Personality

Personality

Their has always been debates on how to define what personality means, its argued that personality may be inherited this is called “Nature” an example of this is being born with your personality and traits and on the other hand it is said to have been developed in response to the environmental conditions this is called “nurture” and example of this is a area were your living could build your personality.

Also their are other approaches such as nomothetic and idiographic.

Nomothetic:Fixed

Statistical study of groups

Objective questionnaires

Personality types

Prediction

Link to heredity, biology, genetics

Traits/Trait clusters

                                                                                            Reference: Cattell, Eysenck





Idiographic:
 Individualises

Uniqueness

Adaptable, open to change

Influence of social and cultural processes

Interaction with environment

Self-concept

                                                                                                           Reference: Jung, Rogers, Kelly, Skinner

A time when this debate is taken in to consideration is during the requirement process for a job, their are two candidates for a job role, does the personality of either of them candidates come into the final decision process? What if one has more intellect and knowledge on the job position on the other hand the other candidate has a suitable personality for this role such as confidence and understanding, so who gets the job role?
This would be a hard decision to make.

I believe that nature is more dominate then nurture, I feel that personality come in the Nature because I believe everyone is born with some sort of personality and the environment and society only adds to what was present originally for example a baby deciding to act a certain way if upset or sad that is part of that child's personality, then the child may grow older and develop the idea of acting a certain way when upset or sad.
Also a personality is used to describe an individual also supporting nature would be an example of identical twins, having identical twins will most probably confuse people but as soon as the child is born they have adapted and made their own personality allowing the parents of the child to tell them apart from each other.

I wanted to find out about my own personality, so I did a personality test from the BBC website, website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/surveys/whatamilike/index.shtml





I took part in the personality test but the results are audio recorded, but also their was a page i could go on to receive a graph on my results,

My graph shows that my level of Conscientiousness, openness and Agreeableness is very high my level of Extroversion is also very high on the other hand my level of Neuroticism is very low.

The website describes me below ;Openness

This trait is sometimes known as ‘Openness to experience’. People with scores like yours tend to be imaginative and curious about a wide range of things, from appreciating different art forms to exploring new places, cultures and foods.Generating lots of imaginative ideas probably comes very easily to you. However, it's likely that you are prone to daydreaming too.Innovators, investigators and creators often score highly on this trait. It has also been suggested that Openness is related to a person's likelihood to hold unusual beliefs. Do you enjoy the odd conspiracy theory?

My opinion
The above is correct about me, am very imaginative and curious i always have been since i could remember, i love trying new foods and going to different places, i do loose concentration easily and and end up day dreaming.

 Conscientiousness.

At work, you probably approach tasks methodically and thoroughly, with everything in its right place.
Some studies have shown the more Conscientious an individual is, the more disciplined they are likely to be about exercise and diet.

My opinion
I scored the max on this section i believe it is very true and extremely hard working and dependable, am also easy to approach and to talk to.

Extroversion.
Extroversion is characterised by positive emotions and the tendency to seek out pleasure-stimulating or risk-taking activities. People with scores like yours are often perceived as gregarious, expressive and energetic. You are likely to be someone who enjoys socialising and be quick to form new friendships.
Personality studies have shown that scoring highly on Extroversion often translates to a natural capacity for leadership. High Extroversion may also indicate a tendency to earn more than those with lower scores, but the reasons for this are unclear.
People with high Extroversion are more likely to lead risky lifestyles and take greater risks in pursuit of rewards. Health studies have shown they are more likely to smoke and less likely to get enough sleep than people who score less highly on this trait.

My opinion
i believe am an energetic person i do have fun taking risks, in things i do i do end up being a natural leader and i like making friends this does not always go my way but never the less i do enjoy making friends, as far as this personality test goes it has been correct so far.

Agreeableness.
Agreeableness measures how sympathetic and considerate a person is likely to be. People with scores like yours are likely to find it very easy to get along with other people. You probably find that you are sensitive to the feelings of others and that people find it easy to warm to you.
As a 'people person' you will probably be very comfortable in situations that require teamwork.

My Opinion
i believe i am a people person, am very trust worthy, people can confined and talk to me about anything big or small, am very sensitive and people do warm towards me.

Neuroticism
In the context of the Big Five personality traits, the term 'Neuroticism' relates to a person’s response to threatening or stressful situations. People with scores like yours are often seen as being calm and even-tempered. They cope well with stressful situations and may seem tranquil despite adverse circumstances.
Some scientists have suggested that Neuroticism was beneficial in evolutionary terms. Early man may have found it advantageous to live in a population where certain individuals had a high sensitivity to threats to the group's survival.
There is evidence to suggest that Neuroticism, when combined with high scores in personality traits such as Conscientiousness, can result in a powerful work ethic and a will to succeed.

My Opinion
i have always been quite a calm person, even in the most aggravated situations, i believe the test is accurate. The results i got back from the test i took were more then accurate i think they described my personality very well, as i was reading my results i realised that everything was true if i was to describe my personality for another person i would say things along the lines of the results of this test.


                                                           Conclusion
Finding out about personality in general is interesting but finding out about your own personality is even more interesting, i didn't really find out anything new about my self from the personality test that i took but it was very interesting to see my results in writing and analysed, personality covers a wide range of things such as your attitudes, your believes and even your life goals.

Perception and communiaction

Perception And Communication

Perception is when a  person interoperate something into what they think it is, also could be said as

“The process by which individuals organise and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment”

                                                                                                Robbins et al, 2010

By reading the article " how to improve staff communication,

Publication date: 15 July 2010

Source:People Management magazine
And relating it to university i have found 3 recommendations that the university could use in order to improve communications with the students.

The first thing the article mentions is to have a shared purpose Creating a shared sense of purpose is an important starting point for a strategic approach to communication. People need to understand the collective goal they are working towards and to appreciate the difference they can make. The university would need to want the same things as the students in order to communicate better, working together as a society to reach the same goal would be very important giving the students a sense of importance within the university making it much easier to communicate with them.
Another thing the article states is engage your peopleThe CIPD has identified three main drivers of employee engagement: having the opportunity to feed your views upwards; feeling well informed about what is happening in your organisation; and believing your manager is committed to the organisation. Your approach to engagement will therefore inform your approach to communication – and vice versa.


The university needs to make the students well informed so they can give feedback and communicate with the university on many different things going on within the university example would be things that are good, things that are bad or things that need improving this would help the communication between the university and students because it will keep both parties involved. Giving the students a sense of comfort would also help making them feel like they are well informed and the u7niversity is committed in helping them or even just listening to their views this will help communication to the students and university.
The article also states that keeping the personal touch is importantEmployees value face-to-face communication highly. The challenge is to ensure that managers develop the skills and confidence to hold meaningful two-way conversations – even on difficult topics. It’s important to let people know that you value these attributes. Consider them as part of the assessment and development process for team leaders.

Having meetings and events so the students can have an opportunity for some face to face communication time with the university members this type of communication is valued highly by students as everyone will have an opportunity to have their voice herd, its important for the students to feel like they have value and communication face to face is not too good for them expressing opinions and feelings on paper is always different when coming directly from the mouth.
A situation of incorrect perception for me was a time when I first started work and I did not know anyone, the kind of work I do requires people to work in groups, whilst I was the “NEW KID” I found myself making perceptions of people and assuming things about them.

The first shift I did was with a young lady called Joy I perceived her as a rude and arrogant girl, due to the way she dressed and what kind of jewellery she was wearing, this was brought to my mind by the media and TV, the way they show people on TV for example the character Vick Pollard in Little Britain TV Show, the TV show, shows her with earrings and clothing such as the ones Joy was wearing so I perceived her in a negative way.

I made this perception of Joy very early on in the shift and although I assumed this I was incorrect, in fact Joy was the opposite of what I assumed, she was polite and well mannered, and the conversations we had showed she had some intelligence. Making this kind of assumption is quite risky because making the wrong perception of people may trigger people to make assumptions on you leading in negative emotions from both parties, for the future I would not make assumptions again unless I had enough evidence to make one an example of this would be if Joy had said something rude or arrogant.

To avoid this sort of mistake again would not be as easy as it is to say it because when faced with a situation like that you can not help your self but make an instant decision especially when it comes to the way someone looks or what they are dressed in.
So avoiding this situation in the future would be hard, being proven wrong once helps the process of changing and not making perceptions of people.

Conclusion
Perception is what i believe to be mental its hard to not perceive a person or even a place on what it or the person looks like, as soon as you see you will start thinking and make assumptions on what you have seen but the trick is to always wait and see if your perception is right before you start taking actions on what you have seen.
You may not be able to stop making perceptions on people but handling it the right way is always helpful.

Enterprize Week

Enterprize week !!

During enterprise week their was many events which were all interesting I attended 4 events out of the events mainly 2 stood out they were, ‘The intrapreneur in our mist’ and the second ‘ woman in business’.

Attending both events were very informative the first event that I attended was ‘The intrapreneur in our mist’ this even was held on the ground floor of Buckinghamshire new university in a lecture theatre.
There was a guest speaker who was a business man himself talking about how he made it to the position he was in now and sustaining his current passion the event lasted for 1hour 30minutes by the end of this event he achieved many things such as giving students the information needed to become a good intrapreneur this being a word he made up and also information needed to become a good entrepreneur and the difference between the two. This event was a evening set for students with good ideas and that wanted knowledge of the world and how to bring a new idea into it with success also whilst learning this it also was their to comfort students showing them it is ok not to succeed straight away.

I also attended ‘Woman in business’ event this was based in a hotel in Marlow, their was 5 parts to this event it started at 9:45-11:00 a lady called Susan Lock of key consultants spoke to us on confidence and assertiveness then from 11:00-12:00 Jane and Katherine Russell spoke to us about dressing for success and looking for the business 12:00-13:00 Claire Batchelor spoke to us on starting a business then at one we was given a 45 minute lunch brake we then resumed back at 13:45-14:35 Carol Rawson the managing director of suite city spoke to us about her self and how she got to the stage she is at also giving us advice on being a business woman, at 14:45 we had a 15minute brake resuming at 15:00-16:00 for a presentation by Sue Liney on how to brand our selves and stand out from the crowd. This day was made for young woman to help in different aspects giving confidence and help on how to become the best business woman each female can be, by the end of the day they achieved many things because there was so much information given to the young females at the events.


During the event their was not really a hands on physical aspect for the students but we did get opportunities to ask questions and meet up with the person who gave the speech he also gave his e-mail address out for people who have good ideas or just wanted general questions answered.
Depending on the type of person attending this event there was a lot of information and advice that could be gained from this even, from my perspective I benefited from this a great deal because I have a business idea I would like to make reality this information and advice given to me such as never giving up if it gets hard because nothing is easy in the world of business and also understanding that not every idea is a great business idea, on the other hand ‘The woman in business’ event that I attended was very different there was more then one guest speaker covering different helpful aspects we would need to know about no activities were given to us so we did not do any physical things but we did get to ask questions like the first event I attended. I  benefited from this event in many ways I learnt many things such as presentation is important and confidence is key to success, benefitting from this event made me learn a lot and made me understand many things about the business world.

The most successful events I attended was the ‘The intrapreneur in our mist’ this was most successful because it was more constructed then the other event I went to it was short and to the point, very informative and interesting, even though  their is always room for improvements I believe that this even did not have much room for improvements as I think it was organised well and easy to locate unlike the other event that could have gone better if the process of reaching the destination of were the event was located was more straightforward as it could have been also they tried to cramp so much information into one day and if they was going to do that they could have involved activities and physical things for the audience to do.
 

 Conclusion/ Did this week influence my career  aspirations ?
Both days were very good and informative even though I found one more useful then the other and I believe one had more room for improvement then the other I did end up enjoying both events as they were both beneficial to me now and in the future, i have always wanted to become a solicior and the woman in business week has just made me want this career path more then i did,i have lerned so many things and i now understand what i have to, to make it to were i want to be.

Conflict

Conflict
Conflict could be described as, the people within a business/organisation that has feelings about certain things happening within the business/organisation and are not able to express their concerns, also the definition could be outlined differently for example;

Conflict is apparent when at least one party perceives that it exists and where an interest or concern of that party is about to be or has been compromised or frustrated.

Brooks (2006)

The reason for conflicts is usually because of the changes that happen in society for example things such as clashes of personality and role conflict also it could be from other changes such as:

changes in labour market
changes in the economy
changes in society
changes in technologychanges in organizations
This is also analysed by Mullins (2010), author of Management and Organisational Behaviour an example would be giving incentives to one employee on the basis of completing work this will causes competition and conflict between employees.
from my own personal experience working in a sexual heath surgery having conflicts were rear unless someone had a suggestion to the  manager so their were always fears dwelling on the employees also if the employees does manage to give the manager a suggestion it would always be by passed causing conflicts between the manager and employee.

Sources of power

Coercive powerThis focuses on the ability to get tasks done by creating a superior image for the role of the manager or the person who gives orders this is mostly seen when their is threats on jobs within organisations because employees would not like to loose the poison they are currently in.

Reward power
This would be mainly used on employees to benefit from mostly because at this time the business is offering reward power and employees would be urged to do harder work.



 Expert powera single person in a organisation/business has depending on the amount of expertise and knowledge they have, an example of this is an employee that could be group manager because of his/her knowledge and expertise in that department.
Legitimate power
this focuses on how the person reached the current poison they are in now and the means of their power an example of this is would be a manager would give orders to everyone whilst on the other hand the supervisors can only give orders to employees.

Referent power
this focuses on the motivators on people who are classed as managers and leaders in an organisation this person usually is taken as to deserve to have power.

- French and Raven (1959)

Even though French and raven (1959) suggest some sources of power, Morgan (1996) suggest further sources such as, Control of budgets,  Control of rewards, Persuasion, Rules and procedures, Physical presence or threat and Charisma.

Resolving conflict – Conclusion
 To resolve or even prevent conflict a number of things can be done and put into action to prevent further conflict within the organisation.

One of the main things that should be done is to have good communication skills within the organisation going both ways not just via the manager’s poison, ensure all role of each person are made clears so their are no miss understandings this would also make it very easy to set goals and objectives creating a good work force and employees can grown and move together.
conflict can be formed in many ways mainly disagreements and misunderstandings, measures should be taken such as respecting employees opinions in the organisation big or small, appraisals should be considered, on the other hand rules are meant to be followed and are their to keep people in place and help to reduce conflict so people braking rules should be spoken to, so it is clear on what the company is expecting from each individual.

Rounding up, conflict can arise anywhere mostly in organisations their needs to be good communication skills to prevent situations arising because conflict within an organisation can cause a lot of damage to the business.  

Leadership

Deference between management and leadership :

               Managers : Plan, control, co-ordinate, implement policy, achieve results

Leaders: Motivate, generate ideas, enthuse and inspire

(Forrest and Tolltree, 1996)

People always get confused about what managers and leaders do, in some ways you could say people would rather to have one other than the other depending what situation they are in for example if you are a student you may want to can some qualities of a leader and manager in one other than if you was an employee you may want a manager and if you wanted to vote for a person to run your country you may want a leader.

As you can see from (Forrest and Tolltree, 1996), managers would be best in situation such as in the work place because they would have a good plan and organisation structures for your day at work and also they will be looking to achieve results and whilst working this would be very good whilst on the other hand a leader motivates you and inspires you and that’s the kind of person you need when voting for someone to run your country.

Blake and Mouton Graph Below

Impoverished Management (1, 1):
Managers that come in this section of the grid are low on the dimensions and they don’t try very hard to make sure the employees put effort to get the work done. The manager does not really have any care for employee satisfaction or the work deadlines.
This type of manager de-motivates its employees for performing their best whilst at work.

Authoritative manager(9, 1): Known as dictatorial or perish style, In this section the managers  are more concerned about production and have less concern for people. The employee’s needs are not taken care of and their existence seems not to be cared about. The manager believes that a good organization can only be made by through proper organization of work systems and through elimination of people wherever possible.

 The employee’s needs are not taken care of and their existence seems not to be cared about. The manager believes that a good organization can only be made by through proper organization of work systems and through elimination of people wherever possible. The team manager (9,9):considered by high people, The leader feels that empowerment, commitment, trust, and respect are the key elements in creating a team atmosphere which will automatically result in high employee satisfaction and production.

Middle-of-the-Road (5, 5): This is a compromising style wherein the Manager tries to maintain a balance between goals of company and the needs of people. The manager does not push the level of achievement resulting in average performance for organization end up with employee needs to being fully met.

Social manager (1, 9): This is a collegial style characterized by low task and high people orientation where the manager gives thoughtful attention to the needs of people thus providing them with a friendly and comfortable environment. The leader feels that such a treatment with employees will lead to self-motivation and will find people working hard on their own. However, a low focus on tasks can hamper production and lead to questionable results.

Currently in the job I am in now I think my manager would come in the cross of the “Authoritative” and “the social manager”, because she has a side about her that drives the employees to meet targets and perform our best whilst making sure all basic needs are met and gives us the extra care we need to feel comfortable around her.
She lets us know the fine line between manager and friend and sometimes when in need of advice and someone to inspire us we find that she has moved into the leadership role.

Martin Luther King January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968, was an inspirational man to many people one of his key features that made him a leader in many people’s eyes was the fact he was inspirational he done a lot of inspirational acts but the one he is remembered by the most is his speech on a dream he has, it is called “I Have a dream “ I have posted a link to a video below of him making this speech so you can see how people react to him and you can see his leadership qualities standing out, his informing and preaching to people giving them a sense of dependence and courage, his confidence backs up what his says.
Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbUtL_0vAJk
August 28^th 1963 Martin Luther King “I Have a Dream”

Martin Luther King is a leader and because of this he was killed, he had all the features and traits of being a leader, he was a powerful speaker, confident, passionate about what he believed in and he was understanding, he was also appointed president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, In 1957.

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/318311/Martin-Luther-King-Jr

As you can see from the link I pasted bellow Martin Luther King is a worldwide leader, so the approach the person who wrote the article took was that Martin Luther King is an American leader many people look up to and respect due to the fact on his rights and what he believed in.
Conclusion:As you can see people define who they think are  leadership in their everyday lives from world leaders such as Martin Luther King and people in small societies that are considered as leaders they define them from their characteristics.

I Found out that managers are appointed roles you mostly find them in Jobs they are appointed as managers from higher management, they tend to be superior and more powerful they are expected to do many things such as take charge appointmanage people.

Organisation Culture

                                                    Organisation Culture

Body shop

Body shop is a business that started in 26th March 1976 in Brighton, on the south coast of England, the first shop was open on this day. Body shop has ethics about their products and their mission statement states that:

 “The Body Shop mission statement states that we will operate our business with a strong commitment to the well being of our fellow humans and the preservation of the planet.”

This mission statement was found on: (http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=body+shop+ethical+policy&aq=2&aqi=g5g-m1&aql=&oq=body+shop+eth&gs_rfai= )

Whilst working in the body shop I found out they like to have everything clean and organised they give the environmentally friendly feel across to their customers, they have the nice mutual calm colours in their shop to create a good earth environment.
Even on the body shop website they display the same cultural image as in store print screen of body shop site showing the colours they used and the background that is a leaf showing the environmentally friendly image they are perceiving:

So as you can see Body shop is keeping their “strong commitment to the well being of our fellow humans and the preservation of the planet”. Keeping and making their culture very clear in their website and stores.

Charles handy(Handy) believed in power culture, this is often within a small business such as a corner shop because they would have one central power figure in this case that would be a store mangers/owner, there would only be a few rules for example , not being late and making sure the last person locks up the store, all communication done within that business would be personal as it would be small it would be very easy to communicate with one and other for example wanting extra shifts, calling and asking the manager will would be the way of gaining the extra shifts also with a link to this fast decisions can be made an example of this would be an answer on the phone for the extra shift request.



Handy also believed in 3 more types of culture.
Role Culture, this is typical of a  bureaucratic organisation for example a major law firm for example of one being Clifford Chance law firm, within this organisation work would be decided via rules and regulation  broken rules and regulation is not prohibited and would be frowned upon.
Power is based by level of hierarchy this means depending on your position within the business will define your importance and value, everyone with the employee would have a set job description to each the individual, so everyone has a place they belong to and have vas knowledge of what it is they are doing.



Task culture, this is usually in a project based company, companies that have direct contact with the customer such as E-businesses.
because the business will be on one websites employees have to work together this includes a lot of team working due to they may be taking orders from customers so they will need to let other members of the team know.
Because working on an E-business is mostly about providing the customers with product the task at hand is key other then individuals or rules, also because the business has no real structure the employees have real freedom and flexibility within the business for example, leaving early and having informal discussions amongst each other.



Person culture, because personal culture only exists to serve the interest of those within it example of theses are barristers and architects, they tend to only have interest for themselves, having no hierarchy and other people above them the individuals are central.

Handys theory is good but there are problems of trying to classify culture into one of the four above for example the attitude of the people within the organisation may change for example they may change their beliefs or on the other hand they may be resistant to change for example changing values and morals or behaviour to fit into the culture of the organisation.
New locations may be a issue but individuals may not want to move locations due to morals, so there is a number of things that may disrupt the handys theory.


Conclusion
I believe that defining cultures can be very difficult you have to take several factors into accountfor example behaviour and values in a organisation I believe to define a culture of a business you would need to go through many stages of why and how things are done in the business.

As a business has been created, automatically they have a culture that has been created for them via the public but it is the businesses job to make sure the public have the right image to determine the culture of the business, for example the business I looked at was body shop due to the website and in store people could clearly identify the environmental friendly culture they perceive.

I looked into Charles handys work and I come to believe that it is very difficult to separate cultures into four categories like he did, I believe there will be a lot of problems accruing and reasons for change.

I now come to accept and realise though this blogg that a business culture is very important and should be thought about carefully because it’s not as easy to define it, as it is to say it.

Improving staff performance

Two types of theories are content and process theories, content theories are such as Fredrick Herzburg and Alderfer’s ERG theory, process theories are such as, Victor Vroom Expectancy Theory and The Adams’ Equity Theory, it’s simple to tell the two types of theories apart process theories of motivation focus on the employees of businesses needs and who those needs influence their behaviour and how the employees work together on the other hand content focuses on the task and issues the employee is working on.

An example of one content theory is ERG theory (picture below):

picture from (google images.com/erg.com )Alderfer’s GRE theory is a very simple content to understand it has strong similarities to Maslow hierarchy of needs the only different is that Alderfer does not believe it is a higher hierarchy, he believes that at the lower level of existence is to stay alive, to be safe and also physically comfortable this correlates with Maslow’s safety needs, the Relatedness is the next level  beliving that once we are safe, secure and basic needs are met we would now start considering social needs such as relationships and creating a sense of identity and position in society this relates to Maslow’s Love/belonging and esteem needs. Growth is the last level at this highest level we strive to grow and achieve success , feeling a sense wholeness this is equivalent of Maslow’s self-actualization.

On the other hand an example of Process theory is  , Victor Vroom Expectancy Theory.(picture below):

Victor vroom’s theory has three factors, Effort, Performance and outcome the concept of victors theory is for a person to be motivated effort, performance and motivation must be linked. He proposes three variables to account for this, he calls them valence, expectancy and instrumentality.
Expectancy is the belief that increased effort will lead to increased performance, Instrumentality is the belief that if you perform and do well the outcome will be valued an example of this is if someone does a good Job they will receive a good reward. Valence is the importance that the individual place upon the expected outcome, an example of this is someone who’s key motivation is money so they would not value, offers, perks or additional time off.Motivation within the organisation of Tesco, Tesco is a very well known brand they have built their name since 1929, they have managed to create customer loyalty and consumer confidence within their customers, Tesco also cares about their employees, Tesco offers employee discounts and other perks to motivate their employees.

I decided to conduct my own primary research so I introduced myself to a member of staff from Tesco in the Eden centre whilst he was smoking on brake, I told him about my blogg assignment and asked if it was ok if he could answer some questions I have for him he said “ok, no problems mate”
I didn’t want to be rude so I asked a little information about him first, I asked his age, he replied “18” I also asked how long he has been with Tesco and his poison in the business, he said “round about 2years and I work as check-out but also on shop floor” I said “that’s nice, do you like it ?” he said “YES” in a loud voice, I then said ow what so good ? he then carried on to tell me that “ I enjoy working at Tesco, I have a plan currently am a customer service advisor but I wont to move on to be a store manager in about another 2-3 years “ “ I dropped out of school at 16 so that been my plan since then.

after about 5minutes talk we then started talking about motivation and why he is so interested and motivated to stay with tesco, he then went on and told me about his training day “I had  a really good training day with the managers it was easy to talk to them, Uno it wasn’t scary the relationship is good” I asked about the perks “perks like free stuff ?”  “They give us discounts, coupons and good holidays” “managers motivate you as well it’s like a community and you love being in it”.

so as you can see from that very informal interview I had with this young man from Tesco, Tesco motivate their staff mainly with behaviours such as treating employees with respects and compassion, as I was talking to this young man I was waiting for him to say how he was motivated by money, I mean at the age he is at you would think money is a high, level of motivation but to my surprise he never gave any information on his wages.

I also looked on the careers section on tesco home page I took a print screen of my findings:


As You can see Tesco offers a large list of rewards and benefits.
I have gone on to elaborate on each one.
All information was taken from tesco website at : (http://www.tesco-careers.com/home/working/rewards-and-benefits/we-all-share-in-our-success

Share our Success

At Tesco, we like to ensure our staff are cared for financially. So whether you have been with us 3 months or 3 years we run three successful share schemes, all helping you end up with more cash in your pocket.

Shares in Success

So, to thank our people for the success they've brought the business, we give free shares to everyone who's worked here for one year at the end of the financial year (February). We share a proportion of our profit amongst our staff, based on salaries. These Tesco shares are held in trust for 5 years, and after that you can take them, tax-free.

Save As You Earn

Every October those people who've been here a year get the option to save up to £50 every 4 weeks for either 3 or 5 years and receive a tax-free bonus at the end. You can use your savings and bonus to buy Tesco shares at up to 20% less than the market price, or take the cash.

Buy As You Earn

After three months working with us you'll have the chance to join the BAYE scheme. You buy shares at the market price every 4 weeks, saving tax and National Insurance on the salary you use to do this. You can start, stop or change the amount you invest at any time. And if you keep the shares in trust for 5 years you'll get even more tax advantages.

Staff Privilegecard

To reward you for your loyalty, after a year working at Tesco you will be given your Privilegecard - the staff loyalty card that gives you 10% discount and Clubcard points on most Tesco products.

And eligible staff also have access to exclusive staff discounts with Tesco Personal Finance and Tesco Telecoms.

Pension

We look after your future too

None of us know what the future holds, but you can be sure that peace of mind and financial security for our staff is very important to us. Planning ahead to your retirement is easy with our award winning, Tesco pension scheme.

With a Tesco pension you are able to understand how financially secure you will be when you decide to retire. As well as pension provision you have access to a life assurance scheme that will provide financial protection for your family.

Your leisure time

Our staff work hard, so we believe they should be able to make the most of their leisure time. To help with this we have negotiated discounts and special offers that are available exclusively to Tesco staff.

There are discounts on theme parks, holidays and gym membership that are available all year round. There are also special offers throughout the year, to make sure there's always something for everyone.

Protecting your health

To ensure that staying fit and healthy doesn't cost our people an arm and a leg, we have some great discounts with top healthcare companies. We offer exclusive discounted rates for staff on health cash plans, dental cover and private medical insurance, to help take the burn out of healthcare costs.

Supporting your lifestyle

We recognise that Tesco staff have busy lives outside of the workplace, so we've introduced a range of policies that will help you find a better balance between your work life and home life.

From saving money with childcare vouchers to taking time off work for a career break or extended holiday, at Tesco there are a variety of options available to support your lifestyle.

From talking to the staff from Tesco and looking at their website i think the best process theory that can be used to discribe the business is Maslows hierarchy of needs ( diagrame shown below ):

Picture taken from : (http://www.ict-learningnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/maslow-hierarchy-needs.jpg )

Maslow best show Tesco because of the levels, when you first start at tesco you can be a basic customer service person at this position Tesco shows us they meet basic survival needs by paying their staff and giving brakes and having clean facilities, they also have safety needs security on shop floor, CCTV and also fire doors/escapes.
Psychological needs are met by the nice and helpful managers that are described in my primary research by the employee from Tesco, Tesco also give opportunity for itsmoving from customer service to supervisor letting the employee reach self actualization.

Conclusion :

Within this topic i found quite a few things out such as money for all employees is not the key motivation, they have other motivation such as moving up within the business, praise from the manager, holidays and discounts.

whilst working in a organisation as big as tesco employees may come in a long line, this could leave them thinking their opinion and presents is not valued but that is not the case within this organisation, Tesco has store managers to run each branch so all employees can feel an existence and belonging within the business, having training days and having staff meetings back up the feeling of being valued.

I see now that an organisation/business have to work very hard to keep employees motivated and working hard so those employees can perform hard and keep up the good reputation Tesco currently holds Global.

Motivation Theory

                                                                                                Motivation
Many types of motivation theories have been made, such as Abraham Maslow’s (Maslow) hierarchy of needs, Frederick Herzbergs (Hertzberg)  two factor theory and also David mc clelland (Mc clelland) motivation needs theory but they all focus on motivation in different ways an example of one of the above theories is Maslow theory his hierarchy of needs ;
Maslow has a hierarchy of needs table, this table can be made into different types depending on what type of motivation that is being focused on for example personal motivation in society things that would help you be motivated and move up in society and reach self actualization in your  day-to-day life and also it can be used for motivation in the work force what staff basic needs are and what they need to do to move up in the business and to feel like as an employee they have reach self actualization.
I have included a table below to give you an idea on the hierarchy of needs table I have also attached a secondary research with this blog in a form as a video other people have expressed their views on the Maslow’s theory.  (Shown below):







Table taken from : (http://www.google.co.uk/images?um=1&hl=en&rlz=1C1DSGK_enGB397GB397&biw=1366&bih=667&tbs=isch:1&sa=1&q=work+maslows+hierarchy+of+needs&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai= )

Maslow’s theory is particularly relevant to me and my everyday life in society and in my work force as a student in university reaching self actualisation is one of the long term goals the degree would be the part of the hierarchy table that covers self actualisation.
Basic needs would be just attending university and being provided the education needed to move up, things that would come under safety needs would be CCTV in the institute that am attending is being received from, belongingness and love needs would be support and help from the teachers with all the above esteem needs would be accomplished by now due to all the help and support and basic needs and security making you feel good giving you the ego boost you need.
With the ego boost  feeling good about yourself and feeling like you can achieve many things and challenges in front of you self actualisation would be next upcoming step to take and this step will be relevantly easy at this stage due to previous stages of the hierarchy table.


To be motivated means to want to do something, you have a drive or passion about what it is you want to do, for myself coming to university and wanting to do well and gain a degree is motivation for me, my aspirations and goals are key motivations they motivate me long and short term, planning to stay within university for 2-3 years that can be classed as a long time to stay motivated and focused, other things keep me motivated as well as my aspirations and goals things such as:

 Having a job  that I like, work well at, enjoy and with good friendly managers and colleagues  motivates me I have another part in my life that I can focus on so I don’t think about education all the time also my mother motivates me, to think about making her proud and smile for her to be able to say “Yes that my daughter with the degree” gives me an ultimate long term motivation it pushes me and makes me want to strive to reach self actualisation.

Within Maslow’s hierarchy of needs I believe that the current  stage I have reached is within the 3 weeks I have been in university is “Belongingness and love needed”  the university that I am studying  at provides me my basic needs such as: toilets on every floor, teachers, a library for resources and water. The university also offers CCTV cameras and security personnel in the building so that gives a sense of safety which gives a calm atmosphere enabling motivation and also having the opportunity to join many clubs and societies and also having the lecturers personal e-mail address and office numbers makes me have the  “belongingness and love factor” .


Where there is motivation, de-motivation can also be found, being de-motivated can be a very negative effect on things that you do for example being de-motivated at work can slow down your performance or reduce the quality of the work you are doing, de-motivation can be caused by many of the stages of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs not being met an example of this would be if you was at work and your basic needs were not met such as : brakes, clean toilets and water, all these things could make you de-motivated.
As a student in university many things can de-motivate me an example of this is if my lecturer is consistently late and unreachable, I would be de-motivated because not having the right support and information to complete assignments would bring me down and also if there were no toilets and libraries because I believe that they are basic needs as Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs shows without the basic needs you cannot move up and people cannot be motivated without the basic needs.

I have been de-motivated before and you don’t realise your de-motivated because it feels normal because you have got yourself into a routine and once in a routine it become the norm for your everyday life. I was de-motivated at my previous job as a waitress, feeling like I was not moving up and I was stuck doing the same thing day in and day out I felt like my work was not acknowledged and I ended up blending in with the furniture, this did not only cause de-motivation but also caused stress and irritation so I was not doing a good job anymore after some time, I didn’t really solve the situation all I did was leave the job and applied for a new one that would motivate me and I would be good at.
The motivation theory that is perfect to describe this situation that I was in would be Clayton P Alderfer’s ERG theory  ( shown below ):

Table taken from : (http://www.google.co.uk/images?um=1&hl=en&rlz=1C1DSGK_enGB397GB397&biw=1366&bih=667&tbs=isch:1&sa=1&q=work+maslows+hierarchy+of+needs&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai= )

Maslow’s theory is particularly relevant to me and my everyday life in society and in my work force as a student in university reaching self actualisation is one of the long term goals the degree would be the part of the hierarchy table that covers self actualisation.
Basic needs would be just attending university and being provided the education needed to move up, things that would come under safety needs would be CCTV in the institute that am attending is being received from, belongingness and love needs would be support and help from the teachers with all the above esteem needs would be accomplished by now due to all the help and support and basic needs and security making you feel good giving you the ego boost you need.
With the ego boost  feeling good about yourself and feeling like you can achieve many things and challenges in front of you self actualisation would be next upcoming step to take and this step will be relevantly easy at this stage due to previous stages of the hierarchy table.


To be motivated means to want to do something, you have a drive or passion about what it is you want to do, for myself coming to university and wanting to do well and gain a degree is motivation for me, my aspirations and goals are key motivations they motivate me long and short term, planning to stay within university for 2-3 years that can be classed as a long time to stay motivated and focused, other things keep me motivated as well as my aspirations and goals things such as:

 Having a job  that I like, work well at, enjoy and with good friendly managers and colleagues  motivates me I have another part in my life that I can focus on so I don’t think about education all the time also my mother motivates me, to think about making her proud and smile for her to be able to say “Yes that my daughter with the degree” gives me an ultimate long term motivation it pushes me and makes me want to strive to reach self actualisation.



Where there is motivation, de-motivation can also be found, being de-motivated can be a very negative effect on things that you do for example being de-motivated at work can slow down your performance or reduce the quality of the work you are doing, de-motivation can be caused by many of the stages of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs not being met an example of this would be if you was at work and your basic needs were not met such as : brakes, clean toilets and water, all these things could make you de-motivated.
As a student in university many things can de-motivate me an example of this is if my lecturer is consistently late and unreachable, I would be de-motivated because not having the right support and information to complete assignments would bring me down and also if there were no toilets and libraries because I believe that they are basic needs as Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs shows without the basic needs you cannot move up and people cannot be motivated without the basic needs.

I have been de-motivated before and you don’t realise your de-motivated because it feels normal because you have got yourself into a routine and once in a routine it become the norm for your everyday life. I was de-motivated at my previous job as a waitress, feeling like I was not moving up and I was stuck doing the same thing day in and day out I felt like my work was not acknowledged and I ended up blending in with the furniture, this did not only cause de-motivation but also caused stress and irritation so I was not doing a good job anymore after some time, I didn’t really solve the situation all I did was leave the job and applied for a new one that would motivate me and I would be good at.
The motivation theory that is perfect to describe this situation that I was in would be Clayton P Alderfer’s ERG theory  ( shown below ):


Link from (http://www.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&rlz=1C1DSGK_enGB397GB397&q=alderfer's%20erg%20theory&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&biw=1366&bih=667 )

In the job I was in I wasn’t  shown existence I felt unacknowledged and relatedness and this led to me not feeling like I could grow and become something within the business Alderfer shows three simple steps that I didn’t feel like I accomplished though out my time at the job, Alderfer shows needs in all the steps, existence, relatedness and growth needs I believe none of my needs were met.

Another motivation theorist would be David Mc Clellads he believed that everyone have fundamental needs that effects how we are motivated and how we motivate others.
diagram shown below :
n-ach: Need for achievement:Seeks achievement, attainment of goals and advancement. Strong need for feedback, sense of accomplishment and progress
n-affil: Need for affiliation:Need for friendships, interaction and to be liked.
n-pow: Need for power
Authority motivated needs to influence and make an impact. Strong need to lead and to increase personal status and prestige.




Table taken from : http://www.arrod.co.uk/archive/article_motivational_needs.php

I believe whilst working I had a need for achievement and affiliation whilst I wasn’t  receiving that I felt very de-motivated and felt like I no longer wanted to work in that establishment.


Conclusion  
Though this blog I have done a lot of research and I have found out a lot of information and gained my own opinions about motivation and motivation theorist, I have realized that most motivation theorist conducted their research in the USA so it brings the question that is it the same for the UK ? having this question in my head urged me to relate the theories to myself so I related the theorist to my own personal social life, education life And my work force life, the motivation theorist that I understand and relate to the most is Maslow’s the hierarchy of needs the concept of his theory is very easy to understand and for example the levels are easy and clear you cannot move up from one level to another without achieving the previous level for example : you cannot gain self actualisation without  your basic needs being met fist and also Aldefer’s theory is very clear and simple his concept is demonstrated though everyday life in businesses and organisation even in a government status for example being an MP,

E- Existence needs -  as an MP you’re in the role to be for recognition  people who are MP’s  are usually referred to as important people in society.

R- Relatedness needs – as an MP you would have a big EGO due to the title in which you hold.

G-growth – due to the position you are in most MP’s  want to grow and find them self in the Priminister  potion showing that they have grown. 
A popular example that I can be used to show this example is Edward Miliaband.
Firstly stated of as a regular MP(Existence needs) in his local area giving him an EGO( Relatedness needs) moving up and becoming in the public eye within the labour party now running a campaign to be leader of this party he may see this as self actualisation (Growth needs).


so I believe I now have a clear insight on motivation on the human behaviour in and out of the work force also relating the different theories to my work and social life gives me more of a greater understanding in why motivation theorist found it important to research and understand the uses of motivation, because they have now been able to use it to their advantage and by creating a good stable motivating work force.