Emdv8066 Research Project And Motivation Assessment Answers

Topic: Case Study of Tesco Supermarket

Is understanding individual employee motivation important for business organisation or reward for their effort is sufficient?

Introduction

Understanding individual employee motivation, and whether the reward for their effort is important for any organization. In actuality, organizations, despite their sizes, tend to be concerned with the need for the creation of strong and positive relationships with their employees (Furlich 2016, p. 18). Employees, on the other hand, tend to have what Lee and Raschke (2016, p. 163) would call competing needs, which are propelled by certain motivators. Some employees are motivated by rewards, while others find motivation in security and achievement, fair treatment, fair pay, and safe working conditions (Ali & Ahmed 2009, p. 270). Overall and as available empirical evidence would confirm employee motivation results in better organizational performance (Lee and Raschke 2016, p. 162). With the above introduction in mind, the paper will seek to understand the importance of employee motivation in the business, and whether the reward that employees get tallies their effort. In the bid to put the task into perspective, the proposal will seek to look at Tesco Supermarket as the case study for the topic presented above.

Research Question

The research question that will propel the study in question will be as stated below:

Is Understanding individual employee motivation important for business organisation or reward for their effort is sufficient? A Case Study of Tesco Supermarket

Research Aims

The research aims of the study are as presented below:

1. To identify the importance of the understanding of employee motivation in the business organization, and whether employees’ rewards for their effort is sufficient.
2. To look into the application of employee motivation in Tesco Supermarkets.

Research Objectives

The research objectives of the study will consider the following issues;

1. To identify the definition of motivation as established by researchers in literature
2. To introduce the concept of theory and to develop a theoretical framework with insight drawn from literature, when looking at the topic of motivation in the work setting
3. To determine the need for understanding employee motivation and whether employee rewards are sufficient while using the Tesco Supermarket as the case study
4. To provide recommendations for the Tesco supermarket, which can also be applied to other organizational settings

Literature Review

It is essential to understand that a significant amount of research exists, which revolve around the topic of employee motivation. Majority of the studies, as established by Aworemi, Abdul-Azeez and Durowoju (2011, p. 227) tend to address how motivation techniques can be adopted by organizations, in their quests for achieving their desired goals. The section will provide an outline of how the understanding of the relevance of individual employee motivation in an organization, and the sufficiency of the rewards that is offered to employees for their efforts, has developed over the past decade. Academic journals published between 2007 and 2017 will be analyzed. The review will be organized into the themes presented below;

The major themes that are of interest are listed below:

• Definition of Employee Motivation
• The Role of Individual Motivation in the Organization
• Rewards that are Offered to Employees in the Organization and their Sufficiency
• A Peek into the Future of Individual Employee Motivation

The aforementioned themes will seek to shed light on the state of the art of the topic in question.

Theoretical Framework

Motivation theories will form the back bone of the study, particularly in the pursuit to understand employee motivation. The paper will introduce selected motivation theories that the researcher considers to be fundamental to the study. The theories will consider the following.

The Maslow’s Need-hierarchy Theory: The theory argues that lower level needs require satisfaction, before the higher level ones, which would in turn motivate employees (Gagné & Deci 2005, p. 343).

The Vroom’s Theory: Attempts to confirm that the effort that an employee puts in his work will lead to a increased performance which can either result in positive or negative rewards. Positive rewards yield motivation and the vice versa is true for negative rewards (Ramlall 2004, p. 56).

Methodology

A qualitative approach will be used in the study. Employment of a qualitative approach would allow the researcher to gain insight into the understanding of how individual employee motivation is important for business organization or how the reward for employee effort is sufficient. The data collection instruments will involve the use of interviews and focus groups on selected Tesco Supermarkets employees, and the review of the company’s documents and reports. Random sampling would be employed in the employee selection.

Research Design and Method

A qualitative research design will be utilized in the study. Qualitative studies are essential when it comes to understanding a phenomenon of interest, as far as experiences are concerned (Research Design Service n.d, p. 1). A case study of Tesco Supermarkets was employed in the study.

Ethics

In line with information presented in the Ethics Guide Book (n.d, p. 1), the following elements will be adhered to by the researcher;

Promotion of quality and research integrity, obtaining of an informed consent from the participants of the study (employees of Tesco Supermarkets), and conferring respect to the confidentiality and anonymity of the participants. Additionally, allowance of voluntary participation, avoidance of harm to the participants, and maintenance of independence of the research will be upheld to the latter.

Communicating the Results

Results will be communicated through the presentation of a formal report, which will display the case of Tesco’s Supermarkets. Visual aids that will constitute the use of graphs, charts, tables and pictures will be put to use in the display of data analysis.

Significance of Research

The research will add to the body of literature on the need for understanding individual employee motivation. The recommendations that will be identified from the study will confer critical managerial implications to organization managers.

Timeline

The expected timeline for the study is as is portrayed in the Gant chart displayed in the Appendix A.

References

Ali, R. and Ahmed, M.S., 2009. The impact of reward and recognition programs on employee’s motivation and satisfaction: an empirical study. International review of business research papers, 5(4), pp.270-279.

Aworemi, J.R., Abdul-Azeez, I.A. and Durowoju, S.T., 2011. An empirical study of the motivational factors of employees in Nigeria. International journal of economics and finance, 3(5), p.227.

Ethics Guide Book. n.d. What needs to go in the ethics statement? Available at: https://www.ethicsguidebook.ac.uk/what-needs-to-go-in-the-ethics-statement-20

Furlich, S., 2016. Understanding employee motivation through managerial communication using expectancy-valence theory. Journal of Integrated Social Sciences, 6(1), pp.17-37.

Gagné, M. and Deci, E.L., 2005. Self?determination theory and work motivation. Journal of Organizational behavior, 26(4), pp.331-362.

Lee, M.T. and Raschke, R.L., 2016. Understanding employee motivation and organizational performance: arguments for a set-theoretic approach. Journal of Innovation & Knowledge, 1(3), pp.162-169.

Ramlall, S., 2004. A review of employee motivation theories and their implications for employee retention within organizations. Journal of American Academy of Business, 5(1/2), pp.52-63.

Research Design Service. n.d. What is qualitative research? Available at: https://www.rds-sc.nihr.ac.uk/planning-a-study/study-design/qualitative-research-design/