Organisation Theory: Motivation at the Bradley Clothing Company

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Organisation Theory: Motivation at the Bradley Clothing Company

The personnel manager of the Bradley Clothing Company, Alice Johnson thinks the theories of Maslow and Herzberg are very suitable for the management; therefore, she put the theory into practice. The outcome is not what she expected, so this is the main discussion point about the relationship between theory and reality. The theories of Maslow and Herzberg are surely worthy to be the reference for implementation, but there are still some theories which assist and support these two theories to make it more complete, and it is also very important to take this into consideration. In the following, I am going to discuss the combination of those theories and the practical method for execution.

Content Theories of Motivation

The theory was developed by Abraham Maslow (1943, 1954, 1971), and his main argument was on the resolution between drives and motives and he claimed we have nine intrinsic needs. During the nine needs, from the basic biological requirements to the highest hierarchy self actualization and it really pointed out the progress of needs from human beings. However, the process could be stopped by any levels, and besides, maybe it is too vague for the Mrs. Johnson to predict the behaviour from the employees of the company because there are different positions of jobs which have different working content. Although the Marlow’s theory still offers the correct concept, the situation nowadays may need some adjustment. The theory is was more of a social philosophy which reflected white American middle-class value, so it cannot cover all the conditions.

Clayton Alderfer (1972) claimed the ERG theory which included existence, relatedness and growth need...

... middle of paper ...

...istic model as a reference and put in practice. It is certain that it should make adjustment anytime depending on different job contents and attribution.

Conclusion

It is not always easy to put one kind of classic theory into the real condition and we can say the theory can only offer the basic spirit of the implementation. Mrs. Johnson indeed simplifies the management of motivation and it may neglect what the staffs really want and need. The theories of the Maslow and Herzberg’s might be simple but actually it should be taken as the basic roots of the whole concepts. Besides there are plenty of other theories which have been developed by theoretical professionals, so Mrs. Johnson should make good use of them and have a discussion with the representatives from different positions and in this way, it could have better result to boost the motivation.

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