Employee Retention and Motivation: Ford Motor Company Analysis

This report analyzes various strategies Ford Motor Company employs to motivate and retain its employees. The study explores the impact of motivation on enhancing organizational performance, the effectiveness of employee retention practices, and the relationship between motivation and retention. It includes a literature review on motivation theories and employee retention, the research methodology used (including data collection and analysis), and the findings from the study, using illustrations to support the analysis. The report aims to identify the most effective ways to motivate employees at Ford, contributing to a sustainable workforce and a strong market image. The report also offers recommendations for Ford to maintain a motivated and retained workforce. The report is a case study on Ford Motor Company to identify various ways to motivate employees so they can be retained for a long time.

Various Ways To Motivate
Employees So They Can Be
Retained For Long Time: Ford
Motor Company
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I'm expressing my gratitude with love and sincerity to them who were associated with me to
accomplish this project work. All the hard work, devotion towards duty and the love or tolerance which
my supervisor has shown I'm grateful to. At the end I want to thank my family and friends for their
involvement and cooperation in my data collection on conducting my research work on the to identify
various ways to motivate employees so they can be retained for long time: A case study on Ford Motor
Company.
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ABSTRACT
This project is based on various ways which will adopted by Ford which is world renounced
company of automotive to motivate its employee and how they could then be retained in company. This is
very important for company to motivate its employees in all possible ways it could do which will be
helping them to retain its important and hardworking employees. It is required for each business
organisation to establishing sustainability among employees in horde to performing long term goals and
objectives. Human resources can be considered as the most effective tools of firm as it helps in increasing
organisational performance through implementing right resource at right place. Employees refer as the
essential assets of firm which are utilised by them in performing each and every task at work place and
create value for other people. The Ford Motor Company is an American multinational auto-maker
company and headquartered is in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The company was mainly
propounded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company mainly sells commercial
and auto-mobile vehicles under the Ford brand and luxury cars sells under the Lincoln brand
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................7
Background.............................................................................................................................7
Aims of study.........................................................................................................................8
Objectives...............................................................................................................................8
Rational of the study...............................................................................................................8
Research Question..................................................................................................................9
Significance of the study........................................................................................................9
Structure of dissertation..........................................................................................................9
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.......................................................................................11
Introduction..........................................................................................................................11
The impact of motivation on enhancing organisational performance at work place...........11
The ways in which employees could be motivated within Ford..........................................13
The relationship between motivation and employees retention at work place.....................16
The various ways through which Ford can sustain strong image at market place...............17
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY.................................................................................................19
3.1 Introduction:...................................................................................................................19
3.2 Research Type................................................................................................................19
3.3 Research Approach.........................................................................................................19
3.4 Research Philosophy......................................................................................................20
3.5 Research design..............................................................................................................20
3.6 Data collection................................................................................................................21
3.7 Data Analysis..................................................................................................................22
3.8 Sampling.........................................................................................................................22
3.9 Reliability and Validity:.................................................................................................23
3.10 Ethical consideration:...................................................................................................23
3.11 Research limitation:......................................................................................................24
CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS / RESULTS.........................................................................................25
4.1 Introduction....................................................................................................................25
4.2 Data Analysis..................................................................................................................25
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CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS and RECOMMENDATIONS....................................................53
Conclusion:...........................................................................................................................53
Recommendations:...............................................................................................................54
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................56
APPENDICES...............................................................................................................................61
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ILLUSTRATION INDEX
Illustration 1: Time duration of working with Ford.......................................................................24
Illustration 2: Satisfaction with level of support from HR department of Ford.............................25
Illustration 3: Management is interested in motivating its employee............................................26
Illustration 4: Incentives which is motivating employees the most then others............................27
Illustration 5: Satisfaction with incentives that Ford is giving......................................................29
Illustration 6 (a): Performance appraisal activities are helpful to get motivated...........................31
Illustration 7 (a): Leave..................................................................................................................38
Illustration 8: Switching the job from Ford..................................................................................42
Illustration 9: Conditions that are making them think or switch their job.....................................43
Illustration 10: Getting appraisal or appreciation for work done by employee is essential...........44
Illustration 11: Leaving the job is connected with motivation......................................................45
Illustration 12: Training and development opportunities by company..........................................46
Illustration 13: Management is involving employees in decision making of company................47
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Aim: To identify various ways to motivate employees so they can be retained for long time: A case
study on Ford Motor Company.
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
Background
Motivation is the force which is trying to influence individual in performing certain task and
gaining or obtaining any goal. This motivation could be having two sources namely inner and outer
source both of them working differently in all individual and may be differ from one to the other.
Motivation is important in all aspect and part of life so nothing is impossible for individual to achieve in
course of his life he will be motivated at each and every stage (Israel, 2018). Motivating employee and
then their retention is very important area which requires research on so that it becomes easy for company
to understand all possible ways and theories which is related to this task. Motivating is not just limited to
prompt workers or employees so that they could take initiative to do work with full enthusiasm and
efficiency but it also look up the matter of employee turnover. As this is very commonly seen within
many companies who are facing the problem of less amount of motivation within employees which is
leading to turnover of those unsatisfied workers. There is very tough competition within market and in all
industries which is operating every company want to have best qualified workers. These workers or
employees will be thus assisting company in its growth so it becomes important on part of company that
they are making efforts into motivating employees and giving them the best status in company.
Motivation will certainly lead to growth, development and increased in sales and profits of
company itself. As if an employee is motivated then he would be trying to do his work with all his efforts
and helping company in attainment of set or desired goals (Tsai and Yen, 2018). This motivation within
employee is from time when he gets recruited in company, while working in company and till time when
he is moving out of the company. As for any business which is practising on their goal and working
within market are having humans as its most powerful resources so this is important for company that
they are motivating them all and helping in attainment of employee's personal goal. Employee retention is
not an easy task as is seen as this is involving many stages which need to be completed so that company is
able to fight competition which they are facing. Thus, motivation is importance for both employee and
company so both should be taking interest in this process and focusing on objectives. For employee it is
important as they will then be motivated and leading to good performance and effectively leading to
achieve personal and professional goal (Unsworth and Tian, 2018). For the company this will be
mentioned in whole dissertation importance of motivation and employee retention.
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Any company could easily take away this workforce from the other is latter is not doing anything
in motivation of employees. The present dissertation is based on background of most pronounced
company in automotive industry Ford Motors which is multinational company of American based. On
June 16 1903 the company was founded by Henry Ford and now it is regarded to as one of the bestselling
car and other automotive producing and manufacturing company (Ogu, Benita and Uduakobong, 2018).
Ford Motors is having very prestigious status in market and is dealing with number of vehicles under the
brand name of Ford. Company is also having the best kind of workforce who are all responsible for
growth and development of Ford about 0.2% of total employees of world is been employed at Ford. Thus,
it is very vital that company is leading and managing motivation of employees so that they are performing
at a high level and making it important to retain all employees (Pransky, 2018). Across the world in
automotive company Ford is having 7th position which shows the higher amount of demand of company
among customers. There are various levels of management which are performing in company and making
Ford more and more profitable so it is required that they are applying different type of motivational
strategies and methods in order to motivate employees. This will be in making enterprise to utilize all
man power and further in sustainability of employees they will not be then thinking to leave company and
assisting in growth and development.
Aims of study
To identify various ways to motivate employees so they can be retained for long time: A case
study on Ford Motor Company.
Objectives
 To determine the impact of motivation in enhancing performance at work place.
 To ascertain the effectiveness of employees retention in Ford.
 To evaluate the relationship between motivation and employees retention at work place.
 To recommend various ways by which Ford can sustain strong image at market place.
Rational of the study
The main reason behind this study is to make out what is importance of motivation for both
employee and company also that of employee retention for company (Belle and Cantarelli, 2018). As in
this competitive world where every company is planning to come to top of market are been indulge in
satisfaction of employees. This satisfaction is mainly originated from motivation of those employees and
thus leading to employee retention. So there is need to study about topic which is focusing on various
ways of motivating employees which will thus be leading to employee retention in the case study of Ford
Motors. The study is done so that reader could have knowledge about what is motivation and how will
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this result in gaining and retaining employees who are been able to perform with more efficiency. In the
company where employees are motivated chance of growth and development will be there and profits will
thus be increasing. Researcher could also take this research as per their part and gain more knowledge
about this topic which will be helping them to develop intelligence in field of management and employee
motivation as well.
Research Question
 What is the impact of motivation on enhancing organisational performance at work place?
 What is the major effectiveness of employee’s retention in Ford?
 How to evaluate the relationship between motivation and employees retention at work place?
 What are the various ways through which Ford can sustain strong image at market place?
Significance of the study
This whole research which is based on ways to motivate employee which will be resulting in
employee retention and ultimately growth of company. The study project would be useful for company
itself, for doing further research on same topic and for students of management. The dissertation will be
also important for company who could take the required data and information that is been covered in
questionnaire or secondary sources. This information will be used in doing further research for other
researchers who are likely to form dissertation on same topic this matter will be helpful. The research
work will also be helpful for students who are having motivation and employee retention as their study
topic so they could have look on topic.
Structure of dissertation
Chapter 1: Introduction- this is opening part of any dissertation which is including different sub parts
like that of background of study, research aim, objectives, rational, questions and significance of whole
study. In this chapter scholar will be defining what the topic is all about and how could it be dealt in
further project. This part will be telling and will be containing introductory paragraph about both topic
and about company background will be including about information of company and of topic. The
significance of study will be including for whom the study is been done and who all would be using the
dissertation in their working.
Chapter 2: Literature Review- this is 2nd chapter of dissertation which will be including different literary
work or authors who have written different books and journals on motivation and employee retention
policy. The part will be done by making themes which are based on research question which is been done
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in 1st chapter. After themes have been prepared we would be critically reviewing the whole research
project by putting some pros and cons of topic which will be further defining the whole research projcet.
Chapter 3: Research Methodology- in this chapter of dissertation various methodologies will be included
which will be setting background of study on the bases of which study would be done and data will
collected. In this part scholar will be including various methods like that of research type, philosophy,
design, data collection and analysis of data.
Chapter 4: Results and discussion- this is most important part as will be telling about what are various
results which are thereafter conducting project and analysing whether the topic is been fulfilled or not.
Chapter 5: Conclusion and Recommendation- after making discussion part we will be making
conclusion and then giving recommendation on the part and whole research work.
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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
This is the second chapter within dissertation which will be telling about whole topic what the
topic is all about, what things need to be changed and what is the connection between the topic and at the
giving recommendations. This part is having its own importance in the dissertation as this will be looking
in depth about what is motivation and how will this be impacting the whole organisation and how could
employees be retained with help of this process. This part is basically the involvement of differentiate and
their scholarly work or paper which they have written on particular topic. This will be helping researcher
in finding out what actually is been said is that against or in favour of the topic which is mentioned. All
the works which are included secondary source as will not be reporting new or original experimental.
There are 4 types of literature reviews like that of evaluative, exploratory, instrumental and systematic
review. Mostly and in this research type also researcher will be using systematic review which would be
focusing on the research questions which are been mentioned in starting of dissertation in chapter 1.
Everything which is been included in this particular part must be supporting with evidence and properly
cited or quoted by researcher as this could be very serious ethical issues. In the following part we would
be researching on the topic various ways to motivate employees so they could be retained for long time
which will be including the case of Ford. For which different themes will be made and then thematic
analysis will be done on these so that conclusions could be drawn. And on the bases of these
recommendations will be made.
The impact of motivation on enhancing organisational performance at work place
According to Jonas, (2016) motivation is the basic reason as to why humans are meant to perform
specified task or what the reason behind their any act or behaviour is. Motivation will be set direction
towards the behaviour of one person why are they behaving in one particular manner and why do they
want to repeat that thing. This is a motive which is promoting human to act in a way that they are doing
that is wholly based on psychological concept of human behaviour. This part and word motivation is been
based on various theories which will be telling and governing the behaviour of human working together
or not. Theory is basically based on two types which are natural vs rational and content vs process
theories of motivation. Both these will be effecting need, want, desire, action and behaviour of people.
Motivation acts as a desire to perform an action, is usually defined as having two parts,
directional such as directed towards a positive stimulus or away from a negative one, as well as the
activated seeking phase and consummation “liking phase”. Motivation can be defined as a willingness to
expend energy to achieve a goal or a reward which is said by Sarangi and Shah, (2015). Employee
motivation can be categorised as: intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic rewards are internal to the
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company, psychological rewards such as a sense of accomplishment or doing something because it makes
one feel good. Extrinsic rewards are given through outside sources such as a money, compliments,
bonuses, or trophies. The crux of the theory of motivation is that individuals' most basic needs must be
met before they become motivated to achieve higher level needs. Employee participation using open-
book management is necessary, which means when a company shares important financial data with its
employees, therefore, building trust and loyalty.
In other words motivation could also be classified into process of inspiring peoples with respect
to contributing their vast efforts in task and duty which at the end will be helping in attainment of growth,
success and goal of individual. Damij, Levnajić and Suklan, (2015) mentioned that this motivation is also
required in organisation which will be helping managers and supervisor to encourage their employees,
colleagues and subordinates. If all of them are either self motivated or motivated from some external
source will be thus helping organisation in its target and goal achievement. Mainly the impact of
motivation on the employees will be classified into 3 features or characteristics which could be as under:
Productivity- if the employees who are working within organisation are motivated and satisfied with the
job which they are meant to do then surely this will be making and helping company in increasing
productivity. This is considered to as amount of work which an employee is meant to do or produced in
form of product and services of company. Motivated employees are always giving their best and not
letting the company down in respect to market or competition of that company which is said by Ragnet
and Somat, (2017). Productivity will be consisting ratio to calculate performance of employees,
individual and country to convert their input into finished goods and services.
Performance of employees- motivated employees will also be doing the work with full efficiency which
will thus be effecting their performance. Employees will be very much affected by the amount of
motivation that they are getting from the employers or company. As Ford is very much famous for hiring
the best quality of staff within organisation who all are very much dedicated for their work which is
important for them to be.
Job satisfaction- all the above things would be possible only if employees who are working within
organisation are happy and satisfied with work or job which they are doing. Satisfaction of employees
with their job would be leading to both increase in performance and productivity as well. Which will only
be completed if employees are motivate to do their job and achieve the set target which will be important
for both employee and company said by Dale, (2014).
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