Over the years a number of management theories have been put forward in an attempt to explain the nature of motivation and suggest ways in which it may be improved.

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Motivation

It may seem obvious that staff should be motivated; however, from the point of human resources management this is only true if motivation leads to improvements in the work. Over the years a number of management theories have been put forward in an attempt to explain the nature of motivation and suggest ways in which it may be improved.

Frederick Taylor’s principles of scientific management

Taylor’s belief was that complex tasks should be broken into separate operations so that little could go wrong. Each operation would be performed by a separate employee. The whole job could then be completed in a series of stages by a number of employees working together.

This theory can be seen if one aspect of Tesco is looked in to detail. For example, when a delivery comes one employee doesn’t unload the truck, check them off, and put them on the shelves. This process of getting goods from the truck on to the shop floor is done by a number of employees working in  team so that once one stage is completed the second can be tackled by another set of employees. This way each set of employees knows exactly what they are required to do and chance of something going wrong is decreased.

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Fredrick Herzberg’s two factor theory

Herzberg’s theories, produced in the 1950s, concern job design and satisfaction. From numerous interviews with accountants and engineers he concluded that two sets of factors are important.

  • Hygiene factors, which include reasonable pay, satisfactory conditions of work and benefits such as sick pay.

  • Motivators, which include responsibility, challenge and self-improvement.

Hertzberg believed that properly designed jobs provide satisfaction and personal development for the employee. The workers become motivated, perform well and are less likely to be absent. To Tesco this theory is very important. ...

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