ROBERT PRINCETON1 Description: This case centers on a newly minted college graduate who takes a position as an assistant manager at a family-owned chain of video outlets. The new assistant manager's interactions with his immediate boss, the family's son, and the owners make for an interesting dynamic for our study of motivation theories this week. Learning Objective: To explore and apply the various motivation theories presented in our readings for this week. We're interested in appreciating why motivation is important, and how motivation affects behavior, interpersonal relations, and performance. In addition, our interest in motivation is driven by three key objectives: Help you understand your behavior and the behavior of others Help you build and manage a \"system of motivation.\" Help provide conceptual tools for analyzing motivation problems in organizations CASE In May 1987, Robert Princeton, age 23, graduated from George Washington University with a Bachelor's degree in theater. In September of 1987, he accepted a job as the Assistant Manager of Falls Video, a rapidly growing chain of video rental outlets located in Northern Virginia. Falls Video had been founded by "Momma and Pappa" Valenchia in 1983. The operation began as a video rental business in a corner of their Falls grocery store. They experienced immediate success, and expanded the operation to include four new video outlets by 1985. At the same time that the video business was expanding, so was the grocery business, with three new stores established in surrounding towns. Momma Valenchia was the mastermind behind this growth; Pappa Valenchia was content to remain in the Falls office and keep the books for the growing business. One of the decisions that Mamma had made was to separate the grocery and video stores. As she expanded the number of grocery and video outlets, it became apparent that she needed management assistance. In June of 1985, she split the management duties of the organization. Mamma continued to manage the grocery stores, but she brought in her son, Mario, to run the video business. Mario had just earned an Associate's degree in business from a nearby community college, and was eager to take charge of the rapidly growing video 1 Adapted from: Marcic, D. (1995). Organizational Behavior: Experiences and Cases, 4th ed. West Publishing. 1 business. Mario was put in charge of hiring, firing, loss prevention, video buying, and the day-today management of all the video stores, including the supervision of personnel. By the summer of 1987, Falls Video had eight rental outlets within a twenty-five mile radius of Falls. However, problems had begun to arise. Losses due to stolen or misplaced videos were up, there were inadequate supplies of newly released films to satisfy customer demand, and turnover, absenteeism and tardiness were way up among the 35 full- and part-time employees of the chain. Momma Valenchia was particularly puzzled by the personnel problems, since she was experiencing no such difficulties with her grocery staff. When she asked Mario about it, he replied that she had only four stores to manage, and he had eight! Besides, he insisted, it was hard to attract competent workers at the low wages they had to pay to remain profitable. In the early fall of 1987, Momma Valenchia decided to hire Robert Princeton as the Assistant Manager of Falls Video in order to help Mario out. He was hired at an annual salary of $21,500 because Momma believed that he had a lot of potential. Princeton began his work with enthusiasm. He made it a point to visit each store at least two times a week. Over time, got to know every staff member personally. He found that by taking a staff member out to lunch or dinner, he could really get them to open up about their perceptions of the organization. Princeton found this contact with the staff very gratifying. However, he quickly encountered some misunderstanding with his boss, Mario. On one occasion, he allowed a part-time employee to take the weekend off in order to attend an out-of-state funeral. When Mario found out, he was furious that the store was understaffed during the critical weekend period, and he informed Princeton that all future schedule changes would have to have his personal approval. Feeling somewhat embarrassed, Princeton sheepishly agreed. On another occasion, Princeton offered to train the staff in the basics of film appreciation, since he felt that this would help them to better assess and satisfy customer needs. Mario said that it was a foolish idea, and told Princeton not to waste any company time on it. Although Princeton still felt that his idea was a good one, he did not pursue it any further. At one point, Princeton mentioned to Mario that many of the full-time employees wanted the company to institute an employee health insurance program. Mario's casual response was that they could not afford the expense, and that Princeton should be channeling his efforts into saving money rather than spending it. Even though Princeton was convinced that such a program would boost morale and reduce turnover, he let the matter drop. In spite of these frustrations, Princeton kept up his efforts. While he was troubled by the lack of guidance that he received from Mario, he felt that he could demonstrate his value to the organization. After all, when he had approached Momma Valenchia with his concerns about his working relationship with Mario, she said: "Mario is a good and capable boy, and so are you. Work hard and you will be successful. " This discussion motivate Princeton to take a more strategic perspective in his efforts. He immediately initiated a survey of customer preferences in movies to develop recommendations for new titles to purchase. He initiated exit interviews with employees who quit, and as a result of his, did an informal survey of staff members' perceptions of Falls Video management. Finally, he developed a proposal to track video rentals and customer creditworthiness on a microcomputer system. In early January 1988, Robert Princeton scheduled a meeting with Mario to discuss his accomplishments of the previous three months. Mario was silent and looked sullen as Princeton 2 presented the results of his work. Princeton provided detailed recommendations for the purchase and resale of new titles, and suggested a variety of changes in personnel policy and management practice designed to boost morale and reduces absenteeism and turnover. He explained how the computer tracking system could reduce losses of videos and improve customer service. Princeton was taken aback by Mario's sudden response: "Who the hell do you think you are?" (followed by a long pause....) "Strategic management is my job. Your job is to supervise the workers. I tell you what to do, and you tell them what to do! It's as simple as that. Any questions?" "Well, yes...but...I thought..." stammered Princeton. "You're not paid to think-you're paid to do what you're told," shouted Mario. "Pappa showed me your expense account yesterday. The poor old guy almost had a coronary when he tallied it. It's off the wall! Your travel and entertainment expenses in one week are more than mine in a whole month! We give you an office and a telephone here in Falls. I expect you to use them! We're not rich like your family and that snobby private school they sent you to. We have to run this operation on a shoestring. As I've told you before, that's where I need your help. Now get to work on making a real contribution to this organization's bottom line." Princeton was flabbergasted! He was proud of his accomplishments, and thought that they proved his value to the organization. But, rather than get into a heated argument on the spot, Princeton felt that he had better sleep on it. The next morning when Princeton arrived for work, he found a sealed envelope on his desk with his name on it, marked "Personal and Confidential." At first he assumed that it must be an apology from Mario. He was surprised to find that it was a letter of reprimand for abuse of his expense account and insubordination, signed by both Pappa and Momma Valenchia. It concluded with the statement: "If you wish to continue your employment with Falls Video, you must learn to become more cost conscious." Princeton spent the rest of the morning in his office with the door closed, thinking. At 11:30, he asked Momma Valenchia to have lunch with him. After some hesitation, she agreed. During lunch, Princeton complained that he was not being allowed to have a strategic impact on the organization. Momma's response had been: "Roberto, I hired you as an assistant manager to Mario. Your job is to work for Mario. Mario's job is strategic planning. I still believe that you have a lot of potential. But you must understand the ways of the family. Poppa and Mario run the business. You must cooperate with them. Without cooperation, we cannot run a successful family business." At 1:30 p.m., Robert Princeton submitted his resignation. He had no job prospects, and wasn't sure what his next move would be. Assignment Provide an explanation why Robert quit his job using ONE of the following motivation theories. Maslow's Needs Hierarchy Alderfer's ERG--> http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMM_78.htm 3 Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory Theory X, Theory Y McClelland's Learned Needs Theory Vroom's Expectancy Theory Equity Theory Locke's Goal Setting Theory Self-Efficacy Theory Reinforcement Theory Procedural Justice Bonus: Self-Determination Theory Bonus: Integrative Theory of Motivation (Exhibit 7-9, p. 208) Pay attention to which theories have already been covered by your classmates. There is no need to cover a single theory 10X unless you can add value to what has already been posted. In presenting your theory, please cover the following three elements. a. Give the class a brief tutorial on the theory you are applying in this case. b. Use the theory to explain why Robert probably quit. c. Provide the class with some ideas of how an organization or manager could operationalize (i.e., put into practice) the theory in question. Questions for Critical Thinking 1. If you were Mario, what would you have done differently? 2. If you were Momma, what would you have done differently? 4