Explain why different people are motivated by different things. Summary: The goal of this exercise is to give students practice aligning individual and organizational goals, and thinking like a manager in managing employee motivation. Imagine that you are the management team of a new retail clothing store named Threads. Your company’s business strategy is to provide high-quality customer service and to provide high-quality products. You are not the cheapest store in town, but you expect your employees to create a service-oriented atmosphere that customers will be willing to pay a little extra for. 

You recognize that your sales staff will be essential to your store’s success, and you want to create a system that motivates them to help create a competitive advantage for your business. Because this is the first store you have opened, you have the opportunity to decide how to best motivate your staff. Market-competitive starting salaries have already been established, but you have decided to allocate 10 percent of the stores’ profits to use to motivate your sales staff in any way you see fit. Question to be answer What goals would you set for your sales staff?