Motivation at Monarch Supply Company: a Case Study Essay

Another skill that is demanded throughout the workforce is attention to details. Most jobs in a company deal with small fragments of that company, which if altered in the slightest, can make the larger picture of the business crumble. I work in a hospital setting, and if one test tube is labeled incorrectly or misplaced then a patient could be seriously hurt or even die due to neglect. This could also lead to a lawsuit and the company to would undoubtedly cease to function. This skill is so important, that my current boss later told me in private that if I had not proven my ability to pay attention to details then I would not have gotten the job.

With this being said, motivation is very complex and is continuously fluctuating over time (Maslow, 1954). Getting employees optimally motivated is very difficult, due to the various components that go into motivation. However, when an employee is positively motivated, they will be able to accomplish any task set in front of them.

If you're a salesperson, you can close more deals and get more sales, where people can value our opinions, develop more social bonds, etc.

Feedback- This area refers to the ongoing information that employees receive in the performance of their jobs. At my job, we receive feedback, letting us know that we exceeded the standards for call wait times or if we have not met this standard. Feedback also goes back to the management in that they become aware of the situations.

Firstly when being sales staff there is a lot of responsibility that you have to take in account. For example sales staff should have some understanding about the product. This includes features, benefits, and the cost of the specific product that the customer wants to purchase. For example if a sales staff were to sell a computer his/her knowledge should be:

It seems clear from the preceding discussion that, although definitely a factor, personality and physical appearance and abilities alone did not adequately account for Mr. Spencer’s success in his role as a salesperson. It seems his dedication and apparent drive to excel, as witnessed by his willingness to sacrifice family relationships, was perhaps a greater factor. There is also some evidence of a motivational and training element within the Tri-American Corporation, as evidenced by the annual company sales conferences, feeding into the findings by Churchill et al. (1985) that influenceable factors had a greater effect on salesperson performance. Finally, one cannot discount the presence of sheer luck in contributing to Mr. Spencer’s success, especially early on in his first year.

Before analyzing those motivational practices, it is essential to understand the core to the Nordstrom’s business - the customer service, known as the Nordstrom Way. As stated in the case, it is “the customer service like no one else offers, service above and beyond the call of duty.” In order to achieve the Nordstrom Way, the stores request their salespersons to be “upbeat, ambitious but, at the same time, selfless.” They keep personal books listing each of their customers and record every activity and correspondence; they send out thank you letters to customers for purchases regardless of how small the transactions are; they personally deliver purchases outside of work time and even on holidays. The approach has proven to be successful, as it cultivates the loyalty within the customers and generates glowing sales records. On the other hand, because the Nordstrom Way is result orientated, extra works are justifiable as long as they lead to the successful sales. Salespersons have to sacrifice their off duty time as these are often considered “extra” and “non-selling” activity.

Sales associates don’t do it all by themselves. There will be marketing and accounting and maintenance and so forth. This is the stage that allows the whole team to work in tandem with each other to perform flawlessly to make No Motor Outfitters the best it can be.

The success of any business depends on the productivity and satisfaction of its employees. Employees need to be motivated to work. Motivation can be defined as the inner force that drives individuals to accomplish personal and organizational goals. Motivation can be either intrinsic or extrinsic. For an individual to be motivated in a work situation there must be a need, which the individual would have to perceive a possibility of satisfying through some reward. Intrinsic motivation stems from motivations that are inherent and arise from performing the task of the job itself, which the individual gets a feeling of either positive or negative motivation as a result of

There are numerous motivational theories that explain why people do what they do. When viewed collectively, these theories suggest people’s actions are driven by the following factors: economic, social, and self-construct. Economic factors include not only money, but health protection, security, wealth, physical safety, and purchasing power. Sales commissions fit most of these needs, but do not fully meet the needs for security and physical safety. When people think about and act upon what others think of them, they are being influenced by social factors. Most people will work harder for positive feedback and avoid performance that garners negative feedback. For example, some people are eager to conform to the norms of a sales team and are positively motivated by the performance of the entire team. Self-construct is the inner voice that drives an individual to perform and differs in every individual. Some people are driven in the pursuit of self-accomplishment, while others are driven by the need for power or acceptance. Each of these factors are combined in varying degrees in all individuals, whether salespeople or not.

Motivation is a psychological process that causes arousal, direction, and the persistence of voluntary actions that are goal oriented (Ramlall, 2004). Lack of motivation is the main reason employees do not remain with a company. Employee retention is critical for a company to remain successful. For every 10 managerial and professional employees lost, an organization loses an average of $1 million (Ramlall, 2004). With respect to QVC, it is the nation's largest electronic retailer, selling a wide variety of merchandise that includes clothing, jewelry, cosmetics, electronics, housewares, and toys. The company sells its products through cable and satellite television, QVC.com, in outlet centers, and via a retail store in the Mall of America. In 2003, the company broadcasted live 24 hours a day, 364 days a year, to over 85 million homes across the United States, 11 million homes in the United Kingdom, 34 million homes in Germany, and over eight million homes in Japan (Bloomberg, 2012). QVC, which stands for "Quality, Value, and Convenience," grew quickly into an industry powerhouse during the late 1980s and early 1990s due to increases in cable subscription rates, consumers' growing dependence on mail-order shopping, and advances in telecommunications, allowing the company, with its interactive approach, to integrate computers, television, cable, and telephone lines into an "information superhighway" (Bloomberg, 2012). Currently, QVC has 3,700

Task significance refers to whether a person’s job substantially affects other people’s work, health, or well-being.

Industrial/Organizational (I/O) Psychology is devoted to the study of employee behavior in the workplace and understanding the issues facing organizations and employees in today’s complex and ever changing environment. Motivation refers to the set of forces that influence people to choose various behaviors among several alternatives available to them. An organization depends on the ability of management to provide a positive, fostering and motivating environment for its employees in order to increase profits, productivity and lower turnover rates of its employees. The purpose of this paper is to discuss and compare six academic journal articles and explore the behavior, job, and need based theories of motivation that can aid management in motivating and understanding their employees. Finding that delicate balance to can sometimes be elusive so effectively learning how to motivate by understanding, controlling and influencing factors to manipulate behavior and choices that are available to employees can produce the desired outcome.

The results obtained are found to be contradicting with Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory. The study revealed that the strongest motivation factor with the highest significance level on job satisfaction is the working conditions, which is a hygiene factor. The subsequent factors that motivate the sales personnel reported are recognition, company policies and

Sales team – they understand the industry and customer needs. They know the company target segments and whether this product aligns with company value propositions. •