Management Information System: Woolworths Staff Turnover Analysis

This report identifies and analyzes problems within Woolworths Supermarkets, focusing on high staff turnover and loss of contracts. It attributes these issues to ineffective leadership and a lack of employee engagement, leading to decreased motivation and poor customer service. The report recommends implementing Lewin's change management model, emphasizing the need to unfreeze existing processes, implement changes in leadership style based on employee feedback, and refreeze organizational processes to ensure stability. Continuous evaluation of the implemented changes is crucial for identifying shortcomings and ensuring a quality process of change implementation, ultimately aiming to improve employee satisfaction and overall company performance. Desklib provides students with access to similar solved assignments and past papers.

Running head: MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM
MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The human resource of an organisation refers to the various members of the workforce that has
been serving the concerned company. The following report deals with the identification of one
such problem in the widely known company of Woolworths Supermarkets. The report opens
with a brief overview of the company and then proceeds to identify the problem that is faced by
the company. The report then proceeds to provide with a recommendation on the ways that the
company might implement in order to get rid of the concerned problem that the company has
been facing.

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Table of Contents
Introduction..........................................................................................................................3
Brief Overview................................................................................................................3
Identified Problems..........................................................................................................5
Plan to overcome identified problem...............................................................................6
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................8
References............................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
The human resource of an organisation refers to the various members of the workforce
that has been serving the concerned company. The various organisations that have been
operating in the global markets might face problems that stem from the various conditions like
the increase in the number of the complains that are received from the clients of the concerned
company, the loss of the contracts that the company might have been a part of the decrease in
the market share of the company, the high amount of the staff turnover, the loss in the profit that
is earned by the company and the lack of the needed funding for the smooth functioning of the
company (Bratton & Gold, 2017). The following report deals with the identification of one such
problem in the widely known company of Woolworths Supermarkets. The report opens with a
brief overview of the company and then proceeds to identify the problem that is faced by the
company. The report then proceeds to provide with a recommendation on the ways that the
company might implement in order to get rid of the concerned problem that the company has
been facing.
Brief Overview
The Woolworths Group is one of the major business organisations in Australia that has
been operating in the retail market in Australia and New Zealand (Woolworthsgroup.com.au.,
2018). The company is known to be a huge retail magnet and owns the second rank within the
Australian retail market in terms of the revenue that the company earns, the first rank holder
being Wesfarmers. Woolworths Supermarket is a grocery store and supermarket that has been
operative in the Australian market and is managed by Woolworths Limited
(Woolworthslimited.com.au., 2018). The supermarket majorly deals with the marketing of the

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various items of groceries, household products, baby and pet supplies, beauty and other health
products as well as the various stationery products. However, in recent times, the retail magnet
has been facing issues that pertain to the huge turnover rate of the staff and the loss of the
contracts that the company might have aimed at investing in. The company in the recent times
has also been facing a huge loss of $1.235 billion, the highest loss that has been incurred by the
company over the large span of the past 20 years (Woolworthslimited.com.au., 2018). The
employees of the organisation have been reported to be demotivated in the matters that pertain to
serving the organisation. The demotivation could have resulted from the lack of the engagement
of the employees of the company towards the various matters that pertain to the growth of the
organisation. The huge turnover of the employees of the organisation might result due to the poor
quality of the management that is observed within the organisation. The concerned workforce of
the organisation has been facing a lack in the motivation in their assigned work due to the fact
that there had been an observed lack in the clarity of the communication that had been taking
place within the organisation (Stanley et al., 2013). This resulted in the half-hearted work on the
part of the employees of the concern that further resulted in the conditions that related to the loss
of the contracts of the company (Tews, Michel & Stafford, 2013). The concerned workforce had
further reported that they have not been receiving the correct amount of the recognition from the
company on the basis of the service that they have been offering to the concerned company
(Mowday, Porter & Steers, 2013). The rewards that are extended to the concerned members of
the workforce are reported to be meagre in comparison to the amount of the work and dedication
that are expected of them (Park & Shaw, 2013). This has further led to the loss of the
engagement of the concerned employees to the company, thereby leading to a decline in the
overall performance of the company.

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Identified Problems
One of the major issues being identified is the high rate of employee turnover. With the
emergence of this issue, attrition rate for Woolworths is increasing, which is causing in loss of
competitive advantages for the organization (Hausknecht & Holwerda, 2013). This is due to the
reason that with the exit of the employees, the skill sets of them enhanced with training and
development program are also lost (Hancock et al., 2013). In addition, it also increased the cost
for the organization due to the reason that added cost is involved in recruiting and selecting the
new employees. However, the issue is being aroused due to the ineffective style of leadership in
the organization. This is because; authoritative style of leadership is followed in Woolworths,
which is having little space for the employees to share their feedback and opinion in the
organizational processes (Herman, Huang & Lam, 2013). According to the authoritative style of
leadership, the decision making process involves only the upper level management and without
determining the need and requirement of the employees.
In the case of Woolworths, authoritative style of leadership is initiated and employees are
less involved. This is leading to the demoralization of the employees in the organization.
Moreover, due to the fact that the requirements and the need of the employees are not being
determined, grievances with the employees are more in Woolworths. This is also leading to the
high level of turnover of the employees. Having authoritative style of leadership in place is
causing hindrances in flexible workplace environment for the employees (Iqbal, Anwar &
Haider, 2015).
Another issue being identified is the increase in the customer complaints. This is the
secondary impact of the previous identified issue of demoralized employees. The more de-

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motivated will be the employees, the less will be the quality of the customer service. According
to the Hertzberg’s two factor theory, there are two elements or factors need to be determined by
the organizations in order to have high level of job satisfaction among the employees. However,
in the case of Woolworths, hygiene factors are not well initiated. It is identified that the
employees are having issues with their salaries and work environment. This is leading to have
disengaged employees in place. Thus having disengaged employees is causing negative impact
on the quality of the customer service and rise in the customer complaints (Pantouvakis &
Bouranta, 2013). Due to the demoralization of the employees, the complaints of the customers
are also not being effectively resolved. This is further increasing the issues with the customers.
Plan to overcome identified problem
Identified issues can be solved only with the help of implementing an effective change in
the organization. However, initiation of the change management should be done with the help of
accurate theories.
Refreezing
In this case, Lewin’s model of change management will be used. According to this
theory, the first step in the change management is the unfreezing the existing processes (Shirey,
2013). In this step, it is important for Woolworths to review the current situation in their business
operation. They should consult with the employees in this case and should identify the issues and
challenges faced by them. This will help in identifying the areas for improvement in the
organization and the areas that should be considered in the change management process. The
more employees will be consulted in the process, the fewer will be the chances in having
resistance in the process.

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Implementing change
The next step is implementing the change. In this step, Woolworths should implement the
change according to the factors identified in the previous step. The most important area where
the change management should be implemented is the leadership approach of Woolworths. This
is due to the reason that in the above section of identification of the issues, it was identified that
major issues of the Woolworths are originating from the ineffectiveness of the leadership in the
organization. Thus, from the feedback from the employees, a new leadership approach or style
should be implemented in the organization. This will help in effective resolution of the issues
with the employees.
Refreezing
The last step is the refreezing of the organizational processes. This step is also important
due to the reason that with the initiation of the change in the organization, the existing process
and cultures got disturbed. In this step, those organizational processes should be rearranged.
Another important factor to be considered by Woolworths in this step is the evaluation of the
effectiveness of the implemented change. Continuous mechanism of gathering feedback from the
associated stakeholders should be initiated in order to determine their effectiveness and
productivity before and after the implementation of the change. Effective evaluation of the
change management process will help in identifying the shortcomings and modifying them
accordingly. This will ensure a quality process of implementation of change in the organization.
Conclusion
Thus, from the above discussion, it might be concluded that the company has been facing
issues due to the high amount of the employee turnover and the loss of the contracts of the

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company. The company might find the implementation of the various leadership theories in order
to help reset the various problems that it had been facing in the recent times.

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References
Bratton, J., & Gold, J. (2017). Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave.
Hancock, J. I., Allen, D. G., Bosco, F. A., McDaniel, K. R., & Pierce, C. A. (2013). Meta-
analytic review of employee turnover as a predictor of firm performance. Journal of
Management, 39(3), 573-603.
Hausknecht, J. P., & Holwerda, J. A. (2013). When does employee turnover matter? Dynamic
member configurations, productive capacity, and collective performance. Organization
Science, 24(1), 210-225.
Herman, H. M., Huang, X., & Lam, W. (2013). Why does transformational leadership matter for
employee turnover? A multi-foci social exchange perspective. The Leadership
Quarterly, 24(5), 763-776.
Iqbal, N., Anwar, S., & Haider, N. (2015). Effect of leadership style on employee
performance. Arabian Journal of Business and Management Review, 5(5).
Mowday, R. T., Porter, L. W., & Steers, R. M. (2013). Employee—organization linkages: The
psychology of commitment, absenteeism, and turnover. Academic press.
Pantouvakis, A., & Bouranta, N. (2013). The interrelationship between service features, job
satisfaction and customer satisfaction: Evidence from the transport sector. The TQM
Journal, 25(2), 186-201.
Park, T. Y., & Shaw, J. D. (2013). Turnover rates and organizational performance: A meta-
analysis. Journal of applied psychology, 98(2), 268.

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Shirey, M. R. (2013). Lewin’s theory of planned change as a strategic resource. Journal of
Nursing Administration, 43(2), 69-72.
Stanley, L., Vandenberghe, C., Vandenberg, R., & Bentein, K. (2013). Commitment profiles and
employee turnover. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 82(3), 176-187.
Tews, M. J., Michel, J. W., & Stafford, K. (2013). Does fun pay? The impact of workplace fun
on employee turnover and performance. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 54(4), 370-382.
Woolworthsgroup.com.au. (2018). Woolworths Group: Quality Brands and Trusted
Retailing. Woolworthsgroup.com.au. Retrieved 2 April 2018, from
https://www.woolworthsgroup.com.au/
Woolworthslimited.com.au. (2018). Woolworths Group: Quality Brands and Trusted
Retailing. Woolworthslimited.com.au. Retrieved 2 April 2018, from
http://www.woolworthslimited.com.au/icms_docs/182381_Annual_Report_2015.pdf
Woolworthslimited.com.au. (2018). Woolworths Supermarkets - Woolworths
Group. Woolworthslimited.com.au. Retrieved 2 April 2018, from
http://www.woolworthslimited.com.au/page/Who_We_Are/Our_Brands/Supermarkets/
Woolworths/