Week 3: Process Theories

 Week 3 Process Theories

Content and Process Theories

Motivational theories can be split into two categories, these categories are Content and Process theories.

Content Theories = Assume people have a set of need which they peruse = What motivates

Process Theories = Assumes people have a goal and choose a process to get them = How does it motivate

Content theories look at what motivates people i.e. there needs and expectations. Process theories look further into how people are motivated through goals and rewards.

How a Process theory is put into place

The expectancy theory is a basic process theory where you put effort in to reach a certain level of performance in order to receive a reward. The basic mode is:

 EFFORT-----------PERFORMANCE-----------REWARD

The extended expectancy theory diagram is

Simpson,M (2010)

This more complex diagram adds in other factors in order for the theory to work such as ability and skill as well as effort in order to reach a certain level of performance.

Innocent.

Innocent Drinks Company are well known for motivating their staff and treating them well.  Innocent use the expectancy theory to motivate their staff through out the whole company. Innocent do this by offering a lot of rewards to staff based of performance and reaching a goal set b the company. By doing this they are using the expectancy theory innocent are providing a reward for high levels of effort and performance, but also they are using the goal setting theory (locke & Lathem 1990). This theory suggest that difficult goals will get the company a better performance than easier goals and that staff receiving feedback on reaching their goals is critical.  However from the secondary research I have done on innocent I believe that the main process theory they follow is the expectancy theory. This is because they offer such a large range of rewards to motivate them to perform there work to best of their ability. The rewards consist of:

• ·         Nature weekends away
• ·         Clubs- sports, book, cheese etc.
• ·         Gyms
• ·         Ride to work (if you ride to work you do not pay the tax on money spent on bike)
• ·         Weddings (if a employee gets married or civil partnership the receive a extra 5 days off)
• ·         Childcare (if employee has a child born they will receive a extra £243 tax free on top of wage to go towards child care)
• ·         Breakfasts: Innocent provide free breakfasts to al its staff every day.
• ·         Member of month (person who put in extra work into their performance receive a reward and has other people wait on them for the day)
• ·         Free Smoothies to all staff

(innocent, 2010)

All these rewards are based on staff putting effort into there performance and reaching goals. This links back to expectancy theory and innocent are rewarding them for there performance.  Innocent also look into the more complex expectancy theory as they also look to arm their staff with the high levels of knowledge, ability needed on top of effort in order for their staff to have high levels of performance. Some of the ways they do this are through :

• ·         Innocent Academies- innocent set up the academy where they get people into teams and have the teams solve problems and present their findings and work back to other innocent staff and often outside quests.
• ·         2 week warm up induction- this induction period allows new staff to meet people and see the day to day running of innocent. This makes staff feel more relaxed and in a friendly environment for when they begin their work.
• ·         Feedback- innocent feedback is always constructive. They do this as they believe that positive and constructive feedback will motivate their staff to further their work i.e give a better performance.
• ·         Setting objectives- in January innocent set objectives to its entire staff. These objectives are both team and individual objectives. The staff then receive feedback in May and November.
• ·         Development chats- the developments chats are for informal feedback and are done more frequently. These chats are in place to give extra feedback on individuals and team performances innocent say “these are things you are going to do to raise your game”

Innocent (2010)

If you look at the information above again its linking back to more complex theory and some a directly linked such as Feedback, Development chats, objectives. These are key factors in the expectancy theory and are their to help staff improve their performance and give the best they can to the company. Innocent also state that these systems are there to help employees raise their game i.e improves performance.  

Evaluation

In this blog I have explored how a large company such as innocent use a process theory through the company and its entire staff to motivate them. Innocent has grown quickly and is a now a strong company in the drinks market, a key factor in them being able to do this is I believe is they have dedicated and motivated staff. Innocent have done this and built a reputation of dong this through there rewards to staff and using the expectancy theory to motivate staff and get the best performance from everyone. T his is proof that if  the expectancy theory is put into place with a good structure and set out clearly it can have a huge positive impact on a company.

References

M.Simpson, 2010, powerpoint presentation.

Innocent, 2010,LondonW6 0BA,[s.n]