Holmes Institute: Low Employee Performance at Wesfarmers Group Report

This report examines the issue of low employee performance within the Wesfarmers Group, identifying key factors contributing to the problem and proposing actionable recommendations. The report begins with an overview of Wesfarmers, an Australian conglomerate, and highlights the decline in employee productivity as a significant management challenge. It delves into various causes of low performance, including poor leadership, lack of employee motivation, inadequate delegation, and inconsistencies in management practices. The report then poses research questions to address these issues, focusing on motivational factors and the impact of training on workplace culture. It analyzes alternative solutions, emphasizing the importance of clear communication, employee development, and the application of Maslow's hierarchy of needs to improve employee satisfaction and performance. The report concludes by reinforcing the significance of job satisfaction, motivation, and regular performance appraisals as vital elements for enhancing employee effectiveness within Wesfarmers.

LO W E M P LOY E E
P E R F O R M A N C E
O N
W E S FA R M E R S
G R O U P

INTRODUCTION
• In the present business environment, there are different
reasons which leads to the decline in the productivity of the
employees that affects the overall effectiveness of the
company negatively
• In case of Wesfarmers, there are different reasons wherein
the productivity of the employees are declined and the main
aim of the assignment is to understand the reasons along
with providing recommendations to solve the problem.

OVERVIEW OF WESFARMERS
• Wesfarmers is Australian conglomerate company which was
incorporated in the year 1914 (Wesfarmers.com.au 2019 )
• It is successful in providing the different customers with
various groceries along with other items which meets their
demands
• The company serves the different places in the world which
includes India, Australia and United Kingdom.
• There are 223000 employees working in the company and
there has been increase in the revenues which is amounting
to A$68.44 billion till the year 2018

IDENTIFICATION OF
MANAGEMENT PROBLEM
• The major problem which has been detected is the
low performance of the different employees working
with Wesfarmers
• It can be caused due to the various reasons such as
the different kinds of poor ability of leaders to solve
their queries that affects their productivity
• There are different human resource, organizational
and managerial factors are the aspects which affects
to ineffectiveness in employee’s performance

LACK OF PROPER ABILITY
• The important resources are not available with the
employees which affects the growth of the company
negatively (Barry et al. 2019)
• Due to the respective reason, it is affecting performance of
the company and employees as a whole and it is the root
cause for declining the performance of employees
• For instance- The employees were being promoted to the
next level when they were not in position or ready

LACK OF APPOSITE
MOTIVATION
• The management of the company follows the
passive-aggressive method for managing the
different employees that affects their growth of
the company (Belias, et al. 2015)
• Due to the reason, it affects the performance of
company and it leads to turnover among
employees negatively

LACK OF APPROPRIATE
DELEGATION
• The higher management of Wesfarmers are
notorious which are not being providing the
employees the chance to perform the task on their
own which is leading to low self-esteem
• From various researches, it can be seen that
supervisor of Wesfarmers perform the different
tasks and it leads to improper delegation of the
tasks

INCONSISTENCY AND LACK OF
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
• There is no proper understanding between the
different supervisors and employees working in
the company as the rules keep on changing that
affects their effectiveness negatively
• The employees are not being provided with any
kind of acknowledgement that impacts the
productivity of the company negatively

SPECIFICATIONS OF
RESEARCH QUESTIONS TO
ADDRESS ISSUE
• What are the different motivational factors that
will be helpful in improving performance of
employees at Wesfarmers?
• Whether training will be sufficient in contributing
towards the positive workplace culture for
enhancing employee performance (Faisal
Ahammad et al. 2015)

ANALYSIS OF ALTERNATIVES
OR RECOMMENDATIONS
• The different leaders of the company who are good
in performing the tasks are more engaged towards
the tasks which are being performed by them and
their subordinates positively.
• However, in case of Wesfarmers, it can be seen that
the employees are not motivated and it affects their
prospects related to growth which leads to the
ineffectiveness and burnout among the employees
employed in the company

COMMUNICATING THE
CLEAR EXPECTATIONS
• When the different employees are capable of
understanding the objectives, in such scenario, the
communication is the critical element which will be
suitable for making the employees understand
regarding the different tasks appropriately

MAKING DEVELOPMENT
OF EMPLOYEES A MAJOR
PRIORITY
• The development of the different employees is the top
most priority which will be effective in motivating and
developing them in such a manner which will be
providing them with skills to perform the tasks and
improve their experience (Florea and Mihai 2017)
• The needs of the company needs to be improved for
the different employees which is efficient in gaining
competitive in nature

IMPLICATIONS OF MASLOW’S
HIERARCHY THEORY
• Physiological Needs- The different basic kind of
needs are being met for the employees such as
appropriate salary as well as stable business
environment are the different aspects for the growth
of business
• Security Needs- There can be delegation of proper
tasks among the different employees which will be
incorporating the fair work related practices

CONTD….
• Belongingness Needs- There can be social acceptance
such as the appreciation from managers can increase
their morale for performing the tasks (Holt et al. 2016)
• Esteem Needs- Positive self image and the issues
related to recognition can be helpful in improving their
effectiveness
• Self-Actualization Needs- Performing the different
tasks which are challenging as it helps them in gaining
more knowledge and become more competitive (Hsiao et
al. 2015)

CONCLUSION
• Proper job satisfaction and motivation are the two
vital elements which will be suitable for the
effectiveness of the employees at Wesfarmers
• There can be regular performance appraisal that
can be suitable for managing effectiveness and
generating appropriateness in the tasks which are
performed by them

REFERENCES
• Barry, R.B.A., Adman, A., Supardi, E., Sarino, A., Yatimah, D. and Purnama, R., 2019, May. Recruitement
Effectiveness of Employees to Support Performance. In 1st International Conference on Economics, Business,
Entrepreneurship, and Finance (ICEBEF 2018). Atlantis Press.
• Belias, D., Koustelios, A., Sdrolias, L. and Aspridis, G., 2015. Job satisfaction, role conflict and autonomy of
employees in the Greek banking organization. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 175, pp.324-333.
• Faisal Ahammad, M., Mook Lee, S., Malul, M. and Shoham, A., 2015. Behavioral ambidexterity: The impact of
incentive schemes on productivity, motivation, and performance of employees in commercial banks. Human
Resource Management, 54(S1), pp.s45-s62.
• Florea, N.V. and Mihai, D.C., 2017. Predicting employees evaluation performance using simulation and
mathematical modeling. Journal of Science and Arts, 17(1), p.81.
• Holt, D.T., Markova, G., Dhaenens, A.J., Marler, L.E. and Heilmann, S.G., 2016. Formal or informal mentoring:
What drives employees to seek informal mentors?. Journal of Managerial Issues, 28.
• Wesfarmers.com.au 2019 Wesfarmers: Home (Online) Retrieved from https://www.wesfarmers.com.au [Accessed
on 11th September 2019]