Impact of Pandemic on Workplace Transformation in UK Retail Industry: A Study on ASDA

UNIT 11 Research Project

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Overview of topic........................................................................................................................3
Background of company.............................................................................................................3
Research Aim..............................................................................................................................3
Research Objectives....................................................................................................................3
Research Questions.....................................................................................................................4
Research Rationale......................................................................................................................4
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................5
What is the concept workplace transformation in context with UK retail industry?..................5
How the global pandemic has impacted on accelerating workplace transformation within
ASDA?........................................................................................................................................5
What are the effective ways that could be used by ASDA for overcoming the negative impact
of COVID 19 within their workplace?........................................................................................6
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.....................................................................................................7
FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS........................................................................................................9
Frequency distribution table........................................................................................................9
Data interpretation.....................................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION.............................................................................13
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................13
Recommendation.......................................................................................................................13
REFLECTION...............................................................................................................................14
ALTERNATIVE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY......................................................................14
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................15
APPENDIX 1.................................................................................................................................16
Research proposal and ethical form..........................................................................................16
APPENDIX 2.................................................................................................................................29
Questionnaire............................................................................................................................29

INTRODUCTION
Overview of topic
The pandemic has affected the performance and growth of business due to which
organisation is focusing on accelerating the workplace transformation. Companies are focusing
on adopting workplace transformation in order to sustain in market for long run and attract more
and more customers towards the brand (Scherling and Camarero Lind, 2021). Workplace
transformation is a procedure of rethinking and changing the way of working in order to improve
the business performance and efficiency. Transformation is important for organisation as it helps
in improving the employee productivity and collaboration so that they can perform better within
workplace and also contribute their productive outcomes in accomplishing the business goals
(Selimović, Pilav-Velić and Krndžija, 2021). Thus, workplace transformation helps in attracting
more and more talented employees and also increases the well being of staff. In order to promote
the changes within workplace, it is important to involve employees in change process, create
short term wins, promote teamwork and also empower employees (Lee, Lee and Liu, 2021).
Thus, this project revolves around identifying the impact of pandemic on accelerating workplace
transformation within retail company.
Background of company
The chosen organisation for this research project is Asda, it is a supermarket chain that
offers wide varieties of products and services to its customer including groceries, financial
services and general merchandise. Vision of Asda is to become best value retailer by fulfilling
the needs of customers. The main objective and aim of Asda is to offer high quality of goods and
services to its customer at affordable price. One of the key objective of Asda is to reduce the
packaging and offer high quality of services to its customer.
Research Aim
To identify the impact of the global pandemic on accelerating workplace transformation
within the UK retail industry: A study on ASDA
Research Objectives
 To increase understanding about the workplace transformation in context with UK retail
industry

H1: Workplace transformation is a process of changing the way of working in order to improve
the profitability and performance of business.
 To determine the impact of the global pandemic on accelerating workplace
transformation within ASDA
H2: There is positive impact of the global pandemic on accelerating workplace transformation
within ASDA.
 To evaluate the ways that ASDA could be used for overcoming the negative impact of
COVID 19 within their workplace
H3: The ways that ASDA cab be used for overcoming the negative impact of COVID 19 within
their workplace is healthy working environment.
Research Questions
 What is the concept workplace transformation in context with UK retail industry?
 How the global pandemic has impacted on accelerating workplace transformation within
ASDA?
 What are the effective ways that could be used by ASDA for overcoming the negative
impact of COVID 19 within their workplace?
Research Rationale
The rationale behind conducting this research is to identify the impact of pandemic on
accelerating the workplace transformation within workplace (Kim and et. al., 2021). While doing
this investigation, the two main perspective of researcher will be achieved such as professional
and personal perspective. The personal objective of researcher will develop new skills whereas
professional objective will be gained by understanding more about workplace transformation and
managing future research in appropriate manner.

LITERATURE REVIEW
What is the concept workplace transformation in context with UK retail industry?
As per the opinion of Kane and et. al., (2021), workplace transformation is a process of
transforming the way of working in order to gain business success. Organisation generally
transform the way of working for increasing the productivity and performance of business. There
are various challenges brought by workplace transformation due to COVID 19 and also it
influences the workforce in terms of how they work, what tools they use and also from where
they work. Thus, it is important to have successful workplace transformation by adopting cutting
edge technology, leveraging modern workflows, cultivating culture of learning and agility,
creating consistent employee experience and implementing digital adoption function in
workplace. Workplace transformation helps in attracting talented and highly skilled workforce
due to which the profitability and growth of business increases. There are various benefits of
workplace transformation such as empowering employees to work more effectively, better
collaboration and communication, developing more flexible working environment and providing
better customer experience. Workplace transformation is a driver of innovation and also
empower employees to work from home. Therefore, workplace transformation helps in
improving the productivity and efficiency of employees due to which they give better output in
accomplishing the target.
How the global pandemic has impacted on accelerating workplace transformation within ASDA?
As per the viewpoint of Juchnowicz and Kinowska (2021), global pandemic has
influenced company to accelerate workplace transformation in order to run business activities in
effective and efficient manner. COVID 19 has badly influenced the performance and efficiency
of business due to which it becomes difficult to survive and gain competitive edge in market. By
workplace transformation, company provides an opportunity to employees to work remotely. It
helps in preventing people from spread of disease. In pandemic, organisation is more focused on
offering work from home opportunity so that they can work effectively while sitting at home and
also remain healthy and fit. Asda shifted towards remote working operation so that they can
perform their business activity in productive manner. In order to manage the work remotely,
company is focused on adopting digital communication tools so that employees can effectively
communicate and interact to each other. The digital communication tool helps in improving the

business performance as it encourages employees to collectively work together in order to
achieve business goals and objectives (Megahed and Ghoneim, 2020). While accelerating
workplace transformation within organisation, employees can work comfortably and also
achieve the target in effective and efficient manner. The pandemic has also encouraged flexible
working hours due to which employees can manage their personal and professional life in better
manner and also contribute their productive outcomes in accomplishing the business goals. The
flexible working hours helps in reducing the cost, improves productivity and also enhances the
work culture.
What are the effective ways that could be used by ASDA for overcoming the negative impact of
COVID 19 within their workplace?
As per the perception of Ionescu, Iordache and Țițan (2021), there are various effective
ways that can be used by company for overcoming the negative impact of pandemic within
workplace. It is necessary for organisation to implement these ways as it can improve the growth
and performance of business such as communicating effectively, updating health and safety
policies, healthy working environment, ensuring safety of employees and boosting the
motivation and morale level of employees. These are the few ways that helps in mitigating the
negative impact of pandemic within workplace. It is important for the organisation to develop the
strategy so that employees can communicate effectively and accomplish their work in systematic
manner. There must be effective communication between the employer and employee as it helps
in accomplishing the target in collective manner. It is the responsibility of Asda to develop
healthy working environment for employees so that they can contribute their best performance in
improving the success rate of business (Brunetto and et. al., 2021). Organisation must also focus
on updating the health and safety policies so that employees feel secure while working within
workplace. In order to overcome the negative impact of pandemic, Asda must also focus on
boosting the morale and motivation level of staff as it helps in increasing the concentration and
dedication level of staff that results in better performance (Mulyaningsih, 2021). By increasing
the motivation and morale of staff they feel engaged within workplace and also invest more
hours in accomplishing target.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research methodology is one of the important chapter within the dissertation. This
chapter helps the researcher to conduct the investigation in systematic and appropriate manner. It
includes various methods which are useful for researcher while collecting the data related to the
research topic. Research methodology provides clear picture to researcher about the type of data
that will assist to conduct the investigation in effective and efficient manner.
Research philosophy:
Research philosophy includes various principles and beliefs that provide direction to
researcher to collect and analyse the data in systematic way. The two different types of research
philosophy are interpretivism and positivism. Researcher focuses on choosing positivism
philosophy as it helps in gathering and analysing the quantitative information due to which
research aims and objective can be attained (Apuke, 2017). The purpose behind selecting
positivism philosophy is that it allows researcher to avail the information as per their choice.
Research approach:
Research approach assist the researcher to test the theories and hypothesis in appropriate
manner. It is basically divided into two different forms such as deductive and inductive approach
(Petrovic, Koprivica and Bokan, 2017). The investigator lay emphasis on choosing deductive
approach as it provides numerical information which is beneficial for this investigation. Motive
of choosing deductive approach is that it helps in testing existing hypothesis rather than
developing new theories.
Research strategy:
Research strategy includes the plan and action which provides guanidine to investigator
to obtain the data related to subject matter in significant manner. The different kinds of research
strategy are systematic literature review, case study, action research, survey and various others.
In the current investigation, researcher has shown their interest in survey strategy as it helps in
collecting information from large number of samples (Babones, 2016). The motive behind
choosing survey strategy is that it requires less time for gathering the information related to the
chosen topic.
Research choice and methods:
Research choice generally determines the kind of information required to complete the
investigation. It is categorised into two parts such as quantitative and qualitative research choice.

The researcher has shown their dependence on choosing quantitative research choice as it
provides numerical information in less time due to which research aims and objective can be
achieved in better manner (Fallon, 2016). Investigator has chosen quantitative research choice as
it helps in gathering information from large number of respondents.
Data collection:
Data collection is a process of collecting and interpreting the information in systematic
manner. The two different types of data collection method are primary and secondary data
collection method. Within this research, both the data collection method are used by researcher
in order to obtain information related to the current study (Ramlo, 2015). Primary data collection
method helps in accumulating fresh data with the help of questionnaire. Investigator has also
chosen secondary data collection method for gathering second hand information by using
different sources such as articles, books, online sites and journals.
Sampling:
Sampling is a tool which helps researcher to collect information from large number of
samples. The two different types of sampling method are probability and non-probability
sampling. The research has chosen probability sampling method as it focuses on selecting the
participants without showing any biasedness (Farokhi and Roghanian, 2018). Reason behind
choosing probability sampling is that it provides fair and equal chance to respondents to share
their opinion and viewpoint related to the questions. The number of sample which are selected by
researcher is 30 employees of Asda.
Ethical consideration:
In order to conduct the research, it is necessary to follow the ethical practices as it
reduces the chances to harm the sentiments and emotions of respondents. It mainly includes the
values and principles which must be followed by the researcher in order to achieve the aims and
objective of investigation. The few ethical practices are informed consent, confidentiality,
voluntary participation and anonymity.
Techniques:
Within this research, the chosen technique by the research is questionnaire as it helps in
providing relevant information related to the chosen topic from different number of participants
due to which the aims and objectives of research can be accomplished appropriately.
Questionnaire is easy to plan and execute and also it is suitable method for collecting