Motivational Activities of Part time Staff at Tesco - Essay Example

Motivational Activities of Part time Staff at Tesco Identifying the most appropriate research methodology is the most critical step in any research venture. This is because the research methodology determines the type of data that is collected and later analysed and interpreted (Blaxter, Hughes, & Tight 2006, p.78). Therefore, the choice of a research methodology is always a priority for any researcher. In a bid to determine the motivational activities that Tesco has put in place in order to ensure that its part time workers experience a level of satisfaction, it is important to rely on a well designed research methodology (Bratton and Gold 2007, p. 90). The qualitative research paradigm serves as an appropriate approach in this case. According to research experts, there are different strategies used in the qualitative paradigm. The deductive method proves reliable in this study because theoretical arguments will be of critical significance. Interpretivism is one of the underlined philosophies that governs qualitative research and will be applied in this study (Klenke 2008, p. 67). The outstanding strategy in this research will be the construction of a correlation and observation of the existing motivational activities and the pertinent satisfaction exhibited by part time staff at Tesco. Since this study focuses on establishing the existing relationship between the motivational activities of Tesco and the level of satisfaction exhibited by part time workers, it falls under the category of relational studies (Merriam 2002, 123). This research will focus on Tesco express for a defined period and hence the study is cross-sectional. Primary and secondary Researches Two types of data will form the core of this survey and such data will emanate from the primary and the secondary researches. Primary data will be the data collected from the 30 participants identified from this research. A rigorous analysis and evaluation of such primary data will serve to inform the researchers of the probable findings (Miles, Huberman, & Saldaña 2014, p. 143). In addition, the research will also consider an extensive literature review as a reliable source of secondary data in a bid to support the primary data. The literature review will consider the conclusions drawn from existing studies and the theories developed from such studies. The most relevant literature will be used in this study after a careful appraisal of the different literature and identification of the most recent and relevant to the research questioned addressed to this research. Target Population and Groups Previous researches carried out by Tesco have targeted all the employees without categorizing them according to the terms of employment. However, the target group for this research is the part time staff working at Tesco. This group is of interest because the motivational activities designed for permanent workers differ from those designed for part time workers. Therefore, this research will consider the three Tesco Expresses in the central London area as the target population and consider the motivational activities of part time staff as the target group (Saunders, Lewis, and Thornhill 2007, p. 165). Sampling In order to determine a representative sample of the part time staff at Tesco, the random sampling strategy will be applied. In the central London area, Tesco Express has three stores, there are part time staffs in the three stores and they will form the target population for this research. A total of thirty participants will be identified in this research. From each store, the researchers will identify ten staffs randomly (The Telegraph 2011, p. 187). Data collected from the thirty participants will be used in determining the level of motivational activities designed by Tesco, and their efficiency in increasing the motivation of part time workers. Research Method and Data Collection This survey will rely on the use of the questionnaire method as an effective strategy of collecting data from the thirty identified participants. The most critical step in this method is the design of the questionnaire as the questioned asked should prompt the part time staff to provide responses that can be interpreted and proved efficient in addressing the research question. Therefore, the questionnaire to be used in this survey will have 20 statements with each statement relying on the 5-point scale with different levels that range from strongly disagree, disagree, do not know, agree and strongly agree. The twenty statements will concern different aspects such as, company policies, attitude exhibited by supervisors and salary levels. These aspects will be interpreted to determine the existing motivation to part time workers. Each participant will be requested to reveal the value of each statement tin the questionnaire by rating it using the 5-point scale. All the thirty participants from the three stores will respond to this questionnaire (Sensing 2011, p. 167). The questionnaires will be administered to the 30 selected participants. The questionnaire will be delivered alongside a consent form that all the participants must sign. Participants giving their consent will then proceed to fill in the questionnaire according to the guidelines provided by the researcher. Upon completion, the questionnaires will be returned to recording and further analysis (Tracy 2013, p. 87). Data Recording After the reception of the completed questionnaires filled in by the participants, the data contained in the questionnaire will be transferred to Microsoft excel sheets. Transferring data from the questionnaires to MS excel is a critical step in making data analysis an easier task for the researchers. Research Analysis The most critical and final step in the research methodology is the analysis of the obtained data. Effective analytical tools and procedures must be identified in order to validly interpret the data. In this research, the use of the mean and standard deviation will be used in the data analysis (Bryman & Bell 2011, p. 56). Since each participant selected for the study is expected to provide answers to the twenty statements in the questionnaire, the researchers will accord each answer on the 5-point scale values ranging from -1, -0.5, 0, 0.5 and 1. Depending on the answers provided by the participants, the researchers will determine the mean value of all the answers provided by the 30 respondents. The obtained mean value will serve to represent the entire sample for every statement. After the calculation of mean values for each statement, the researchers will determine the standard deviation of every statement in a bid to ensure a high validity of the obtained mean values. Since all the questions in the questionnaire have equal weights, the research will calculate the average of the mean values of all the statements and the obtained value will serve to reflect the level of employee satisfaction brought about by the motivational activities at Tesco. That value will be used to test the hypotheses determined for the survey. The hypotheses will be: H0: µ > 0 H1: µ ≤ 0 The author, computer, the MS excel package, relevant print out and the SPSS analytic tool will form the critical resources in data analysis. Bibliography Blaxter, L., Hughes, C., & Tight, M 2006, How to research, Berkshire, England: Open University Press. Bratton, J. and Gold, J 2007, Human Resource Management, Theory and. Practice (4th edition) London, Macmillan Press. Bryman, A., & Bell, E 2011, Business research methods, Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press. Klenke, K 2008, Qualitative research in the study of leadership, Bingley, UK: Emerald Group Pub. Merriam, SB 2002, Qualitative research in practice: Examples for discussion and analysis, San Francisco, Calif: Jossey-Bass. Miles, M. B., Huberman, A. M., & Saldaña, J 2014, Qualitative data analysis: A methods sourcebook. Saunders, M., Lewis, P. and Thornhill, A 2007, Research Methods for Business Students, 4th ed, London, Pearson Sensing, T 2011, Qualitative research: A multi-methods approach to projects for Doctor of Ministry theses, Eugene, Or: Wipf & Stock. The Telegraph 2011, Tesco Express in Numbers, Available at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1548956/Tesco Express-in-numbers.html, Accessed as at 27 July 2013. Tracy, SJ 2013, Qualitative research methods: Collecting evidence, crafting analysis, communicating impact, Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell. Read More