COVID-19 Impact on Motivation and Output: SH Spratt Group LTD

This case study investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on employee motivation and output at SH Spratt Group LTD. It examines the consequences of the pandemic on workforce output, focusing on both internal and external motivation factors. The research employs a quantitative approach, utilizing questionnaires and surveys to gather data. The study aims to identify practices adopted by SH Spratt Group LTD to enhance employee motivation during the crisis. Key areas explored include changes in working conditions, the rise of remote work, and the impact on employee well-being and work-life balance. The findings provide insights into how businesses can adapt their employee motivation strategies in a post-pandemic world to improve productivity and organizational performance. Desklib provides access to similar case studies and solved assignments for students.

Student ID Number and Name
Dissertation 1
An investigation about the consequence of inner and outer
motivation on output of the workers during the COVID-19
crises. A case study of SH Spratt Group LTD.
Module Title
Business & Management Dissertation
Module Code (listed on Moodle
and in LTAFP)
QAB020X602S
Module Convenor
Academic Declaration:
Students are reminded that the electronic copy of their essay may be checked, at any point
during their degree, with Turnitin or other plagiarism detection software for plagiarised
material.
Word Count Date Submitted
1

Abstract
The present investigation focuses on the area of employee motivation during the
pandemic. It is important to enhance employee motivation in a post pandemic world in order to
reach higher levels of productivity and gain profit so that recovery can be made from the impact
of pandemic. The pandemic has negatively affected both internal and external motivation of
employees reducing their productivity levels. Some practices which can be adopted by
businesses to enhance employee motivation levels in the post pandemic world are improving
work life balance and providing employees better working conditions. Beside this, the current
project includes of the use of the quantitative research method in which data is collected with the
help of questionnaire and survey strategy. Further, significant analysis of findings as well as a
conclusion of key research facts has been also made.
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Contents
Abstract............................................................................................................................................2
Title: An investigation about the consequence of inner and outer motivation on output of the
workers during the COVID-19 crises. A case study of SH Spratt Group LTD...........................4
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Literature review..............................................................................................................................6
Methodology..................................................................................................................................12
Findings and analysis.....................................................................................................................16
Conclusion and recommendations.................................................................................................30
References......................................................................................................................................33
Appendix........................................................................................................................................38
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Title: An investigation about the consequence of inner and outer motivation on output of the
workers during the COVID-19 crises. A case study of SH Spratt Group LTD.
Introduction
The concept of employee motivation is centred around improving employee commitment
and dedication towards their performance and work for the company so that they make
significant contribution to the growth of the organization. In the current age where skill level of
workforce is a make or break factor for success of enterprises, many firms have adopted suitable
practices to enhance employee motivation. Improvement in employee motivation provides
enterprises competitive advantage as employees are inclined to improve their performance and
commitment towards the company (Adhitama and Riyanto, 2020). This leads to better company
performance across all growth indicators such as company productivity, revenue generated,
profitability and consumer satisfaction.
Previously investigators have conducted research on the area of employee coronation
including the factors which increase or decrease employee motivation and the psychosomatic and
behavioural factors processes which affect employee motivation. Different theories and
strategies have been proposed by scholars regarding the best ways of improving employee
motivation which are used by enterprises to enhance employee motivation. In the present time,
the COVID-19 healthcare crises have drastically changed the corporate world (Alkadash and
Alamarin, 2021). The rise of remote working, implementation of government guidelines about
safe working and negative impact of the global economy are some key areas where the pandemic
has made significant impact.
Employee hygiene, work-life balance, reward and recognition are some of the aspects of
employee motivation which are modified because of the healthcare crises till affecting the world.
The working conditions and priorities of employees in context of motivation have also been
affected by the healthcare crises. The COVID-19 healthcare crises have altered the factors which
contribute to high employee motivation (CIPD, 2021). Therefore, it is important to conduct
research on the area so that businesses are able to make modifications in their employee
motivation strategies and continue enhancing employee motivation even in a post-pandemic
world.
The topic of the research is employee motivation during the COVID- healthcare crises.
The reasoning behind selecting this topic is that the healthcare crises of COVID-19 has had long-
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term influence on employee conduct, expectations and workplace environment. Conducting
research on the impact of the healthcare crises on various areas of workforce management can
provide much needed guidance to businesses on what changes need to be made in their people
management practices in a post-pandemic world. Therefore, the consequences of the healthcare
crises in the important area of employee motivation need to be studied so that corporate
enterprises have reliable information about ways of improving employee motivation (Bahagia
and Putri, 2020).
This research is essential because it can support growth of the corporate sector after the
negative impact of COVID-19 by adopting suitable practices to increase employee motivation
and get successful results. In addition to this the research also focuses on the internal and
external employee motivation during the COVID-19 healthcare crises which can provide detailed
information to businesses about the changes in employee motivation before and after the
healthcare crises. In this way the investigation will provide essential insight to business for
encouraging high motivation in the post pandemic world so that they can recover from the
negative impact of the healthcare crises quickly.
Another reason for investigating the topic of internal and external employee motivation
during the global healthcare crises of COVID-19 is the personal interest in the area of employee
motivation and employee behaviour. The changes in employee behaviour and motivation
because of external environment factors such as global healthcare crises are a fascinating area
with personal interest because it depicts the ways in which organizational behaviour and
employee productivity is related with employee motivation. The change in employee motivation
negatively and positively affects organizational behaviour while also affecting the productivity
level of the enterprise (Bawono and Setyadi, 2021) The research on the subject of internal and
external motivation during the pandemic for the workforce of SH Pratt Group LTD is important
as it will provide profound knowledge on the ways of increasing employee motivation in the
world affected by the healthcare crises.
The research methodology about the investigation is provided in detail so that the
research conclusion is attained by using accurate and justified methodology. The research
methodology which will be used in this investigation for reaching effective conclusion includes
the usage of quantitative research design, positivism research philosophy, deductive research
approach, survey questionnaire, primary and secondary data collection, cross-sectional time
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horizon and frequency data analysis. Each of the choices for the research methodology are
explained with evaluation and justification in this investigation. In addition to this detailed
literature review, data analysis and findings are also properly provided along with suitable
conclusion and justified recommendations.
Research aim:
The aim for this investigation is developed after taking into account the consequences of
pandemic on employee motivation and its influence on workforce productivity across business
sectors. The aim of this research is “To complete critical examination of the consequences of
motivation in context of employee output during the pandemic”. A case study on SH Pratt Group
LTD.
Research questions
 What are the consequences of pandemic on SH Pratt Group LTD in context of workforce
output?
 What is the aftermath of pandemic on inner and outer motivation of SH Pratt Group LTD
workforce?
 What are the practices adopted by SH Pratt Group LTD to enhance motivation of its
workforce throughout COVID-19?
Research objectives:
 To examine the consequence of pandemic on workforce output in context of SH Pratt
Group LTD.
 To evaluate the outcome of pandemic on internal and external motivation of SH Pratt
Group LTD workforce.
 To assess the practices adopted by SH Pratt Group LTD to enhance motivation of its
workforce throughout COVID-19.
Literature review
This section forms out a vital part of every study which comprises of systematic review and
analysis of the pre-existing set of the data. Thus, literature review set out base and provides a
better framework for further investigation that supports better knowledge creation and
understanding level about the specific topic. The current literature review is based on the topic of
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the examination of the consequences of motivation in context of employee output during the
pandemic for which a set of online articles and journals are reviewed a discussion of which is
provided is below:
Outcome of COVID-19 healthcare crises on the worker output
According to the views of, Fakhri, Silvianita and Yulias, (2021) the COVID-19 healthcare
crises has changed the global workplace landscape as businesses had to follow the government
guidelines in order to stop the spread of the pandemic. Many different industries ad to change the
fundamental ways about completing daily operations because the of the healthcare crises and
alarm about any of the employees being infected by the virus. Every functional area of the
organization had to be modified with the usage of digital technology to ensure that employees
keep doing their daily jobs through remote working instead of coming to the organization (Jiang
and Shen, 2020). Therefore, employee interaction and daily working operations were changed
significantly. This also affected employee productivity as they had to ensure that they are able to
perform effectively even in work from home environment. It has been analysed that many
industries including exporting, importing and manufacturing sectors were suffering from lower
employee productivity as employees faced burden when dealing with work from home
environment and suddenly shifting to remote working model instead of office working (Sun and
Bunchapattanasakda, 2019).
One of the primary areas which was affected because of changes in working conditions was
employee productivity (Fraij, 2021). This is because employees had to face new working
environment with new guidelines. Similar situation was also faced by office working employees
as they had to deal with changed rules and regulations when working from office. In case of
United Kingdom many offices were implementing the government guidelines as they provided
reliable information about protecting employees from the spread the virus. This included
masking up when attending the office and implementing seating policy which ensures that there
was a detachment of two meters between each employee. Apart from this many business
organizations also implemented protocols regarding contactless experience during lunch hours.
Finally, businesses were also enforcing hygiene and sanitization policies to ensure that
employees are protected from coming in contact with the virus at all times (GOV, 2022).
The changes in rules and regulations made significant impact on employee productivity as
they had to ensure high quality of their work is maintained while protecting themselves from
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virus. The result was rise in safety risks for employees who are working by attending the office
on a daily basis. One of the primary reasons behind low employee productivity for the time
period of the pandemic was many employees felt stressed with the uncertain working conditions
regarding their health. Risk factors at workplace such as safety risk or accidental risk are some of
the main concerns of employee which affect their productivity. This is because many employees
are not able to maintain positive work-life balance to get highest satisfaction. In case of the
employees who are working from home, the satisfaction level also plummeted as many workers
felt that they had to manage twice of the work. It has been seen and observed that the suddenly
shifting of the entire working operations of the employees to remote working instead of office
working is affecting there working pattern and productivity level (Hitka and et.al., 2022). This
increased their stress as well as alienation from the social life they had before the healthcare
crises. Businesses had to take various steps to ensure that employee productivity remained high
despite changes in working environment. This included taking help of new technology to
improve working environment for remote working employees and arranging policies to ensure
that safety risks for employees attending the office was reduced. All this was done to ensure that
employee productivity is increased to the pre-pandemic levels (Rahman and et. al., 2022).
According to the point of view of Bahagia, R. and Putri, L.P., 2020, the healthcare crises
of COVID-19 has negatively affected employee motivation and overall performance of
employees. The impact of Covid-19 hits every area and its business function which is the
disadvantage for the overall industry. It is impacting on the employee’s productivity and
performance as well it also has significant effect on the industry's performance and productivity.
The low employee productivity caused by the healthcare crises is a point of concern for many
businesses as effective employee productivity is needed to quickly recover from the pandemic. It
is impacting on the customers and profitability because due to this situation people are not able
to go anywhere because of government rules and regulation that is made for the people's health
& safety. the impact of Covid-19 affects the value of the product and reducing the sales of the
product which is affect industry's profitability and sales (Izzah, 2020).
It is impacting on the customer's expectation which tend to have increased due to Covid-19
and it is also impacting the growth of the industry which is reduces by the high quality demand
of the customers. These all impact of Covid-19 hits the sector and its performance which is
reduce the productivity and sales of the product as well. The changes in employee’s productivity
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and performance affects the working and environment of the different business sectors. The
impact of Covid-19 industry attains the low performance and productivity of the employees
which affects the industry earning as well. The impact of Covid-19 creates many challenges for
the employees where they are not able to give their best in their working. Employee performance
and productivity is reducing because of Covid-19 creates many challenges such as many health
issues, salary issues, communication issues and many more. The overall impact of Covid-19,
employees are not working properly and effectively which is the one of the biggest
disadvantages for the industry (Mwita, 2020)
Effect of healthcare crises on internal and external motivation
As per the view of Kahil, (2021) the pandemic has negatively affected internal and
external motivation of employees as internal motivation to work is reduced by the health and
safety risks. According to the point of view of the Fraij, (2021), impact of Covid-19 comprises of
the reduction in the motivation of employees as it creates many heath challenges and issues for
the employees. The challenges and issues of health decrease the motivation of the employees
because of this they are not able to work effectively and proper manner. On the other hand,
external motivation of employees is also lowered as the pandemic has negatively affected the
economy leading to uncertainty about reward, bonuses or other forms of external financial
motivation. Covid-19 situation affects the motivation of employees which reduce the industry's
performance and productivity. The impact of Covid-19 has negative impact on the motivation of
employees. The motivation of employees is playing a vital role within all set of company or
industry to gain and have higher competitive advantage but due to Covid-19 motivation of the
employees reduces day by day which affects o their performance, working, and communication
(Lazim, Salim and Wahab, 2020). It affects their skills, knowledge, communication and well-
being because they are not motivated towards the work and industry is not able to attain their
effective performance. The import and export sector's profitability and productivity is reducing
due to low performance of the employees which is depends on their motivation.
Motivated employees are able to attain the goals and objectives of the industry but due to
Covid-19 it has become the biggest challenge for the industry because of ineffective motivation
and communication level. Motivated employees are able to create positivity and make the staff
motivated as well but due to Covid-19 situation they are failed to spread positivity and
motivation. These all impacts affect the employee’s performance as well as industry's
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performance. The impact of Covid-19 on the motivation of the employees creates many negative
challenges and issues for the industry where they are facing the issues in profitability,
productivity, performance achieving goals and objectives, positivity within the industry and
many more. These all challenges affect the overall industry and its performance which is the
disadvantage for the future growth (The impact of COVID-19 on the retail industry and the next
actions to be taken. 2021).
Suitable practices for enhancing employee motivation during the healthcare crises.
According to the views of Meilani and Barry, (2021) both internal and external motivation of
employees is required to ensure that committed and dedicated employees ae present in the
organization. It is essential for businesses to invest in policies and programmes which promote
employee motivation as it help the company retain the most talented individuals at the
organization. The two areas which are considered by enterprises during improvement of
employee motivation are internal employee motivation and external employee motivation.
During the healthcare crises many businesses adopted different strategies to improve employee
motivation (Mahmoud and et.al., 2020). One of the primary strategies used by organizations for
improving employee motivation was supporting employees maintain their work life balance
when using remote working facilities of the organization. In the current employees value their
work life balance and the conventional thinking to devote one’s entire time to organizational
activities and endeavours is considered mentally taxing and healthy. Businesses also offer
consumers work life balance options through greater working flexibility to ensure that they
remain within the organization. High work life balance is considered a positive characteristic of
workplace and is counted within the employee benefits (Top 15 Employee Motivation Tips and
Benefits, 2021).
According to the point of view of Sun, L. and Bunchapattanasakda, C., 2019, there are
many strategies and ways taken by businesses to motivate the employees. Thus, these companies
and businesses are used to provide many training sessions that helps in boosting their motivation
and skills for the industry. They provide many rewards and incentives policies to their employees
which helps them to motivate the staff and employees towards the work. They used to motivate
their staff by taking online session which helps in health & safety during the Covid-19. They
provide remote working facility that helps in leading and maintaining their health & care. They
maintain their culture of industry as positive that is boosting their motivation towards the
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industry. These all strategies and ways has been taken by multinational firms and enterprises for
motivate their staff and employees for attaining their best and effective performance (Nilasari,
Nisfiannoor and Devinta, 2021). Motivation of employees is one of the most important part for
every industry and organisation and it is play a very critical role because it is helps to attain the
effective and efficient working of the employees which helps to increase the productivity and
performance of the industry. These all strategies and ways helps the industry to achieve the goals
and objectives of the industry and increase the profitability of the industry. The strategies and
ways helps to increase the motivation and skills of the employees that supports the organisation
to have the effective and efficient working. The overall impact of these motivation strategies and
ways comprises of the fact that it helps the corporate organizations to make the industry more
productive and effective which is the advantage for the industry and its growth.
Justification and Contextualisation
The above conducted research is presenting that the many changes are caused by Covid-
19 that are creating and leading out the changes on the overall employee productivity and
motivation. Further, it has been seen that as per the job characteristics theory, the design of the
job tends to have a vital impact on the level of the internal motivation and it ultimately effect the
working outcomes. But, these set of the effects can be medicated and removed with the help of
the individuals and other contextual factors. Thus, it is important for the organisation to have
better understanding of the covid-19 changes and its impact on working of employees to ensure a
higher level of motivation in employees (Safuan and Kurnia, 2021). Beside this, as per the goal
setting theory it has been also analysed that employees tend to have a decrease within their
motivation due to unclear and unjustified goals. Thus, during the times of covid-19 it is required
by the organisation to set a clear and achievable goal to make work easier. Beside this, steps
should also be taken to improve the motivation level in order to mitigate and reduce the chances
of the frustration and higher stress at workplace. The research gap identified from the above
literature review is that there has not been much investigation on the most suitable practice for
improving employee motivation in the world affected by the COVID healthcare crises. This
research gap will be filled by the present investigation as quantitative research will be used to
understand suitable practices adopted by businesses to ensure that employee motivation remains
high even during a high impact situation such as global healthcare crises.
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Methodology
The term research methodology can be defined as the appropriate set of methods which are
utilised in order to regulate and analyse the information about the topic (Vespestad and Clancy,
2021). Further it also tends to allow the readers in the process of evaluating the overall reliability
of the information. The methodology comprises proper measures which are used to evaluate the
information about a topic (Goldstein, 2022). The research methodology for the present
investigation includes variety of elements including research philosophy, research strategy,
research approach, time horizon, data collection, research design, data analysis along with brief
sections explaining access and ethics and limitation of the research.
Research philosophy - The area of research philosophy involves looking at the view
adopted by individuals to ensure that the research is being completed in an effective manner.
Selection of suitable research philosophy helps to guide the entire research and provides
direction to drawing suitable conclusion for the investigation. In case of the present investigation
the choices available for selecting a suitable research philosophy are positivism and
interpretivism (Yarovenko and et. al., 2021). The advantage of positivism research philosophy is
that it helps in analysing numerical data and supports quantitative analysis. On the other hand,
the disadvantage of positivism philosophy is that it leads high amount of time consumption
(Gupta and Gupta, 2022). Thus, the ideal philosophy for completing this investigation is
applying the positivist research philosophy as it favours the standardizations set by the scientific
methodology. In this case attaining the standardization of the scientific methodology seem to be
lacking realistic view of the world because in reality the social world is too complex to ideally
follow the scientific methodology as proposed in the positivism philosophy. The other option
available for completing the research is interpretivism approach. In this case the advantages of
interpretivism approach is that it helps examine the primary themes of the investigation so that
accurate conclusion is drawn (Irshaidat, 2022). On the other hand, the disadvantage of the
interpretivist approach is that it leaves space of researcher bias affecting the final outcome of the
investigation. This means that individuals have to be more careful when adopting the
interpretivist approach as it might affect the final outcome and lead to lower validity and
reliability. In the present investigation the selected philosophy is positivism research philosophy.
The primary advantage for usage of positivist research philosophy for the present investigation is
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