Hauser Food Company

Q1. What is currently motivating the sales managers and how does this benefit/limit the company?

A) The motivating factors are the attractive salaries with potential large bonus based on the profit performance of the entire company. The possibility of advancement within the company is also a motivating factor. Most of the senior staffs started as regional managers and with this perception, the sales managers are motivated to work hard and meet their targets.

B) This motivating strategy helps the company to retain his expertise.

On the other hand, the company’s growth is impaired and declining. The company focuses on how to meet their sales goals at the neglect of other means of improving their revenue. The lack of new ideas by the employees is primary due to a lack of reflective and adequate encouragement from the top management. For instance, the Florida HFP sales team got a great opportunity with elderly clientele. Florida team had the breakthrough and was able to utilize this new and growing market to help meet and exceed their sales target each time. The team worried that any thing exceeding their 10% would cause an increase in their sales targets which would bring undue burden on them the following year. This idea was never communicated to management because they felt they would get inadequate recognition.

Q2. What connections do you see between the circumstances in the case and the motivation principles covered in the readings? (Based on Motivation Slide #8 Intrinsic & Extrinsic Factors)

The company’s motivation was more extrinsic rather than intrinsic. Intrinsic motives include a sense of accomplishment, intellectual fulfillment, the satisfaction of curiosity, and the sheer love of the activity. Extrinsic motives include a “desire for money, fame, and attention or the wish to avoid punishment" (page 221 of Invitation to Psychology by Carole Wade and Carol Tavris).

Intrinsic motivation is when people are motivated by the inherent nature of the...