Employee Empowerment and Job Satisfaction in Retail Sector Report

This report investigates the impact of employee empowerment on job satisfaction within the retail sector, specifically using Marks & Spencer as a case study. The introduction defines employee empowerment and its significance, followed by the aims and objectives of the research, which include assessing the extent to which empowerment leads to job satisfaction, its impact on performance and productivity, identifying challenges, and recommending strategies. The literature review synthesizes existing research, highlighting the positive effects of empowerment on employee morale, dedication, and customer service, while also addressing potential challenges like organizational structure disturbances and managerial reluctance to delegate authority. The research methodology outlines a qualitative approach using interpretivism, an inductive approach, and random sampling of 20 M&S employees. Data collection will involve surveys, and thematic analysis will be used for data analysis, with ethical considerations for confidentiality and integrity. A detailed time scale for the research activities is also provided. The report concludes with a comprehensive list of references.

Integrated Project: Assessment 1

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................3
Explanation of the problem..........................................................................................................3
Aims & Objectives ......................................................................................................................3
LITERATURE REVIEW.................................................................................................................3
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ....................................................................................................5
Research questions.......................................................................................................................5
Research methodology.................................................................................................................5
Time scale....................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES.................................................................................................................................7

Topic : “Impact of Employee Empowerment to enhance job satisfaction in the context of retail
sector”
INTRODUCTION
Explanation of the problem
The meaning of employee empowerment is to provide employees a certain degree of
responsibility, authority and autonomy for decision-making which is related to their job duties. In
other words, it means involving the employee from lower level in the decision-making process so
that more quality decisions could be taken for the organization. The impact of such
empowerment on employee is very significant as they feel valuable within the organisation that
ultimately increases their satisfaction with the job.
The present research report is about the impact which the employee empowerment have
on enhancing the job satisfaction within the Marks & Spencer. It is a multinational retailer which
is headquartered in Westminster, UK. It is a public trading company which sells food & home
products and clothes. The report will include an explanation of the topic, discussion regarding the
conclusions of existing research projects and approaches that will be used for solving research
problem.
Aims & Objectives
Aim : “ To assess the impact of employee empowerment on the job satisfaction within an retail
organization – A study on Marks & Spencer”.
Objectives :
 To identify the extent to which employee empowerment leads to job satisfaction within
the organization
 To assess the impact of employee empowerment on performance and productivity of
employees
 To determine challenges faced by organization while empowering employees
 To recommend strategies for successfully empowering employees for enhancing job
satisfaction and productivity of employees.
LITERATURE REVIEW
According to Hanaysha, (2016), employee empowerment impacts job satisfaction
element significant. Involvement of the employees from lower level in the decision-making
process increases their morale and they feel more valuable in the organization. All these things

collectively increases the level of job satisfaction of the employees. However, (….) claims that
employee empowerment not only increases the level of job satisfaction within the employees but
it also increases their dedication towards their job duties.
In the opinion of Ivanova and von Scheve (2019), employee empowerment increases the
productivity and performance of the employees because they are given with the needed
autonomy relating to their jobs. Employee feels free to complete their task in the manner which
is suitable to its style. Also, employee tends to be more creative and innovative in its approach to
the organizational duties when left free. Such things have other effects also such as it makes the
working environment more friendly and adaptive.
George N. Root III (2019) argues that motive behind employee empowerment embraced
by the organizations is to improve the quality of customer service. For example, if certain degree
of autonomy will not be given to the employees, and they ask everything from the approval from
their managers, then it takes long time to serve the customer. This time-consuming services are
not welcomed by the customers and reduces the customer satisfaction with the brand. Facilitating
the employees with certain powers to deal with customers with discretion, helps in creating a
happier customer base for the business organization.
As per Choi and et.al., (2016) states that embracing the employee empowerment at the
workplace is associated with the challenge of disturbance in the organizational structure.
Sometimes employees takes the autonomy given to them for granted and starts feeling that they
can take on more significant and crucial decisions. Therefore, it is necessary for managers to
maintain the hierarchy in the organizational structure so that employees can be controlled easily
and no chaos occurs at the workplace.
However,Leonard (2019) argues with the above view and claims that employee
empowerment is associated with the challenge wherein managers are reluctant to delegate the
authority and autonomy to the employees. This is because managers feels that employees are not
competent and experienced enough to handle situations at their own level.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research questions
1. To what extent employee empowerment leads to job satisfaction within the organization ?
2. What is the impact of employee empowerment on the performance and productivity of
employees?

3. What are the challenges faced by organization while empowering employees ?
Research methodology
For addressing the problems of research, following methods are to be used by the
researcher :
Research type:
There are two types for conducting the research that are qualitative and quantitative
research. The present research will be a qualitative research in which data is non-numerical,
based on feelings and opinions (Flick, 2015).
Research design:
Research design is procedure for answering to the questions of research. For current
study, descriptive research design will be applied for assessing the impact of employee
empowerment on the job satisfaction in M&S.
Research Philosophy:
There are different approaches of research such as interpretivism, positivism, realism and
pragmatism (Kumar, 2019). The researcher is going to use interpretivism approach as it
complements the qualitative research type. Through this philosophy, scholar would be able to
assess the impact of employee empowerment on productivity of employees.
Research Approach:
Three kinds of approaches are there such as inductive, deductive and abductive. The
scholar in the present research project will use inductive approach as it will aid it in generating
new ideas and theories from the collected data.
Sampling:
Random sampling, a method of probability sampling will be used by the scholar for
assessing the impact of employee empowerment on employees' job satisfaction and for
determining challenges faced by organization in embracing the employee empowerment within
the organisation. 20 employees of M&S will be taken as sample for the purpose of collecting
data.
Data collection:
Primary method of data collection will be used. The researcher will conduct a survey as
this method is more suitable for qualitative research types.
Data analysis:

Qualitative data analysis will be conducted by the scholar wherein thematic analysis of
the primary data will be performed.
Ethical considerations:
Confidentiality and integrity of the research are the ethics which will be considered by
the researcher.
Time scale
Activities 1 week 2 week 3 week 4 week 5 week 6 week 7 week
Research proposal
Literature review
Developing questions
for data collection
Data collection
Data analysis
Recommendations
and reflections
Conclusion

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Hanaysha, J., 2016. Examining the effects of employee empowerment, teamwork, and employee
training on organizational commitment. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences. 229.
pp.298-306.
Choi, S.L and et.al., 2016. Transformational leadership, empowerment, and job satisfaction: the
mediating role of employee empowerment.Human resources for health. 14(1). p.73.
Ivanova, M. and von Scheve, C., 2019. Power through empowerment? The managerial discourse
on employee empowerment. Organization, p.1350508419855709.
Kumar, R., 2019. Research methodology: A step-by-step guide for beginners. Sage Publications
Limited.
Flick, U., 2015. Introducing research methodology: A beginner's guide to doing a research
project. Sage.
Online
George N. Root III.2019.Challenges of Employee Empowerment. [online]. Available through
<https://smallbusiness.chron.com/challenges-employee-empowerment-705.html>
Kimberlee Leonard.2019. What Are the Benefits of Employee Empowerment. [online]. Available
through <https://smallbusiness.chron.com/benefits-employee-empowerment-1177.html>

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