Impact of Training and Development on Employee Motivation in the UK Retail Industry

IMPACT OF TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT ON
EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION

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Abstract
The main objective of this paper was to investigate whether training and development has
impact on employees’ performance and productivity. This study is quantitative in nature.
Data for the paper have been collected through primary source that are from questionnaires
surveys. Subjects for the study consisted of 254 employees which constituted 60% of the total
target population of 420 people. 254 structured questionnaires were distributed to employees
on job location, 212 questionnaires were returned and only 188 were suitable for statistical
analysis. SPSS version 16 has been used to for data analysis. Both descriptive and inferential
statistics were used for data analysis. The statistical tools were aligned with the objective of
the research.

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Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction..............................................................................................................5
Background of Study..............................................................................................................5
Background of the Company.................................................................................................5
Rationale of the study.............................................................................................................5
Problem statement..................................................................................................................6
Research Aims.......................................................................................................................6
Research Objectives...............................................................................................................7
Research Questions................................................................................................................7
Research Hypothesis..............................................................................................................8
Significance of the study........................................................................................................9
Structure of the research study...............................................................................................9
Conclusion:..........................................................................................................................10
Chapter 2: Literature Review...................................................................................................12
Chapter 3: Research Methodology...........................................................................................18
Introduction..........................................................................................................................18
Research method outline......................................................................................................18
Research Onion....................................................................................................................19
Research Philosophy............................................................................................................19
Research Approach..............................................................................................................20
Research Design...................................................................................................................21

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Research Strategy.................................................................................................................21
Selection of sampling method and sampling size................................................................22
Data collection method........................................................................................................24
Primary Research.............................................................................................................24
Secondary Research.........................................................................................................25
Data Analysis.......................................................................................................................25
Research ethical consideration.............................................................................................27
Research limitation...............................................................................................................27
Time Horizon.......................................................................................................................28
Summary..............................................................................................................................28
Chapter 4: Presentation of Data...............................................................................................29
Introduction..........................................................................................................................29
Quantitative Presentation.....................................................................................................30
Qualitative analysis question:..............................................................................................34
Chapter 5: Analysis and Interpretation of Data:......................................................................35
Introduction:.........................................................................................................................35
Quantitative Analysis...........................................................................................................42
Qualitative analysis..............................................................................................................42
Chapter 6: Conclusion and Recommendation..........................................................................44
Linking with the objectives:.................................................................................................44
Recommendation..................................................................................................................45

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Limitation.............................................................................................................................46
Future Scope of the Study....................................................................................................47
References................................................................................................................................49

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Chapter 1: Introduction
Background of Study
The study is been performed in the retail industry of United Kingdom. It is clearly to
be stated that training plays an important role in this particular industry1. This can be assumed
that that the workers cannot attain efficiency in their performance without the proper training.
The performance of individual employees is significantly related to the performance of the
entire hotel industry. It is notable that the retail business can be acknowledged as the services
industry. Therefore, it can be predicted that there is a straight link between the clients and an
interview of an important House Keeping Executive to have a clear insight of the
circumstances of the retail industry.
Background of the Company
John Lewis can be acknowledged as the chain supplier of leading department
shops in service among the United Kingdom; John Lewis Partnership owned this company. It
was founded by Spedan Lewis, the son of John Lewis. This is notable that the first John
Lewis shop was launched in the year 1864 in London. It is significant to mention that they
have 50 shops throughout England, Scotland and Wales. The prominent company John Lewis
Christmas advert was first introduced in the marker in the year 2007. This company has
become a part of the yearly tradition in British Heritage. It has also rings the alarm of arrival
of Christmas in United Kingdom.
Rationale of the study
It is notable that the training can be acknowledged as the important feature in the
contemporary retail industry in terms of earning profits for the companies. Significant
number of companies has initiated number of training event schedules regularly. The chief
1 Manzoor, Q.A., Impact of employees motivation on organizational effectiveness, Business
management and strategy 3 (1), 2012,p.1.

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rationale of the training is to develop the employee’s skill which eventually makes the
organization more profitable2. The focus of the study is to find out whether the training
programs which are been used by the HR departments of the retail industry are actually
helping employees to develop and performance of their task.
Problem statement
This is to be noted that the hotel industry can be advanced with the help of advanced
training programs and development skills. However, the advanced training facilitated with
the sound and developed technology will require a large amount of investment. Therefore, it
is important to earn significant revenue to offer the significant learning of skills and strategies
to the employees. There is another problem which can be brought into notice. There is a gap
between the skills that the employees already know and the skills are emerging newly in the
terms of industry standard3. Therefore, there is no substitute of the training programs in order
to bridge such gaps. The significant training programs are helpful to both of the workers and
the companies.
Research Aims
This can be stated that the purpose of this study is to understand the significance of
training and development in terms of the precise performance of a particular company4. It is
important to understand that the performance of a company depends upon the performance
the workforce. Therefore, the study focuses on the development procedure of each worker
among the workforce. This study is being conducted to understand the outcome of the
learning skills and strategies. It tries to find out if and how the training and development
2 P. Trkman,The critical success factors of business process management: International journal
of information management, 2010, pp.125-134.
3 K.P. Gallagher et al., The requisite variety of skills for IT professionals: Communications of the
ACM, 2010, 53(6), pp.144-148.
4D. Briscoe, I. Tarique and R. Schuler, International human resource management: Policies and
practices for multinational enterprises, Routledge 2012.

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programs can create an impact to motivate the employees to show a positive approach
towards work.
Research Objectives
This is to be mentioned that retail industry requires a vast study regarding the new
facilities associated with the technologies. This particular study has an objective to find out
the gap between the requirements and occurrences5. It can be said that the research has tried
to highlight the importance of training and development as the missing link of the two
deliverables. To offer a clear insight regarding the basic subject the idea of the questionnaire
and personal interviews has been taken place as the significant methodology of this particular
research. According to the theories, this particular research has an objective to offer the
prominent understanding of the specific subject of Training on the member of staff
performance6.
Research Questions
1. How does Human Resource training influence the practice of the dedicated staffs?
2. What do the official staffs is gaining individually from the significant training
sessions?
3. Do the training sessions help the eminent hotel business to assess the precise
performance of the number of officials?
4. Do the employees get motivated by these training programs to present optimistic
approach to the work?
5 H. Taylor, E. Artman and J.P. Woelfer, Information technology project risk management:
bridging the gap between research and practice: Journal of Information Technology, 2012.
6 B.D. Blume et al., Transfer of training: A meta-analytic review. Journal of management,
2010.