What motivational strategies does Sainsbury's use with its employees to maximise their overall performance?

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Business Studies and Economics Coursework

By Sarah Hussain 12CH

What motivational strategies does Sainsbury’s use with its employees to maximise their overall performance?

Introduction

        Sainsbury is a Private Limited Company. It is a leading UK and US food retailer with interests in financial services and property. The group compromises Sainsbury’s Supermarkets and Sainsbury Bank in the UK and Shaw’s Supermarkets in the US. The Group employed 172,90 people at the end of the year

The Groups objective is to meet its customers’ needs effectively and thereby provide shareholders with good, sustainable financial returns. It aims to ensure all colleagues have opportunities to develop their abilities and are well rewarded for their contribution to the success of the business. It also aims to fulfil its responsibilities to the communities and environments in which it operates.  

In order to be a productively successful company Sainsbury’s has to make sure that their staff are motivated. If their staff feels motivated in the work practice then the employers can expect a higher output per head. This will explained further later on.

I have chosen to analyse the motivation techniques of the managers at J Sainsbury plc. I want to find out how they aim to motivate their staff and if they are aware of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and if they implement them in the workplace. In order to do this I will need to research, both primary and secondary. I will need to get a hold of annual reports and accounts to find the number of workers employed at J Sainsbury and the labour turnover. This will help me find the approximate output per head. From this I will be able to work out if the employees are motivated at work. However this will not be enough, I will also need to carry out questionnaires to the employees personally to gain their individual experiences. I also intend to interview the human resource manager to find out how they seek motivate their staff and keep them satisfied. The Websites of J Sainsbury will also be used to gain extra information about their policies.

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Background Knowledge

First of all I will show my background knowledge of motivational strategies and motivational factors used in businesses.

F.W.Taylor believed that people only work for one reason-money. However we now know that this is not the only satisfaction that people get out of working. There are many factors, which may affect the motivation of an employee and money is just a primary one of them.

        Maslow’s hierarchy of needs shows the needs of an average worker in order for them to be motivated at work. At the base of his hierarchy are the physical needs such ...

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Here's what a star student thought of this essay

The report is split into different sub-headings, although the text is within blocks of text and this makes it quite difficult to read. The student should make the paragraphs clear, to allow the exmainer to read the report with ease.

The student acknowledges that employees need to be motived to allow an high output per employee. However the student hasn't stated what this creates. The report could include 'By maximizing the output per employee, this would allow the business to reduce the need to employ a large number of employees, and this would reduce cost. Thus, their profits will increase due to the additional output per employee'. The section 'Background Knowledge' is too vague and doesn't really explain how mangers may motive their employees. The report states how money is an important factor, which is is. The report also states that this is not only the primary factor. Although the student doesn't state any methods of how employees use to motive their staff, which is what needs to be written when discussing their background understanding of motivating employees.

In summary, the report is quite basic. The report states background information regrading Sainsbury's and states a clear plan on how the student will find out about motiving staff members. However the report does contain a number of inaccurate information and parts which do not make any sense. The student has made an effort, although the report is often wrong and incorrect. The report states that Sainsbury's is a Private Limited Company, however this is false. Sainsbury's is a PLC (Public Limited Company), whereby any person/organisation is able to purchase shares on the London Stock Exchange. This shows the examiner poor understanding of Sainsbury's current position as a business. The student sets out a clear plan on how their will conduct their research. This is clear and this section will award them with high marks. The student states the following '64% are women, 10% are store managers and 13% are ethnic minorities'. I don't understand? What are these numbers for, why would a student state the % of women and combine this with ethnic minorities. Some ethnic minorities may be women, and the numbers don't really make any sense. Personally, this doesn't make any sense and it's quite strange that a student states three prices of data which are quite irrelevant.