Primark started in Ireland in 1969 ( Primark c2011 ) . The company opened its first shop in UK in 1973. As of April 14, 2011 the shop has a sum of 219 subdivisions in assorted states, 151 of which are located in UK. The shop offers purchasers quality merchandises at really low-cost monetary values. Primark credits this to the company ‘s nothing disbursal for advertisement. They attract clients chiefly from client referrals for their merchandises.
Previous surveies stress the function of front-line staff in heightening a company ‘s image. Harmonizing to Coelho, Augusto and Lages ( 2011:32 ) , the quality of service provided by client-facing employees has direct consequence on consumers ‘ experience, satisfaction, trueness and perceptual experience of the company which in bend affects the its public presentation. To pull more clients, companies need to guarantee that their front-line people provide extreme service. However, surveies show that merely 21 % of employees are wholly committed to their occupation ( Haefner 2011: 17 ) . This suggests that company ‘s human assets remain underutilized. To better public presentation and maximise gross, companies need to actuate their employees to be more engaged. Saleem, Mahmood and Mahmood ( 2010:214 ) asserted that the best manner to actuate employees is to maintain them satisfied. Therefore, for an organisation that capitalizes on client trueness and referrals like Primark, optimising their employee satisfaction is of import to guarantee client satisfaction and better company public presentation.
This survey contributes to the literature on employee satisfaction and public presentation. Specifically, it focuses on Primark, a company whose public presentation entirely depends on the ability of client-facing staffs to pull and retain clients. This survey enables the research worker to measure the motive patterns of the organisation ( Primark ) where he is attached with. It besides provides him an chance to use cognition and theoretical constructs learned in the university to a relevant and real-life state of affairs. For Primark, the consequence of the present survey could show information about the impact of the company ‘s motive scheme from the position of the employees. It will offer information about the employees ‘ perceptual experiences about the company ‘s patterns and their motive demands. The company could utilize consequence of the survey to place and turn to spreads between existent patterns and their employees ‘ demands. This could assist them implement appropriate schemes that would better both the staff and the company ‘s public presentation.
1.2. Purposes, aims and research inquiries
This survey aims to measure the impact of motive to the service quality of client-facing staffs of Primark and to the company ‘s public presentation. The research inquiries to be addressed by the survey are:
1. What is the impact of motive to Primark in the UK?
2. How of import is staff motive to the strategic success of Primark in the UK?
3. How motivated are the client-facing staffs of Primark in the UK relation to other retail merchants?
The aims of the survey are:
1. To measure the how motivated Primark ‘s client-facing staffs are.
2. To place spreads between current motive patterns and employee demands.
3. To place how motive is associated with occupation public presentation.
4. To place how motive is associated with employee occupation committedness and engagement.
5. To measure motive of client-facing staffs at Primark relation to the staffs of its rivals.
6. To measure what else Primark can larn from other company in footings of motive.
1.3. Definition
For the intent of this survey, client-facing staffs and front-line employees are interchangeably used to mention to workers who deal straight to the clients.
2. Review of Literature
This paper focuses on the impact of motive non merely on the public presentation of front-line employees but to the organisation as a whole. To look into the subject, this reappraisal includes a treatment of motive and its impact on employee and company public presentations, motive theories relevant to the survey and the deductions of an appropriate motive scheme to Primark.
2.1. Motivation and public presentation
Grant ( 2010:95 ) defines motive as “ the sum of attempt one exerts to carry through the occupation. ” This suggests that a extremely motivated person would exercise more attempt than person who is less motivated. Armstrong ( 2008:34 ) associated it with leading in the sense that it involves act uponing people to accomplish a certain end. Harmonizing to Armstrong, organisations provide assorted sorts of inducements to actuate workers. He identified two sorts of incentives: intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic incentives refer to the factors that are built-in to the occupation and the working environment such as employee duty, liberty and chance while extrinsic incentives are those that are enforced to act upon employees such as wage, publicity and disciplinary actions.
Assorted surveies ( Coelho, et Al. 2011 ; Paswan, Pelton, & A ; True 2005 ) have confirmed the important function played by client-facing employees in heightening company public presentation and profitableness. Front-line staff trade straight with clients and the quality of their service influences the client ‘s satisfaction and trueness. Client-facing staffs are the “ face and the voice ” of the company to the clients ( Jackson & A ; Sirianni 2009:280 ) . DeConinck ( 2011:21 ) observed that some clients trust a company merely because they trust the individual they are covering with. Cadwallader, et Al. ( 2010:219 ) on the other manus found that client-facing staffs non merely lend to the keeping and growing of client base but besides in the publicity of new services. All these observations highlight the important function of front-line employees.
Harmonizing to Saleem, et Al. ( 2010:213 ) , occupation satisfaction is influenced by motive. Thus, companies should put in cognizing their employees every bit much as they do their mark clients ( Dewhurst, Guthridge and Mohr 2010 ) . Career heightening plans such as organisational socialisation ; calling workshops ; reding ; mentoring ; training ; preparation ; and others ( Jackson & A ; Sirianni 2009 ) make employees more satisfied with their occupation, stay with the company and present better service to clients which in bend consequences to more satisfied and loyal clients ( Arndt, Arnold and Landry 2006 ) .
2.2. Motivation theories
Two theories that are relevant to this survey are end theory and anticipation theory. Goal theory by Latham and Locke ( 1979 ) proposed that people who set specific ends are more motivated and execute better ( Armstrong 2008:39 ) . Haefner ( 2011:18 ) related a narrative about a production line where one displacement outperforms the others. Using the productiveness of the best acting displacement as standard, the displacement applied scientist for the low-performing displacement acquire the workers involved in puting a end which is to maximise production. Having a specific end motivated the employees to work together and they were able to carry through it in merely over two hebdomads. This illustration exemplifies the end theory.
The anticipation theory proposed by Porter and Lawler ( 1968 ) claims that persons are motivated if they know how their attempt contributes to their desired result ( Armstrong 2008:39 ) . This theory allows persons to find whether the wages is worth the attempt or non. Armstrong argued that this theory explains why intrinsic motive is frequently more effectual than extrinsic motive. Results of intrinsic incentives are experience-based and persons need to present the needed public presentation or attitude to to the full obtain the wages. Outcomes of extrinsic incentives on the other manus are more specific and persons could easy estimate whether it is worth the attempt or non. A study conducted by Dewhurst, et Al. ( 2010 ) found that non-monetary inducements could be more effectual incentives than hard currency wagess. This construct is confirmed by Laszlo Bock, Google ‘s frailty president of people operations, who observed that Google employees do non remain with the company for the free “ tiffin ” but for the company ‘s ends, work environment and chance for personal growing ( Davenport, Harris & A ; Shapiro 2010:57 ) . This implies that employees consider these wagess worth the clip and attempt required to obtain them.
These two theories contradict each other in the sense that end theory proposes that the higher the attempt needed to accomplish a end the lower the outlook to win while anticipation theory claims that the higher the attempt, the higher the chance to win ( Latham 2007:64 ) . However, Latham argued that this contradiction does non use when covering with a individual work group with similar ends. Since the present survey trades with a individual public presentation group which is the client-facing staffs and one end that is to optimise single public presentation to better company productiveness, utilizing both theories side by side is applicable.
2.3. Deductions of the current survey
This reappraisal has demonstrated that employee motive has a important impact on employee satisfaction and quality of public presentation which straight influences clients ‘ experience, perceptual experience, and trueness to the company. Companies who want to optimise their human assets maintain them motivated utilizing assorted schemes such as implementing specific ends ( end theory ) and offering wagess ( anticipation theory ) . Despite these findings, non all companies have conducted thorough surveies about their organisations. Primark relies on client satisfaction and trueness to market its concern. Based on the old literature, this is extremely correlated with the motive and satisfaction of client-facing staffs. This survey hypothesizes that:
H1: Client-facing employees at Primark UK are extremely motivated.
H2: Client-facing employees at Primark UK are satisfied with their occupation.
Companies like Google, Best Buy and Sysco acknowledge the importance of understanding employees, what makes them productive, motivated and loyal to the company and utilizing this information to increase their “ competitory advantage ” ( Davenport, et Al. 2010:54 ) . For illustration, at Best Buy, survey found that bettering staff service by 0.1 % for each mercantile establishment could increase the company ‘s gross by $ 100,000. Sysco, a company with around 100 mercantile establishments, 51,000 employees, and 400,000 clients, conducted a survey in its assorted mercantile establishments and found that shops with higher employee satisfaction have higher profitableness, lower disbursals, and higher staff and client keeping. This cognition enabled the company to place factors that affect the employees ‘ thrust to execute. The company claimed that by bettering their employee satisfaction, they were able to retain employees and salvage the $ 50 million antecedently spent on the enlisting and preparation of new employees ( Davenport, et Al. 2010:55 ) .
These experiences suggest that Primark could farther heighten its public presentation by understanding its client-facing forces and reference spreads between what the company presently offers in footings of motive and what they need to experience more motivated and execute better. The following hypothesis provinces that:
H3: Bettering the company ‘s motive scheme could better occupation public presentation of client-facing staff.
H4: Bettering the company ‘s motive scheme could better occupation committedness and engagement of client-facing staff.
The fact that Primark is able to execute good despite the deficiency of advertizements attests to the quality of service provided by the company ‘s front-line staffs. To farther measure their competitory advantage, Primark could utilize the public presentation and motive schemes employed by other concerns from the industry as benchmark. This paper hypothesizes that:
H5: Primark ‘s motive scheme is more effectual than those implemented by its rivals.
3. Methodology
This subdivision presents the methodological analysis that will be employed in carry oning this research. It includes methodological attack, research scheme and informations aggregation methods, entree and resource deductions, and action program.
3.1. Methodological attack
This survey will use both qualitative and quantitative methods. Harmonizing to Walliman and Walliman ( 2001:73 ) , research affecting people normally involve the aggregation of qualitative and quantitative information. Uniting the two methods enables the cross-checking of informations ( McNeill & A ; Chapman 2005:24 ) . Quantitative research will be employed to find the profile and features of the respondents and their perceptual experience about the motive patterns in Primark and its rival. This attack is applicable because it enables the aggregation of informations that will non merely stand for the respondents but could besides be summarized, analyzed and inferred to the bigger population ( Kothari, 2008:5 ) . Because of its convenience, this attack would besides enable the inclusion of more respondents.
Qualitative research on the other manus is an appropriate attack as it will assist in placing respondent ‘s positions and perceptual experiences about motive patterns in Primark. It could be used to clear up findings from the quantitative attack ( McNeill & A ; Chapman 2005:24 ) . It provides the research worker an chance to travel deeper and happen replies that could non be obtained utilizing a questionnaire.
3.2. Research scheme and informations aggregation
3.2.1. Instrument
Questionnaires will be used to garner information from the respondents. This method was chosen because of its convenience, seasonableness and easiness to carry on. Questionnaires will be printed out and distributed to respondents ( personally or through mail ) , conducted through phone or sent electronically. Interviews on the other manus will be conducted separately through face-to-face meeting or by phone. Data collected will be synthesized and analyzed. Sample questionnaire and sample interview agenda are provided in Appendix 1 and Appendix 2 severally.
3.2.2. Sample
Participants for the survey are staffs of Primark in Manchester Branch and ( another shop to compare Primark with ) . Non-probability sampling, peculiarly inadvertent or convenience sampling will be used to restrict the population of the survey. This method is chosen because it is easier and less expensive to carry on ( Walliman and Walliman, 2001:167 ) . It enables the aggregation of informations from any possible respondent which is contributing given the clip restraint and agenda of the survey. At least 50 respondents for each shop will be recruited to take part in order to obtain a more diverse representation of the populations.
3.2.3. Dependability, cogency and generalisability
Validity, dependability and generalisability will be ensured to keep the unity of the research. Validity will be ensured by utilizing assorted factors and steps that represents employee motive and their perceptual experience of the company ‘s motive patterns. Reliability will be ensured by utilizing structured and semi-structured questionnaires, bigger and more diverse sample. These will guarantee that the sample accurately represents the population in a manner that retroflexing it would give similar consequences ( McNeill & A ; Chapman 2005:9 ) . Aside from doing the survey dependable, utilizing bigger and more diverse sample besides contributes in vouching generalisability of the research. Statistical consequences obtained from the survey could be inferred to the bigger population which increases the generalisability of the survey further.
3.3. Access and resource deductions
Resources needed for the research could be obtained from the university library. Aside from the information about Primark which is obtained from the company web site, on-line mentions are non included to guarantee the unity of information. Written references to used for the survey are limited to books and diary articles published from 2005 to the present to guarantee the relevancy and seasonableness of information. The research worker ‘s instruction, cognition, accomplishments and entree to information and professional counsel makes him qualified to carry on the present survey. Furthermore, the research worker ‘s connexion with the organisation considered for the survey provides him entree to qualified respondents.
To guarantee that ethical criterions will be followed in carry oning the survey, consent signifiers will be obtained from the university, company and other concerned parties. Since the research involves people, ethical regulations established by British sociologists for sociological research will be observed ( McNeill & A ; Chapman 2005:12-4 ) . The regulation provides that participants should be informed about the nature and intent of the research, they have the right to inquire inquiries and garbage to take part. Merely willing participants will be considered. Last, the privateness of the respondents will be ensured. Participants and their responses will non be disclosed for any intent to guarantee namelessness and confidentiality.
