Impact of Employee Collaboration Tools on Productivity: A Study on Sainsbury's

This research proposal aims to examine the impact of employee collaboration tools as a strategy of workplace transformation in increasing productivity within UK retail industry, with a study on Sainsbury's. The proposal outlines the research objectives, questions, literature sources, activities, timescales, research approach and methodologies, and ethical considerations.

Research proposal

Research Proposal Form
Student Name: ______________________
Proposed Title: ______________________________________________
Section One: Title, objective, responsibilities
Title or working title of the research project
Employee collaboration tools: How they are being deployed and how they are impacting
productivity in sometimes surprising ways.
Introduction
Workplace transformation is a business strategy which helps in improving the skills, tools
and capabilities of the employee and organisation. It also helps in aligning the work and
workers with various digital technology and network. Employee are being aligning with
various tools and network so that productivity can be improved (Nicholas, 2018).
Collaboration tool is the software and apps that helps the organisation and employee to work
together in more effective and efficient manner. for conducting the current investigation, the
chosen business organisation is Sainsbury. Sainsbury is the second largest supermarket
chain in United Kingdom. T was founded in the year 1869 by John James Sainsbury.
Research objectives (e.g what is the question you want to answer?
What do you want to learn how to do? What do you want to find
out?):
Research Aim
To examine the impact of employee collaboration tools as a strategy of workplace
transformation in increasing productivity within UK retail industry: A study on Sainsbury's
Research Objectives
 To analyse different employee collaboration tools used within UK retail industry
during workplace transformation
 To assess the impact of employee collaboration tools in increasing productivity
within Sainsbury's in terms of workplace transformation
 To determine the reasons for adoption of employee collaboration tools within
workplace transformation by Sainsbury's
Research question
 What are different employee collaboration tools used within UK retail industry

during workplace transformation?
 What is the impact of employee collaboration tools in increasing productivity within
Sainsbury's in terms of workplace transformation?
 What are the reasons for adoption of employee collaboration tools within workplace
transformation by Sainsbury's?
Section Two: Reasons for choosing this research project
Reasons for choosing the project (e.g links to other subjects you
are studying, personal interest, future plans, knowledge/skills
you want to improve, why the topic is important):
The main rational behind carrying out the current investigation is to know the detailed
understanding about workplace transformation and about employee collaboration tool. The
current investigation assists in knowing the different collaboration tool used by the
organisation to increase productivity of employee. With the assistance of present
investigation investigator will also get to know the impact of these collaboration tool on
employee productivity. Apart from that in present investigation, investigator will also get to
attain two objectives which are personal and professional (Papagiannidis, Harris and
Morton, 2020). In respect to the personal objective, researcher will have built various
research skill. These skill helps them complete the investigation in systematic manner. On
the other side, with the assistance of professional objective current investigation helps them
to know various tool which a human resource manager can use to improve productivity of
their employee. Thus, the current investigation is significant in knowing the importance of
the topic and to attain dual objective.

Section Three: Literature sources searched
Use of key literature sources to support your research question,
objective or hypothesis:
Different employee collaboration tools used within UK retail industry during workplace
transformation
According to the view of Storey and et. al (2019), in recent dynamic time it is very
important for the organisation to adopt various collaboration tool within their business. This
is because it helps in aligning the worker s with technology as well as helps in increasing
the productivity. The foremost employee collaboration tool used by UK retail sector is file
sharing tool. In this grant is access to the selected employee to transfer the file and provide
access to them. The second tool that is used by the retail sector is video conferencing where
virtual interaction and communication can be made between team members.
Impact of employee collaboration tools in increasing productivity within Sainsbury's in
terms of workplace transformation
As per the opinion of Ammons (2019), employee collaboration tool impact the Sainsbury
productive in positive manner. The foremost impact of employee collaboration tool is that it
improve the performance of the employee by combining work with technology. This helps
in reducing the stress and pressure among the employees. Increasing employee skills and
capabilities is another major impact of employee collaboration tool. As it helps in
developing various skills and capabilities of the employee which they use in their work and
carry out their job in effective manner.
Reasons for adoption of employee collaboration tools within workplace transformation by
Sainsbury's
In the view of Zhao and et. al (2020), employee collaboration tool becomes necessary at the
time when workplace transformation is taking place within Sainsbury. The first reason for
adopting employee collaboration tool is improving the employee performance. So that work
can be done in effective and professional manner. Another need is it improves the
collaboration and engagement of employee with their work and with colleagues. As with
the helps of employee collaboration tool alignment between the employee is being made
which helps them to make effective engagement.
Section Four: Activities and timescales

Activities to be carried out during the research
project (e.g research, development and analysis
of ideas, writing, data collection, numerical
analysis, tutor meetings, production of final
outcome, evaluation, writing the report):
How long this
will take:
Section Five: Research approach and methodologies
What type of research approach and methodologies are you likely
to use and why? What your areas of research will cover:
Research philosophy: There are two types of research philosophies that are positivism and
interpretivism. In the current investigation researcher will be selecting positivism

philosophy. This is because it helps in gathering objective data to understand social world
(Iovino and Tsitsianis, 2020).
Research approach: Deductive and inductive are the two types of research approaches and
as per the present investigation , investigator will be choosing deductive approach. The
main purpose is that it helps in addressing research problem ion quantitative manner.
Research strategy: In the present investigation, researcher will be opting for survey
research strategy. This is because it will accumulate quantitative data from large pool of
applicant in less time and cost (Thomas, 2021).
Research choice: There are three research method which are qualitative, quantitative and
mixed method. According to the current investigation researcher will be opting for
quantitative research method. This is because it helps in gathering and analysing numerical
data for the study. Using this data will be gathered in number which so valid outcome for
the selected research topic.
Data collection: Primary and secondary are the two data collection method. In the current
investigation both primary and secondary data will be gathered to carry the investigation.
With the help of primary data first hand data will be acquired and secondary data source
helps in accumulating previous information. Primary data will be used in data analysis part
and secondary data will be using in literature review in order to compare view of different
authors. The source for collecting primary data will be questionnaire and for secondary data
it will be books, journal, online site etc. data will be analysis through frequency distribution
method (Whicher, Philbin and Aronson, 2018).
Sampling: Probability and non-probability are two sampling technique. As per the current
investigation probability sampling will be selecting so that respondent can be taken out in
fair manner. The sample size will be 30 manager of Sainsbury (Mahuika and Mahuika,
2020).
Comments and agreement from tutor: The learner has
understood the requirements and have made an appropriate
selection.
Agreed: __________
Tutor Signature: ___________

Date ______________
REFERENCES
Books and journal
Nicholas, J., 2018. Lean production for competitive advantage: a comprehensive guide to
lean methods and management practices. Productivity Press.
Papagiannidis, S., Harris, J. and Morton, D., 2020. WHO led the digital transformation of
your company? A reflection of IT related challenges during the
pandemic. International journal of information management. 55. p.102166.
Storey, M.A., and et. al, 2019. Towards a theory of software developer job satisfaction and
perceived productivity. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering. 47(10).
pp.2125-2142.
Ammons, D.N., 2019. Productivity barriers in the public sector. In Public productivity
handbook (pp. 147-173). CRC Press.
Zhao, Z., and et. al, 2020. IoT edge computing-enabled collaborative tracking system for
manufacturing resources in industrial park. Advanced Engineering Informatics. 43.
p.101044.
Iovino, F. and Tsitsianis, N., 2020. The methodology of the research. In Changes in
European energy markets. Emerald Publishing Limited.
Thomas, C.G., 2021. Research methodology and scientific writing. Thrissur: Springer.
Whicher, D., Philbin, S. and Aronson, N., 2018. An overview of the impact of rare disease
characteristics on research methodology. Orphanet journal of rare diseases. 13(1).
pp.1-12.
Mahuika, N. and Mahuika, R., 2020. Wānanga as a research methodology. AlterNative: An
International Journal of Indigenous Peoples. 16(4). pp.369-377.

Research Ethics Approval Form
All students conducting research activity that involves human participants or the
use of data collected from human participants are required to gain ethical
approval before commencing their research. Please answer all relevant
questions and note that your form may be returned if incomplete.
For further support and guidance please see your respective Unit Tutor.
Before completing this form, we advise that you discuss your proposed
research fully with your Unit Tutor. Please complete this form in good time
before your research project is due to commence.
Section 1: Basic Details
Project title: Employee collaboration tools: How they are being deployed and how they are impacting
productivity in sometimes surprising ways.
Student name:
Student ID number:
Programme:
Center Name:
Intended research start date:
Intended research end date:

Section 3: Participants
Please answer the following questions, giving full details where necessary. Will your research involve
human participants?
Who are the participants? Tick all that apply
Ages 12-16:
Young People aged 17–18:
Adults:
How will participants be recruited (identified and approached)?
By using probability sampling, 20 employees of Sainsbury will be selected randomly.
Describe the processes you will use to inform participants about what you are doing:
E-mail and questionnaire will use to inform participants regarding the work.
How will you obtain consent from participants? Will this be written? How will it be made clear
to participants that they may withdraw consent to participate at anytime?
By providing accurate information regarding the research to the participants, informed
consent will be obtained from the respondents.
Studies involving questionnaires: Will participants be given the option of omitting questions they do
not wish to answer?
Yes No
If No please explain why below and ensure that you cover any ethical issues arising from this.
Studies involving observation: Confirm whether participants will be asked for their informed consent to
be observed.
Yes No
Will you debrief participants at the end of their participation (i.e. give them a brief explanation of
the study)?
Yes No
Will participants be given information about the findings of your study?(This could be a brief
summary of your findings in general)

Yes No
Section 4: Data Storage and Security
Confirm that all personal data will be stored and processed in compliance with the Data
Protection Act (1998) Yes: No:
Who will have access to the data and personal information?
Myself Supervisor
During the research:
Where will the data be stored?
In my computer
Will mobile devices such as USB storage and laptops be
used?
Yes: No:
If yes, please provide further details:
After the research:
Where will the data be stored?
On USB
How long will the data and records be kept for and in what format?
Until I don’t need them anymore.
Will data be kept for use by other researchers?
Yes: No:
If yes, please provide further details:

Section 5: Ethical Issues
Are there any particular features of your proposed work which may raise ethical concerns? If so,
please outline how you will deal with these:
It is important that you demonstrate your awareness of potential risks that may arise as a
result of your research. Please consider/address all issues that may apply. Ethical concerns
may include, but are not limited to the following:
• Informed consent.
• Potentially vulnerable participants.
• Sensitive topics.
• Risks to participants and/or researchers.
• Confidentiality/anonymity.
• Disclosures/limits to confidentiality.
• Data storage and security, both during and after the
research (including transfer, sharing, encryption, protection).
• Reporting.
• Dissemination and use of your findings.