The effect of remuneration on productivity an appraisal of primark London - Research Proposal Example

?Table of Contents Introduction 2 2. Background………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….3 3. Literature Review…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………5 4. Research Objective……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..9 5. Research Questions…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….9 6. Research Methodology…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….10 7. Interview Approach……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………10 8. Data Collection…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..10 9. Sample Size………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..11 10. Data Analysis……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………11 11. Time Table……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….11 12. Appendix: Questionnaire……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….13 13. References……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..15 The effect of remuneration on productivity: an appraisal of Primark London Introduction Remuneration can be defined as the process of making an employee motivated by offering him a compensation or benefit. It is basically the gains he gets from the employers in exchange for services he performs in the workplace. It is a great way to increase the morale of an employee and boosting his performance level by keeping him motivated toward the job (Ventrice, 2009). Employee remuneration is a way to promote the well being of an employee by raising his status through paying salary to him in return for the services he provides for the employer. Employee remuneration can be characterized into two parts by naming them as time rate and piece rate method. The time rate method is characterized by measuring the time that worker spends on the job whereas piece rate method is related to the unit productivity as seen by the input given by employee to produce output (Baye, 2005). There are many advantages of time rate method of employee remuneration as it leads to producing quality products within a given time frame and the compensation is provided to employees keeping in view the time they spend on the job. For instance, the salary can be fixed based on hourly, weekly or monthly basis. Here the emphasis is more on the quality than quantity and supervision is tight as compared to piece rate method. It is a good method to make a new employee learn the basics of job without caring for the amount of salary he attains as it is based on the time spent on the task. However, the piece rate method is characteristic of the inputs the employee puts in to produce a specified number of outputs. In this type of method, an employee is more focused with quantity than quality and he is not being placed under strict supervision as he has just to produce the specified number of products at his pace. It is a good way to increase motivation among employees to strive for better pay by producing more outputs (Abrams, 2003). There are number of factors that influence employee remuneration which include morale, motivation and team cohesion. Firstly, it increase motivation in employees by giving them salary and other fringe benefits. It keeps the motivation level increased in employees considerably by offering chances of promotion and increasing rewards and bonuses. It is important to mention that remuneration is not necessarily monetary-based rather it can take the form of recognition and praises (James, 2010). Secondly, it boosts the morale of a person by providing him compensations and benefits and making the employee feel satisfied with his job. Thirdly, it is an effective method of producing team cohesion by assigning a single goal to team members that could be achieved only by putting collective efforts by each team member. It therefore encourages employees to work efficiently toward the benefit of whole team. Thus remuneration is an effective way to increase productivity in a workplace by focusing on several aspects described above. Background: The Brand Primark London Primark London is a famous brand originated in London and has its employees all around the world providing outputs for the organization. Primark is a retailer in clothes and footwear made for men, women and children (Symon et al, 2000). There are 215 retailer stores under the brand Primark in Europe. The employee pool is selected from diverse cultures around the world providing equal opportunities to everyone. The main employee workforce comes from UK, India, Bangladesh and China. The employees are offered competitive salaries and exciting packages to keep them motivated. In addition, they are given a variety of benefits such as 20 to 25 days holidays, health insurance, flexible timings and schedule and bonus schemes. The more benefits are given to employees as they become senior employees in the organization. The productivity growth rate of Primark London is high owing to its remuneration packages (Ghemawat, 2010). Primark London is a worldwide recognized brand with products comprising of style with affordable prices. Therefore the company is running on a low-cost strategy with stylized products offered at branded outlets in various parts of the world. The brand is representative of a famous chain of stores that is located in the Europe with competitive products (Thomas, 2009). The stores are famous around the world as they have good quality products which one can easily purchase at reasonable prices. The main feature of their business is following business ethics with providing equal job opportunities as well as chances of promotion to people belonging to different parts of the world. The practices of this organization are also ethical in the type of manufacturing and production methods adopted by this firm. The firm also takes into consideration the environment by using environment-friendly procedures and techniques (Ghemawat, 2010). The appraisal of Primark London can be done on the basis of the remuneration of employees working here. It is a process of providing compensation to workers in return for the service they provide to an employer. There are competitive salaries and job benefits that are offered to employees (Ireland and Hoskisson, 2008). The type of remuneration involves motivating workers by a number of means. It involves attractive bonuses and opportunities to advance ones career in this organization. The holidays are offered to employees with several bonuses and health insurance packages available for a number of managerial posts. However, there have been issues regarding unethical practices of subcontractors of Primark in India which employed children and paid them for working for Primark. Somehow, Primark has taken serious note of child labor and such instances have been avoided by taking serious steps in this regard. Primark offers its people an environment where everyone is valued for the work they are doing and nobody is discriminated on the base of gender, race or culture. People are also provided opportunities to explore their potential by job rotations and giving them flexible hours to work on. The employee turnover rate is low and people are mostly satisfied with their job. The employee remuneration has led to increasing productivity in Primark London that is one of the best sold brands in Europe (Grant, 2010). This research will basically deal with remuneration and its impact on productivity of employees. Employee motivation is highly dependent on the reward and the regard they get for their services they perform. As it is a broad topic the study will be focused only on Primark London. Literature Review Productivity is a process of making use of resources in an efficient manner with achieving the goal of effectively as well. The resources that an organization has in order to help the management and employees achieve its targets and goals are of many types. The resources can be tangible or intangible assets for the firm which could be in material form or in the form of human labor. The tangible assets or resources are those that consist of land, building, equipments and tools, money and other material resources that are used to help the organization in achieving its goals. However, the intangible resources consist of human labor and use of intellect and better strategies by firm’s management in producing outputs. In short, productivity can be explained as the ratio of outputs produced keeping in view the needs and demands for the outputs. In other words, it is amount of supply provided with respect to the quantity demanded (Berkowitz, et. al., 1996). In order to gain productivity it is important to take into consideration several aspects. Firstly, it is very important to determine the demands, needs and preferences of customers so as to help the firm in producing those kinds of products that are in demand. Secondly, the creation of a plan is integral to determine which things to do in order to fulfill organizational goals. Thirdly, after the initial plan is made for the organization, an attempt is brought to execute the plan. It is done by implementing the aspects of the plan and the things decided upon in the initial plan made for the organization. Then the time limit for goals is decided to assess the time expected for each task to take in its completion. Afterwards, the necessary resources are collected and provided for the implementation of the task in order to achieve a certain aim. Now as the plan is executed, the process is monitored for follow-up to ensure the work is going according to the plan. If in case any deviation from the plan occurs, the plan is revised to make things work in an improved manner (Ventrice, 2009). Productivity plays an important role in increasing the status of people in terms of improving the economic conditions of a country as a whole. Therefore, it is set as a main goal for many organizations. There are many ways to improve productivity among which employee remuneration is one. It is a way to provide compensations to the employees in exchange for the work they do for the organization. Remuneration can be of two types one is time rate method and the other is piece rate method. Both of these methods employ different approaches to help the organization in achieving its goals and as result improve productivity. Compensations can be in the form of salary raise, bonuses or other monetary benefits to psychological motivators as giving praise, recognition and acknowledging the work of an employee. All these ways improve productivity of a firm by keeping its employees motivated (Silverstein, 2007). Remuneration is a method in which people who works for a particular employer or an organization gets something in return for their services. There are many ways in which employees can be paid back for their services. For instance, they can be given money in the form of salary or they can be provided with bonuses in addition to pay. However, employees can also be given psychological benefits by fulfilling their needs to gets recognized and get their work valued and acknowledged in the firm. In short there are number of things that can be used to motivate different people keeping in view their individual differences. Remuneration can be done by means of two basic methods named as piece rate and time rate methods. Both of them have their advantages and drawbacks. In time rate method as the name indicates people are given salaries on the basis of time spent on the task with no special focus on the quantity being produced by them. On the other hand, piece rate method is associated with quantity produced by employees (Baye, 2005). There are various factors on which remuneration produces its effects such as motivation, morale and team cohesion. Employees get motivated by remuneration and their morale increases which leads to improvement of their work in teams. Remuneration plays an important role in increasing productivity of organizations by imparting the right spirit in employees to make them more productive. Productivity can be defined as the process that helps an organization in achieving its goals by effective and efficient use of its resources. It can be achieved by making a plan in an organization that lists down the resources, time span, goals and ways to achieve organizational goals. Productivity is an important process that is a significant indicator of the economic success of an organization and is mostly included in the overall goals of a firm. Productivity can be increased by taking care of human resources and managing them well. It can also be done effectively through remuneration methods (Silverstein, 2007). Primark London is famous retailer that has its stores across Europe and is a manufacturer of clothing and footwear for men, women and children. The company is based on ethical values and provides equal chances to all of its employees to work with them and advance in their careers. The company’s manufacturer plants are located in different parts of the world such as India, China, Bangladesh, Turkey and United Kingdom (Mathis and Jackson, 2010). The company is highly ethical and does not take into consideration unethical practices. The company offers competitive salaries and remuneration packages for its employees to keep them motivated and focused toward their work. They are provided with not only material benefits but also are given chances to advance through giving them psychological benefits. The psychological benefits can be given in the form of praise and making the environment of work friendly and accommodative for the employees. Thus remuneration of employees at Primark London plays an integral role in increasing productivity. Research Objectives The objective of this research is to gain an insight into the importance of remuneration and its impact over people who are working for any organization. Remuneration has a direct impact over employee motivation. The basic aim of this research is to study the same. The aim is to see the results that a company gains by offering proper remuneration. The results will give an insight into the existing level of employee satisfaction and will also provide some idea about future plans that should be made. The additional objectives of this research are: 1. To gauge the existing level of employee satisfaction at Primark London 2. To judge the importance of Primark London Remuneration policy in existing remuneration policy 3. To study the factors contributing to existing remuneration policy 4. To investigate the effect of remuneration over performance in Primark London Research Questions Following three are the major research questions in this proposal: A study of impact of remuneration on employee morale and satisfaction A study of factors that lead to creation of certain elements in remuneration policy Analysis of factors that can improve the morale Research Methodology Research methodology and Research design are integral to successful completion of any research project (Anderson, 1986). This research will be basically an exploratory research. The research objectives bring forward a lot of questions which need answers through exploration thus this type of research will be best suited for finding answers to all these questions. A lot of secondary data will be used for this research. All data collected for this research will be kept safe and will not be misused. The data collected through year books and through primary data collection will be referenced accordingly. Names of the participants who will be filling out data collection questionnaire for this research will be kept confidential. If during the course of this research the researcher finds any confidential information regarding the company, it will not be misused. Interview Approach For finding some answers about existing situation in Primark London, interviews will be conducted by some data will be collected by the researcher through a sample questionnaire. This type of data collection is called as primary data collection (Cassell, 2003). Primary data is important in this case as the researcher needs to know the existing level of satisfaction from the employees. A Questionnaire will be as suitable tool in this case. Sample for this data collection procedure will be selected to carefully represent the whole set of employees at Primark London. Data Collection This research will be based on a lot of secondary data which will be collected through journals, year books and other published materials. Secondary data is the data which is already published and collected by someone and is used as it is by the secondary user (Biggam, 2008). This research will be partly qualitative and partly quantitative. There are some aspects as mentioned in the research objectives which will be studied in a qualitative manner which will be later converted to quantitative matter for making it easy to understand. Some data will be collected directly in quantitative manner thus making it partly qualitative and partly quantitative study. Sample Size A sample of 30 people will be selected who are either employed with Primark, London or have worked with them in the past. Data Analysis Data will be analyzed by simple statistical techniques. Data will be organized and properly classified to find percentages. Time Table Every research needs a lot of planning. A researcher must have his or her timeline ready before starting research. A. Time Table Step 1: Planning the research (4 Weeks) Study of relevant material Narrowing down the topic Collection of thoughts Scheduling Step 2: Data Collection (2 Weeks) Secondary Data Collection Primary data collection Compilation and classification of data Data Analysis Step 3: Report Writing (4 Weeks) Writing Introduction and literature review Analysis of data Conclusion Step 4: Editing of Report (2 Weeks) Editing of the work as per supervisor’s requirements B. Risk assessment While working on a research it is important that its risk assessment is carried out properly. For this project the most important risk associated is that the researcher might not be able to get access to all required information to find out the answers to required questions. Appendix: Questionnaire: Q1: How long have you been working at Primark, London? 6 months-1 year 2-5 years 5 years and above Q2: Are you satisfied with your company? Very satisfied Satisfied Neutral Dissatisfied Very dissatisfied Q3: How would you rank the company’s remuneration policies? Very satisfying Satisfying Neutral Dissatisfying Very dissatisfying Q4: Do you think your company treats all the employees fairly? Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree Q5: How do you rate the company’s salary structure? Very satisfying Satisfying Neutral Dissatisfying Very dissatisfying Q6: How do you rate the relationship between your performance and the amount of compensation you receive? Very satisfying Satisfying Neutral Dissatisfying Very dissatisfying Q7: Do you think that the company remuneration policy helps attract and retain high performing employees and increase their productivity? Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree Q8: Do you think that the benefits you receive are enough to keep you motivated at work? Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree Q9: Do you think that the benefits play an important role in the formulation of team cohesion? Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree Q10: What are the three things that you feel needs to be improved the most in the company’s remuneration policy? References: Abrams, R. (2003) The Successful Business Plan: Secrets and Strategies, The Planning Shop, Palo Alto, CA. Pp. 186-189 Anderson, P.F. (1986) ‘On method in consumer research: a critical relativist perspective’, Journal of Consumer Research. 13(September) pp. 155–73. Baye, MR (2005) Managerial Economics and Business Strategy, McGraw Hill Higher Education, Columbus, OH. Berkowitz, E., Kerin, R., Hartley, S. and Rudelius, W. (1996) Study guide for use with Marketing. McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Chicago IL USA. Pp. 545-549 Biggam, J. (2008) Succeeding with Your Masters Dissertation: A Practical Step-by-Step Handbook. Buckingham, GBR: Open University Press. Cassell, C. (2006) Qualitative Methods in Management Research. Bradford, GBR: Emerald Group Publishing Ltd. Ghemawat, P.E. (2010) Strategy and the Business Landscape, Prentice Hall, New Jersey. Pp. 66-67 Grant, R.M. (2010) Contemporary Strategy Analysis, Wiley, New Jersey. Pp. 471-473 Ireland, R.D. and Hoskisson, R.E. (2008) Understanding Business Strategy: Concepts and Cases. South-Western College Publishers. Pp. 265-268 James, N. [no date] Qualitative Research Methods[Online]. Available at: http://wilderdom.com/OEcourses/PROFLIT/Class6Qualitative1.htm [Accessed: 22 November 2010]. Mathis, R. and Jackson, J. (2010) Human Resource Management. South Western College Publication. Silverstein, B. (2007) Best Practices: Motivating employees: Bringing out the best in your people. Harper Paperbacks. Symon, G., Cassell, C. & Dickson, R. (2000) ‘Expanding our research and practice through innovative research methods’, European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology. 9 (4), pp. 1-6. Thomas, K. W. (2009) Intrinsic Motivation at work: What really drives employee engagement. Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Ventrice, C (2009) Make Their Day! Employee recognition that works. Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Read More