NOrdstorm Case Analysis Essay

Our staff is genuinely interested in seeing that each(prenominal) your needs atomic number 18 meet. They be professionals- im position inspection and repair you with everything from gift suggestions to wardrobe planning. They testament even ac fede balancen you from department to department until you find exactly what youre looking for , a quote from Nordstrom directory as a benchmark for attend to exceptions.How is Nordstrom up to(p) to claim this unexceptional goal inside retail attention? The answer lies with the great achievement of motivating produced deep down Nordstrom ending. The case in question is prepared by Richard D. Freedman and Jill Vohr, Stern School of Business, naked york University. This case analysis is based on the experiences and background of retail giant, Nordstrom. The remembering started its trading operations with humble beginning of providing excellent customer service to constituents.Nordstrom operates closely 100 stores in 10 states. Its a growing company with great plying culture. There are approximately 35000 employees working within Nordstrom family. The focus of Nordstroms management is to grow an would-be(prenominal) and motivated group that provides customer service ilk no unitary else offers, service above and beyond the call of duty. All employees are made to feel ilk members of a family sharing in the Nordstrom way. Company has been able to pass water an environment where promotions are only from within the company, where employees keep a daybook of customers to send thank you letters and upcoming promotions.Employees perform all operations relevant to their jobs, even unpacking items, shelving and storage responsibilities. The astonishing thing is that all these tasks are performed on off the clock. Nordstrom has been able to create an environment where employees are push simplyton themselves to limits. Doing chores during their lunch time or after the clock has been a Nordstrom culture for a wh ile. plain though this practice had created some controversy with fewer employees and unions are trying to pursue Nordstrom to abolish these motivational techniques to take aim employees work off the clock to achieve go status and money. There have been various lawsuits involving Nordstrom employees and management.This analysis kindle provide us some sharpness on how Nordstrom has been able to utilisation motivational theories to purse employees to be part of this huge enterprise. Motivation is a force that put in from within a person that notify help create a willful commission towards achieving some specific goals, where achievement is not due(p) solely to readiness or to environmental factors. Performance of a certain mortal displace be accounted victimization Performance = f (Ability x Motivation)Nordstrom had created a start of business where they pick the best sales people from the given tribe and provide them motivation in form of promotion, excellent sales c ommissions and accessible stature of working for a prestigious retailer like Nordstrom. Nordstrom has been able to put on content theories of motivation to produce current companys culture. utilize content from Hierarchy of desires Theory by Maslows, Nordstrom can motivate people according to their desire to satisfy specific needs. Using physiological needs like money, Nordstrom had created an excellent base pay brotherly structure a immense with the opportunity to create more(prenominal) opportunities for sales people in form of high commissions.Nordstroms pay structure is more recognise than its competitors. Using physiological paradigm as a motivation force, Nordstrom is an intentness leader for harvesting the best talent within sale force. foster level of Maslows guess is Safety needs. Nordstrom had created a culture that resembles to an individual family boutique operating within its aver means and create its own identity. Nordstrom managers are free to hire and the only rule exist is to help the customer by any way possible as long as its legal.This attitude towards management had created a safety can at work place thus helping Nordstrom employees achieve intermit motivation. Maslows conjecture also promotes social and belongingness needs. Nordstrom has a culture of creating a family within a certain store thus helping with social and belongingness needs of employees. Self Esteem is also considered an important factor of motivation used by Nordstrom. Employees of Nordstrom gladly introduce themselves to others due to the fact that Nordstrom has a certain place in society and this approach helps create more motivation for employees to be more productive.Maslows theory also embraces self-actualization for creating employee motivation. Nordstrom is one of the few companies that can help employees propose their own business card game and schedules. The focus is to create entrepreneurial spirit among employees because Nordstrom want performanc e to come from ambition and motivation and not from corporate headquarters. ERG theory by Clayton Alderfed explains triad categories, existence (E), relatedness needs (R) and growth needs (G).This theory can be considered one of the pillars within methodologies used by Nordstrom. Employees are motivated utilize growth, relatedness needs and existence needs. Using this theory as an approach for design business framework, Nordstrom helped employees look for their basic goals and use Nordstrom as a fomite to accomplish those goals.Theory of achievement, affiliation and power by David McCelland can explain the motivational force Nordstrom is using to achieve ambitious goals of sales and motivation. By creating goals to be achieve every month, quarter and year, Nordstrom can help employees create a schedule for themselves to achieve those goals. Nordstrom had created unofficial standard of excellence that can help set goals for employees. Need for affiliation is also used during the runway of employment with Nordstrom.Managers acknowledge the best employees and considered as a pacemaker to others so others can follow their example of excellent customer services and sales. Need of power if another factor involved in creating motivated employees. Nordstrom use strict policy with promotions within the company, this process helps provide power to the ambitious and motivated employees in form of management and team leader positions.Even though traditional research had not supported claims by two-factor theory or dual-factor theory by Frederick Herzberg Nordstrom has been able to use the concept of motivators like achievement, recognition, responsibility, growth and challenging work and hygiene factors like pay, working conditions , skillful supervision, status , interpersonal relationship with peers and security. Nordstrom had implemented this idea to create a self-realization environment where employees create goals and motivation comes from within. Nordstroms fo cus on use of expectancy theory is another motivational factor for creating motivation. anticipation is the subjective probability that a given amount of effort will lead to a particular level of performance. Using instrumentality and valence as an outcome, Nordstrom can increase motivational force.Another factor that Nordstrom is so successful in creating employee motivation is use of equity theory. Equity theory suggests that motivation is based on persons assessment of the ratio of outcomes he/she receive (e.g., pay, status etc). Nordstrom had implemented these theories to create a model that help employees do things with motivation from within and increase productivity and motivation. destruction setting has been a key motivator for people working within Nordstrom. Even though, many controversial lawsuits and complaints by employees and union had surfaced in travel few years, Nordstrom is still promoting its culture.Nordstrom had set aside more than $15 one million million for paying employee for times that has not been paid in past due to the fact it was not on clock. Nordstrom still embrace job gush and job enrichment policies. Job enlargement is a process of making a job more motivating by adding tasks that are similar in complexity relative to the current task. For example, Nordstrom employees work with a customer in any department to satisfy that customers needs. Job enrichment is a process of creating more job motivation by increasing responsibilities. For example, Nordstrom denominate employees to take responsibility and act as a concierge and interact with customers using letters and photos and scrap book etc. Using these theories, Nordstrom, had increase employee motivation instead of creating a hostile work environment.I personally withdraw that Nordstrom can alter few methods to treat with how employee time is compensated. Motivation theories utilize at Nordstrom are brilliant and using those theories, Nordstrom had created a culture w here employees are working hard to achieve success and reach the goals set by employees and not corporate headquarters. Some of the complaints mentioned in case seem legit but the role of motivation is a two way stream. Nordstrom should deal with these complaints in a manner where it can help employees gain more trustfulness and motivation. For example, Nordstrom should change the way feedback mechanism handled.Throughout the whole case, I see a lack of feedback method that can help employees get better and increase motivation. Feedback plays and important role within companys motivational efforts. Feedback process can clarify the goals and expectations of certain employees who seem to be handle by this culture. Nordstrom should also focus on including the time for extra government note activities to enhance sales on actual paid time. This would help employees use pay as a motivational factor to increase productivity as defined as Maslows, ERG and dual factor theories.