Summative Individual Report on Adidas

Introduction

The report will concentrate on the Adidas Company. Adidas is rated as one of the largest companies in the sporting goods industry. It offers its products through three primary brands. The brands are Reebok, Adidas and Taylor made Adidas Golf. It is important to note that the company operates through its 170 subsidiaries across Europe, Asia, and the United States majoring on a specific market segment. It should be noted that Adolf and Rudi promoted the company in 1949. The company was then named after its founders 'Adi' from Adolf and 'Das' from Dassler. Afterward, the company changed its name from Adidas Solomon to Adidas AG in 2006. It should be known that Adidas is the largest sportswear manufacturer in the whole of Europe and rated as the second largest sportswear in the whole world, after its American counterpart Nike. The company has a clear mission statement whereby the Adidas Group attempts to lead globally in the production of sporting products with brands exclusively built on a thirst for sports as well as the sporting lifestyle. As a result, the company always try to strengthen their products and brands to help them improve their competitive position in the industry.

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As noted above, Adidas is among the most significant global sporting companies. When measured in terms of profit, it is ranked as the second largest company in the whole world after Nike. Adidas Company reigns in two significant regions; that is Germany and London. In London, the company has a variety of products to sell. This is because Adidas has plenty of outlets in London itself where most products are sports based, and include tennis, football, swimming, running, and basketball among others.

It should be noted that by 2003, Adidas had about 15686 employees, by 2004 they were 14219 while by 2005 the company had 15935. In 2007, the company had more than 30000 employees who were then improved by 19% by the year 2008. In Germany, where headquarter is located, employees from about 50 nations work as a team. For all the years, the workforce worldwide in increasing diversity of Adidas group has changed their communities and varied the activities in the world marketplace.

Motivation stems from individual interest like being safe or from outside aspects like reward and praise. Varied theories have been recommended to motivating workers. It should be noted that pay is a primary motivator for employees. However, other motivators may include; a feeling of achievement, empowerment, advancement and enjoyment, and appreciation for hard work.

Maslow Hierarchy of Needs

It cannot be understated that the well-recognized theory of motivation is Maslow's theory that is based on the needs of the people. While drawing from clinical experience, Maslow classified human needs into a hierarchical way starting from the lower to the highest (Kaur, 2013). He basically believed that once a given want in a given level is satisfied, it then no longer motivates a man. In this case, the next level of needs upwards must be activated so that it motivates the man. In his needs hierarchy, Maslow came up with five significant levels of wants.

Physiological Needs

It is important to note that these needs are essential to people and include clothing, food, air, water, shelter, among other life necessities. It should be pointed out that these needs relate to the maintenance and survival of human beings. This is because they have a more significant influence on behavior. Therefore, these needs must be met first before needs at higher levels emerge. Once these needs are met, they no longer motivate people.

Safety Needs

Having satisfied physiological wants, the next level of needs experienced by people are safety and security needs. Such requirements are anchored on expressions such as protection from dangers and economic security (Kaur, 2013). However, it should be noted that meeting these needs need a lot of money; therefore, individuals must work more. Just like the other needs, they also immediately become inactive once they are met.

Social Needs

Undeniably, human beings are social people. He is therefore interested in things like social interaction, belongingness, companionship, among others. This is the main reason why people prefer working in groups, and it is the reason why older people still go to work.

Esteem Needs

These needs imply to self-respect and self-esteem. They explain such needs that indicate competence, self-confidence, achievement, knowledge as well as independence. When these needs are satisfied, they lead to increased confidence, strength and capability of usefulness in the workplace. It should, however, be noted that when these needs are not fulfilled, the needs will result in some weakness, inability, as well as helplessness (Kaur, 2013).

Self-Actualization Needs

It is worth noting that this level of needs represents all the lower, intermediate as well as higher needs of people. It is, therefore, the last level in the hierarchy of needs and refers to fulfillment. It means to become actualized in what a person is best at potentially. As a result, self-actualization is the motivation of a person to transform self-perception into reality.

The Six Thinking Hats Model

This is an excellent decision-making technique especially for group discussion as well as individual thinking. This is one of the best models that Adidas Company can put in place to help it in the decision making concerning company activities. When combined with the parallel thinking process, this theory can help individuals and groups to think more effectively. It is important to note that this process is a means to organize the process of thinking in a cohesive and in a more detailed manner (Kwok, 2014). This model was brought forward by Edward de Bono in 1985. This thinking hat is a metaphor for some way of thinking. In this sense when people mentally wear different thinking hats, they are then able to view problems from different angles. This is precisely what Adidas Company has been doing over the years as they have been able to overcome various management problems thereby enabling the company to thrive. In this manner, they have excluded one-sided thinking and embraced new thinking dimensions.

Edward distinguishes the six different mind frames in which the brain can become sensitive. It should be noted that these frames are found in the brain and create conscious thoughts for various aspects of the issues discussed. They include pessimistic views, gut feeling, neutral facts among others.

The six thinking hats are all identified in the shape of hats, and each hat has a different color. Firstly, the white hat represents information and consider only the available information. The next hat is emotions which involves natural reactions or expression of how people feel. The black hat represents judgment where logic is applied in the identification of mistakes or barriers as well as looking for a mismatch (Kwok, 2014). Yellow hat represents a positive view and logic is applied in the identification of various opportunities, looking for harmony. The next hat is green which indicates creativity and shows statements of investigation and provocation, hearing what a given idea is all about. Lastly, the blue hat is about thinking and thinking.

All the employees at Adidas have a personal development plan which is built in all-around degree feedback and other tools. Therefore, this enables the managers at Adidas to give good response to employees to provide chances for continuous individual development (Lagnese, 2017). Undeniably, this approach allows workers to reach maximum potential by improving self-assessment as well as giving improvement through the training. Also, this program enables employees to take responsibility for their development. In this regard, this kind of relationship confirms that Adidas employees are dedicated to the values of this organization and this has helped to enhance the service for customers.

To be able to attract and retain a diverse team, the company placed a premium on creating and living a respectful, inclusive, respectful culture. This is the main reason as to why the world headquarters of Adidas Company boasts of about 100 employees of different nationalities. This explains why the company was ranked as one of the friendliest companies in the world. Besides, Adidas brags of having a culture of cultivating gender-balanced leadership. In considering the above, there would be no doubt as to why the Adidas Company stays at the cutting edge of sports culture.

It cannot be denied that Adidas has over the years been a global village. In as much as the company boasts of German heritage, the truth has been that Adidas has been and remains to be an international company (Choudhury, 2015). When you walk through the Adidas offices, there are different languages spoken, and this is a clear testament to Adidas for its dedication to sports, as well as its ability to go past traditional boundaries like language, a color of the skin and national borders. Undeniably, the company has always assembled a talented workforce from far and wide and rallied them around a common goal that through sports, the company can change the lives of the people.

It is true that there are many faces of diversity. Equality and parity across them all is key in creating the perfect culture. In a company, it is crucial that both genders are accorded equal opportunities to contribute and succeed in the organization (Choudhury, 2015). This is precisely what is taking place at Adidas Company. To ensure that this is achieved at Adidas, the company partnered with Lean In who have been tasked by the company to tackle the issue of pay gaps. This underlines the fundamental foundation in which Adidas Company is focused on.

Adidas Company prides itself of having reached a global target of 32% of women in leadership positions at the company. Adidas equally supports employees of all life stages and ages. At the company headquarters, five generations work and collaborate side by side daily. The company leadership and management believes that there are situations when the company requires the fresh perspective of younger employees which is vital to the organization, and there are times when the wisdom that comes from experienced employees proves to be invaluable too (Kwok, 2014).

The company is proud of the progress that it has made in creating a diverse and inclusive culture. However, there is always more work to be done. The company believes in achieving a goal where every worker feels welcome, equal opportunity for all despite one's race, age, condition, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion or ethnicity. Diversity and inclusion are essential to innovation within the Adidas Company (Choudhury, 2015). It involves giving people the power to feel the true power in their lives. This is what defines Adidas Company as one of the leading producers of sportswear in the world.

Conclusion and Recommendations

Based on the information above, I can conclude that Adidas has been one of the best and loved sportswear companies in the world. Through its proper management practices, employees have always been motivated thereby giving their maximum input in the...