The John Lewis Partnership - Motivation free essay sample

John Lewis, Waitrose and Ocado: distinctively successful Analyse and comment on ‘the John Lewis Partnership’ approach to the welfare of its workers in relation to different theories of motivation. Fda Business Year 1 HR186 – Understanding Organisations 29th November 2010 Table of Contents Introduction Page 1 The Partners Page 1-2 Motivational Influences Page 2-3 Money Page 3-4 The Theory Page 4-5 Conclusion Page 5-6 Introduction With relation to different theories, motivation has derived more from behaviour than need. Although without need, there is not an understanding of the motivational process requirements within an organisation. The John Lewis Partnership has evolved over the past century, owing a proportion of its success to its industrial democratic structure. The approach to the welfare of its workers is its co-ownership, making the workers the main assets within the organisation. The employees are more than just a workforce; they are the Partners of the business. The Partners With the industrial democracy demonstrated, there is not a requirement for a union. We will write a custom essay sample on The John Lewis Partnership Motivation or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Workers have the responsibility to choose and elect 80% of representatives in their Partnership council, though the employees do not run the business. There are 4 Principles on which the Partnership centres its motivation skills; purpose, power, profit and its members. The diversity within the organisation is based upon equal opportunities, treating every member with respect and as individuals. Tracey Killen, Director of Personnel believes, Our aim is to be a business where our leaders feel confident with, and have a full understanding of the diversity in their teams, so that they can ensure Partners have a consistent, equitable, and motivating experience of the Partnership. This goes to the heart of our ultimate purpose and drives business advantage. Available @ John Lewis Website 2nd November 2010. http://www. johnlewispartnership. co. uk/Display. aspx? =74681741-bda8-4258-840b-f4eb1ad2e05c=633. Partner Happiness’ comes from the satisfaction, shared responsibility and the benefits provided to the workforce. The benefits include an annual bonus, pension schemes and discounts, generous holiday entitlements, leisure facilities and several estates to house the workers and their families. Each week the †supreme purpose. the fairest possible sharing by all members of all advantages of ownership-gain, knowledge, and power. † This will promote greater happiness in working life, satisfying the mind and spirit of employees. Based on Labor-Management Relations 10th November 2010 http://heinonline. rg/HOL/LandingPage? collection=journals=hein. journals/ialrr22=56= Motivational influences F . W Taylors influence over the twentieth century (1856-1917), alongside the social change in politics, appeared to be the reason John Lewis took his courageous step of leaving the family run business, to be the founder of the highly successful organisation widely known on our high street today. F W Taylor (1947) perceived that the resulting increase in working efficiency would improve the status of labour and society in general. Mackay, 2007, Elsevier Ltd, 1st edition, page 37. His father and brother earned between them a salary of more than their entire workforce. Mr Lewis began to foresee his future and the realism of bringing equality into the workforce. The equity theory of motivation, which can be associated with Adams work, was inspired from realising that every person requires the equalisation of the next. Within the work environment, an ‘equal status’ requires no competitiveness against another individual. Behaviour becomes of a positive nature, having the capabilities to achieve goals and show a level of effort, responsibility and initiative. Though originally outlined by Benjamin Franklin, in recent years, McClelland (1965) formulated a motive acquisition process that included goal-setting and planning, of which are essential for change to occur. Cherniss Goleman, Jossey Bass, 1st edition, page 248. Money Organisations which are based on shares are not only the reason for motivation but are an inevitable stimulation to the workers. Every member will receive an amount of between 6-9 weeks wages per annum based upon the profits earned within that financial year. The Tory proposal for core public services to be owned and managed by employee-owned co-operatives contains a number of ideas rolled into one. The two most important are: 1) organisations perform better where staff have a direct financial stake in their success or failure; 2) the role of the state should be limited to providing funds and monitoring outcomes. Available @ BBC Website 15th November 2010. http://www. bbc. co. uk/blogs/thereporters/robertpeston/2010/02/the_john_lewis_state. tml During difficult economic situations, The John Lewis Partnership has not fallen but continued to grow at a substantial rate. The workers are motivated by the bonuses they receive. Benefits are generated upon the profits earned through satisfaction of service to the customer. The employee’s behaviour is a need to achieve in all aspects of the business in order to continue with its financial growth which is shown in appendix 1. Not everybody sees this motivation as a reward but a reduction in performance and effort, with money benefits being highly adequate. Is there a need to achieve higher? analysts such as Jensen and Meckling (1979) have argued the opposite: that profit-sharing will reduce performance. Rather than rewarding personal effort directly, profit-sharing gives each worker only a fraction of any additional benefit due to his or her own effort. This fails to increase the incentive to work in the manner of individualized pay schemes, and it increases the importance of peer monitoring in maintaining effort levels. Based on Industrial Relations:A Journal of Economy and Society 15th November 2010. http://onlinelibrary. iley. com/doi/10. 1111/j. 1468-232X. 1990. tb00760. x/pdf The Theory Frederick Herzberg (1956) worked as an American psychologist whose research extended to what motivated a human at work and the satisfaction of an individual within their job. This work was known to of complemented Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory. Herzberg’s theory was based on 2 factors; hygiene and motivators (intrinsic). The hygi ene factor known as ‘dissatisfiers’ are tangibles such as pay, company policy and relationships, which play only a small part in the motivation of a person. Motivator factor known as ‘satisfiers’, derives from fulfilling the hygiene factors such as achievement, responsibility and promotion. Only unsatisfied needs will motivate a person. The Partners co-ownership status of the business allows them to achieve adequate satisfaction from the responsibility they withhold. When the employee’s have reached their required goal, they shall receive rewards of worthy bonuses alongside highly paid salaries. Conclusion In relation to Maslow’s hierarchy theory within a large organisation, every individual has a different need. The reality of fulfilling these needs is not easily achievable, though can be arguably, dependant on the type of needs required. John Lewis has the capabilities of meeting the needs of his workforce by the variation of benefits offered both internally and externally of the work place. From promoting both work and leisure benefits, this enables the Partnership to balance work and home lifestyles which also will become a strong influence in committing the workers to the business for a majority of their work life. The workers are attracted to the money and bonuses they receive, as throughout life everybody in some way shall be influenced and motivated by the fulfilment and need to have or obtain money. Seemingly, the John Lewis Partnership may have to find new ways of motivation beyond money if the economy struggles to stabilise. Responsibility without sufficient pay might not be enough to keep the Partnership at its current level of successfulness. However, appendix 2 indicates that organisations such as the John Lewis Partnership have a greater resilience to such difficult economic times and that we should be looking at how this ownership model could benefit the economy as a whole. Bibliography Cherniss Goleman, Jossey Bass, 1st edition, page 248. http://www. bbc. co. uk/blogs/thereporters/robertpeston/2010/02/the_john_lewis_state. html http://www. johnlewispartnership. co. uk/Display. aspx? =74681741-bda8-4258-840b-f4eb1ad2e05c=633. http://onlinelibrary. wiley. com/doi/10. 1111/j. 1468-232X. 1990. tb00760. x/pdf Labor-Management Relations http://heinonline. org/HOL/LandingPage? collection=journals=hein. journals/ialrr22=56=. Mackay, 2007, Elsevier Ltd, 1st edition, page 37. Appendices Appendix 1 : Partnership weekly sales figures for last week (to 6 November 2010) Appendix 2: Employee ownership model shows greater resilience Wednesday 10 February 2010 Research published today finds that companies owned by their employees are more resilient than conventionally structured companies, outperforming the market during the downturn and demonstrating a lower risk of business failure. The report Model Growth: Do employee-owned businesses deliver sustainable performance? was commissioned by the John Lewis Partnership and is based on research by Cass Business School, including an in-depth survey of senior executives and analysis of the financial data of over 250 companies. The research finds that the employee ownership model offers particular advantages to small and medium-sized businesses and in knowledge and skill-intensive sectors, where employee-owned companies significantly outperform competitors. Employee-owned firms also create new jobs more quickly and add more value to output and human capital than conventionally structured businesses, whilst demonstrating the same levels of profitability. Professor Joseph Lampel, one of the reports authors, comments: Resilience the ability of firms to sustain employment and growth during difficult economic conditions has been neglected as a crucial aspect of company performance over the past two decades. Instead, business strategy and public policy have been dominated by an unremitting focus on maximising share value. In the current economic conditions, business leaders and policy makers should be looking again at the resilience associated with the employee ownership model and how it could benefit the economy as a whole. The report also identifies barriers to the growth of employee-owned companies. It finds that some have difficulties obtaining favourable financing from institutions that are more accustomed to dealing with listed companies, and that they also face more regulatory and policy challenges than businesses with other ownership structures. The report is written by Professor Joseph Lampel and Dr Ajay Bhalla from Cass Business School and Dr Pushkar Jha from Newcastle University Business School. It was produced with the support of the Employee Ownership Association, which represents nearly 100 companies wholly or substantially owned by their employees, including the John Lewis Partnership.