Employee Engagement's Influence on Productivity: IGA Australia

This report investigates the influence of employee engagement on organizational productivity, focusing on IGA Supermarkets in Australia. It identifies issues related to employee engagement within the Australian supermarket sector, explores strategies for enhancing organizational productivity at IGA Australia, and analyzes the correlation between employee engagement and productivity. The research employs a literature review methodology, utilizing secondary data from scholarly articles, government reports, and websites to establish a theoretical framework. Primary data is gathered through structured interviews with customer service representatives to supplement the secondary findings. The study uses thematic data analysis to examine and review the data, aiming to provide recommendations for improving employee engagement at IGA Australia to foster better organizational productivity, addressing concerns such as employee turnover and its impact on overall performance.

RESEARCH IN
BUSINESSInfluence of employee engagement on organisational productivity: The
study based on IGA Supermarket in Australia
Influence of employee engagement on organisational
productivity: The study based on IGA Supermarket in
Australia

Title
Influence of employee engagement on organisational productivity: The
study based on IGA Supermarket in Australia

Problem Statement
Engaged employees are productive as the productivity comes from the motivation and personal
factors. The efficient workforce brings the success to the organisation.
As stated by Katou & Budhwar (2015), the management of the organisation needs human capital in
order to provide customer satisfaction and to run smooth operation process.
If the employees within an organisation disorganised due to lack of motivation, team-bonding, culture
of the organisation and interest; the productivity of the organisation will decrease automatically.
In the supermarket sector, the employee engagement is low in Australia; the main reason is lower
employee retention rate. According to Sutton, Kamvounias & Taylor (2015), lower engagement of
the employees creates lower absenteeism and higher focus towards motivation.
In the Australian retail sector, 25% of the employees are not engaged and disengaged employees
can drop 18% of the productivity; therefore, it can lead to 56% drop in quality (Abs.gov.au, 2018).

Contd…
In supermarket sector, lack of employee engagement can cause to poor quality control, customer
relations, innovation absenteeism, poor team work and discouraging team building.
In supermarket sector, sales executives play important role in providing customer satisfaction and
negative employee engagement can discourage the employees and inflect the morale.
Independent Grocers of Australia (IGA) sells general products and groceries to the customers.
This supermarket organisation has its stores in South Australia, Tasmania and Western
Australia.
The employees are not engaged within the organisation as last year employee turnover rate has
been increased by 5% (Iga.com.au, 2018).
The employees are leaving the organisation; therefore, the organisational productivity is also
decreased.

Aim
The aim of the research is to explore the influence of
employee engagement on organisational productivity. The
focus of the study is IGA Australia, an independent
supermarket.
IGA Australia
Type: Subsidiary of Metcash
Industry: retailer
Headquarter: Canning Vale
Revenue: AU$ 14.4 billion

Objectives
The objectives of the study are:
◦ To find out the issues of employee engagement in supermarket Australia
◦ To highlight the strategies of organisational productivity in IGA Australia
◦ To explore the influence of employee engagement on organisational productivity
◦ To provide some possible recommendations to improve the employee engagement in IGA
Australia to have better organisational productivity

Brief Methodology
◦ Literature review:
As stated by Hatherley, Jennings & Cross (2016),
literature review is the mainly secondary data collected
from scholarly articles of the renowned authors.
In the literature review section, the scholarly articles have
been reviewed based on the theoretical framework of
employee engagement and organisational productivity.
In the literature review section, the theories and models
of the employee engagement in the Australian
supermarket sector will be reviewed based on the
information from articles, government reports and
websites.
The current issues of the employee engagement in the
Australian supermarket sector that leads to the lack of
employee engagement will be explained.
Data collection:
Secondary data of the literature review will be
aligned through collecting of the primary data.
Primary data are mainly raw data that would be
collected through survey of the respondents.
The researcher will collect the primary data through
conducting the interviews to the customer service
representatives.
The researcher will prepare 5 open-ended
questions to conduct the interviews. The sample
size of the interviews will be 3 and the
researcher will conduct structured interview to
record the data.

3. Sources of secondary data, data
presentation and analysis methods
This study will use secondary data mainly from the online articles, websites, online magazines,
Australian government reports and journals.
The secondary data sources will provide the information regarding the employee engagement
issues in supermarket sectors.
The major issues of the employee engagement and past statistics will be collected through
secondary data sources.
The researcher will review scholarly papers in order to understand the organisational productivity.
The annual report of IGA will also be considered.

Contd…
Once the data are collected from the secondary data sources, all variables of the data will be
segregated and analysed.
As pointed out by Painkas et al., (2015), secondary data are cost-efficient and time-saving.
The secondary data sources will be analysed through using thematic data analysis.
Thematic data analysis is done through examining, pinpointing and reviewing the secondary data
after segmenting the themes of the research.
This research will be qualitative research as the observation of the customer service
representatives and recording patterns of the secondary data will be analysed.

Bibliography
◦ Hatherley, C., Jennings, N., & Cross, R. (2016). Time to analgesia and pain score documentation best practice
standards for the Emergency Department–A literature review. Australasian Emergency Nursing Journal, 19(1), 26-36.
◦ IGA Supermarkets | Independent Grocers of Australia. (2018). IGA Supermarkets. Retrieved 3 April 2018, from
https://www.iga.com.au
◦ Katou, A. A., & Budhwar, P. (2015). Human resource management and organisational productivity: a systems approach
based empirical analysis. Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and Performance, 2(3), 244-266.
◦ Mone, E. M., & London, M. (2018). Employee engagement through effective performance management: A practical
guide for managers. Routledge.
◦ Palinkas, L. A., Horwitz, S. M., Green, C. A., Wisdom, J. P., Duan, N., & Hoagwood, K. (2015). Purposeful sampling for
qualitative data collection and analysis in mixed method implementation research. Administration and Policy in Mental
Health and Mental Health Services Research, 42(5), 533-544.
◦ Price, R. (2016). Controlling routine front line service workers: an Australian retail supermarket case. Work,
employment and society, 30(6), 915-931.
◦ Retail Trade, Australia, Jan 2018. (2018). Abs.gov.au. Retrieved 3 April 2018, from
http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/8501.0Explanatory%20Notes1Jan%202018?OpenDocument
◦ Sutton-Brady, C., Kamvounias, P., & Taylor, T. (2015). A model of supplier–retailer power asymmetry in the Australian
retail industry. Industrial marketing management, 51, 122-130.