1990). Furthermore, this transactional

Covergirl has spent an extensive amount of money and time to reach its first position, in the cosmetics market. To reach first position the company spends millions of dollars on marketing campaigns, which include television sponsorships and advertisements. Covergirl cosmetics are the official sponsor of the reality television show, America’s Next Top Model (Niti, 2014). The winners of the show have modeled for the

One form of a contingency approach to leadership is the Path Goal Theory, formed by Robert House. This theory states that it is the leader’s responsibility to define their organization’s goal, define the path to achieve that goal, and to remove obstacles which prevent the attainment of these goals, by increasing their subordinates’ motivation by clarifying the behaviors necessary for both personal and organizational goal attainment (Landrum & Daily, 2012).

(Robbins and Millet and Cacioppe and Waters-Marsh, 1998, p.10). An important area within organisational behaviour is motivation.

Mary Kay was started in Dallas, Texas, with only five products. The entrepreneur, Mary Kay Ash, biggest dream was to transform; inspirer and help women obtain success.

The path-goal theory focuses on motivating followers to achieve goals. It suggests that if followers believe there will be positive outcomes in their efforts, they will be highly motivated to do their work. Leaders, in this theory, use a style that compliments the follower’s needs in order to motivate them. Take the following situation as an example. I am newly hired as a sales manager and the morale in the department is extremely low. A few months ago the department’s profit in sales had been at the highest in decades. Multiple sales

Leaders need to recognize that certain motivators may not always be the best motivators. Considering that some motives may be complex, they are usually a result of some initiative that an individual may have brought about based on their personality or experience. One way to persuade followers or employees is to offer them financial incentives to increase output and profits. However, the consideration of financial incentives should also consider the leaders behavior on the employees which may have influenced the employees to increase output and profits. A transactional leader focuses on tasks and behaviors rather than relationships. Traits and behaviors influence effectiveness of the followers not necessarily the motivating factors associated with the task, such as financial (Derue, 2011). Values of the individual need to be considered when considering which motivators should be used.

The biggest problem to a manager is managing employees. This is because employers often do not know how to handle their employees. An effective manager knows that motivation is a difficult skill to acquire. So over the years, many theorist have studied motivation in order to

The path-goal theory’s focus is on the leader’s behavior that can allow for the employees to reach personal and organizational goals. A leader’s attitude has impact on the attitude of the staff. Leaders can reward employees when goals are met which can increase employee motivation, job satisfaction and overall productivity (Schultz, 2010). This theory identifies four styles of leadership as directive, supportive, participative and achievement-oriented (Schultz, 2010).

Motivation and empowerment. In R. L. Daft, Leadership (pp. Chapter 8 pages 200 - 220).

Mary Kay, Inc. was founded in 1963 by Mary Kay Ash as Beauty by Mary Kay. Mary Kay is a direct sale type of company, with “independent beauty consultants” that sell and market Mary Kay products (2012 Corporate Fact Sheet). Mary Kay Ash operated with the mindset of “God First, Family Second, and Career Third,” and always adhered to the golden rule, do to others as you’d want them to do to you (Kerin, Et. Al). Mary Kay, Inc. first entered the global market in 1971 with its expansion into Australia. Today, Mary Kay is represented in over 35 global markets (2012 Corporate Fact Sheet). Mary Kay is challenged to ensure brand consistency across the world, despite differences in cultures from market to market. As such, Mary Kay would be considered a transnational firm. They tie the similarities between each market together while celebrating the differences in each market. This strategy allows them to offer Mary Kay’s core product lines globally where they’re most desired. In China, one of their most successful markets, Mary Kay applied their existing corporate message of women empowerment to attract Chinese women that otherwise wouldn’t be able to start their own business. Where China differs from the United States market is in product need. Chinese women don’t typically wear a lot of makeup, so

On my point of view positioning statement of the J. Peterman Company could look like: “To romantic people from 35 to 55 who appreciate unique emotional feelings and who are intellectually and emotionally on a journey, J. Peterman Company is a provider of unique, romantic, authentic, excellent goods by catalog and Internet”. Core competence of the very company is again selling different goods that are associated with “authentic”, “unique”, “romantic”, “excellent”, “journey”, “wondrous” concepts, especially clothes, by catalog.

Bauer, T. (2012). Motivation Theories. In B. Erdogan, An Introduction to Organizational Behavior (pp. 393-450). New york.

Path Goal Theory is a theory proposed by Martin Evans and Robert House, which is then developed by Robert House himself which suggests how leaders of any organization can be effective towards their subordinates in order to achieve organizational goals. This theory was first introduced in 1971 which was created based on Victor Vroom’s ‘Expectancy Theory of Motivation’. The name ‘Path-Goal’ itself shows that the leader should clarify their follower’s performance and remove any obstacle which comes between them and their goals. It is best when the leader focuses on each of the

Jumei is the China’s biggest online retailer of beauty products, which combines flash sales and regular sales. In US, it is not unusual for the CEOs to be the public face for the company. However, Jumei is the first major company in China that uses CEO as brand ambassadors, instead of use famous star. As a young and good-looking entrepreneur, many young people, especially young girls consider Chen Ou as an idol. He personally appeared in Jumei’s video ad in which he declared “I am Chen Ou. I speak for myself” and expressed his dream and encourage young people to never give up their own dreams. This creative advertisement aroused a strong resonance among young people and especially on