Dissertation: Performance-Based Reward Systems at Sainsbury's

This dissertation investigates the influence of performance-based reward systems on employee satisfaction and motivation within Sainsbury's. The study begins with an introduction outlining the research's overview, background, rationale, aims, objectives, and research questions. A comprehensive literature review examines the extent of the impact of performance-related rewards, benefits, and challenges faced by organizations regarding staff satisfaction and motivation, drawing on various scholarly sources. The methodology section details the research philosophy, approach, design, data collection, analysis methods, sampling techniques, and ethical considerations. The analysis and interpretation of data are presented, followed by recommendations and a conclusion summarizing the findings. The research aims to determine the extent of impact, benefits, and challenges related to performance-based rewards in Sainsbury's. The study employs a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative and qualitative data to provide a comprehensive understanding of the topic, making it valuable for business management students and professionals.

Business
Management
Dissertation

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Overview of research..................................................................................................................1
Background of research...............................................................................................................1
Rational of Research...................................................................................................................2
Research Aim..............................................................................................................................2
Research objectives.....................................................................................................................2
Research question........................................................................................................................3
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................3
Extent of impact of performance-related reward on employees' satisfaction and motivation in
Sainsbury's...................................................................................................................................3
Benefits of performance related reward system on the employees’ satisfaction and motivation
in Sainsbury’s..............................................................................................................................5
Different challenges faced by an organization regarding staff satisfaction and motivation in
Sainsbury's...................................................................................................................................6
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.....................................................................................................7
Research philosophy...................................................................................................................7
Research approach......................................................................................................................8
Research Design..........................................................................................................................8
Data collection and analysis method...........................................................................................8
Sampling Technique....................................................................................................................9
Access and ethical consideration................................................................................................9
Limitation....................................................................................................................................9
DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION...........................................................................10
RECOMMENDATION ................................................................................................................21
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................22
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................23
.......................................................................................................................................................24

Title: “To determine the impact of performance-based reward system on employees satisfaction
and motivation in Sainsbury's.”
INTRODUCTION
Overview of research
Employees satisfaction is one of the important concern for business organization to
improve their performance level. As per current scenario, every company wants to operate their
activities in over the world which increase the competition level in market. In this employees
have huge opportunities to deliver their level best in the business to attain success. Employees
are backbone of the company who put their efforts to achieve set target in stipulate time frame
(Garbers and Konradt, 2014). Thus, it is important for business organization to provide healthy
and positive work environment so that they can easily perform their task and make better relation
with superior at workplace. Along with this, company also provide various performance related
rewards system to employees as per their performance at workplace. This will directly contribute
in keeping them motivated at workplace. Performance related rewards system is played a vital
role in creating positive work-environment for improving employees performance. If workers are
motivated towards their job than they easily perform their task and activities and attain their
target. This the is the main reason they retain in organization for longer period of time. Present
research is based on the determining the impact of performance related reward system on
employee satisfaction and motivation.
Background of research
Motivated workers are always contribute in development of the company by delivering
their level best as it allow the workers to execute their task in appropriate way to achieve set
targets. For attaining the same company also provide rewards and motivation to keep them loyal
towards the company and its activities as well. Research is based on Sainsbury's, is second
largest chain super market in UK which provide quality services in over the world. In this
company also focus on the their employees performance at workplace in order to make them able
to handle any kind of activities in effective manner. For this, organization also provide better
rewards on the basis of their performance at workplace. With the assistance of this Sainsbury's
improve the chances of attaining set goals and objectives.
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Rational of Research
Employees satisfaction is one of the factor for business organization to improve their
performance level by attaining set target. Thus, it is important for company to motivate their
workers so that they can easily perform their activities ad attain positive outcomes. With the
assistance of this, company can easily deliver quality products and services their customers and
at the same time also enhance their market share. Every single employees wants to be recognized
at workplace to make them motivated towards their job activities (Chomal and Baruah, 2014).
Along with this, better feedback towards the performance, suggestions from peers and ideas will
help them in improving their performance at workplace. Thus, for attaining the same company
needs to provide review to workers on quarterly basis so that they can easily enhance their
performance level at workplace. The main purpose of carry out this research is to assess the
employee performance based on reward system. By this company easily understand the
employees satisfaction at workplace. Apart from this, research will includes various aspects of
the impact of rewards system on overall satisfaction and motivation of the workers which aid in
analysing the actual performance of the workers at workplace.
Research Aim
The main aim of this research is “To determine the impact of performance-based reward
system on employees satisfaction and motivation in Sainsbury's.”
Research objectives
 To determine the extent of impact of performance-related reward on employees'
satisfaction and motivation in Sainsbury's.
 To assess the benefits of performance related reward system on the employees’
satisfaction and motivation in Sainsbury’s.
 To understand the different challenges faced by an organization regarding staff
satisfaction and motivation in Sainsbury's.
Research question
 What is the extent of impact of performance-related reward on employees' satisfaction
and motivation in Sainsbury's.
 What are the benefits of performance related reward system on the employees’
satisfaction and motivation in Sainsbury’s.
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 What are the different challenges faced by an organization regarding staff satisfaction and
motivation in Sainsbury's.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Employee are the main asset for every business organization to attain essential goals and
objectives. By this company can easily enhance overall performance level. In addition of this,
satisfaction of employee is important for business organization to increase revenues because a
satisfied workers are deliver their level best (Hassan, 2016). If employees are satisfied with their
job activities than they easily make positive ambience at workplace. This will directly contribute
in enhancing productivity level of the workers at workplace.
This section includes different views and opinion of various authors towards the impact
of performance related rewards on employee satisfaction and motivation which may influence
workers to improve their productivity and attain their target in an stipulate time frame.
Extent of impact of performance-related reward on employees' satisfaction and motivation in
Sainsbury's
According to Malik, Butt and Choi, (2015), Every organisation is mainly focused on
employee motivation and satisfaction. For that organisation should have fair and better reward
system by this company can easily motivates the employee and enhance their commitment for
work. In addition of this, reward can be either in monetary or non-monetary system. Performance
related pay defines employer evaluate the employees performance and provide the reward like
bonus, extra benefits etc. Job satisfaction put impact on both employer and employee, in workers
perspective they can earn good salary, job stability, career growth and constantly get new
opportunities. For attaining the same Sainsbury's uses various theories to evaluate and analyse
the job performance and their satisfaction level like Maslow Hierarchy theory and Herzberg two-
factor theory.
According to McLeod, (2018), Maslow Hierarchy need theory states the relationship
between satisfaction of human need which affect their motivation. It contains five attributes i.e.
Physiological need, Safety, Social, Self -esteem and Self- actualization need. Mainly, it started
with basic need i.e. physiological need which contain food, clothing, shelter. If basic need get
fulfilled then they will be motivated to move on to next level and it continues till self
actualisation. After basic need the next level is safety need which include job security,
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emotional, financial security. After this they move to social need it contains feelings of
belongings, family, friendship etc. The next level is self esteem need which explains ego or
status need which contributes to self confidence, freedom. Finally it ends up in self actualisation
need which describes, identifying the individual's potential. All these are help workers to
encourage their morale and motivation as well which support them in delivering their level best
at workplace.
Apart from this, Herzberg Theory is also consider as an effective way to motivate
workers at workplace. It contain hygienic and motivational factor. Hygienic factor include those
employees who is focused on physical material like working condition, salary etc. They have less
satisfaction whereas motivational factor contain those employees who gets satisfaction on
promotion, recognition, responsibility etc. In addition of this there are some impact of
performance related reward on employee job satisfaction in Sainsbury's are as follows:
 Productivity: Productivity is depend upon the employees performance. In this context,
Sainsbury's follows good reward system which is totally depend upon employees
performance. It directly motivates and make employees involve in their job activities.
With the assistance of this company decrease the absenteeism, attrition and at the same
time also increases the productivity.
 Equality: If the reward is distributed fairly among employees then there will be less
conflict of interest. Sainsbury's is believing in fair and equal reward system that's why
their employee's job satisfaction level is high.
 Commitment: A company which provides extra bonus, movie tickets etc. .to employees
those worker will be more enthusiastic to work and put full effort on given task.
Sainsburry's is providing Christmas bonus and other motivation benefits etc. It provide
support to both manager and employee to develop their skills and knowledge. On the
other hand it will be beneficial for career growth and expansion of company.
Benefits of performance related reward system on the employees’ satisfaction and motivation in
Sainsbury’s
According to Olafsen and et. al., (2015), Reward system can be consider as an effective
management of rewards which help in providing better guidelines to manager in order to manage
all the activities of rewards in both financial and non-financial term. With the help of this system,
company can easily evaluate the actual performance of workers at workplace. Along with this, it
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also help in enhancing overall productivity of employees which help in making organization
performance more competitive. Rewards comes in various ways like increase in salary,
performance bonuses, allowances, cash prices, promotions, team incentives, security benefits,
coupons and many more. Performance related rewards system is based on the overall
performance of employees at workplace through which workers can easily attain set goals and
objectives in stipulate time frame. The main advantage of performance related reward system is
to motivate workers and their team as well. So, company should provide good reward to their
employees in order to identify their hidden talents. Therefore from Sainsbury's point of view,
they agree performance based reward help company in achieving their critical goals. Some of the
benefits are as follows: Recognising the effort: Performance related pay helps employees to identify and
evaluate their work effectively. In context to Sainsbury's, due to performance based
reward it enables their subordinates to recognise their contribution and effort. It provides
them clear picture so that their will be no disputes among employees regarding work. Encouraging employee's morale: Performance related pay motivates the employees and
improves their confidence level in order to perform the given task. Sainsbury's creates
positive attitude to their employees by analysing strength and weakness. So employees
can overcome their weakness and can develop self-confidence.
 Increase employee's retention: Under performance based pay it helps existing employees
to retain in their company. In relation to Sainsbury's, they provide fair compensation
based on employee's performance. Therefore, it helped company to retain the qualified
and experienced employees in order to achieve organisational goal.
Different challenges faced by an organization regarding staff satisfaction and motivation in
Sainsbury's
According to Hill., (2018), keeping employees motivated and satisfied is important for
business organization to encourage their morale and productivity as well. Basically, it reduce
turnover ad at the same time also create more dynamic and profitable operation within the
organization. Thus, it is important for organization to keep their working environment positive
so that workers can easily execute their task activities and attain positive outcomes. Mainly, it is
important for Sainsbury's to retain their workers by providing them better motivation and
satisfaction. With the assistance of this, company can easily attain competitive benefits and also
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enhance their revenue as well. On the other side, business organization also face issues related
with staff satisfaction and motivation which may negatively affect the overall performance of the
company. These challenges can be understood by following points:
 Working conditions: This is major challenge for organisation in staff satisfaction and
motivation because an employee spend so much time at workplace so that company is
responsible for providing better working condition. As it includes company
infrastructure, respecting the co-workers and many more that directly influence workers
motivation. Thus, company needs to provide all these aspects to their workers so that they
can easily perform their best. Along with this, it is also related with upgraded information
technology which help workers to accomplish all the tasks efficiently which directly
contribute in enhancing job satisfaction.
 Organisation structure: It is also a challenge that faced by organization while providing
staff satisfaction and motivation. Lack of hierarchy of direction can be reduce employee
morale at workplace. When manager fail in providing proper guidance and direction to
workers than they get demotivated towards their job activities. The main reason behind
this is unclear objectives as workers faced difficulties at the time of performing their task.
In this context, there are some issues that reduce the motivation and satisfaction of
workers in Sainsbury's are as follows:
◦ No clear chain of command
◦ Unclear goals and objectives
◦ Disorganized directives and managers
 Reward system: Staff satisfaction is highly impacted by fairness of organization rewards
and wages scale. Some time, organization does not provide fairness in wage scale that
reduce the productivity of employees at workplace. This will reduce the overall
performance of the company at market place. If manager of Sainsbury's provide fair
rewards to workers than they easily motivate employees and increase their satisfaction
level towards the job activities.
 Workload and stress level: The main cause of less satisfaction towards the job is too
heavy workloads that are impossible to reach which faced by workers at workplace. As it
increase the conflict situation among manager and employees which directly contribute in
raising the stress level at workplace. In addition of this, ineffective management and poor
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planning is also put negative impact on motivation level of workers which reduce the
performance level of the company.
 Relationship with managers: It is a major challenge in-front of organization related
with staff satisfaction and motivation. In this, manager needs to understand about
employees recognition and praise for their performance to motivate them towards the job
activities. Along with this, employees is also needs to know that they easily discuss with
their manager about their issues and concerns. With the assistance of this manager easily
motivate their workers towards their job activities. It directly contribute in increasing
staff satisfaction and motivation as well.
Literature gap
The in-depth research is based on the impact of performance-based reward system on
employees satisfaction and motivation in Sainsbury's.” It is beneficial for business organization
to improve workers performance. This will directly contribute in enhancing the positive brand
image of the company at market place. Along with this, current analysis describe that
performance based reward system is play a significant role in developing workers motivation
towards the working activities that would be effective for making overall performance of the
company more productive. Literature shows the past presentation in which performance based
rewards system is effective for workers to make them more capable and motivates to perform
their assigned task and activities. As it provide valuable insight to evaluate the significance of the
rewards system on the basis of performance of the workers which may lead in improving overall
performance at workplace. In this regards, the gap is exists in previous literature that may define
the better relation between performance based rewards systematic and employee satisfaction at
workplace. As effective rewards system may help in maximizing the overall sales because
workers of the company put their positive efforts to attaining their set targets. Thus, it can be
stated that, employees can easily improve their productivity level by attaining appropriate reward
on the basis of their performance at workplace.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research philosophy
It is an effective way of collecting information about the research topic in which
researcher setting up a views and opinion. Mainly, it provide proper direction to the investigator
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to carry out the research activities in systematic manner. In this context, there are four type of
research philosophy such as realism, positivism, interpretivism and post realism. All these are
effective for gathering information about the research topic (Mahmood, Iqbal and Sahu, 2014).
For carry out this research, investigator use positivism research philosophy which help in making
research in reliable way. With the assistance of this, researcher can easily draw a valid
conclusion.
Research approach
It is consider as a plan and procedures help in collecting, analysing, and interpretation of
data in order to take right decision. Mainly, it is based on the research nature through which
investigator can easily address the issues arise within the study. Along with this, research
approach help in providing outlining the data collection to investigator in order to gather accurate
information (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014). Basically, it is classified into two types of approach
such as deductive and inductive approach. Both are appropriate in collecting relevant
information about the research area. For this investigation, researcher use deductive research
approach to introduce reliable process of data.
Research Design
It is an arrangement of collection of data which help in undertaking research activities in
a coherent and logical way. By using this, researcher easily address the research problem which
help them in collecting valid information towards the specified area. Mainly, it is a blueprint in
which investigator collect, measure and analysis the data in order to draw a valid conclusion.
Research design classified into two types such as exploratory, explanatory and descriptive. With
the use of all these methods, researcher can easily gather accurate information (Kianto, Vanhala
and Heilmann, 2016). In this research, exploratory and explanatory research design will be taken.
As explanatory design help in ensuring about analytical views of study. On the other side,
exploratory design help in gathering in-depth information about the research topic. With the use
of this, investigator can easily draw a valid conclusion.
Data collection and analysis method
Data collection consider as an important process of gathering as well as measuring data
on variable of interest. Along with this, it is classified in two different ways such as primary and
secondary data collection. In this context, primary data collection is related with first hand
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information in which researcher directly gather data from respondents in order to take valid
decision. In addition of this, primary data is collected from two ways like quantitative data and
qualitative data. Numerical information is known as quantitative data and on the other side, non-
numerical data is related with qualitative information (Lotunani and et. al., 2014). Furthermore,
quantitative information are gather with the use of survey and questionnaire in which research
ask question from Sainsbury's employees to understand their views and opinion. Questionnaire
includes various multiple questions and their option as well which help in gathering accurate data
towards the research topic. For this research, investigator collect data from 100 employees of
company in order to take valid and accurate conclusion.
Along with this, investigator will use mixed method which help them in gathering
relevant data and information towards the research topic. Mainly, mixed method includes the
qualitative and quantitative method both are play a significant role evaluating the information to
attain positive outcomes. By using qualitative, researcher prepare the questionnaire which
includes various questions that support in understanding the views and opinion of selected
respondents. On the other side, quantitative method help in gathering information from different
published sources which may aid in making determining the actual aspects towards the research
topic. With the assistance of mixed method, investigator can easily draw a valid outcomes and
attain positive results.
Sampling Technique
It is important process in which researcher select different respondents from whole
population to gather accurate information about the research topic. In this context, there are two
type of sampling technique such as probability sampling and non-probability sampling method
used by researcher with the aim of collecting relevant data and information (Muguongo,
Muguna and Muriithi, 2015). In this research, investigator use probability sampling method
which is an effective technique in which sample are selected from larger population that based
on the theory of probability. Along with this, it is any method of sampling that utilize form of
random selection from large population to gather relevant data and information. By using this
method researcher select 100 respondents as an internal employees of Sainsbury's for gathering
quantitative data. Workers of company has proper knowledge about the organizational activities
and reward based system as they effectively provide valid and relevant information towards the
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research topic and area as well. With the help of this, investigator can easily gather appropriate
data towards the research topic and area as well.
Access and ethical consideration
It is also important for researcher to carry out research activities and ethical way so that
they can easily take right decision towards the research. Under this researcher use primary data
to gather information from workers of Sainsbury's by doing survey of the employees. By this
researcher easily collect accurate data from respondents. Along with this, all the data and
information will be kept confidential and restricted. It help investigator to make research
activities more successful and appropriate as well.
Limitation
Present research will includes primary data collection method in which all the
information and data is based on respondents response who are employees of Sainsbury's. Under
this, researcher ask various questions to worker in order to understand their views and opinion.
The main limitation of this research is that in many times workers are refuse to answer a
questions which create issues in analysing the results. On the other hand, secondary method of
data collection is also create issue in-front of researcher at the time of taking decision within the
research (Ijigu, 2015). These are the main reason that researcher face difficulties while drawing
valid conclusion within the research activities.
DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
Questionnaire
Name:
Age:
Email id:
Contact No.:
Q1) How much you are satisfied working for the Sainsbury's?
a) Extremely dissatisfied
b) Extremely satisfied
c) Very dissatisfied
d) Neutral
Q2) What is the impact of performance based reward system on employee satisfaction and
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