Motivation

According to Hammers (2003), the top two reasons why people work for Starbucks:

“People have the opportunity to work with an enthusiastic team”

“To work in a place where I feel I have value”

Motivation is defined as “the set of forces that initiates, directs and makes people persist in their efforts to accomplish a goal.” (McWilliams, 2012) It is one of the important factors which could influence the efficiency of the business. With applying the most suitable motivation theories for employees, not only it would improve its efficiency, but would also make employees enjoy being part of Starbucks, and hence increase job satisfaction. Starbucks, one well-known and successful business in the coffee industry, is one of the great examples in terms of motivating employees.

The equity theory is “a theory that states that people will be motivated when they perceive that they are being treated fairly.” (McWilliams, 2012) As reported in the research papers about motivation and teamwork in Starbucks, managers would treat each employee as ‘partners’, which includes the basic working staff of the company, who might need support from senior staff. One factor about the management of Starbucks which distinguishes from other companies was that all employees within Starbucks would co-work with each other. Despite that there were level of status between managers and workers.

Applying this equity theory, employees in the workforce would feel that they are working in a friendly, lively and enthusiastic environment, without a sense of status within the organization. This sense of belonging towards the company could lead to employee satisfaction, and could be able to motivate employees to work and hence increase efficiency of the business.

On the other hand, the management of Starbucks also covers different benefits for employees so that they could satisfy their needs within the workforce. Medical care would also be provided to employees. And their pay would have a certain increase as employees work for a period of time or when more contributions are made to the business. Employees would receive training in how to make coffee and how to deal with customers. In this case, employees in Starbucks could be motivated to work in order to increase sales and being a profitable business. (Hammers, 2003)

We could see that the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs could be also applied within Starbucks’ motivation theories. The Starbucks management has provided benefits which could achieve employees’ safety needs and love and belonging needs. Employees could satisfy safety needs as they got medical care from the management. And as for the love and belonging needs, they could be achieved by having every employee within the company treat each other as their ‘friend’ or ‘partners’. Therefore, would enhance the sense of being part of Starbucks. Employees could also satisfy their esteem needs as they could contribute to the business and could be able to gain respect from others, and managers treated them as important assets to Starbucks. Also, employees were trained not only in how to make coffee, but also in how to treat and deal with customers. When customers are satisfied with the services provided, employees could feel the confidence in providing good services towards customers, hence, helps motivation within employees.

We could also see that there was extrinsic motivation within employees. The more they contribute to the business, the more they get paid. So this consists of monetary aspects. On the other hand, there could be intrinsic motivation as well, as all employees in Starbucks had set a goal for themselves, which is to serve customers and earn profits.

References:

1. Free online research papers, Starbucks corporation: Case Study in Motivation and Teamwork. Retrieved from http://www.freeonlineresearchpapers.com/starbucks-case-study
2. Hammers, M. (2003, October 3), Starbucks is pleasing employees and pouring profits. Retrieved from http://www.workforce.com/articles/7600
3. McWilliams, W. (2012). MGMT (2010-2012 edition). Mason, USA: South-Western Cengage Learning