Research: Motivation's Impact on Talent Retention in UK Retail Sector

This research project investigates the significance of motivation in talent management and employee retention within the UK retail sector, focusing on Argos as a case study. It explores the concept of talent management, the role of motivation in managing and retaining talented workers, and the benefits of these practices for Argos. The methodology employs a deductive approach, positivism philosophy, and quantitative research methods, utilizing questionnaires for data collection and analysis. The findings and discussion sections interpret the data gathered, leading to conclusions and recommendations for further research. The study highlights the importance of talent management strategies in organizations and the role of motivation in fostering employee engagement and retention.

Unit 11 Research Project
(Role of motivation in talent
management and retention within
a UK retail industry)

Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................4
1.1 Research Aim and Rationale.................................................................................................4
1.2 Research Questions...............................................................................................................5
1.3 Research Objectives..............................................................................................................5
1.4 Significance of the research..................................................................................................5
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW..................................................................................6
2.1 What is the concept of talent management?..........................................................................6
2.2 How motivation helps in managing and retaining talented workers within Argos?.............6
2.3 What are the biggest benefits of talent management and retention for Argos?....................7
2.4 Conclusion of literature review.............................................................................................8
CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY........................................................................................9
3.1 Research Approach.............................................................................................................9
3.2 Research Strategy ...............................................................................................................9
3.3 Research Methodology .......................................................................................................9
3.4 Research Tools...................................................................................................................10
3.5 Sampling.............................................................................................................................10
3.5.1 Identifying Population and Research Site........................................................................10
3.5.2 Sampling Strategy............................................................................................................10
CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS (DATA ANALYSIS AND PRESENTATION).........................11
4.1 Frequency Distribution Table ............................................................................................11
4.2 Data Presentation................................................................................................................12
CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION (DATA INTERPRETATION)................................................23
5.1 Data interpretation...............................................................................................................23
CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSION, RECOMMENDATIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR
FURTHER RESEARCH...............................................................................................................27
6.1 CONCLUSION...................................................................................................................27
6.2 RECOMMENDATIONS....................................................................................................27
6.3 IMPLICATIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH...............................................................27
6.4 REFLECTION....................................................................................................................27

6.5 ALTERNATIVE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY...........................................................28
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................29
APPENDIX....................................................................................................................................30
Questionnaire............................................................................................................................30

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Talent management is the procedure that assists in attracting, selecting and retaining
employees in the workplace. It includes a combination of human resource procedures across the
worker life cycle. It also includes workplace planning, learning and development, employee
engagement, recruiting, retention, succession and on-boarding. Under talent management,
motivation in an organisation plays significant role because it creates positive state of mind of
employees that help them in driving achieving objectives of company. The role of a leader and
manager is not an easy task because it includes great responsibility to encourage them towards
their roles and responsibilities (Mtetwa and Mutambara, 2020). Motivation plays significant role
in managing employees and retaining skilled and talented employee within an organisation. The
chosen organisation of the current investigation is Argos. Argos Limited is known as a catalogue
retailer operating in Ireland and the United Kingdom. It is acquired by supermarket chain of
Sainsbury in the year 2016. The headquarters of the company is located in Milton Keynes in the
United Kingdom. The company was founded in 13 November, 1972 by Richard Tompkins.
1.1 Research Aim and Rationale
Research aim
“To identify the impact of motivation in managing and retaining talented workers at
workplace”: A study on Argos
Research rationale
The main reason of doing the present investigation is to showcase the concept of talent
management within an organisation and the way motivation is used in the company for
encouraging employees towards their responsibilities and roles (Chiţu and Russo, 2020). There
are two objectives that I have fulfilled with the assistance of present investigation which are:
personal and professional objective. In respect of professional objective, I will get to know about
the trend ongoing in the business for their development as well as growth as well as I will also
learn about the behaviour behaved by managers. This behaviour will be acquired by me in future
so that I can also work with great patience and calmness. In respect of professional perspective, I
will get to know about the strategies that would be adopted by an organisation to motivate and
retain their employees and I will also learn about the concept of talent management within an

organisation. This will be very helpful in my professional career as I will be having great
knowledge and skills to manage employees.
1.2 Research Questions
 What is the concept of talent management?
 How motivation helps in in managing and retaining talented workers within Argos?
 What are the biggest benefits of talent management and retention for Argos?
1.3 Research Objectives
 To understand the meaning of talent management in context with business organisation
 To identify the role of motivation in managing and retaining talented employees in the
Argos
 To determine the advantages of talent management and retention for Argos
1.4 Significance of the research
The present investigation holds great significance because it is based upon the important
practice of an organisation which is talent management. This investigation is significant for
researchers, organisations, professionals and many more (Hughes and Murray, 2018). In respect
of researchers, it is quite significant as this investigation will be used as foundation for doing the
investigation on the same topic. In respect of organisation, the present research is important
because it helps in understanding the motivation strategies used by the large scale companies.
Therefore, current research is very significant to gather detailed information about the topic as
well as for researchers and companies.

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 What is the concept of talent management?
According to Jose (2019), talent management can be defined as the process and a part of
the entire human resource management. It basically includes the activities such as attracting the
new skilled candidates, selection and the retention of employees as well. It involves the
collaboration and combination of all the human resources processes in the employee life cycle as
a whole. It emphasises on the actions like the planning for the workforce and engagement among
employees among with the training and development which is followed by the management of
performance. Other activities includes the recruitment and on boarding along with the succession
and retention. It is considered as the entire management of employees within organization so that
they can be retained for a long term and renders productivity to the company (Rao and
Priyadarshini, 2017).
Talent management has the purposes to perform within the organization so that the
identification of the skill gap and required vacancies in the company can be done in order to
fulfils such gaps and required vacancies. Other purposes is to recruit strategically and also
holding back of the skilled and talented employees who are the reasons for the success of the
organization. Talent management has the priorities to follow the tactical process in order to have
the forwards looking people firms who better recognises the performance of the company which
is based on the workforce of the firm. Therefore, the basic concept of talent management is to
identify the vacant post within organization and the hiring the suitable candidates for the same,
then developing their skills to fulfil the requirements of the position and finally to retain them in
order to accomplish the long terms goals and objectives of the company in a successful manner
(Paisey and Paisey, 2018).
2.2 How motivation helps in managing and retaining talented workers within Argos?
According to Makram (2018), there are various kinds of motivations tools and strategies
which are adopted by Argos in order to manage and retain the talented workers within
organization. Employee management and retention has various steps in terms of motivating and
encouraging the employees to not to leave the organization. For example, certain types of
incentives and perks along with the cash prizes are some of the good motivators for the retention
of employees. Moreover, performance appraisals are also the motivating tool which helps in

retention and also to increase the employee performance and productivity within the firm
(Esterhuyse, 2018).
Motivation is an essential concept to adopt by the company in order to satisfy their
employees and can best help in the retention practices by human resource management. This is
because it is a fact that only the employees who are motivated and satisfied with the work and
company stays and other employees who are not leave the organization. It is researched that
employees feel safe and secure if organization motivates them with an appropriate techniques of
motivation. Some of the strategies includes are by providing the advanced opportunities to grow
and acknowledging the employee achievements as well. Making the company culture transparent
and positive working environment while engaging employees in the alignment of the goals and
objectives of the firm. It is important for the human resource management to conduct such
activities on the work premises for better communication flow in the firm.
2.3 What are the biggest benefits of talent management and retention for Argos?
According to Theys and Schultz (2020), there are several benefits of talent management
and retention in Argos. Such as these are the functions within organization which helps to
prepare for the future ready and skilled workforce. Such functions of talent management and
retention strategies does not only enhances the entire productivity of the team but also the
satisfaction among employees and the employee retention as well. Some of the biggest benefits
are such as it helps in creating the meaningful work and also the growth and development
opportunities for employees. It supports in building up the workplace which can be a high
performance in a firm. It aids in contribution to the diversity and inclusion in the firm. It assists
in encouraging the continuous and improved learning among employees. It assists in adding up
the value to the employee value proposition. The most significant benefit is the accessing the
people analytics tools so that better and strategic decision making can be perform within
organization (Kumar, 2017). Moreover, other benefits includes that it helps in increasing the
productivity and performance of the organization as a whole. It supports in attracting the best and
talented candidates to fill the vacant positions which improves the legal compliances and sets
some standard to perform the work by following the company policies. It further assists in
boosting the level of customer satisfaction which ultimately aids the entire company in achieving
its targets in the market place.

2.4 Conclusion of literature review
From the above gathered information through literature review, it is concluded that talent
management is quite important in the organisation and there are many advantages of talent
management experienced by company such better recruitment, satisfied employees, arranged
sessions of training and development and many more.

CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY
Research methodology is referred as the significant section in the investigation that
provides certain methods for the accumulation and examination of information (Chandra and
Hareendran, 2017). It basically follows research onion framework which has certain layers for
systematic collection and analysis of information. The selected research methods are given
below with their apt justification.
3.1 Research Approach
It is the approach which has certain principles for the analysis of information and it is
known as one of the important layers of the research onion framework. It is segmented into three
important forms which are: inductive and deductive approach. Researcher has selected deductive
approach so that numerical information could be examined and evaluated in systematic manner.
The advantage of deductive approach is analysing only statistical and numerical data without
consuming longer period of time (Gaikwad, 2017). The disadvantage of the deductive approach
is it does not give importance to theoretical piece of information.
Research onion framework also provides layer of research philosophy. This layer of
philosophy is divided into two major kinds that are: positivism and interpretivism philosophy.
Investigator has chosen positivism philosophy so that numerical data could be examined in
effective and efficient manner.
3.2 Research Strategy
There are many types of strategies which include: survey, action research, case study,
survey, grounded theory and many more. Investigator has dependent upon survey strategy so that
numerical information can be assembled with the motive of attaining objectives through
statistical manner (Herbas Torrico and Rocha Gonzales, 2018). The advantage of survey strategy
is it acquires maximum statistical information in shorter time duration.
3.3 Research Methodology
Research methodology has two major types that are qualitative and quantitative research
choice. Researcher has selected quantitative research methodology so that collection and analysis
could be done statistical and numerical manner (Elgort, 2018). The benefit of quantitative
methodology is investigation could become more relevant and reliable.

3.4 Research Tools
Questionnaire is selected as research tool for the accumulation of numerical information
and through this can easily acquire relevant and reliable piece of information (Scott and Siltanen,
2017). The benefit of questionnaire as an instrument is it is more economical and help in
gathering great piece of relevant information.
3.5 Sampling
It is divided into two kinds probability and non-probability sampling (Schreier, 2018).
Researcher has shown dependence upon probability sampling so that random method could be
followed and every respondent could get equal chance.
3.5.1 Identifying Population and Research Site
The selected number of respondents are chosen from Argos which is the chosen
organisation. 20 managers are selected so that they can provide data about the importance of
talent management. The research has conducted in the United Kingdom.
3.5.2 Sampling Strategy
In the sampling strategy, investigator has followed random sampling strategy because I
provides equal chance to each and every chosen respondents (Reilly and Jones, 2017). This
reduces the chance of biasses and make whole investigation more reliable and relevant.

CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS (DATA ANALYSIS AND PRESENTATION)
Frequency distribution analysis is used by investigator for the analysis of numerical and
primary piece of information in systematic way. MS-excel is also used by investigator for the
graphical presentation of information.
4.1 Frequency Distribution Table
Q1) As per your opinion, talent management is one of the important
practices within an organisation?
Frequency
a) Yes 16
b) No 4
Q2) Do you think motivation is the significant element within talent
management of Argos?
Frequency
a) Yes 14
b) No 6
Q3) As per your view, what is the main role of motivation within
talent management of Argos?
Frequency
a) Increases job satisfaction 4
b) Improves efficiency of the company 5
c) Increases productivity 7
d) Ensures local workforce 4
Q4) According to your opinion, does motivation help in managing
and retaining talented employees within Argos?
Frequency
a) Yes 17
b) No 3
Q5) What is the greatest motivation strategy adopted by Argos to
retain their talented employees in the workplace?
Frequency
a) Offering rewards and incentives 4

b) Arranging training sessions 7
c) Improving communication level 5
d) Creating positive working environment 4
Q6) As per perspective, what is the implication of motivation on the
employees productivity and business performance of Argos?
Frequency
a) Positive implication 12
b) Negative implication 5
c) Neutral implication 3
Q7) As per your knowledge, what is the biggest benefit of talent
management experienced by Argos?
Frequency
a) Better hiring and recruitment procedure 4
b) Deeper employee engagement 6
c) Increased diversity, inclusion and equity 7
d) Encouraging continuous learning 3
Q8) Do you think Argos face challenges due to the absence of talent
management within the workplace?
Frequency
a) Yes 14
b) No 6
Q9) As per your view, what is the biggest challenge that could be
experienced by Argos due to absence of motivation strategies?
Frequency
a) Conflicts and disputes between employees and employers 8
b) Unattained targets and unfulfilled activities 4
c) High employee turnover 5
d) Reduced brand image 3
Q10) If you get chance then what would you choose as the best
strategy to resolve the challenges related to motivating employees
Frequency