UK Retail: Evaluating Training & Development's Impact on Motivation

This project report evaluates the significance of training and development in enhancing employee motivation and retention within the UK retail sector. It explores the concept of training and development, its impact on employee motivation and retention in companies like Sainsbury's, the challenges faced in delivering training programs, and strategies to improve these programs. The research employs secondary data sources such as books, articles, and journals to gather qualitative information. Key findings highlight the positive impact of training and development on employee motivation, productivity, and retention. The report concludes with recommendations for retail firms to invest in effective training programs to align employee skills, improve performance, and reduce turnover. Desklib offers access to similar reports and solved assignments for students.

PROJECT REPORT
(To evaluate the significance of training
and development regarding the employee
motivation and retention in the context of
retailing sector of UK. )

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In the current research information about training and development is gathered. All the
important information is carried out related to the concept of training and development such as
basic information the learning and development sessions, their impact on the retention of
employees with retail firms and the various challenges faced by retail firms while delivering and
organising sessions of training and development. For gathering qualitative information,
secondary sources are considered such as books, articles, journals, newspapers have used.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I am thankful to my supervisors and mentors who have supported me continuously while
conducting my research report.
I also want to show gratitude to my family, friends and relatives who have helped me in
collecting secondary information.

ABSTRACT
The current research is about the significance of training & development with regards to
employee motivation and retention in the context of the UK retail sector. In the present report
secondary and qualitative information has gathered to achieve defined aim and objectives. The
main findings of the current research is that training and development is very important for
retailers firms operating in the United Kingdom because it is directly linked their motivation
level.

Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.............................................................................................................2
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT...............................................................................................................3
ABSTRACT.....................................................................................................................................4
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................6
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................8
What is the concept of training and development regarding the retailer firms of UK?..............8
What is the impact of training and development on employee motivation and retention in the
UK retail companies like Sainsbury?..........................................................................................9
What are the challenges which can be faced while delivering trainings to the employees in the
retailer companies in UK?...........................................................................................................9
What strategies can be recommended which can help in improving the trainings and
development programs in the companies in retail sector of UK?.............................................11
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY...................................................................................................12
FINDINGS.....................................................................................................................................14
Theme 1: Concept of training and development in the retail firms of UK...............................14
Theme 2: Impact of training and development on the employee motivation and retention in
UK retail companies like Sainsbury's productivity and performance.......................................14
Theme 3: Challenges which can be faced while delivering trainings to the employees in the
retailer companies in the UK.....................................................................................................15
Theme 4: Strategies which can help in improving the training and development programs in
the companies in the retail sector of the UK.............................................................................16
Conclusion of secondary findings.............................................................................................17
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................18
RECOMMENDATIONS...............................................................................................................19
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................20

INTRODUCTION
Overview of the topic
Training and development is referred as educational activities within an organisation
created for enhancing the skills and knowledge of employees (Torraco, 2016). These sessions
provide information and instruction to workforce for performing activities and tasks in a better
manner. The present research is focussed towards importance of training and development in
motivating and retaining employees in retail sector of United Kingdom. The present research
also focuses on collecting secondary data about retail firms operating in the United Kingdom.
Management issue
In the present research the issue related to the current research is that company faces
issue in aligning employees with the training and development session due to their hectic
schedules.
Research aim and objectives
Research Aim
“To analyse the significance of training & development with regards to employee
motivation and retention in the context of the UK retail sector.”
Research Objectives
 To investigate the concept of training and development in the retail firms of UK.
 To analyse the impact of training and development on the employee motivation and
retention in UK retail companies like Sainsbury's productivity and performance.
 To explore the challenges which can be faced while delivering trainings to the employees
in the retailer companies in the UK.
 To recommend various strategies which can help in improving the training and
development programs in the companies in the retail sector of the UK.
Research Questions
 What is the concept of training and development regarding the retailer firms of UK?
 What is the impact of training and development on employee motivation and retention in
the UK retail companies like Sainsbury?
 What are the challenges which can be faced while delivering trainings to the employees
in the retailer companies in UK?

 What strategies can be recommended which can help in improving the trainings and
development programs in the companies in retail sector of UK?
Anticipated benefits and expected outcomes
In the present research, the expected outcome is that there is positive impact of training
and development of employees. The result would be that every company should invest proper
time for the training and development. It is also determined that secondary sources are great for
collecting valid and authentic information.
Rationale of the research
The main motive of conducting research is to identify the importance of training and
development in an organisation for motivating and retaining employees (Jha, 2016). The focus of
the current investigation is to highlight the impact of training and development to align the
efforts and skills of employees in the company. In the present time every competitor company
has employees who are highly skilled so it is necessary for company to arrange and organise
sessions of training.

LITERATURE REVIEW
What is the concept of training and development regarding the retailer firms of UK?
According to Wingreen and Blanton (2018), training and development is a program
which is organised by organisation in order to develop the skills and knowledge of employees. It
is an activity which is improves the knowledge, competencies, abilities, skills and capabilities of
employees by providing instruction and information on how to perform better in achieving the
goals and objectives of business. Training and development helps in enhancing the performance
of employees, improves their productivity and reduce the turnover rate of staff. Usually
organisation take ongoing efforts for improving the performance and growth of employees in
workplace. The training and development manager of Sainsbury mainly focus on overseeing the
training programs, budgets and staff. They creates and select the content and materials for
running the training program in effective manner. The training and development programs helps
in increasing the efficiency of staff and also attracts more and more employees towards the
brand. It includes five stages such as assessment, design, motivation, delivery and evaluation.
Talent development is quite vital for sustainable success and growth of retailer firms.
Companies go through lengthy procedures for recruiting and on boarding suitable and qualified
employees. Employee training and development is known as the terms normally used
interchangeably and encompass different learning practices for employees. Employee training
includes programs that help employees in learning precise skills and gaining knowledge for
improving job performance. On the other hand, employee development is a procedure whereby
the employee and manager work together for creating a development plan. This plan determines
areas for enhancing and developing and ascertaining what activities or actions require to be taken
for acquiring that learning. The training and development plan is always aligned with goals and
objectives of organisation and they serve as template for showing skills that the workforce needs.
Intrinsic motivation refers to the kind of motivation where an employee engages in a
behaviour because an employee finds it rewarding. In this employees perform activity for their
own sake rather than for getting external rewards. The behaviour of employees is considered as
rewards. On the other hand extrinsic motivation defined as the other type of motivation in which
employees do their with more efficiency in the desire of getting great rewards.

What is the impact of training and development on employee motivation and retention in the UK
retail companies like Sainsbury?
As per the viewpoint of Mwangi (2017), training and development helps in enhancing the
motivation level of employees. It is important for the manager to motivate their staff as it
generates interest and also make them more attentive in training sessions. The UK retail like
Sainsbury must focus on increasing the motivation level of their employees in order to improve
the productivity and performance of business. Employees generally contribute their best when
they are satisfied with job and highly motivated towards their work. When staff are highly
confident about their jib they feel motivated due to which they contribute their best efforts in
accomplishing the goals and objectives of business (Okechukwu, 2017). Training and
development is considered as an incentive for employees as it encourages them to invest in
business. Sainsbury must provide training facility to their employees as it encourages their
engagement level due to which they become more invested in products and services. The
effective training and development programs helps in increasing the commitment and
productivity among staff. Training and development has positive impact on employee retention
and motivation of employees in the retail firms of the United Kingdom.
Training is referred as the way that helps retail companies to value their employees. It
clearly highlights that employees are as invested in their growth and well-being as they are
important as the growth of company. Training and development is also very effective and useful
because prepares employees to deal with the upcoming challenges and problems. Training is also
known as best way for creating future leaders than to train best bunches. This helps in making
clear career path for workforce to prevent dissatisfaction and attrition. The United Kingdom
retailer firms dedicates their time and financial resources to train their workforce because they
know this helps them in moving their business forward and towards prosperity. Work from home
training is one of the options that is use by company for training employees. It has helped
company to continue their training sessions even in the global pandemic.
What are the challenges which can be faced while delivering trainings to the employees in the
retailer companies in UK?
As per the opinion of Golhar and Alex (2017), there are various challenges which is faced
by company while delivering the training facility to their employees.

Engaging learners is one of the challenge which is faced by Sainsbury while providing
training. It is important for the company to engage employees in training session so that they can
gain knowledge and learn new things.
Improving learning effectiveness is another challenge that is faced by company while
organising training and development sessions to employees. The manager of Sainsbury must
require unique delivery method for improving the skills and knowledge of staff (Sal and Raja,
2016).
Lack of leadership is also a problem which is faced by Sainsbury while providing
training and development opportunity to employees. It is important to have leadership quality
among staff in order to provide effective training sessions.
Quantifying training effectiveness is known as another challenge that are faced by retail
forms while delivering training and development because it is not an easy task. It is very
challenging for retail firms to figure out which type of metrics to consider, the way to
incorporate them into after training assessments, the time to follow up and the manner to adjust
future training sessions according to the outcomes.
Instilling dispute management skills is defined as another problem faced by retailer
firms in the United Kingdom. It is very tough and challenging to train learners about handling
disputes. Dispute management is known as tough and crucial skill and have deep affect on
success of retailer firms when it is lacking. Conflicts and disputes could increase employee
turnover, decrease morale among employees and impact the well-being and longevity of a
business.
Delivering consistent training is the other challenge that retailer firms is globally
dispersed, it increases the difficulty of offering continuous training. This is the common
challenge of training and development that also involve geographic limitations, barriers related
to language, issues related to translation and virtual training requirements.
Tracking skills application is other challenge because because employees are not
provided training sessions in the real work environment. It becomes retailer firms to come up
with different way so that best working environment could be provided to employees while
engaging them in training sessions.
Providing work from home training: It is known as other challenge that is mostly faced
by company during global pandemic because people were working from home. The company

faced issue in tracking efficiency of the employees because they work from their home.
Employees have become lazy to attend training sessions provided by company and this has
ultimately wasted the money and time of company.
What strategies can be recommended which can help in improving the trainings and
development programs in the companies in retail sector of UK?
According to Shah and Gupta (2018), there are various strategies which can be used by
Sainsbury for improving the training and development programs.
Survey employees is one of the way through which company can improve the training
and development programs. It is essential to take the feedbacks of employees in training and
development sessions so that they can share their opinion and thoughts.
Keep innovating is also a way through which Sainsbury can improve the training and
development programs. They must develop innovative activities in order to engage employees in
trainings sessions.
Career development is another strategies through which organisation can enhance the
training and development programs. While providing training and development opportunity to
employees, manager must ensure that they session must be linked with their career development
and enhance their professional as well as personal growth (Jo and Park, 2016).

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research methodology is defined as the process that assists in gathering information as
per the topic of investigation (Ratnam, 2019). The main motive of conducting investigation is
supporting researcher to accumulate valid and authentic data. The various types of
methodologies used in the current research report are:
Research Design: Research design is referred as the techniques, methods and framework
considered by investigator to collect, use and evaluate certain type of information. Research
design is divided into three main types: experimental, exploratory and descriptive. In the current
project report, researcher has chosen exploratory research design because it clearly describes the
problem, phenomenon, situation and population. It is chosen because it assists in explaining
situation by accumulating text and theoretical piece of information in systematic manner (Nayak
and Singh, 2021).
Research Philosophy: Research philosophy is referred as set of belief related to the
method by which piece of information must be gathered. The three types are: epistemology,
ontology and axiology. Investigator has selected epistemology because under this researcher has
chosen interpretivism philosophy as this assists in evaluating data that is not present in numerical
form in shorter time (Babii, 2020).
Research Approach: Research approach is the process that evaluates collected piece of
information. There are two main types that are: inductive and deductive approach. Researcher
has chosen inductive approach because it facilitates in examining non-numeric information and
secondary data in shorter time period. The major advantage of selecting inductive approach is it
facilitates in examining concepts in qualitative way (Whicher, Philbin and Aronson, 2018).
Research Strategy: Research strategy is defined as one of the most important types of
research strategy. There are many types of research strategy that include: case study, grounded
theory, action research, survey, systematic literature review etc. As per the need of current
project report, investigator has selected systematic literature review (Lai, 2018). Systematic
literature review is also used as strategy to gather authentic and valid secondary information
from sources like journals, articles, newspapers, publications etc. Systematic literature review is
known as the method that helps in carrying out qualitative and secondary piece of information.
This ultimately gathers data that is already existing and do not have any statistical and numerical
data.