A content theory is a way of explaining motivation by satisfying peoples wants and needs within the workplace, whilst also explaining how different human needs can change over time. Content theorist Alderfer suggest that individual needs can be divided into three groups. The first group is Existence needs, which is the need for basic materials such as working conditions and pay. The second is Relatedness needs which is for an individual to maintain relationships within and out with the workplace. The final group is Growth needs, which is the need for an individual to grow and develop personally.

This relates to JOC management as throughout the case study it mentions how Suzy and the rest of her team were driven to focus on creating a positive work culture. This would be related to the Relatedness needs group as a positive workforce would lead to motivated and happy staff, which would create a healthy relationship between management at JOC and their employees. A process theory gives a description and analyses how certain behaviour in the workplace is obtained, directed, sustained and prevented.

Adam’s Equity theory shows that by a manager provides a balance of am employees inputs and outputs, by observing how much effort they put into their work, the better the rewards they will receive in the long run, which will result in motivated staff as they are working towards rewards for themselves. This relates to JOC as Hafiz the factory manager decided to roll out job rotation for the employees as he believed this was a great way to increase the employees skills and knowledge in different areas of the company.

This gives the employees job enrichment as they now have developed skills in new areas, which will make them feel like they now have higher value within the company.

1. A method used by managers to improve job performance within the workplace is appraisals, appraisals are used to give employees feedback, either praise or criticism whilst also providing constructive criticism. This would be suitable as employees should feel comfortable to approach their manager to ask any questions and get feedback.

Another method used by managers to improve job performance within the workplace is by setting goals. Setting goals will make sure that the manager has a vision of how he wants the company to operate short term and long term and also hopefully encourage all the employees within the company to follow the same goal.

2. Team working is important as it can indicate the team’s strengths and weaknesses. This makes it important as they can identify who is more skilled in certain areas which makes it easier when deciding who will do each task.

Team work also provides better ideas for the company, rather than only one person coming up with all of the ideas themselves. An example of team working in JOC is when Adrian makes it clear that people grow into a job and become better over time, which means employees need to make mistakes to learn from them and improve. Adrian believes that working within a team helps lift pressure off of employees as a team can work together to ensure all mistakes are eliminated and fixed which can lead to success for JOC and ensure that all employees are happy and positive within the workplace.

3. There are a number of different factors that could potentially affect a team’s cohesiveness and performance. For example the size of the team, the bigger the team, the harder it becomes for all team members to communicate with each other however as JOC have smaller teams it makes it easier for them to work together. In the case Hafiz has an assistant who helps to organise and supervise production which helps as she spends most of her time helping everyone within the team reach the company goals.

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