Relationships among Employees
This week discussion is based on an analysis of a case study examining the Vetements Ltee
men’s clothing stores located throughout Quebec. It appears that an executive decision was made
to incorporate a pay incentive within the management level and the sales level of the company’s
organizational chart (McShane, 1995).
The starting level was directed to each store manager, as a proposal to increased sales above the
target goal, improve internal appearance of the store, and improve inventory control. In return of
a successful plan, managers would gain an annual merit increase and the company would have a
new incentive method to motivating employees. The second focus was directed to the sales
positions. The challenge for sales personnel’s was to increase sales volume and in return they
would gain a much bigger commission check (McShane, 1995 pg 34-35).
As the challenge began, the primary focus of gaining the most sales was evident in the sales
people. Everyone wanted the position to greet customers at the front of the store to gain the first
chance of selling something, as the quality of manners, sales pitch and professionalism went out
the door as customers entered. The concern of aggression was quite apparent and the
reasonability of team work or effort was not visible at all among managers nor sales personnel.
The stocking or restocking of inventory was ignored and potential sales began to suffer, while
the morale among employees and managers faded. What went wrong?
A poorly executed incentive plan that focused on money and not the true stakeholders’. the
employees (Chung Hee, K., & Scullion, H. 2013). The incentive plan started from the top of the
chain instead of where the production truly took place. The plan had no merit of fixed assets or
calculations of estimated value. For example, the managers were promised an annual increase in
salary-.who waits around for a company to give an annual return for something that happened a
year prior? Vetements Ltee had no set percentage of how much salaries would increase, no prior
engagement with employees on their thoughts of the idea, no defined roles, no connection to the
mission of the organization and a very unclear way of measuring the commission for the sales
people with no cutoff date on return merchandise (McShane, 1995).
The company simply executed off of the “expectancy theory” while employees are expected to
work, it is expected that they would work harder for an illisional amount of money. According to
Maslow’s theory, when we focus on the lower part of an organization or group’s task, which is
the base and foundation of the organization, we work to strengthen the most importance part, we
then should move up the ladder to increase stability at the next level of management as the lower
ones are satisfied. (McShane & Gilnow, 2013).
RUNNING HEAD: PSYCHOLOGY.
Chung Hee, K., & Scullion, H. (2013). The effort of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) on
employee motivation: A cross-national study. Poznan University of Economics Review, 13 (2),
5-30.
McShane, S. & Von Gilnow, M.A. (2013). Organizational Behavior. 7th ed. McGraw-Hill Irwin.
New York, NY.
McShane Steven, L., (1995). Vetements Ltee, Case 12, University of Western Australia.
Respond to DM
An organization comprises of different individuals with different or similar tasks that are
directed towards a common purpose. For a business such as the Canadian Vetements Ltee men’s
clothing stores, it is creating and delivering goods and services. The ways individuals behave and
perform in an organization are determined by the organizational structure and how the
employees within the organization are motivated.
In Maslow’s theory, motivation is achieved effectively by starting from the bottom of the
organization in this case Vetements Ltee men’s clothing stores sales men. The management
would have initiated the payment incentive at the sales level first. This would have automatically
translated to better sales reports at the store manager’s level and motivate them to take up
measures to maintain the performance (Lauby, 2005) .
Expectancy theory constitutes three components: expectancy: where an individual
believes the effort put in doing work will result in the required performance. Instrumentality:
where a person believes that there is a reward for achieving expected performance; and valence:
which is the value people place on the expected reward that usually depends on their goals,
values, and origin of their motivation (Lauby, 2005) .
RUNNING HEAD: PSYCHOLOGY.
Therefore, expectancy theory places a lot of emphasis on rewards and in this case, the
reward is money. Money is one of the strongest motivators for employees and has the greatest
influence on employee behavior. This behavior may be positive, but also negative as indicated in
the case study. To control behavioral changes, the management team should have placed limits
on the percentage of the commission received and communicate rules and regulations that would
maintain the organizational structure, relationships and roles.
Additionally, in reference to the Maslow’s theory, motivation is well attained in
organization when the management places its focus on human aspects. The clothing company
focused on monetary aspects while ignoring the human relation aspects of motivation and this
led to apathy in running the business.
Vetements Ltee men’s clothing stores had a good idea and approach of motivating
employees to work harder and increase sales. However, they did not lay-out clear guidelines that
would control the resultant behavioral changes that come with such incentives. Motivation
should focus on promoting positive organization relationships and behavior. This, therefore,
requires a focus on humanistic aspect of the organization rather than monetary that will control
behaviors and relationships within the organization.
RUNNING HEAD: PSYCHOLOGY.
Reference
Lauby, S. J. (2005). Motivating Employees. Alexandria, Va: ASTD Press.