Role of Employees in Achieving Success in a Company: A Case Study of Woolworths Supermarkets

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Organisational Behaviour

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As the competition grows between corporations, it becomes important for them to
generate a competitive advantage over their competitors in order to ensure that they
sustain their future grows. Highly talented and skilled employees provide a competitive
advantage to companies which allow them to continue their growth even in adverse market
conditions (Albrecht et al., 2015). Employees play a crucial role in the success of an
organisation without whom it is impossible for a company to achieve its overall goals. Since
the employees play a significant role in the effectiveness of a corporation, it is important for
the management to effectively manage employee behaviour which keeps them motivated
to perform better. However, there are many factors which adversely affect the behaviour of
employees which leads to unproductivity of the workforce (Alfes et al., 2013). The objective
of this essay is to evaluate the role of employees in achieving success in a company and
evaluating factors that affect employee behaviour. An example of Woolworths
Supermarkets will be analysed in this essay to understand how employee behaviour is
influenced by the company. Five strategies will be given in this essay for Woolworths which
will assist the company in improving employee behaviour which leads to better
organisational performance.
Woolworths Supermarkets is the largest supermarket/grocery chain in Australia which is
owned by Woolworths Limited. The corporation has established 995 stores across Australia,
and it accounts for about 80 percent of the Australian retailing market along with its main
competitor Coles (Woolworths Group, 2019). The corporation has hired more than 115,000
employees who are responsible for running the day-to-day operations in the company.
These employees play a crucial role in the success of the company since they are ones who
directly deal with customers and provide them suggestions regarding which products which
they should purchase. However, the corporation is facing challenges due to high attrition
rate of employees since the company is finding it difficult to retain employees in the
company (Mitchell, 2016). Conflict between employees is a major issue in the workplace
which hinders the performance of all employees. For example, an employee of Woolworths
was jailed over workplace bullying at Moe store (French, 2015). The management of
Woolworths focuses on implementing relevant policies in order to address these issues to
sustain its performance even in adverse market conditions. However, there are many
internal and external factors which affect the employee behaviour in the company.

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Lack of effective leadership plays a significant role in influencing the employee behaviour;
managers and leaders affect the employee behaviour in companies in either positive or
negative manner. The leaders are responsible for setting a direction for the team members.
In most cases, the employees did not prefer to go to the office when they have a strict boss
(Bello, 2012). Leaders are a strong source of inspiration for the subordinates, and if they did
not support the development of employees, then it negatively reflect on their behaviour.
Work culture is another factor which affects employee behaviour in organisations. It is
important the employees feel comfortable in the workplace to stay positive and happy
without which they cannot perform at their highest capacity. A hostile working environment
negatively reflects on the productivity of employees, and it leads to increasing conflicts
between employees and the management (Hutchinson and Jackson, 2013). Therefore, it is
important that the company take appropriate measures to ensure that the working
environment is positive.
Compensation and advancement are key factors which motivate employees to continue to
improve their performance and achieve desired goals. If the employees are not
compensated according to their contributions, then it discourages them from improving
their performance (Osibanjo et al., 2014). The Equity theory of motivation developed by
John Stacey Adams provides that individuals are motivated by fairness. If employees are not
compensated fairly as per their inputs, then it discourages them from improving their
performance (Osabiya, 2015). Career advancement is also a key objective for employees
without which they did not prefer to work in a particular organisation. If the corporation is
not able to provide career growth opportunities to its employees, then it negatively reflects
on their behaviour. It increases the rate of employee absenteeism and demotivation which
leads to decreasing the productivity of employees as well. As per Maslow’s hierarchy of
needs theory, the corporation should focus on fulfilling basic needs of employees first and
then move up in the hierarchy to continue to motivate them.
There are five basic needs which are identified by Abraham Maslow which include
psychological needs, safety needs, belongingness needs, esteem needs and self-
actualisation needs. The remuneration of employees plays a crucial role in the achievement
of the first two basic needs of employees which affect their behaviour as well (Jerome,
2013). Work and personal life balance are also important for employees to ensure that they