As a result, TK Maxx organises annually Christmas parties, to enable their associates to meet personal goals such as social esteem, and enable opportunities for social interaction.
With these social factors at work, my productivity levels will be enhanced and due to a greater sense of satisfaction from the workplace. This can also bring about less boredom as the company of others can keep me happy and being involved in the firm’s decision making process can be rewarding. By gaining social approval from my colleagues during social interaction and a self sense of value in the firm, an associate like me can then climb up to the social esteem step of ‘Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs’.
However, not everyone in TK Maxx will be motivated by being included in the decision’s the firm makes.
For example, when it came to planning the venue for a TK Maxx Christmas party for 2007 at a meeting, I did not want to participate because my intentions for joining the TK Maxx team was for a good pay rate and an insight into the latest fashion styles released, rather than seeking social opportunities and responsibilities
This can conflict with Mayo’s ‘Human Relations School’ concept as I refused to be involved in a TK Maxx decision making process.
Herzberg’s Hygiene Factors
As well as motivation factors being at work to enhance workers productivity levels, ‘Herzberg’ believed that there were ‘hygiene factors’ incorporated in the mix. What differentiated these factors from motivation factors was that, hygiene factors provided the employees with things that would keep them content in the workplace thereby will become less likely to resign and the firm’s annual turnover rate can be reduced eventually. These included things such as safe working conditions and adequate rest breaks.
Motivation factors according to Herzberg only encourage employees to work to their maximum potential for optimum productivity, such as a promotion and more responsibility i.e. for example, being involved in the firm’s decision making processes. They do not focus on the employee staying with the firm, but rather the employee working industriously for the firm.
The hygiene factors supplement the motivating factors, so if the hygiene factors of TK Maxx are poor like the cleanliness of the workplace, then their motivating factors like pay would not work.
However, according to Taylor’s ‘Scientific Management’ theory, employees will only be motivated by earning money, so therefore there would not be a need for hygiene factors to be present in order for employees to be motivated in the workplace. Moreover, Taylor’s ideas of motivation were introduced in the early twentieth century, and so this theory may not be very relevant to the motivation needs of workers in the twenty-first century.
As a result, TK Maxx is a ‘twenty-first century’ business and they are up to date with what factors are required to motivate their employees. So, they go by this theory by providing hygiene factors such as rest breaks, to keep employees content as well as motivated, which together help the firm to maximise their chances of retaining them and reducing their annual turnover rate.
Rest Breaks
TK Maxx offer all their associates rest breaks for durations that correspond to their shift length. For example, half an hour rest breaks for those who work between four to six hours. These rest breaks motivate me because after a few hours of industrious working, I get exhausted and so my body needs to rest and restore energy with food and drink in order to maintain the high productivity levels.
However, if I was not to receive these rest breaks, my performance levels of working will deteriorate because of physiological requirements such as food and drink. Therefore I will be de-motivated and unsatisfied because of lack of opportunity to meet these needs.
Elton Mayo’s Relay Assembly Test Room Study
The study involved six women assembling telephone equipment. Women in separate rooms worked forty-eight hours a week, including weekends, without tea breaks in rooms identical to where they worked. The study began to introduce and take away rest periods, and also introduced changes to start and finish times as well as changing the hours worked. As a result, productivity levels became high and this may have been due to opportunity for social interaction during work and rest periods. These high levels were maintained even when these conditions were returned to normal.
TK Maxx have adopted Elton Mayo’s concept of giving their associates rest breaks thereby increasing productivity levels.
As a result, I am motivated to maintain high standards of productivity levels in the workplace. In the workplace, I am able to interact with fellow colleagues whilst working and this had led to the development of informal social relationships. In order to maintain the opportunities for social interaction, I have been motivated to maintain the required high levels of productivity to satisfy TK Maxx so that I do not risk losing my job, thereby losing these opportunities for social interaction.
For example, I can recall one shift staying an extra hour in work although I was given permission to go home at the end of my shift. However, the social atmosphere among me and my colleagues was so lively that I wanted to stay behind and help them out. As a result, I was under the influence of the ‘Hawthorne effect’, where a strong level of social interaction motivated employees for a consistent high level of productivity.
However, other associates in TK Maxx cannot all be motivated by social opportunities, so the motivation concept cannot apply to all employees of the firm. Therefore, TK Maxx has other means of motivating their employees.
Douglas McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y
Douglas McGregor developed what he referred to as ‘Theory X’ and ‘Theory Y’ styles of management.
A ‘Theory X’ manager is very authoritarian, suggesting that workers are lazy and dislike work, so they need to be constantly supervised to make sure they work up to the required standards, and that their only motivation drive is money.
On the other hand, a ‘Theory Y’ manager assumes that workers can take pride in being acclaimed for their job achievements. The theory is more of the opposite to ‘Theory X’ since managers in the ‘Theory Y’ category rather take pride in being assigned responsibilities than avoid them.
Praise & Recognition
As a result, TK Maxx has developed intrinsic rewards including praise and recognition to motivate their employees. These include their ‘Every Product Counts’ method. This is where a TK Maxx employee is recognised by the managers for an achievement in the workplace by doing activities that help the firm to minimise theft and maximise profit. This includes identifying products without security tags and then ensuring that they do. They are then rewarded with the ‘Every Product Counts’ ticket which is a token of their recognition, which can then be put into a draw to win store credit to redeem at any TK Maxx store.
For example, while serving a customer at the counter, I detected that there was an incorrect ticket on one of the products and informed my manager about it. As a result, I was given a pat on the back and awarded with an ‘Every Products Counts’ ticket, as well as being told to keep up my good work.
However, not all employees of TK Maxx are motivated by opportunities to win credit vouchers to spend in the store. For example, a team mate of mine did not want the store credit voucher, and then gave it to his sister as he does not shop with TK Maxx.
This suggests that he may not be motivated by this incentive and therefore, may not participate in these activities. This can reduce the likelihood for the firm to meet their company aim ‘To maximise profit’ and as a result, not be so effective.
A proposal on how TK Maxx could motivate the employees in getting involved in the decision making process, is running competitions that award the employee with the best suggestion for a decision making process. For example in this case, the employee who can come up with the best location for the Christmas party in terms of budget and popularity can win a store credit voucher to spend in TK Maxx.
This can encourage shy and lazy employees to open up and show off their creative abilities for the benefit of the firm. As a result, this can help them to attain the ‘self esteem’ stage of Maslow’s ‘Hierarchy of Needs’ as this opportunity can help the employees to feel proud of themselves and appraised by colleagues and managers.
Management Leadership Styles
The daily roles of a manager include sharing certain tasks, and the day-to-day administration of their responsible department. They must work thorough their subordinates to complete tasks, and so it is important that the associates are motivated so they can complete these tasks effectively and on time.
More importantly, it is vital that the right manager is recruited by the company that are aware of the things that get employees working effectively, to help achieve the company aims and objectives including ‘Attaining the company shrink target of 130,000’. There are three main types of management leadership styles; Autocratic, democratic and Laissez- Faire. They each have a unique balance of interpersonal, decisional and informational roles.
Informational roles are concerned with collecting and sharing information about certain assignments. For example, in TK Maxx, the managers are responsible for distributing tasks for each associate to do, such as serving the customers at the counters and taking delivery in the basement.
Interpersonal roles are concerned with monitoring the progress of tasks. For example, in TK Maxx, when the associates do the tidying up of their assigned department, the managers supervise that they are doing it the right way at the right pace, since they are all have to evacuate the store premises at a certain time.
Decisional roles are concerned with planning the work of their department and taking necessary decisions to ensure this work is successfully carried out. For example, TK Managers need to be aware of any absenteeism to occur during the day by nine o clock in the morning, so that they can take necessary decisions such as making phone calls to associates to see if they can cover an employee’s work shift.
Laissez-Faire
This is where employees are set objectives and then given freedom to direct the task, improvising with the available resources to work with. This is as revealed by my personal experience.
A previous manager of the TK Maxx store I am working for had a Laissez-Faire management style. At the start of the shift, I was told what my day’s task was and then sent to do it with my colleagues, which at the time was putting out recent delivery. I can recall asking the manager how long I should take and then found out that there was not necessarily a time limit, but rather I was expected to do a good job. As a result, my colleagues and I took our time and talked to each other while working together to put out the stock using tools such as safety knives for assistance.
Assessing this method of management, there are very high enthusiasm levels for the assigned tasks since the employees enjoy the power of directing them their own way and making their own decisions concerning the tasks, so they are motivated to do the work. However this can cause low levels of productivity from the employees. They may be motivated to complete the set objectives, but also they are motivated to talk with the amount of freedom given. With the manager’s presence being absent most of the time attending to things other than supervising the employees, has given employees excessive opportunity for social interaction, meaning that concentration on the assigned tasks will be reduced significantly.
This style of management can also risk achieving company aims and objectives. For example, when it comes to tidying up the store for the next day’s trade, employees can be distracted from their tasks and talk to each other excessively, and so the team may not finish tidying up on time, meaning TK Maxx will have to pay the employees for overtime which can interfere with their profit making company aims.
Another personal experience of the Laissez-Faire regime in the TK Maxx store was that I was given freedom to choose whenever times and days to work, as well as whatever number of hours each day. For example, I used to work for three hours on a Friday when the minimum to work per day is four hours.
As a result, ‘Laissez-faire’ is not efficient in terms of managing human resources. In TK Maxx, there are some days like ‘Saturdays’ where trading is very busy and thereby require more staff to work on the particular day of the week. However, there are also days where the store is not quite so busy and thereby require very few employees to work on the particular weekday.
I would recommend that the manager should have critically decided whether or not I can work at a particular weekday at a particular time, for a certain amount of hours, and should have worked out that it would not be necessary for me to work at a particular date. Being aware of this in future, would improve the management skills of the manager.
Fielder’s Contingency Theory
Fred Fielder suggested that the effectiveness of a manager depends on how much they are needed by their team. He identified three conditions which can affect the effectiveness of management style.
However, condition three is most relevant to the Laissez-Faire style of management, which could explain why the manager of this style has to behave this way. It states that the position of power of the manager is low and the task is poorly structured, as well as poor employee-manager relationships. As a result, Laissez-Faire management could be acceptable in some cases.
Authoritarian
This is the leadership style where all the decisions are made at the top of the hierarchy (i.e. top management), and the employees are given very little responsibility. This is as revealed by my personal experiences.
A previous manager of TK Maxx began with an authoritarian management style. She believed that temporarily having a stern management style can boost the overall productivity of the store by disciplining employees, constantly informing them to stay on task and avoid social interaction. This was due to a crisis in team performance ratings in the store.
I had no opportunity to make a say when it came to changing working hours and dates. For example, I requested to work on particular dates for particular hours, but then I could only select from a list which dates and hours I can work. This was because the dates and hours of my choice had sufficient people working already. I became de-motivated to work these dates and hours provided since they clashed with some of my important commitments including school. As a result, I was pushed to resign from my employment with TK Maxx and seek another job which offered flexible hours to suit my lifestyle.
This suggested that the authoritarian management style is very knowledgeable. Unlike the ‘Laissez-Faire’ regime, this style restricted me to work certain dates and hours, demonstrating more efficiency with human resources available. However, because I did not have any influence in the decision of me working my ideal hours and dates, I felt undervalued to the point that I did not feel part of the TK Maxx team.
Another previous manager of TK Maxx also had an authoritarian style of management. In the morning before the day’s shift begins, he gives all the associates a motivation talk, which encourages everyone to work industriously to achieve the day’s targets such as the amount of money aiming to make in the day (e.g. £20,000). Immediately after, he would assign roles to each associate to be done.
This style of management suggests a strong direction in the tasks since the manager informs each associate exactly what their task is, leading to a faster rate of work. Also, there is no opportunity for the associate to choose what job roles they want to do, unlike with the ‘Laissez-Faire’ style where all power goes to the employee, meaning they get to decide what job roles they want to do. However, the manager assigning job roles can result in poor motivation to work effectively in the task, since they get a task that they may find tedious and fatigue. For example, some of my team colleagues complain to me about the number of hours they have been assigned to do fitting room duty, which can be tiresome as associates have to stand up and wait for customers to come before they can do anything.
As a result, the democratic style of management would be more appropriate for this situation (A management format that favours their employees). This way, each associate will be assigned a task that they would like to do. So employees, who may not be enthusiastic in working in the fitting rooms, can have his or her job role replaced by an employee who does, leading to an enhancement of productivity levels in the workplace.
However, according to ‘Likerts’ theory of four systems, the ‘authoritative’ system which defines the authoritarian style of management, suggests that authoritative managers adopt this style because they believe that their subordinates are recognised and praised through the good work they have done. This suggests that this management system is motivating in the long run, when hard work pays off for the associate and is rewarded with praise, also smoothing interaction between the associate and manager. As a result, it may not be necessary for the manager to adopt a ‘democratic’ decisional character to encourage employees to work effectively.
Democratic
This is the style of management where managers seek the perspectives and opinions of the employees before making a decision. This is as revealed by my personal experiences
This is the current style of management at TK Maxx. There was one shift I did when I was uncertain of a department number and where the department was located, and needed to know because I was returning stock misplaced by customers. This de-motivated me and reduced my productivity levels. As a result, my manager saw this and told me not to hesitate to ask anytime I am unsure of something in the workplace. After, I was able to work quickly and effectively.
It can be deduced that a democratic format of managing can help to motivate employees. This is since they are happy to help employees and inform them again and again of what exactly their task is anytime they hesitate. With the manager being able to talk with the employee and solve their problem based on the task, this suggests a two-way communication between managers and employees, unlike the authoritarian rule, where there is only communication once the objectives have been set for the employees. Eventually this will lead to the development of manger-employee relationships, meaning that employees will be more willing to carry out tasks on the command of the democratic manager (hence motivation).
At one meeting (in the winter season) where almost all the associates working in the store were present, the manager announced that TK Maxx is rewarding their associates with a Christmas party. Everyone was then asked to vote where they wanted the venue of the party to be held.
As a result, the democratic system of management may enhance morale through opportunities for associates to contribute unique ideas for the Christmas party and get approval. However, with too many people being involved in the Christmas party decision making process, it can be time consuming which can de-motivate employees due to tediousness. Also, it could further lead to disputes among team members with opposing views.
The current manager at TK Maxx has a very friendly personality. He has a very good sense of humour, which keeps me and my team colleagues amused, and helps to maintain a positive atmosphere in the workplace. He also shows concern for his employees. For example, when I am not doing something properly in the workplace, he acknowledges and shows me the right way. As a result, according to the ‘continuum-based theory’, the manager’s personality type matches their management style, and it can be deduced that the current manager is of a democratic style. This suggests that the manager is sticking to a type of management that he can specialise in (i.e. democratic due to his personality), to motivate his employees. Therefore, there may be a need to stick to personality relevant management format, rather than adopting different management styles required by different situations (hence ‘contingency management theory’).
CONFLICT IN THE WORKPLACE
TK Maxx makes use of several methods to resolve conflict in the workplace, which may occur between employees or between employees and managers.
TK Maxx has established their disciplinary procedures to help resolve and avoid conflict in the workplace. It helps to motivate employees to treat other employees in a fair and equitable manner in a disciplinary situation. The levels of action include: verbal warning (step 1), first written warning (step 2), final written warning (step 3) and dismissal (step 4).
Some examples of behaviour that constitute gross misconduct which may trigger the disciplinary procedure include stealing. For example, some associates are de-motivated in the workplace and as a result, steal from the company due to no satisfaction from a job. This can interfere with the company aims and objectives such as ‘to reduce stock loss through stealing or damage’. The disciplinary procedure can help to avoid such misconduct from employees, because they do not want to put their employment at risk.
Also, this disciplinary procedure can be used to resolve conflict. Behaviour such as theft and fraud in TK Maxx by associates, can lead to summary dismissal. For instance, an associate assisted another associate to steal by crediting store credit vouchers for themselves when the store manager was absent. However, they were detected by store ‘CCTV footage’ recorded, and were dismissed as a result. This suggests how the disciplinary procedures can resolve conflict in the workplace, as well as avoid it.
Absenteeism is another conflict issue in the TK Maxx workplace. This is an indication of de-motivation in the workplace and can cause conflict with managers. It usually occurs in TK Maxx when employees are refused to take holidays at a certain time. For instance, a team colleague was firstly given permission to take time off work and when the time came, there was a different manager at the time and he refused him to go. As a result, he was absent for one day.
This can be a problem because absenteeism in TK Maxx can hold the firm back from achieving company aims such as ‘To reduce annual turnover’, as unacceptable long periods of absenteeism can lead to the dismissal of employees, and so more money has to be invested into replacing those dismissed.
As a result, to resolve the situation, I suggest that TK Maxx develops schemes in which to reduce absenteeism and eventually annual turnover, such as withholding pay like the company ‘Tesco’. However, ‘Taylor’ believed that workers were lazy and were only interested in earning money, so if pay was taken away from TK Maxx associates, they would be lazy and therefore de-motivated to come to work with the absence of pay.
Dishonesty can also cause unnecessary conflict among TK Maxx managers and associates. It can also be an indication of de-motivation in the workplace. Associates may attempt to defend their job with the company by lying about something. For instance, when it comes to theft, they may say things such as the person stealing was not him or her, or accuses the associate accomplice in stealing the company goods of stealing it.
As a result, to resolve the situation, I suggest that TK Maxx warns their employees about the presence of the ‘CCTV’ technology, to help avoid lying in the future.
CONCLUSION
To conclude, TK Maxx makes use of both financial (e.g. company discounts) and non-financial incentives (e.g. socialising opportunities) to attract employees and keep them satisfied so they do not leave the business. These form the motivation of the employees.
When it comes to the motivation of the employees, there are three main theories that managers use to motivate them to their maximum potential.
‘Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs’ explains that all people are motivated by the same things, and their lower needs (like safety) have to be met before advancing to higher needs (like self-esteem).
Herzberg’s ‘Hygiene Factors’ are a more straightforward version of ‘Maslow’s’ theory. He splits Maslow’s motivation into two and suggests that the lower needs form job satisfaction (hygiene factors), like job security. The higher needs encourage employees to excel in the workplace (motivating factors). He concluded that it is the hygiene factors form the foundation for motivation factors to occur.
Finally, McGregor’s ‘Theory X and Theory Y’ believed that different managers’ styles motivate employees in different ways. For example, an authoritarian manager motivates more with financial gain, whereas a democratic manager motivates more with praise.
As a result, my alternative suggestions have clashed with all these theories, emphasising that there is not one prominent theory since they are all at work at the same time. For instance, Taylor’s Scientific Management theory claims that it is money that solely drives people to come to work, whereas I am not motivated alone by just pay due to the tediousness of doing repetitive tasks such as applying security tags to clothing for several hours, since I gain work fringe benefits like discounts. Therefore, it must more than just money that keeps me encouraged working for TK Maxx.
However, in the firm there are leadership styles like the strict ‘Authoritative’ style and conflict in the workplace among employees and managers. These form the de-motivation of the employees. As a result, it is vital that TK Maxx adapts the correct style for certain situations and demands of the workplace, to maximise the motivation and team performance of TK Maxx.