Table of Contents

1. Introduction................................................................................. 2
1.1 Background.................................................................................. 2
1.2 Rationale for study...................................................................... 3
1.3 Research Aims and Objectives.................................................... 3
2. Literature Review........................................................................ 4
3. Research Methodology............................................................... 6
3.1 Framework Attitude Theory........................................................ 6
3.2 Research Approach..................................................................... 6
3.3 Data collection............................................................................ 7
3.4 Sampling...................................................................................... 8
3.5 Data Analysis............................................................................... 9
4. Ethical Concerns.......................................................................... 9
5. Time Table.................................................................................. 9
6. References.................................................................................. 10
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1. Introduction
1.1 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

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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 behavioral 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:

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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
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 Improvement's
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.

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

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(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, and 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

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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 Framework – Attitude Theory
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. It would also reflect how the employees behave with customers because that
attitude is equally important. It would also highlight how the employers/managers
change their attitude towards the employees to alter the motivation strategy. 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. These would be through renowned sources and hence the reliability of
the information is assured.

3.2 Research Approach

While there are several methods through which research is conducted, two that are
most commonly used are the qualitative and the quantitative methods of research.

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Both 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.

A case study approach would be adopted which is the qualitative method 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.

3.3 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
employees 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

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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

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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.

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.

5. Time Table

Oct- Nov- Dec- Jan-

Research
2010 2010 2010 2011
Research proposal
Literature Review
Collecting Data and Related material
Editing and Printing
Consultation with supervisor
Final Draft
Submission

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6. References
 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
 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 Sep 2010 from
http://www.stanford.edu/dept/undergrad/urp/PDFLibrary/writing/LiteratureRev
iewHandout.pdf
 O’Reilly, N. (2009). Tesco HR director Therese Procter: exclusive interview and
video.
Retrieved online 28 Sep 2010 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

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 StatPac. (1997). Sampling Methods.

Retrieved online 29 Sep 2010 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 29 Sep 2010 from
http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR3-3/tellis2.html
 Tuffrey, M. (2003). Good Companies, Better Employees.
Retrieved online 30 Sep 2010 from
https://www.centrica.com/files/reports/2006cr/files/GoodCompaniesBetterEmpl
oyees.pdf
 Weener, T. (2006). MOTIVATION ON THE SHOP FLOOR. Incentive Business.
London: Jun/Jul 2006. pg. 14, 2 pgs

Research Methods for Strategic Managers