Research Proposal: Staff Motivation and Talent Management at M&S

This research proposal investigates the impact of staff motivation schemes on the retention and management of talented employees within the UK retail industry, with a specific focus on Marks & Spencer. The research aims to understand the conceptual framework of talent management, employee retention, and employee motivation, examine the motivational schemes adopted by Marks & Spencer, identify the impact of these schemes on talent retention, and discern the challenges faced in the absence of staff motivation. The proposal outlines a research methodology employing a positivism philosophy, a deductive approach, and a survey research strategy, utilizing both primary data collected through questionnaires and secondary data from books and journals. The data will be analyzed using frequency distribution methods, with a probability sampling technique to gather responses from 30 Marks & Spencer employees. The ethical considerations and data security measures are also addressed, ensuring compliance with data protection regulations.

Unit 11

Research Proposal Form
Student Name
Student ID
Centre Name
Tutor
Unit No
Proposed Title Talent management in organisation
Section One: Title, objective, responsibilities
Research topic: To identify the impact of staff motivation scheme on retention and
management of talented employee within UK retail industry
Introduction:
In the current age were competition is at the peak it is very vital to gain competitive
advantage and for managing and retention of talented employee. Talent management is the
procedure of inviting, employing, developing and holding best employee in the
organisation. To retain and mange employee it is very important to enhance the motivation
level in them. Staff motivation is a vital role in enhance the level of energy, enthusiasm and
dedication among the staff (Aman-Ullah and et. al, 2021). For increasing the amount of
motivation organisation adopt various motivational schemes which helps the company to
improve their organisational performance and productivity. For conducting the current
research, the chosen organisation is Marks and Spencer. It is the British multinational
retailing brand that was originated in 1884 by Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer.
Research aim:
To identify the impact of staff motivation scheme on retention and management of talented
employee within UK retail industry: A study of Marks and Spencer
Research objective:
 To understand the conceptual framework of talent management, employee retention
and employee motivation within organisation

 To examine the staff motivational scheme adopted by Marks and Spencer in talent
management and retention
 To identify the impact of staff motivation scheme on retention and management of
talented employee in Marks and Spencer
 To discern the challenges faced by Marks and Spencer in absence of staff
motivation within the organisation
Research question:
 What is the conceptual framework of talent management, employee retention and
employee motivation within organisation?
 What are the staff motivational scheme adopted by Marks and Spencer in talent
management and retention?
 What is the impact of staff motivation scheme on retention and management of
talented employee in Marks and Spencer?
 What are the challenges faced by Marks and Spencer in absence of staff motivation
within the organisation?
Section Two: Reasons for choosing this research project
The primary purpose to conduct the current investigation is to increase knowledge on the
importance of staff motivation in managing and retaining talented employee. The existing
research also highlights the various motivational schemes which is adopted by the
company to boost the morale of their employee. This research is also has great interest in
me because it will fulfil my two significant objective which are personal and professional.
In terms of personal, the current research will enhance my skills which are communication
skills, analytical skills, research skill and many more. With respect to professional this
investigation will help me in developing the professional carrier in superficial manner.
Section Three: Literature sources searched

What is the conceptual framework of talent management, employee retention and
employee motivation within organisation?
As per the view of Mihardjo and et. al (2020), talent management, employee retention and
staff motivation are the three vital aspects for an organization. Staff motivation is the
amount of energy, enthusiasm and dedication an employee put towards their job in order to
perform well. Employee retention is the process of holding staff for longer time within the
company. In last talent management is the process or recruiting, selecting and developing
employee within an organisation. Staff motivation plays a very important role in managing
and retaining employee for the business in order to gain competitive advantage.
What are the staff motivational scheme adopted by Marks and Spencer in talent
management and retention?
According to Woods, Doherty and Stephens (2022), there are various staff motivational
scheme adopted by Marks and Spencer to retain and manage their employee. The foremost
scheme is benefit and reward system in this brand appreciate their star performer by
providing them incentives or perk in terms of monetary or non monetary. Another scheme
is providing feedback and review so that employee get to know about the area were they
need to work on.
What is the impact of staff motivation scheme on retention and management of talented
employee in Marks and Spencer?
As per the view of Ali and Mehreen (2018), there is a positive impact of staff motivation
scheme on employee retention and management. The foremost impact is higher
productivity as staff motivation helps them to work with more dedication and energy which
assist in improving the organisational productivity. Another benefit is attracting best
candidate for the company which helps them to improve their brand image. Some of the
other impact is reducing employee turnover and absenteeism, more creativity and
innovation and many more.
What are the challenges faced by Marks and Spencer in absence of staff motivation within
the organisation?
According to Sivathanu and Pillai (2019), if employee works with less enthusiasm and
dedication then various challenges were faced by Marks and Spencer. The foremost
challenge is less employee engagement with their work which affects their performance.
Another issue is poor working environment which creates more grievance and conflict in

the company. As well as employee retention will also low if employee does not fell
motivated in the organisation.
Section Four: Activities and timescales

Milestone one: _________________
Target date (set by tutor): _________________
Milestone two: _________________
Target date (set by tutor): __________________
Gantt Chart
Section Five: Research approach and methodologies
Research methodology is the vital chapter in the investigation which is used to identify and
analyse data. There is numerous research methodology which is castoff to gather accurate
information which is chatted under:
Research philosophy: There are two research philosophies that are positivism and
interpretivism. In current research positivism philosophy will be used to gather objective
information in order to understand the trend (Wohlin and Runeson, 2021).
Research approach: Research approaches is divided into two approaches that are
deductive and inductive. Under this investigation, deductive approach will be selected to
test theories from numerical information.
Research strategy: Survey, action research, case study and many more are some types of
research strategy. As per the current investigation, survey research will be chosen to gather
vast data from respondent (Hughes and Barlo, 2021).
Research choice: Quantitative and qualitative are the choices and in this investigation
quantitative method would be selecting to gather and analyse numerical information.
Data collection: Primary and secondary are the two data gathering source. Under this
research mutually primary and secondary data will be used. Primary data will be collected
using questionnaire and secondary data will be collected using books, journal, magazine
and many more (Daniel, 2018).
Data analysis: There are two data analysis technique that are frequency distribution and
thematic. Under prevailing observation frequency distribution method will be choosing to
analyse numerical information.
Sampling: Probability and no probability are the sampling method. In current investigation
probability sampling technique would be choosing so that each respondent gets equivalent
opportunity to be the part of the investigation. The sample size will be 30 employees of
Marks and Spencer (Singh, 2022).
References

Aman-Ullah, A., and et. al, 2021. The impact of job security, job satisfaction and job
embeddedness on employee retention: an empirical investigation of Pakistan’s
health-care industry. Journal of Asia Business Studies.
Mihardjo, L.W., and et. al, 2020. Impact of key HR practices (human capital, training and
rewards) on service recovery performance with mediating role of employee
commitment of the Takaful industry of the Southeast Asian region. Education+
Training. 63(1). pp.1-21.
Woods, R., Doherty, O. and Stephens, S., 2022. Technology driven change in the retail
sector: Implications for higher education. Industry and Higher Education. 36(2).
pp.128-137.
Ali, Z. and Mehreen, A., 2018. Understanding succession planning as a combating strategy
for turnover intentions. Journal of Advances in Management Research.
Sivathanu, B. and Pillai, R., 2019. Technology and talent analytics for talent management–
a game changer for organizational performance. International Journal of
Organizational Analysis.
Wohlin, C. and Runeson, P., 2021. Guiding the selection of research methodology in
industry–academia collaboration in software engineering. Information and
Software Technology. 140. p.106678.
Hughes, M. and Barlo, S., 2021. Yarning with country: An indigenist research
methodology. Qualitative Inquiry. 27(3-4). pp.353-363.
Daniel, B.K., 2018. Empirical verification of the “TACT” framework for teaching rigour in
qualitative research methodology. Qualitative Research Journal.
Singh, K.K., 2022. Research Methodology in Social Science. KK Publications.
Comments and agreement from tutor
Comments (optional):
I confirm that the project is not work which has been or will be submitted for another
qualification and is appropriate.
Agreed: ________________ (name)_______________ Date ______________
Comments and agreement form project proposal checker( IV sampling)
Comments (Optional):
I confirm that the project is appropriate.

Agreed /Disagree: (Name of the IV) Date

Research Ethics approval form
All students conducting research activity that involves human participants or the use of data
collected form human participants are required to gain ethical approval before commencing their
research. Please answer all relevant questions and note that your form may be returned if
incomplete.
For further support and guidance please see your respective Unit Tutor:
Before completing this form, we advise that you discuss your proposed research fully with your unit
tutor. Please complete this form in good time before your research project is due to commence.
Section 1: Basic details:
Project title: To identify the impact of staff motivation scheme on retention and
management of talented employee within UK retail industry.
Student name:
Student ID number:
Programme:
College Name:
Intended research start date:
Intended research end date:
Section 2 Project summary
Please select all research methods that you plan to use as a part of your project:
 Interviews Yes No
 Questionnaires Yes No
 Observations Yes No
 Use of personal records Yes No
 Data Analysis Yes No
 Action Research Yes No
 Focus Groups Yes No
 Others (Please specify) :
Section 3: Participants
Please answer the following questions, giving full details where necessary.

Will your research involve human participants?
Yes
Who are the participants? Tick all that apply:
Ages 12-16: Young people aged: 17-18 Adults:
How will participants be recruited (identified an approached)?
Through probability sampling
Describe the processes you will use to inform participants about what you are doing:
Through consent form
How will you obtain consent from participants? Will this be written? How will it be made clear to
participants that they may withdraw consent to participate at any time?
Through mail
Studies involving questionnaires: will participants be given the option of omitting questions that
do not wish to answer?
Yes No
If no please explain why below and ensure that you cover any ethical issues arising from this
Studies involving observation: Confirm whether participants will be asked for their informed
consent to be observed.
Yes No
Will you debrief participants at the end of their participation (i.e give them a brief explanation of
the study)?
Yes No
Will participants be given information about the findings of your study?(This could be a brief

summary of your findings in general)
Yes No
Section 4: Data Storage and Security
Confirm that all personal data will be stored and processed in compliance with the Data
Protection Act (1998)
Yes No
Who will have access to the data and personal information?
The researcher only
During the research:
Where will the data be stored?
In electronic device
Will mobile devices such as USB storage and laptops be used
Yes No
If Yes, please provide further details:
After the research:
Where will the data be stored?
In USB and laptop
How long will the data and records be kept for and in what format?
For six months
Will data be kept for use by other researchers? Yes No
Section 5: Ethical Issues
Are there any particular features of your proposed work, which may raise ethical concerns? If so,
please outline how you will deal with these:
It is important that you demonstrate your awareness of potential risks that may arise because of
your research. Please consider/address all issues that may apply. Ethical concerns may include,

but are not limited to the following:
 Informed consent.
 Potentially vulnerable participants.
 Sensitive topics
 Risk to participants and /or researchers
 Confidentiality/anonymity
 Disclosures/ limits to confidentiality
 Data storage and security, both during and after the research (including transfer, sharing,
encryption, protection).
 Reporting
 Dissemination and use of your findings.
Section 6: Declaration
I have read, understood and will abide by the institution’s Research and Ethics Policy: Yes No
I have discussed the ethical issues relating to my research with my Unit Tutor:
Yes No
I confirm that to the best of my knowledge:
The above information is correct, and this is a full description of the ethical issues that may arise
in the course of my research
Name: Date:
Please submit your completed form to your supervisor and also attach to the Research Proposal
when submitting to Turnitin.