Following from my last blog, this one is comparing both the content theories and process theories. The difference between the two is – content theories focuses on people that have a set of needs in which they pursue, giving them a motivation strategy whereas process theories are individuals which set themselves their own goals and how they choose to get them. This meaning that the individual can give themselves reasonable goals in which they feel they can achieve instead of meeting a goal in which they can’t meet.
I have chosen The Holiday Inn as my company to study. They want to make sure that they have the best team on board. This means that their employees are happy so they have happy customers. To keep all their staff motivated, The Holiday Inn offer a wide range of benefits available.
Some of these benefits include –
- Incentive Opportunities on Company and Individual Performance
- Long-term incentives available at selected levels within the organisation
- Medical, Dental, Life and Disability Insurance
- Discounted hotel room rates for you and your family around the world
- Flexible work arrangements to help balance work and home
- Training, continuous education and educational assistance
- Employee discounts and special offers
[The Holiday Inn Online 8th December]
All of these benefits apply to all employees who work within The Holiday Inn. By having these benefits for the staff, The Holiday Inn can make sure that their staff are motivated all the time and are committed into going to work every day. However, The Holiday Inn also uses additional strategies to motivate their staff.
For example –
- Lots of Praise
- Paid time off and designated holidays
- Team Building Exercises
- Regular Reviews
- Opportunities for Promotion
These strategies will help the employees get more motivated if they are able to talk more about their job, if they are getting more appraisals within their job, having time to get to know their colleagues who they will be working with, and having the opportunities for promotion. All of these are great motivational strategies to keep all their staff motivated within their job and The Holiday Inn.
Locke’s theory functions on individuals that create goals by making careful decisions. The individuals focus on their goals having been allowed to set them themselves. Locke’s theory status ‘if an individual sets goals, he will be motivated to achieve those goals by virtue of having set them’. When setting the goals, they must be clear, challenging and attainable. Locke found that ‘higher expectancies lead to higher levels of performance’. Also, he pointed out that goal-setting is more appropriately viewed as a motivational technique rather than as a formal theory of motivation’. (Mullins)
The Holiday Inn uses this theory as they feel that if their staff are able to set their own goals then they will be more committed into achieving them. For the goal to be successful, the individual must be committed to the process of completing the goal set as the individual has been assigned to the specific task and is believed that they are capable to complete it. However, there are some limitations, such as goal conflict, personality in goal determination and approach.
Overall, I found that the best way to motivate your staff is with reasonable benefits – such as flexible work programmes, employee’s discounts etc. – and with lots of praise so the employees can be aware in the sub-areas in which they are doing well in and doing not so well in. All of the points stated above are all linked into Locke’s Goal Theory. Finally, I feel that The Holiday Inn are doing well within their company to keep their staff motivated.
References –
Mullins, J. (2010) management & Organisational behaviour. 9th ed. Essex: Financial Times Pitman Publishing.
Good deiferential shown between content and process theories, it would be good to outline a process theory so that you can directly relate to this with your org. examples. Remember to reference throughout not just in the bibliography.
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