Business Research: Organizational Culture and Motivation

This business research report investigates the impact of organizational culture on employee motivation and performance, focusing on the practices of Aldi and Woolworths. The research utilizes a qualitative methodology, including interviews and surveys, to explore how culture influences employee behavior and productivity. The report examines the relationship between rewards and motivation, and the challenges managers face in implementing motivational theories. Key research questions address the impact of a strong culture on employee motivation, the differences in management practices between the two supermarkets, the positive and negative impacts of culture, and the evaluation of job efficiency and worker performance. The study aims to provide insights for managers to develop robust organizational cultures that enhance employee engagement and drive improved business outcomes. The report includes an executive summary, introduction, literature review, research methodology, analysis and findings, and a reference list.

Running head: BUSINESS RESEARCH
Business Research
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive Summary
This research study deals with the level of motivation that the employees receive within the
organization, which helps in improving their performance. The literature review consists of
various studies of different authors related to the factors of motivation and rewards that can be
provided by the organization to its employees. The study has been supported with the help of
motivational theories that have been put forward by the different authors. The link between
performance and rewards has been provided so that it helps in understanding the relationship
between them in a better manner. The methods that will be used for the research to be conducted
has been provided, which will help the researcher in conducting the research in a proper manner.

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Table of Contents
Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................1
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Objective of the project...............................................................................................................5
Scope of the project.....................................................................................................................5
Research Questions..........................................................................................................................6
Research Methodology....................................................................................................................6
Qualitative Research....................................................................................................................6
Quantitative Method....................................................................................................................7
Sample size..................................................................................................................................7
Data collection.............................................................................................................................8
Research Design..........................................................................................................................9
Research Limitation...................................................................................................................10
Time Schedule (Gantt Chart).....................................................................................................11
Analysis and Findings....................................................................................................................12
Reference List................................................................................................................................18
Appendices....................................................................................................................................21

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Introduction
The culture of an organisation consists of the norms, values, beliefs and conditions along
with the experiences obtained while performing within an organisational setting. The norms,
values and beliefs can help in forming the behaviors and attitudes of employees and allow them
to adapt to certain situations for working with efficiency. The culture of an organisation also
represents the way of working of individuals and how they communicate with each other within
the organisation (King, 2012). The organisational culture also combines the systematic values
and beliefs, which are needed to be followed by the employees to make relevant choices and
decisions in business and furthermore derive good outcomes.
According to Bolboli & Reiche, 2014, due to the immense competition in the global
business market, many managers have found it difficult to survive and manage business
operations and processes properly. It becomes a daunting task for them to ensure that the
company sustains in the competitive business environment with ease. Few of the major issues
faced are fulfilling the demands and preferences of stakeholders and managing competitive
prices to stay ahead of competitors in business (Bolboli & Reiche, 2013). The leaders and
managers along with the higher management officials of business organisations face issues and
challenges to develop a good and robust culture within the organisation, which is needed to
motivate the employees and bring out their best in terms of their performances (Kenny, 2012).
To manage business expansion and sustaining in the competitive business environment,
the probability is an important factor which allows for the growth and development of business
(Erdorf, et al, 2013). The companies, which have an inappropriate culture, can be affected by low
economic performance and less profit generated. The business managers and leaders also face

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issues to develop a good culture, which further affects the performances of employees, deliver
less value to shareholders and even deteriorates the organisational productivity (Lee & Gaur,
2013). From various evidences, it has been found that the failing of many businesses are mainly
due to the ineffective integration of culture within the business environment along with th
cultural differences between the employees that create barriers to enhance employee
performance and organisational production level (Idris et al, 2015).
From the literature review, a wide and extensive research has been conducted for
determining the ways of creating a good organizational culture and how can it create positive
impact on the motivation of employees and drive their performances largely. Based on the
evidences provided by various researches such as Hofstede (1980), it could be understood that
the economic or financial performance of the company depend upon the creation of an
organizational culture (Hofstede, 1980). The culture of organizations differs and thus the efficacy
of the organizations might also be different, which could result in traits based on the benefits
obtained through competitive advantage. Within the dynamic world, it is important to focus on
the motivation and encouragement of employees and make sure that they are kept satisfied by
fulfilling their needs and requirements properly. Following an appropriate culture within the
organization can help in responding to the changes in a consistent manner and fulfill the
demands and preferences of customers to satisfy them and make them perform to their potential.
The organizational culture that has been considered by McKinnon (2003) is the supportive
culture, which is considered as an effective tool for motivating the employees to work harder and
bring out enhanced production level (McKinnon, et al., 2003). The literature review section will
include all the necessary aspects of culture within organization and also how it creates positive

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impact on motivating the employees and their performances who are working within the
supermarkets in Australia.
Objective of the project
The main objective of conducting the research is to find out the various strategic
approaches considered by the business organisations to create a strong and robust culture and
enhance motivation level of employees and their performances too. The various findings of the
research could help in delivering good amount of information to the organisation’s management
for developing a robust culture where employees can work efficiently by considering the values,
norms and beliefs maintained within the organisational premises (Eaton &Kilby, 2015). It is also
essential for understanding the significance of integration of culture. The targeted population is
the management staffs who are well aware of the impacts that can be created by the
organisational culture. The managers will be able to gain more skills and knowledge to guide the
employees in right direction and encourage them to perform to their potential. Thus, the results
derived from the research could help in benefiting the public as well as mange good working
conditions for employees to increase their potential and make the company enhance its
production by recruiting new skilful individuals within the workforce.
Scope of the project
The scope of the research study will be to ascertain the following:
 That rewards act as motivating the employees within the organization
 The identification of the rewards that are beneficial for the employees
 The difficulties that are faced by the managers in placing the theories of motivation
within the work place

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Research Questions
The various questions that have been prepared based on the objectives of the research are
as follows:
 What impact can be created by maintaining a strong culture within Woolworths
and Aldi on the employee motivation level?
 What are the things that can differentiate the practices of management for Aldi
and Woolworths?
 How can the organizational culture cerate both positive and negative impacts on
the motivation and performances of employees?
 Can a robust culture maintained within organization bring out more production
level by influencing their performances?
 What is the impact of organizational culture on employee performance?
 What are the important features of organizational culture that can evaluate the
efficiency of job and performances of workers in Australian supermarkets?
Research Methodology
Qualitative Research
Various research methodologies are followed for conducting the research and derive
good outcomes (Yin, 2014) and so it is necessary to select the most appropriate research
methodology among the three including qualitative, quantitative and mixed methodology
(Kumar, 2012; McNulty &Zattoni, 2013). The two variables are compared during the
quantitative research while qualitative allows for assessing the social conditions and make the
researcher communicate with other people such as managers or leaders of organisation to obtain

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their feedbacks and responses, which are considered as qualitative data (Tsang, 2014). For this
research, I have preferred the qualitative research method the most suitable and effective.
The main purpose of conducting the research is to evaluate the effectiveness of
maintaining a good culture that can create a positive impact on the performances of employees.
The qualitative research methods have helped in evaluating certain situations while the
quantitative research methods can analyse the data with the consideration of a different variable.
The survey process has also proved to be beneficial for conducting the research appropriately.
Quantitative Method
The research that is based on the quantitative measures helps in analyzing the statistical
data, which are numerical in nature. This method deals with the numerical figures and the
variables, which can be measured easily. This process of research helps in identifying the
hypothesis, which needs to be conducted and authenticated in an empirical manner by the
researcher.
The quantitative method provides strength to the researcher, as it helps in authenticating
and testing the theories that are present by the process of testing the hypothesis. It helps in
attaining the level of reliability from the data that needs to be collected from a particular sample.
This method also has weakness such as the researcher may overlook the primary phenomena that
may take place, as they are more focussed on the theories.
Sample size
According to Holloway and Wheeler, 2012, the selection of size of sample has little
effect on the quality of research that has been conducted. As there are no such specific ways of
measuring the qualitative data, the sample size can often change according to the numbers of

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people who get involved during the conduction of the research. The selection of sample size
continues till the saturation has been obtained, which means that at that limit there are no new
information or data that can be generated (Holloway 2007). The saturation could be obtained
when all the factors creating impacts on the internationalization of businesses had been done.
According to the research design, the sample size is considered as small. The qualitative research
allows for interacting with fewer individuals and thus a smaller sample size has been considered
and it can be possible with the utilization of a random or theoretical sampling technique.
To select the right individuals for the sample size in this research, I will find out the
persons who have the most skills, knowledge and experiences. The people having knowledge
about the research topic will be able to provide their useful responses (Pouli et al, 2013). The
roles of individuals along with their experiences and seniority are other features that are
considered during the selection of sample sizes. The persons must hold a managerial or
leadership position for 4 years or more because they have access to the culture of the
organisation and can even provide relevant information about how the performances of
employees can be improved (O’Reilly et al., 2014).
The ethical practices are maintained by me by considering the needs and requirements of
respondents and fulfill those. I need to interact with the participants and form a string bonding so
that they can share their experience and feedbacks regarding the research topic in a fruitful
manner (Poortman & Schildkamp, 2012).
Data collection
Proper skills, knowledge and experience are necessary to selecting the right tools to
collect data and analyse those in an effective manner (Yin, 2014). Following a proper research

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design can help to obtain relevant data and information and select the right tools for collection
and analysis of data too (Khan, 2014).
The current research does not require a large population, so a smaller sample size is
selected with the consideration of Aldi and Woolworths. The research data has been collected by
interviewing with the respondents such as managers of the organisation while survey
questionnaires were provided to the customers for gaining their feedbacks and responses
regarding the research topic. According to Kaczynski et al. 2014, the questions that are asked to
the individuals while gathering qualitative data must not be biased to derive a conclusive
evidence (Kaczynski et al. 2014). Based on the responses of Jacob and Furgerson 2012,
involvement in the data collection process can help in assessing the authenticity and reliability of
the data and this will further help me to interact with the targeted population to explore the vast
amount of impacts of organisational culture on the performances of employees. One of the
primary sources for collecting primary data is the survey questionnaires distributed to the people
(Richards & Schmidt, 2012). The researcher must be aware of the validity and reliability of the
data prior to the development of survey questionnaire that must consist of appropriate and to the
point questions.
Research Design
The design of the research helps in providing better insights for conducting the research
in the near future as well. The different elements and tools that will be used in the process of
research so that it makes it simple to conduct. The research design consists of three types
primarily that are exploratory, explanatory and descriptive.

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The exploratory investigation type helps the researcher in using his own ideas and
knowledge. In this research study however, the researcher will not be giving his own insights, as
the research will be conducted for the first time.
The explanatory investigation type provides better explanation to the relationship
between the effects and causes and provides better insights about the facts so that the researcher
can draw its own conclusions with respect to the topic of the research.
The descriptive type of investigation will help the researcher in gaining proper insights
related to the topic. This will help the researcher, as he will be able to get better information
about the topic of the study.
Research Limitation
The interviews with the managers and the customers of the organization need to be
conducted by the different online tools and conversations through face to face. This will help the
researcher in getting the responses in a better manner. The managers may not be available at all
times, which may hamper the interviews; the researcher needs to converse with them over the
phone. The customers of the organization may not be willing to undertake the survey, as they
may be busy with their work. The researcher will not force any of the people in undertaking the
process of interview. The responses need to be unbiased so that they may not influence the
outcome of the research study. Budget and time were the main constraint for the study of the
research. Provision of more time and budget would have helped in carrying out the research
study in an efficient manner.

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Time Schedule (Gantt Chart)
Activities Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 & 4 Week 5 Week 6 & 7
Selection of
topic
Literature
review
Research
methodology
Primary data
collection
Analysis
Findings
Conclusion
Final work
submission
(Source: Created by Author)