I recently read one of Amy Lio’s blog posts, and I found the story she chose to discuss very interesting.  I found it very interesting because it connects with one of the course concepts we recently learned about, which is People, Culture & Teams.  In that class, Danielle Van Jaarsveld talked to us, and something she said that really caught my attention was that, “it is not about keeping employees happy, it is about keeping them motivated”.  I agree with this statement; however, I also believe that the motivation must be done in a certain way; a way that improves the human resource management of a company, which is, according to Danielle, “the lifecycle of an employees relationship with a firm from hiring to the employee leaving”.  According to Amy’s blog, Aritzia motivates its employees by making it known to them that they are, “expected to sell at least $500 worth of merchandise every hour in order to keep their jobs and perhaps be promoted”.  I find that while this strategy may motivate employees, it is very detrimental to the relationship between Aritzia and its employees.  I think that Aritzia should instead find strategies that do not include threatening to fire its employees if they do not meet a certain sales mark, because with this current model their employees are motivated for all the wrong reasons.

Bellamy-Willms, M. (Producer). 7 Things We Can Learn From Aritzia’s CEO [Web Graphic]. Retrieved from http://shoppertunity.com/suburbia_shopper/7-things-we-can-learn-from-aritzias-ceo/