Employee Motivation, Job Satisfaction and Leadership: A Case Study of Hong Kong Airlines

DISSERTATION PROPOSAL
A study to show that employee motivation, job satisfaction and
leadership will help to reduce the rate of staff turnover. A case study
of Hong Kong Airlines

1
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Research problems.......................................................................................................................2
Research aims..............................................................................................................................2
Research questions.......................................................................................................................3
Literature review..............................................................................................................................3
Research methodology and data analysis........................................................................................5
Research philosophy....................................................................................................................5
Research approach and design.....................................................................................................5
Data collection procedure............................................................................................................6
Sampling Method.........................................................................................................................6
Data Analysis Method.................................................................................................................6
Foreseen limitations.....................................................................................................................7
Usefulness of the findings of the applied research......................................................................7
Research timeline.........................................................................................................................8
References........................................................................................................................................9

2
Introduction
Employee motivation refers to the degree of commitment and dedication that an
employee demonstrates towards his job or organization (Alnasrallah 2016). The levels of job
satisfaction and employee motivation depend on a number of factors, which include monetary
privileges, working hours and arrangements, working environment, leadership, workplace
policies and so on (Shahzadi et al. 2014). The research will focus on the levels of employee
motivation and its impact on job performance at Hong Kong Airlines. The Hong Kong Airlines
is one of the largest airline companies in Hong Kong and its official flag bearer. At such
organizations, it is important to study the importance of motivational factors and strong
leadership so as to ensure maximum employee commitment and dedication which in turn would
increase overall performance.
Research problems
Hong Kong Airlines is one of the most popular airlines in Hong Kong, with its
headquarters in Tung Chung. However, the company has flights and operates globally around the
world. As the business began to expand, it became increasingly difficult to retain human
resources, which led to an increase in the employee turnover rate. It can thus be hypothesized
that poor levels of employee commitment and motivation were responsible for high employee
attrition rates. Overall, in the past few years, the airline industry has witnessed high rates of
employee turnover which is due to the extreme work pressure, professional burnouts, inflexible
working arrangements and lack of incentives and compensation for the employees (Karatepe and
Vatankhah 2014).

3
Research aims
The main aim of this research is to understand the role that leadership plays in an
organization with respect to job satisfaction and employee motivation. The research recognizes
that the style of leadership demonstrated by management within an organization would have a
significant role to play in ensuring employee motivation and job satisfaction, which in turn helps
in reducing the rate of staff turnover within the organizational context. Hence, the aim of the
research is to examine the different leadership roles of the management in reducing staff turnover
rates resulting to the smooth functioning of the processes. The research also attempts to study the
various factors which contribute to employee motivation and job satisfaction, and how the
leaders in an organization can work towards improvement of the same.
Research questions
How can employee motivation, employee satisfaction and organizational leadership reduce the
rate of staff turnover at an organization?
Literature review
According to Lazaroiu (2015), employee motivation is one of the most important factors
which determine the performance of the organization as a whole. The author claims that it is the
responsibility of every organization to ensure that every employee at the firm is motivated and
dedicated to his job. This can be done through a few measures. For instance, some organizations
incorporate bonuses, incentives and other compensation packages as part of their employee
welfare schemes. Similarly, other organizations ensure that a healthy work-life balance is
maintained between the personal and the professional lives of the employees. This ensures that