Internal Communication Study at Tesco, the UK - Research Proposal Example

1. Introduction 1 Background The UK retail industry is highly competitive and the key parameter for success is to maintain low employee turnover.Customer expectations both in qualitative and quantitative terms have to be delivered in the retail environment which implies that the service delivery is of utmost importance (Booth & Hamer, 2007). Companies have started recognizing employee contribution in the service delivery. At the same time companies try to drive down the costs and labour cost is the first area to be compromised with even though companies recognize that low labour turnover is an asset in the retail sector while high labour turnover is a problem. When the management engages in a quantitative and mechanical approach in managing people in stores, labour turnover increases. Gradually it has been recognized that allowing the store managers discretion in dealing with the problems can reduce the turnover. If the firms invest in developing the employees, it can lead on to increased motivation and turnover. Tesco is the UK’s largest retailer employing over 470,000 people across 14 countries (O’Reilly, 2009). They employ blind graduates and they have new-look staff rooms designed by the Tesco staff themselves. They believe in “Treat people how we like to be treated". The management focuses on team work, trust, respect, listening, supporting and simple gestures like saying thank you are considered important. They encourage sharing knowledge and experience. The senior managers are encouraged to be on the shop floor and spend time with the employees, to get a first-hand feel of their problems and concerns. The organization values workforce diversity and one in five people are over the age of fifty. In fact they have people from the age of 16 to over 70 amongst their employees. Employee motivation is the key to low labour turnover, high productivity, and high level of customer satisfaction. Quality service is a major challenge in the retail sector. Job satisfaction, productivity and motivation are interrelated issues. Motivation is required at all levels within an organization and the happy feeling or motivation that an employee experiences is task-related. Hence it is not merely the pay factor that is the motivator. 1.2 Rationale for the study An internal communication study was conducted at Tesco, UK in 1985 which revealed that staff behavioural issues were having a negative influence on the company’s efforts in the supermarket-battle for customers (Tuffrey, 2003). Tesco had taken immediate corrective steps and empowered the staff to address customer problems quickly and directly by removing the lengthy customer service procedures and hierarchies. The staff was empowered to replace the products and reimburse the customers without referring to the supervisors. They were encouraged to deliver service based on their expectations if they were customers. This change led to phenomenal growth in customer satisfaction and productivity. Even today Tesco is believed to be giving its employees a sense of “ownership” (Mitchell, 2007). HR practices are the key to both short-term survival and long-term growth of an organization (O’Reilly, 2009). Since knowledge is fragmented, it would be interesting to understand the motivators that Tesco has been using to keep its staff motivated. People are motivated by different factors. While for some pay is important, according to the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, once the basic physiological needs are satisfied, other needs such as self-actualization arise in a human being. This study would help to understand the needs that arise in a human being as they rise up the career ladder and how the satisfaction of needs works as a motivator. The out come of this research could benefit other retailers who have been finding difficulty in managing their human resources. 1.3 Research Aims and Objectives Tesco has been successful in motivating its employees and being able to meet its customer needs. Knowledge on the subject is fragmented and this study would allow a deeper insight into managing human resources in the retail sector. With the explicit aim of understanding the contribution of employee motivation towards customer satisfaction at Tesco, the objective of this study would be: 1. To review the current literature on the motivation techniques applied by the retail sector. 2. To survey the level of motivation among the employees. 3. To interview the store managers at Tesco to determine the techniques they employ in motivating the staff. 4. To determine the extent to which employee motivation translates into customer satisfaction. 2. Literature Review 2.1 Purpose of Literature Review Literature Review helps to understand the past literature on the subject and what needs to be done to obtain the desired results. It helps to understand even the method of study that has been used and assess the method of study to be used for the new research. New perspective can be gained by gaining insight into the past studies. To conduct a sophisticated research, a thorough, substantive and sophisticated literature review becomes essential (Boote & Bellie, 2005). Literature review is a quick and easy method to understand different perspectives over different time periods. It helps to access what the current practices should be on the subject of study. Thus, literature on various issues would be looked into – on the different theories of motivation, and on the practices applied by different retailers globally with special focus on the UK retailers. Literature review would then help to formulate the research strategy, the research design and the research instruments. 2.2 Literature Review Confidence in the security and stability of many high street dealers has been declining and the employers are having tough time reassuring their staff of the value of their motivation plans (Sullivan, 2009). This is necessary because staff on the shop floor play a leading role in retail success (Weener, 2006). Motivated staff performs better according to the International Society of Performance Improvements Incentive, contends Weener. Motivated staff stays longer and deliver better results. However, the retail sector is lagging behind when it comes to motivation. The retail sector in fact has reduced its motivational activities as trading has been poor. Retailers have compromised believing that motivation costs money but it does not have to necessarily cost the organization to motivate the staff. Happy staff make happy customers, is what is generally accepted by most organizations (Mitchell, 2007). However, a deeper study revealed that managers blindly believed it and made no efforts to actually determine if staff motivation and customer satisfaction are linked together. A study was conducted through 10,000 interviews (of which 50% were retail staff and 50% customers at these retail stores) at 13 retail organizations in the UK. These included retail financing, food retailing, telecommunications and insurance. The staff were questioned on how satisfied they were and whether they would recommend someone to work in that organization. The study revealed a positive correlation in some units between happy staff and happy customers but in others the staff was happy while the customers were not or the customers were happy but not the staff. Hence such generalized conclusions cannot be drawn that happy staff make happy customers. The staff in the retail sector leave when they unhappy in their jobs (Love, Faughnan, &Wright, 2007). Unhappiness in the staff can arise due to lack of training and career opportunities or prospects for higher pay. Through career growth and development plans, it is essential to make the staff feel that they are integral part of the firm. It also helps to keep them focused while they realize that heir efforts are being recognized. Proactive measures have to be taken to retain the staff because retention is a low priority in the retail sector. According to Ryan and Deci (2000), “motivation produces”. However, money is not the only motivating factor and other factors such as recognition, praise, and an employer’s willingness to listen and be sympathetic are more valuable than money (Community Pharmacy, 2001). The alertness of the manager is important because through observation he knows when to motivate whom. Listening to the employees is the key to successful motivation. Empowerment, engagement and involvement are all keys to motivation. There are other opinions on motivation which suggest that motivation has to come from within and it cannot be enforced (Kanji, 1995). To deal with people is to deal with their mind and it is important to motivate them. Getting people to work requires a great deal of tact and motivation is one such tact. Herzberg proposes that an employee’s motivation is understood when his attitude is understood. Motivators according to him include recognition, achievement, career advancement and the work itself. Retailers such as Wal-Mart demonstrate that the people in the company make the difference in all that they did. This creates a spirit of teamwork and this only a few retail companies can boast of (Mel, 1995). The ability to motivate is a rare gift but effective in team building. Every company in the retail sector wishes to say that their people are friendly, enthusiastic, loyal and have good work ethics. For effective team building, hiring and promoting the right people is necessary. It is not merely the experience and the educational background of the candidate that matters. He must have happy disposition and all the requirements have to be communicated to the candidate at the time of recruitment. Performance appraisals influence the motivation level of employees. It is believed that bureaucracy still influences current attitude and the managers are not a homogenous group (Mathews & Redman, 1997). Managers tend to rely more on third-party complains than on direct interrogation of the employee concerned. This needs investigation at Tesco to determine to what extent performance appraisals influence the motivation and attitude of the employees. The literature review thus reveals that the characteristics of both the employer and the employee are important in being able to have a happy, motivated staff. The managers or the employers must be able to identify and recruit the right people. Hence the process starts at the time of recruitment and not after. Motivation is necessary especially for the people that have direct interaction with the customers and hence to have happy, satisfied customers it is essential to have a happy motivated staff although research suggests that happy staff does not necessarily mean satisfied customers. Moreover, pay is not the only motivating factor. Besides, job satisfaction level can differ across workers and if job satisfaction differs then the attitude of workers become important to ascertain what causes motivation. Job satisfaction can also be related to the role that a worker is supposed to execute which means whether the task has been properly outlined by the supervisor. In other words, role clarity is important. Based on the literature review the methodology for research would be designed. 3. Research methodology 3.1 Research Philosophy The process of research helps to establish a theory through a body of knowledge. The process of research depends on several factors such as the subject, the time at hand, the expenses involved but nevertheless, every research has certain characteristics – it is a process of inquiry and investigation; it is methodical and increases knowledge (Amaratunga et al., 2002). While there are several ways in which research can be conducted, generally positivism (quantitative with hypothesis testing), interpretivism (qualitative with hypothesis generalizations) are used. Each method has its own advantages and disadvantages. It is not enough to know about the research philosophy; equally important is to adopt the right research methodology. The researcher must understand the difference between the two, as it allows one to take an informed decision about the method to be used for that particular research (Knox, 2004). The researcher can also take into account the constraints of the method employed to conduct the research. 3.2 Research Approach Both the inductive (qualitative) and the deductive (quantitative) methods have their own advantages and disadvantage which is why many suggest a mixed or a balanced approach. The qualitative method allows prolonged contact with the field of study. Since primary data needs to be collected on the strategies used by Tesco and the attitude of the employees at Tesco, the inductive or the qualitative method of research would be chosen. Data would be collected from different stakeholders namely, the employees, the customers and the managers through different instruments. 3.3 Research Strategy A case study approach would be adopted which is the qualitative method (inductive) of research. Case study approach is ideal as it provides holistic, in-depth investigation (Tellis, 1997). In this case a case-study approach is ideal because data needs to be collected from different sources and through different research instruments. Basically different view points or perspectives have to be compared to verify the authenticity of the different versions. Case studies permit empirical investigations which is essential for this study. Detailed knowledge about a particular case can be collected. Since this study concerns the attitude that employees have towards their job, and as job satisfaction is related to the level of motivation, the study would use the attitude theory as the framework for research. Attitude has a pervasive effect and hence it would reflect on how the employees behave when the managers try to motivate them. Thus this study will be able to gain insight on how the changes have taken place at Tesco UK and how it has influenced the attitude of the employees towards the task, towards the organization as well as towards the customers. A lot of literature is available through academic journals portals such as ProQuest, Emerald and EBSCO Host. Search would also me made through renowned search engines to get the latest information. 3.4 Data collection For the case study, data would be collected through different instruments. Survey questionnaires would be distributed to the employees with questions that deal with how satisfied they are with the task, with the pay, with their supervisors and their colleagues. Apart from the questionnaires, focus-group interviews would be taken of a few groups from different stores to facilitate venting of emotions of those empoyees that may be unable to express clearly through the questionnaires. This is because it is known that while in groups many tend to speak out which they may be unable to express otherwise. Customers would also be approached at a few of the Tesco stores to find out their satisfaction level and the experience of purchase. This would help to corroborate with the findings through the employees. Thirdly, the managers would be interviewed to determine how they try to change the attitude of the employees and motivate them. It is important to investigate what Tesco has been using while recruitment of new people at their stores. This requires interviews of the managers as well as the staff. They would be questioned on their approach, on the training and career growth, on the group cohesiveness, their efforts towards team development, their approach in the recruitment process and their overall motivation strategy. Data thus collected from three different groups through four mechanisms would help to gain an insight on how different categories of people function. Thus data would be collected as follows: a. The staff – through survey questionnaires and Focus-group interviews b. The customers – through short individual interviews on the shop floor c. The managers – through individual in-depth interviews. Efforts would be made to probe on their level of morale and how they feel about the company, namely Tesco. They would also be questioned on mutual trust and respect apart from job satisfaction and management support. Work condition is another important criterion because one of the motivation theories suggests that the work environment serves to motivate or de-motivate the employees. 3.4 Sampling As far as the employees are concerned, efforts would be made to distribute as many questionnaires as possible. No sampling procedure would be followed for this. For the focus group interviews of the employees, at least a total of 4 groups would be chosen across the stores. Random sampling would be used for interviewing the customers. On holidays and special occasions, across 4 different days and across 10 stores, at least 5 different customers would be interviewed. These would be brief but open-ended in case the customers want to add some comment or observation. This would also provide an opportunity to observe the attitude of the employees towards the customers at the shop floor. At least two managers from 5 stores would be interviewed. Prior appointments would be sought to ensure compliance. This would be based on convenience sampling as this would save on time and costs to obtain the interview data (StatPac, 1997). 3.5 Data analysis Data reduction procedure would be followed for the literature review while common computer software would be used to analyze the empirical data collected. 3.6 Reliability and Validity The reliability and the validity of the data have to be ensured. Reliability can be assured as the sources through which data will be collected are reliable. The following are some of the academic journals that can be relied upon: Gallagher, W. E., & Einhorn, H. J. (1976). Motivation Theory and Job Design. The Journal of Business, 49 (3), pp. 358-373. Kanji, G. K. (1995). Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 6:4, 427 - 434 Hanover, D. (2000). Channel conflict? Put a lid on it. Sales and Marketing Management. New York: Mar 2000. Vol. 152, Iss. 3; pg. 86, 1 pgs Mukherjee, A., & Malhotra, N. (2006). Does role clarity explain employee-perceived service quality? International Journal of Service Industry Management. 17 (5), 444-473 Tietjen, M. A., & Myers, R. M. (1998). Motivation and job satisfaction, Management Decision, 36 (4), 226–231 Tumbull-Turski, D. K., & Kleiner, B. H. (1999). Managing human behaviour in the specialist retailer industry. Management Research News. Patrington: 1999. Vol. 22, Iss. 2/3; pg. 47, 4 pgs Data is said to be valid when the same results come up in the same circumstances even if different people have researched on the subject. This would be available once the research is completed. 4. Ethical concerns Literature is freely available to anyone who has access to libraries and online databases. As far as collection of empirical data is concerned, the participants would be informed in advance of the purpose of the research. They would also be assured on anonymity of their responses and the destruction of the data collected once the data and been compiled. A drop box would be kept for the survey forms to be dropped so that anonymity is maintained. They would not be asked give their names and nor would anyone be coerced into answering what they do not wish to answer. No audio recordings would be taken of any interviews and only hand-notes would be kept to reassure the respondents. Prior permission for the interviews and the survey would be obtained from the organization. Reference: Amaratunga, D., Baldry, D., Sarshar, M., & Newton, R. (2002). Quantitative and Qualitative Research in the built environment: application of mixed research approach, Work Study, 15 (1), 17-31 Booth, S., & Hamer, K. (2007). Labour turnover in the retail industry. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management. 35 (4), 289-307 Boote, D. N., & Beile, P. (2005). Scholars Before Researchers: On the Centrality of the Dissertation Literature Review in Research Preparation, Educational Researcher, 34 (6), 3–15 Community Pharmacy. (2001). Becoming Mr Motivator. Tonbridge: Mar 15, 2001. pg. 6 Kanji, G. K. (1995). Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 6:4, 427 - 434 Knox, K. (n.d.). A Researcher’s Dilemma - Philosophical and Methodological Pluralism, Retrieved online 24 October 2009 from http://www.ejbrm.com/vol2/v2-i2/vol2-issue2-art7-knox.pdf Love, E., Faughnan, A., & Wright, R. (2007). Personnel poachers. Supply Management. London: Oct 18, 2007. Vol. 12, Iss. 21; pg. 21, 1 pgs Mathews, B. P., & Redman, T. (1997). The attitudes of service industry managers towards upward appraisal. Career Development International, 2 (1), 46–53 Mel, R. (1995). The dynamics of team building. Chain Store Age. New York: Dec 1995. Vol. 71, Iss. 12; pg. 146, 1 pgs Mitchell, A. (2007). In the pursuit of happiness The long-held premise that happy staff make happy customers is not backed up by hard evidence. Financial Times. London (UK): Jun 14, 2007. pg. 14 Obenzinger, H. (2005), What can a literature review do for me? Retrieved online 24 October 2009 from http://www.stanford.edu/dept/undergrad/urp/PDFLibrary/writing/LiteratureReviewHandout.pdf O’Reilly, N. (2009). Tesco HR director Therese Procter: exclusive interview and video. Retrieved online 24 October 2009 from http://www.personneltoday.com/articles/2009/07/27/51549/tesco-hr-director-therese-procter-exclusive-interview-and-video.html Ryan, R. M., & Deci. E. L. (2000). Self-Determination Theory and the Facilitation of Intrinsic Motivation, Social Development, and Well-Being, American Psychological Association, 55 (1), 68-78 StatPac. (1997). Sampling Methods. Retrieved online 24 October 2009 from http://www.statpac.com/surveys/sampling.htm Sullivan, N. (2009). MOTIVATION: Just the ticket. Employee Benefits. London: May 2009. pg. 37 Tellis, W. (1997). Application of a Case Study Methodology. Retrieved online 24 October 2009 from http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR3-3/tellis2.html Tuffrey, M. (2003). Good Companies, Better Employees. Retrieved online 24 October 2009 from https://www.centrica.com/files/reports/2006cr/files/GoodCompaniesBetterEmployees.pdf Weener, T. (2006). MOTIVATION ON THE SHOP FLOOR. Incentive Business. London: Jun/Jul 2006. pg. 14, 2 pgs Read More