Employee Engagement and Organizational Performance Research Report

This report delves into the critical topic of employee engagement, exploring its significance and impact on organizational performance within the UK retail industry, specifically focusing on Tesco. The research employs a quantitative methodology, utilizing surveys to gather data. The study investigates various aspects, including the concept of employee engagement, the impact of engagement strategies on organizational performance, the challenges Tesco faces in maintaining high engagement levels, and strategies to enhance employee engagement. Key findings highlight the challenges companies face in maintaining employee engagement activities such as lack of communication, organizational structure, and company size. Effective strategies to mitigate these challenges include fostering strong relationships between management and employees and allowing democratic leadership. The research emphasizes the importance of gaining employee trust to achieve high engagement levels.

Research Methodologies

Abstract
Employee engagement is the word which reflects the dedication of employees while performing
their organisational task. Every organisation expect to gain high employee engagement from
their employees because high engaged employee contributed to work better for the company.
There are many researches which are already conducted on the same topic but the findings are
are different for different studies. Previous studies are conducted on cross-sectional data. The
researcher used the quantitive research method where survey is used to collect data from
respondents. The major findings of this research is that companies can face various issues while
maintaining their employee engagement activities and these challenges are lack of
communication, organisational structure, company size and many others. There are effective
strategies to mitigate these challenges such as building good relationship between management
team and employee team and allowing democratic leadership within the organisation. It is also
found that gaining employees trust is also one of the most important factors in gaining high
employee engagement.

Contents
Abstract............................................................................................................................................2
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
1.0 Introduction............................................................................................................................1
1.1 Background ...........................................................................................................................1
1.2 Problem statement..................................................................................................................2
1.3 Purpose of the research..........................................................................................................2
1.4 Research Aim.........................................................................................................................2
1.5 Research objectives................................................................................................................3
1.6 Research Questions................................................................................................................3
Literature review..............................................................................................................................4
2.0 Introduction............................................................................................................................4
2.1 To analyse the concept of employee engagement..................................................................4
2.2 To analyse the impact of employee engagement strategy on organisational performance in
context of Tesco...........................................................................................................................5
2.3 To examine the challenges face by Tesco while maintaining higher employee engagement
level..............................................................................................................................................6
2.4 To analyse the strategies to enhance employee engagement in Tesco..................................7
2.5 Literature review summary....................................................................................................7
Research methodology.....................................................................................................................8
3.0 Introduction............................................................................................................................8
3.1 Research philosophy..............................................................................................................8
3.2 Research approach.................................................................................................................8
3.3 Research strategy...................................................................................................................8
3.4 Research design.....................................................................................................................9
3.5 Population sampling...............................................................................................................9
3.6 Data collection.......................................................................................................................9
3.7 Data analysis..........................................................................................................................9
3.8 Ethical considerations..........................................................................................................10
3.9 Reliability and validity.........................................................................................................10
3.10 Time plan...........................................................................................................................10

Data collection and analysis.......................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12
Online.............................................................................................................................................12

Introduction
1.0 Introduction
Employee engagement shows that how much a employee is dedicated toward their job role and
how effectively they perform their task to help organisation to achieve organisational aim (Kwon
and Kim, 2020). The following section cover background of research and organisation, purpose
of research, research aim and research objectives.
1.1 Background
Research background-
Employee engagement is the term which define the level of dedication a worker feels toward
their job. This means that how effectively they work and how motivated they feel while
completing their task (Lee, Rocco and Shuck, 2020). This is seen in the attitude and behaviour of
employees that how much they are engaged toward their work. Their activeness in organisational
task will interpret-ate that they are highly active and engaged within the organisation. There are
various kinds of ways which can be adopted by a company to engage their employees like
allowing their employees to participate in decision making process, allotting them job role which
matches their expertise and interest and many others. High employee engagement will reflects
that employees are highly satisfied with the company and their job. The following research is
conducting to analyse the impact of employees engagement strategies on organisational
performance. There are many benefits of employee engagement but researcher need to analyse
it's main impact on employee engagement on organisational performance.
Background of organisation-
Tesco PLC is one of the most popular retailing company in UK which was founded in the year
1919 by Jack Cohen. It is headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, England, UK.
This company is having more than 4,500 stores all across the world. They sell groceries,
household products and many others. They also sold their products through online mode. They
offer their products within minimum price so that they can attract new customers and retain their
loyal customers. Their stores are operated in different ways and sizes. Their employees are
mainly focus to provide effective services to their customers and respond them quickly. Tesco
offer a wide range of products to their customers from food products to baby products and
clothing. The company is having 3,00,000 employees. Their main competitors are Morrison,
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Sainsbury, Asda and many others. Due to COVID pandemic, sales of this company decline and
they again grow well when this situation comes under control. Tesco is well known company to
adopt high standard strategy to control the situations effectively. They use drones to deliver their
product through online mode to their customers in COVID pandemic. They also offer high
discounts on successional days to their customers on their purchases and they provide loyalty
card to their most loyal customers through which they can get heavy discounts on their each
purchase.
1.2 Problem statement
Demotivating employees is the main issues in today's scenario where most of the employees are
feeling that they are not worth fully for their organisation and their companies only believe that
the employees are machine for them to work (Saks, 2019). Due to this company have to face
high employee turnover and decline in brand image. To mitigate this issues companies are
adopting employee engagement activities so that they engage effectively in organisational task
and feel motivated and highly dedicated to their job roles and job tasks.
1.3 Purpose of the research
The researcher choose the topic because this topic is one of the most important business issue
which can impacts the organisational performance (Rasool and et. al., 2021). Employee
engagement is essential for every organisation. There are two main reasons for researcher to
conduct this research first is related to professional reason and second is related to personal
reason. In context of professional reason, then this topic will help researcher to analyse the
knowledge about employee engagement. On the other hand, in context of personal reason, then
while conducting the research the researcher will gain effective knowledge of various kinds of
skills like communication skill, problem solving skill, time management skill and many others
which will further help the researcher to enhance his personality. Few of the weak skills of
researcher will get enhanced by this research. The objectives of this research will is made
effectively which will further help to find the main findings of this research. Employee
engagement is one of the current trend of business issue in this world.
1.4 Research Aim
To analyse the impact of employee engagement on organisational performance within UK retail
industry- A study on Tesco
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1.5 Research objectives
 To analyse the concept of employee engagement.
 To analyse the impact of employee engagement strategy on organisational performance in
context of Tesco.
 To examine the challenges face by Tesco while maintaining higher employee engagement
level.
 To analyse the strategies to enhance employee engagement in Tesco.
1.6 Research Questions
 What is the main concept of employee engagement?
 Identify the impact of employee engagement strategy on organisational performance in
context of Tesco
 What are the challenges which is faced by Tesco while maintaining higher employee
engagement level?
 What are the strategies to enhance employee engagement in Tesco?
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Literature review
2.0 Introduction
Literature review is the overview of previously published journals and articles. This is the
section of research where the research objectives are clearly defined by their researcher by using
other researchers point of view and perceptions (Young and et. al., 2018). Here, those data are
included which is defined by other authors.
2.1 To analyse the concept of employee engagement
According to Tim Smith (2020) Employee engagement is the concept of Human
Resource that describe the level of participation and dedication of workers toward their job. The
symbol of high employee engagement is that the employees are highly satisfied and motivated to
work well for the organisation. Employees feel that their efforts toward the work can make a
difference and help companies to enhance their productivity. Communication plays a important
part in employee engagement (Smith, 2020). It is believed that employees team and management
team must have good communication and when a employee is clear with their thoughts and ideas
and know it well about the main purpose of their job role then they engage more and perform
well to complete the task effectively. Well-being working environment is the main factor to
engage their employees well for the company.
As per the point of view of David Macleod (2020) Employee engagement is the way of
making employees comfortable so that the employees will work better and enhance their own
capabilities and potentiality. The main factor for employees and their payroll which means if
they are paid good salaries and wages to their employees than their employees will feel
comfortable to perform any task within the organisation whether the task is easy or tough
(Macleod, 2022). It is also important for the companies to monitor employee engagement
activities of their employees and measure the result effectively so that company can make
changes if they found any error and irresponsibilities from their employees. There are various
benefits of employee engagement and one of the best benefit of this is increase in brand image of
the company. High employee engagement will help the company to retain their employees for
longer period of time and attract new customers. In context of employer of any company,
employee engagement is the attitude and behaviour of employees which reflects in their daily
routine within the workplace (Duque and et. al., 2020).
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2.2 To analyse the impact of employee engagement strategy on organisational performance in
context of Tesco.
As per the point of view of Peter G. Furst (2018) a highly engaged employee will work
effectively and this reflects in their behaviour and attitude. Therefore, customers service
department is need to focus more on employee engagement strategies because they have to deal
with different kind of customers whether their customers are aggressive or not. A highly engaged
employee in customer service department can work harder and try their best to satisfy their
employees and clear their doubts and issues in polite manner. This will further help to enhance
the organisational performance and brand image of the company. A engaged employee always
try their best to complete the task on time with perfection (Pandita and Ray, 2018). Hence, when
a group of employees which cover all employees within the organisation can do the same which
means they must complete their work in a fixed period of time with perfection than this will help
the company to grow with high speed. There are various factors which enhances the employee
engagement within the workplace. The company is required to analyse the most suitable factor to
engage their employees well.
From the perspective of Roger Muller, Elroy Smith and Riyaadh Lillah (2018) employees
are one of the most important asset for a organisation and this is the responsibility of a company
to satisfy their employees by fulfilling their needs and wants effectively. One of the most
important factor for employee engagement is the relationship between management team and
employees team. In case they are having good relationship with each other then it will further
enhance communication activities between them. When effective communication take place
between management team and employees then employees can openly share their issues and
problems as well as suggestions to management team (Muller, Smith and Lillah, 2018). This will
further help the company to mitigate those obstacles which slower organisational growth.
Effective participation of employees within decision making process will further help the
company to engage their employees and make them satisfied with their company. This will help
the company to gain the trust of their employees and when a employee get motivated and highly
satisfied with the company then that employee can work harder to achieve organisational
objective. Hence, the overall performance of organisation can be enhanced by engaging their
employees.
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2.3 To examine the challenges face by Tesco while maintaining higher employee engagement
level.
As per the point of view of Stuart Sinclair (2021) there are various kinds of challenges which can
be faced by a company including Tesco while applying employee engagement strategies and
these challenges are mentioned below-
 Lack of information- When employees are working far away from central office then
they are not aware of what strategies are planning to execute in future (Sinclair, 2021).
Somehow, communication gap is seen between head office and their other branches and
especially those branches which are located in different locations.
 Organisational engagement- It is expected from most of the companies including Tesco
that their employees from cleaner to the CEO of the organisation is need to be engaged at
equal level to achieve organisational goal. This will create a huge burden on employees
and they perform their task with low positive attitude.
 Work culture- Work culture is one of the most important factor for employee
engagement (Wang, Hsieh and Wang, 2020). Most of the companies are not capable
enough to maintain high work culture. Employees are need to communicate and help
each other for achieving organisational goal. The company where no individual will help
to other and where no leader support any other individual then there employees will no
longer show their interest to work effectively.
 Lack of recognition- When employees are not recognised well within their organisation
then they feel demotivated and a demotivated employee is unable to perform well for the
company and it's production.
From the perspective of Bernadette Mallari (2019) Human Resource Manager and HR
executives play a important role in maintaining employee engagement within the organisation.
There are various kinds of issues which is faced by HR managers and executives to manage
employee engagement (Mallari, 2019). One of the biggest challenge is gaining the employees
trust that they are important for organisation and the organisation did not ignore their issues and
other problems. Large scale organisations are having huge number of employees and it is very
tough for a HR manager to focus on each employee personally. Hence, organisational structure
and size can also create a challenge for companies to manage their employee engagement
activities.
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2.4 To analyse the strategies to enhance employee engagement in Tesco.
As per the point of view of Cathryn Newbery (2019) there are few of the strategies of
maintaining employee engagement for a company to help the organisations to grow well. These
strategies are mentioned below-
 Communicate deliberately and regularly- It is essential for management team to
maintain good communication level with their employees and gain their trust so that they
will openly share their issues and problems. According to a report it is analysed that most
of the employees engage more toward their task and job role when their seniors
communicate well with them and clear their direction for achieving goal.
 Invest in well-being- It is essential for companies to maintain well-being environment
for their employees (Newbery, 2019). A good working environment where each
employee is engaging to complete their task on time then new employees feel to work
effectively.
 Adopt reward system- Most of the companies are required to appreciate their high
performing employees and provide reward to them so that they will feel motivated as
well as low performing employees also get motivated to perform good within the
organisation.
On the other hand, according to the point of view of Kiera Abbamonte (2021) effective
implementation of employee engagement strategy starts with gaining trust of employees. If a
company is enough capable to gain the trust of their employees then they automatically step
forward to gain high employee engagement for their organisation (Abbamonte, 2021). Another
important strategy for the companies to gain employee engagement in work is to provide them
authority to manage their task effectively. Increase in authority and responsibilities will
automatically increase employee engagement.
2.5 Literature review summary
From the above literature review it is concluded that employee engagement strategies is
adopted to enhance the dedication of employees to work better within the company. There are
various strategies which are adopted by companies to maintain their employee engagement like
effective communication, proper leadership style and many others. Few of the challenges are
also faced by companies while adopting or implementing employee engagement strategies.
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Research methodology
3.0 Introduction
It is the way of identifying the methods and techniques of conducting a research. In simple
words, it is the blue print of whole research that how the research is going to conducted in what
manner and by using what all methods (Burnett and Lisk, 2019). Onion framework is one of the
most popular framework to set the research methodology of a research.
3.1 Research philosophy
It helps to develop the knowledge for the researcher. There are basically four types of research
philosophy, realism, pragmatism, interpretevism and positivism. Interpretevism is the research
philosophy which is used for qualitative research where small samples are picked for research.
On the other hand, positivism is the research philosophy which is used for quantitative research
to collect numerical data. The following research will use positivism research philosophy
because it is quantitative research and the positivism is systematic and practical in nature which
will help to make findings better to understand for readers.
3.2 Research approach
This will help the researcher to draw a general conclusion from specific observation. There are
two main types of research approach, inductive and deductive research approach. Inductive
research approach is used where research basically uses theories and general concepts to analyse
their aims and objectives. Hence, inductive research approach is used for qualitative research. On
the other hand, deductive research approach is used for used for quantitative research and it
consist of testing and using charts and tables to interpretate data. Hence, the following research
consist of using deductive research approach because here the researcher studies what other have
done already and read the theories and concepts to test the outcome of the research.
3.3 Research strategy
It consist of step wise procedure of conducting a research effectively. This will help to show the
direction to researcher that what he need to do and how. There are basically few types of
research strategy which are systematic literature review, action oriented research, case study,
observation, interviews and few others. Interview is that research strategy which is used with
small sample size and where researcher commonly communicate face-to face conversations with
their respondents. On the other hand, survey is the research strategy where researcher use
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