Employee Collaboration Tools: Impact on Productivity in UK Retail Industry

The report explores the impact of employee collaboration tools on productivity in the UK retail industry, with a focus on Sainsbury's. It analyzes the different tools used, their impact, and reasons for adoption. The research methodology includes a survey of 30 managers, and the findings suggest that collaboration tools have a positive impact on productivity.

Employee collaboration tools:
How they are being deployed
and how they are impacting
productivity in sometimes
surprising ways

Table of Contents
Title: Employee collaboration tools: How they are being deployed and how they are impacting
productivity in sometimes surprising ways..................................................................................................3
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
Research Aim:.........................................................................................................................................3
Research Objectives................................................................................................................................3
Research question....................................................................................................................................4
Rational of research:................................................................................................................................4
Literature Review:.......................................................................................................................................4
Research Methodology................................................................................................................................6
Data analysis and findings...........................................................................................................................8
Reflection..................................................................................................................................................17
Alternative methodology...........................................................................................................................17
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................18
Recommendations.....................................................................................................................................18
References.................................................................................................................................................20

Title: Employee collaboration tools: How they are being deployed and how they are
impacting productivity in sometimes surprising ways
Introduction
Workplace transformation is about introducing new techniques and ways to perform the
assigned duties. This also helps in improving the overall skills, capabilities and potential of
workforce so that they can perform assigned duties in rightful manner. Here, workplace
transformation is also useful in terms of introducing latest techniques at workplace with an aim
to uplift the overall level of production of the company. It also helps in increasing the efficiency
of the organization with an intention to earn substantial amount of profit in future period of time.
Further, it aligns the workers with different technologies and network. For maintaining
collboraion, ample of softwares and tools are used that also contribute in terms of increasing the
overall well-being of the company and employee as well (Economy, 2019). The present study is
based on Sainsbury that is a prestigious supermarket chain based on UK, offering various
products including groceries, food products, accessories, mobile phones, clothes and more. The
study will cover impact of collaboration tools as a strategy of workplace transformation to
contribute in productivity enhancement within retail industry of UK. Further, reasons of adopting
employee collaboration have also been discussed in the following report.
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?
Rational of research:
In present era, workplace transformation is really important as it helps in improving the
working practices of the company by implementing new, latest and advance techniques
(Moutsopoulou, 2019). Further, the report is based on finding different ways to develop
collaboration among workforce so that they can easily contribute in transformation of workplace.
In personal context, the research project will prove helpful in terms of improving the
communication skills, interpersonal skills, project management skills, research skills, data
analysis skills and more to grow in future career in an efficient manner.
Literature Review:
Employee collaboration tools used within UK retail industry during workplace transformation
As per the point of view of Lorenz, (2017), in the recent time, adopting collaboration
tools is important for the organization to ensure progress of their business functions in the future
period of time. It is useful in terms of aligning the workers with technological aspects and also
plays a crucial role in terms of improving the overall productivity of the company. In context of
UK retail industry, the employees are likely to use different tools for collaboration such as
emails, fax, video meetings and more. Post COVID-19, the trend of video meetings& virtual
interaction has been increased. By using such mediums, employees can easily share information
with each-other which further makes them enable in order to maintain regular collaboration in
significant manner. Now, people prefer to interact with each-other through virtual tools. In this
regard, various platforms such as Zoom, Google meet and more are used by them. These are the
efficient virtual platforms which provides opportunity of sharing the files and other such

documents with each-other during the meeting that is really important for effective collaboration
during workplace transformation.
Impact of employee collaboration tools in increasing productivity within Sainsbury's in terms
of workplace transformation
As per the point of view of Rajivan and Cooke, (2017), in the current digital era, ample of
collaboration tools are used by the companies. These tools are known as file sharing tools,
instant messaging, video conferencing, whiteboards and more. The main aim of using such tools
is to maintain proper coordination & collaboration among team members so that they can easily
perform the assigned duties. It is analyzed that collaboration tools makes the employees enable
to exchange necessary information with each-other. Using collaboration tools make the
employees able enough to receive and send necessary information related to organization which
further can be used in terms of taking rightful business related decisions. Work transformation
can be implemented successful by the positive efforts of all the staff members. It improves the
overall competency, skills and abilities of workforce so that they can easily contribute towards
organizational productivity. Additionally, workplace transformation provided opportunity to the
workers to utilize the available resources efficiently. As a result, they can easily contribute in
improve the overall production within the company in significant manner. By increasing
production, the entity can easily control the cost of production that will prove helpful in terms of
enhancing the overall revenue & profit margin significantly.
Reasons for adoption of employee collaboration tools within workplace transformation by
Sainsbury's
As per point of view of De Bruyne, and Gerritse, (2018), nowadays, collaboration tools
have become a crucial requirement to perform daily organizational functions. To implement
transformation at workplace effectively, it is important to maintain proper communication at
workplace. It is analyzed that collaboration tools play an imperative role in facilitating proper &
effective communication within the organization. By using suitable tools of collaboration,
employees can interact with each-other effectively. It will facilitate the proper flow of
information across the company that will allow the business managers to take suitable decisions

to ensure future growth & enlargement. While using collaboration tools, several employees work
together which helps in developing better & creative ideas that is important for future growth of
the entity. Additionally, these ideas also play an imperative role in generating competitive
advantage for the company in significant manner. In context of Sainsbury, different tools of
collaboration are adopted so that employees can easily exchange information with each-other to
ensure the organizational growth & enlargement in future period of time.
Research Methodology
In research project, methodology is an important part as it is concern with gathering and
analyzing necessary information to complete the research project in successful manner. Further,
research methodology is made with different components which are crucial for successful
completion of the project work. In present context, different elements of research methodology
are mentioned below:
Research philosophy: It is a term that shows beliefs, assumptions of researcher
regarding the way data is related with particular phenomenon. Further, it also deals with
development in nature source of knowledge that is helpful for investigator to accumulate the data
and information in an efficient manner. Here, research philosophy is an important aspect that is
useful in terms of maximizing the capacity to deal with different problems associated with the
topic of research (Mackey and Bryfonski, 2018). In this regard, two major philosophies are
interpretivism and positivism. In present context, there is selection of positivism philosophy that
is useful in terms of performing numerical analysis of the topic so that appropriate outcomes can
be attained significantly.
Research approach: This is the other crucial element of research methodology that
depicts different stages to accomplish the project work in significant manner. Here, it is
considered as an important aspect as it provides detailed plan and other relevant information in
context of data collection & analysis. There are different types of approaches in research work
such as inductive and deductive (Lourie and Rata, 2017). In context of present scenario, the
chosen approach is deductive as it is useful in developing thorough knowledge regarding the
topic that will further assist the investigator in getting meaningful outcomes.

Research strategy: Research strategy is considered as an important part of the entire
research methodology. It includes planning for project work so that researcher can complete the
overall study in systematic manner. Basically, research strategy depicts different steps of
completing the project work with an aim to get meaningful results in future period of time.
Different types of research strategies are case study, questionnaire, survey and more (Volkova
and et. al., 2018). The present report is based on survey strategy where the information has been
gathered from ample of respondents. The main rational behind selecting the respective strategy is
to collect detailed amount of information from ample number of respondents at a particular time.
Choice of method: An appropriate research methodology provides suitable discovery of
facts and relevant information so that the investigator can complete overall project successfully.
Here, quantitative and qualitative are the two major methods used by the investigator while
working on a specific project. Numerical information is collect and analyzed in quantitative
method using suitable statistical and mathematical tools. On other side, qualitative method is
based on collecting & analyzing the information in detailed manner (Vasiliev, Goryachkina and
Budnikov, 2020). In this regard, the detailed information allows the researcher to conduct the
overall study systematically. Out of these two, the present project is based on quantitative
method wherein numerical, statistical tools will be used for analyzing data. In present context,
the data will be used through suitable charts, graphs, tables and more.
Data collection: For successful completion of project, data is highly important. There are
two major sources of data collection such as primary and secondary. In context of primary
source, the data is directly gathered by researcher. Here, the information is first handed and raw.
Therefore, primary information is considered highly authentic. Secondary source is based on
collecting second hand or already available information. In this, the investigator uses already
available information in order to complete the research project. The major sources of secondary
data collection are websites, articles, journals and more (Smith, 2019). For present project,
primary information will be gathered through questionnaire whereas necessary secondary data
will be also collected from authentic websites, articles, publications etc.
Sampling: For present project, non-probability sampling techniques will be used as it is
helpful in getting fair results. In this regard, 30 managers of Sainsbury will be selected based on
random sampling so that the overall research project can be conducted in an efficient manner.

Time horizon: While undertaking a project, it is important to determine the time earlier.
By determining the time period, it is possible to complete the project quickly. Cross-sectional
and longitudinal are two major methods of time horizon (McPherson, Reese and Wendler, 2018).
Out of these two, the present project work is based on cross-sectional time horizon as it will
assist the investigator in completing the project study in timely manner.
Ethics: Consider ethical principles is highly important while conducting a research
project. For this purpose, the investigator is likely to follow necessary ethical principles
including confidentiality, anonymity and more. The researcher will follow the suitable principles
and also keep the data and information of respondents confidential so that it cannot be accessed
by any unauthorized person.
Data analysis and findings
Questionnaire
Questions Frequency
Q1.) Are you familiar with the term of workplace transformation in
organizational context?
a) Yes 23
b) No 3
c) MayBe 4
Q2.) As per your consideration, which tools of collaboration are used by
Sainsbury during workplace transformation
Frequency
a) File sharing tools 9
b) Video conferencing 8
c) Cloud storage 7
d) All of the above 6
Q3.) What do you think, does collaboration tools are useful in terms of Frequency

maintaining proper interaction among workforce of Sainsbury during
workplace transformation
a) Yes 25
b) No 2
c) c) MayBe 3
Q4.) In your opinion, how collaboration tools affect productivity of
workforce of Sainsbury in terms of workplace transformation?
Frequency
a) Positively 22
b) Negatively 3
c) Neutral 5
Q5.) In your consideration, what are the reasons of Sainsbury to adopt
collaboration tools for workplace transformation?
Frequency
a) Increase communication 8
b) Enhance productivity 7
c) Save Time 6
d) All of the above 9
Q6.) As per you, what are the challenges faced by Sainsbury during
implementation of collaboration tools in context of workplace
transformation?
Frequency
a) Lack of clear vision 10
b) Lack of productivity 6
c) Employee hesitation 7
d) All of the above 7
Q7) In your opinion, does using collaboration tools will help Sainsbury
in terms of successful implementation of transformation at workplace?
Frequency

a) Yes 24
b) No 2
c) May Be 4
Q1.) Are you familiar with the term of workplace transformation in
organizational context?
Frequency
a) Yes 23
b) No 3
c) MayBe 4
a) Yes b) No c) MayBe
0
5
10
15
20
25

Interpretation: Through the above-graph, it is analyzed that 23 respondents are well-familiar
with the concept of workplace transformation within the organization whereas 3 individuals do
not have significant knowledge regarding the concept of transformation at workplace. Also, there
are 4 individuals who have been shown neutral response towards the knowledge regarding the
concept of workplace transformation.
Q2.) As per your consideration, which tools of collaboration are used by
Sainsbury during workplace transformation
Frequency
a) File sharing tools 9
b) Video conferencing 8
c) Cloud storage 7
d) All of the above 6
a) File sharing tools b) Video
conferencing c) Cloud storage d) All of the above
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Interpretation: The above-graph states that 9 respondents are agreed that file sharing tools are
important collaboration tool that is used by Sainsbury for workplace transformation. As per 8
respondents video conferencing is a crucial element that is adopted by the respective entity as a

collaboration tool. There are 7 respondents who agree that cloud storage is used as an important
collaboration tool to maintain workplace transformation in an efficient manner. Rest 6
individuals consider that all the above-mentioned tools are important and significantly used for
collaboration for workplace transformation in Sainsbury.
Q3.) What do you think, does collaboration tools are useful in terms of
maintaining proper interaction among workforce of Sainsbury during
workplace transformation
Frequency
a) Yes 25
b) No 2
c) c) MayBe 3
a) Yes b) No c) c) MayBe
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Interpretation: The above chart shows that according to 25 participants collaboration tools are
important to maintain proper interaction among workforce of Sainsbury whereas 2 participants
have been demonstrated negative response in terms of usefulness of collaboration tools in
maintaining effective interaction among team members. There are 3 respondents who have been

shown neutral response in terms of impact of collaboration tool in interaction among workforce
within Sainsbury.
Q4.) In your opinion, how collaboration tools affect productivity of
workforce of Sainsbury in terms of workplace transformation?
Frequency
a) Positively 22
b) Negatively 3
c) Neutral 5
a) Positively b) Negatively c) Neutral
0
5
10
15
20
25
Interpretation: It is monitored that 22 respondents agreed that collaboration tools affected the
productivity of workforce of employees of Sainsbury positively whereas 3 individuals consider
that collaboration tools affect the overall productivity of the organization in negative manner.
Further, there are also 5 participants who have been demonstrated neutral response regarding the
impact of collaboration tools over productivity of workforce of respective company.

Q5.) In your consideration, what are the reasons of Sainsbury to adopt
collaboration tools for workplace transformation?
Frequency
a) Increase communication 8
b) Enhance productivity 7
c) Save Time 6
d) All of the above 9
a) Increase
communication b) Enhance
productivity c) Save Time d) All of the above
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Interpretation: The above-graph is based on the reasons of Sainsbury to adopt collaboration tools
for workplace transformation. Increase communication is the major reason of using collaboration
tools by 8 respondents whereas 7 individuals consider enhancing productivity as one of the
significant reason to adopt collaboration tools for facilitating transformation at workplace. Also,
6 participants consider that saving the time is an imperative reason for which the company
adopts collaboration tools. Rest 9, individuals consider that all the above-mentioned reasons are
significant for adopting collaboration tools in order to maintain workplace transformation.
Q6.) As per you, what are the challenges faced by Sainsbury during
implementation of collaboration tools in context of workplace
transformation?
Frequency

a) Lack of clear vision 10
b) Lack of productivity 6
c) Employee hesitation 7
d) All of the above 7
a) Lack of clear
vision b) Lack of
productivity c) Employee
hesitation d) All of the above
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Interpretation: It is analyzed through above-diagram that 10 respondents consider lack of clear
vision as the major challenge of adopting collaboration tools whereas there are 6 participants
who consider lack of productivity as the significant issue faced by Sainsbury while implementing
collaboration tools for workplace transformation. As per 7 respondents, employee hesitation is a
potential challenge that is faced by Sainsbury during implementation of collaboration tools
whereas 7 individuals consider that all the above-mentioned challenges are likely to face by
Sainsbury during implementation of collaboration tools for workplace transformation in
Sainsbury.
Q7) In your opinion, does using collaboration tools will help Sainsbury
in terms of successful implementation of transformation at workplace?
Frequency
a) Yes 24

b) No 2
c) May Be 4
a) Yes b) No c) May Be
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Interpretation: After interviewing 30 respondents, it is found that 24 respondents consider that
using collaboration tools contribute in future success and growth of the company whereas 2
individuals consider that using collaboration tools put a negative impact on the overall success &
growth of the entity. As per rest 4 respondents, using collaboration tools will put neutral impact
on future success & growth of the respective company.

Reflection
The present project report is based on use of collaboration tools for successful
implementation of workplace transformation. The report is helpful in terms of improving my
knowledge regarding the significance of collaboration tools so that workplace transformation
strategies can be implemented successfully. Also, this will help in using various tools of
collaboration in an efficient manner while working within a company. Further, the current
project also improved my communication skill to make me enable enough to interact with other
people without any hesitation. While working on the current project, I used to deal with several
individuals having different perspectives, opinions, mind set and more. It enhanced my
capabilities of interacting with different people that will also help me to grow in future career.
Also, the project report improved my research skills. Now, I can easily conduct research even on
a tough topic. The project made me enable to gather significant amount of information using
different sources. It also enhanced my data analysis skills that will help me in terms of analyzing
the data & information in an efficient manner during future project. After the project, I got
knowledge regarding different data analysis tools so that I can conduct the research project
efficiently in future period of time. Furthermore, my presentation skills also got enhanced
through the research project that will allow me to deliver effective presentation in future.
Alternative methodology
The present study is based on primary source of information. Here, data has been gathered using
questionnaires which is highly time consuming. In spite of collecting data through questionnaire
secondary sources of data collection could be used. Through secondary sources, it is possible to
collect vast amount of information regarding a particular topic through websites, publications,
books, journals and more. In addition to this, there is use of quantitative approach based on
numeric data & facts. However, qualitative methods are also useful in terms of collecting in-
depth and detailed information for successful completion of the project.

Conclusion
It can be summarized through the above-mentioned information that Workplace
transformation helps in improving the overall skills, capabilities and potential of workforce so
that they can perform assigned duties in rightful manner. Here, workplace transformation is also
useful in terms of introducing latest techniques at workplace with an aim to uplift the overall
level of production of the company. Collaboration tools are imperative in terms of aligning the
workers with technological aspects and also plays a crucial role in terms of improving the overall
productivity of the company. In context of UK retail industry, the employees are likely to use
different tools for collaboration such as emails, fax, video meetings and more.It is analyzed that
collaboration tools makes the employees enable to exchange necessary information with each-
other. Moreover, using suitable tools of collaboration is important for employees to interact with
each-other effectively. It will facilitate the proper flow of information across the company that
will allow the business managers to take suitable decisions to ensure future growth &
enlargement.
Recommendations
Through the above-analysis, it is found that the company is facing certain issues that will
also affect their future growth as well. To deal with such issues, necessary recommendations are
mentioned below:
 It is suggested that Sainsbury needs to maintain proper communication among workforce
with an aim to maintain proper flow of information across the company. Here,
maintaining communication will help the entity in terms of minimizing the conflicts
among workforce so that they can work collaboratively to attain pre-defined goals
successfully.

 Motivating the workforce of the respective organization is important to gain positive
outcomes in future. For this purpose, Sainsbury can use either monetary or non-monetary
techniques or both. Motivation will help in terms of boosting the morale of workforce so
that they will perform assigned duties efficiently.
 It is recommended that training should be provided by Sainsbury to its workforce so that
they can utilize collaboration tools efficiently. Training will help in improving the overall
knowledge base of workers so that they will be able to contribute towards successful
implementation of workplace transformation.

References
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forum study. Journal of Corporate Real Estate.
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about to change big time. Inc. Magazine, 15.
Lorenz, A., 2017. Digital Workplace Transformation (No. SAND2017-9837C). Sandia National
Lab.(SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States).
Lourie, M. and Rata, E., 2017. Using a realist research methodology in policy
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Mackey, A. and Bryfonski, L., 2018. Mixed methodology. In The Palgrave handbook of applied
linguistics research methodology (pp. 103-121). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
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Moutsopoulou, M., 2019. Digital ways of working. The new digital workplace, creating flexible
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Smith, L.T., 2019. Decolonizing research: Indigenous storywork as methodology. Bloomsbury
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