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1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

Employee engagement is associated with many desirable outcomes, such as

job satisfaction, intention to stay and job performance. Companies with a greater

number of engaged employees typically have lower operating costs, higher customer

satisfaction and higher profits. There is a tangible monetary benefit to companies

investing time and resources in fostering higher engagement within their employees.

The task of precisely defining employee engagement is still ongoing, but it is most

often defined in terms of behaviours exhibited in the workplace. Engaged employees

are prepared to go the extra mile in pursuit of workplace excellence. They are

ambassadors for their organisations, who will speak highly of the company and its

people, even when they are not in a work setting. An engaged employee is identifiable

by workplace behaviours such as losing track of time as they are so absorbed in the

task at hand. This is distinct from excessive overtime in order to give the impression

of ‗hard work.‘ Both look the same, but one is productive for the employer- employee

relationship and one is not! Academics would say that not enough is understood about

what drives employee engagements most research in the area has tended to focus on

business outcomes without investigating underlying causes. As the impact of

engagement on business has been positive and has been linked with higher

profitability, practice has raced ahead of the underpinning research in pursuit of

creating a more engaged and hence profitable workforce. I undertook research to aid

understanding of the area by investigating the relationship of employee engagement

with various aspects of human resources such as employee satisfaction, the retention

level etc. At the same time I looked at the interplay between individual differences

and engagement levels of the organization. I hoped to discover best practices of the

organizations and the individual‘s expectations from such strategies

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2. OBJECTIVES:

1. To measure the percentage of employees who feel engaged towards their

work.

2. To find out the factors that influence employee engagement.

3. To identify the relationship of employee engagement with various aspects of

human resources i.e. employee satisfaction, retention level etc.

4. To study employee engagement practices in apparel retail sector.

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3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

A) TYPE OF RESEARCH:

Exploratory:

Exploratory research might involve a literature search or conducting focus

group interviews. The exploration of new phenomena in this way may help the

researcher‘s need for better understanding, may test the feasibility of a more extensive

study, or determine the best methods to be used in a subsequent study. For these

reasons, exploratory research is broad in focus and rarely provides definite answers to

specific research issues.

B) TOOLS FOR DATA COLLECTION:

Qualitative Data Collection:

Qualitative research is aimed at gaining a deep understanding of a specific

organization or event, rather than surface description of a large sample of a

population. It aims to provide an explicit rendering of the structure, order, and broad

patterns found among a group of participants. It is also called field research. It

generates data about human groups in social settings.

Qualitative data collection methods include observation, participant

observation, interviewing, focus groups and case studies.

Primary Data:

Data Collection Method through Questionnaire Method was used & face to

face interviews with the store managers were taken. The data was collected from

various clothing retailers such as Pantaloons, Lifestyle, Shoppers Stop etc. located in

various places of Mumbai and employee‘s as well as store manager‘s responses on

4

that were tabulated and presented in percentage form, which then were analyzed and

interpreted. This was followed by findings and recommendation.

The questionnaire consisted of both open as well as multiple choice questions

based on 6 factors as listed below:

- Attachment to the job

- Agreeableness

- Emotional Stability

- Openness to experience

- Achievement orientation

- Self-efficacy

The above factors are independent factors and retention of employees

is dependent on it.

Secondary Data:

It was through a list of websites, books, journals, and newspaper and news magazines

articles as given at the end of this project in references, webliography and

bibliography

C) SELECTION OF THE STUDY AREA & SAMPLE SIZE:

50 Samples of employees & 9 samples of store managers were collected from

13 Retail Stores.

1. Pantaloons

2. Lifestyle

3. Global Desi

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4. Provogue

5. Zara

6. Blackberry‘s

7. 1090

8. Marks & Spencer

9. Madame

10. Wrangler

11. Paul Smith

12. Jack & Jones

13. Killers

D) SAMPLING TECHNIQUE:

Convenience Sampling:

A statistical method of drawing representative data by selecting people

because of the ease of their volunteering or selecting units because of

their availability or easy access. The advantages of this type of sampling are the

availability and the quickness with which data can be gathered.

E) SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY:

People often lie in exit interviews about why they are leaving. Managers should, of

course, know in advance who is leaving and why. A comprehensive list like this is of

little value unless used as a guide to gather information as to how to engage the

employees so that to retain the talents in the organization.

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4. INTRODUCTION OF THE PROJECT:

4.1 PREVIEW:

Success today requires a good bit more than good attendance. Yet, multiple

studies indifferent countries and across industries show that employees who are

passionate about their jobs and the organizations in which they work are in the

minority. Some of the Survey conducted by few organizations revealed that

approximately 19% of the employees are highly engaged. Towers Perrin‘s recent

―Talent Report‖ is slightly more optimistic, finding just 17 percent of the 35,000

employees surveyed to be highly engaged. 40 to 70 percent of employees can be

classified as neutral, middle of the road, or agnostic. Worse yet, an alarming 10 to 20

percent of employees are actively ―disengaged‖- just putting in their time or, worse

yet, undermining or badmouthing their organizations and bosses. The economic

impact of low engagement can be staggering.

The global survey shows that 34 per cent of the employees in India are fully

engaged and 13 per cent disengaged. As many as 29 per cent are ‗almost engaged‘.

What makes these numbers especially discouraging is that, supposedly, we have

evolved from the dark ages of ―personnel management.‖ On one hand, for the past

two decades we have been trying to realize the benefits of empowerment, teamwork,

recognition, people development, performance management, and new leadership

styles. Evidently, there is a big difference between putting in place initiatives that

have the overall goal of increasing employee engagement and truly seeing the

payoffs. And, on the other hand, one might easily attribute low engagement to

persistent downsizing, which leads to an erosion of loyalty and commitment.

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DEFINITION OF EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT:

Employee engagement can be defined as an employee putting forth extra

discretionary effort, as well as the likelihood of the employee being loyal and

remaining with the organization over the long haul. Research shows that engaged

employees: perform better, put in extra efforts to help get the job done, show a strong

level of commitment to the organization, and are more motivated and optimistic about

their work goals. Employers with engaged employees tend to experience low

employee turnover and more impressive business outcomes. Employee engagement is

more than just the current HR 'buzzword'; it is essential. In order for organizations to

meet and surpass organizational objectives, employees must be engaged. Research has

proven that wholly engaged employees exhibit,

• Higher self-motivation.

• Confidence to express new ideas.

• Higher productivity.

• Higher levels of customer approval and service quality.

• Reliability.

• Organizational loyalty; less employee turnover.

• Lower absenteeism.

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4.2 NEED OF EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

The general principles of employee engagement have been around for decades.

During the past five years, though, there has been a surge in the popularity of

employee engagement. There are four primary drivers.

1. People have become the primary source of competitive advantage.

The Brookings Institute (2003) examined the primary source of market value

in today‘s organizations and how it has changed over time. In 1982, 62 percent of an

organization‘s market value came from tangible assets and 38 percent from intangible

assets. Tangible assets include things like machinery, products, facilities, etc.

Intangible assets, on the other hand, include factors such as brand, intellectual

property, and, most important, the quality of the workforce. By 2002, 20years later,

the source of value had almost totally flipped. Almost 80 percent of market value

today comes from the intangible with a scant 20 percent coming from tangible assets.

As we all have heard before, products can easily be copied, a technological edge can

prove fleeting, and more facilities can be built, but the quality of an organization‘s

talent, its passion and commitment, is nearly impossible to replicate. Engagement is

the fuel that drives the value of intangible assets.

2. Retention and the war for talent.

The landmark 1998 McKinsey study, The War for Talent, was among the first

to talk about the potential for workforce shortages due to the aging population. The

study‘s authors called upon organizations to take more seriously their efforts to attract

and retain talent, to assure that they would be able to survive and thrive in the future.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the slump in the global economy quickly took the

spotlight off of the anticipated talent shortage. And some predict that a portion of

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today‘s aging workers will delay their retirements out of necessity, attenuating the

expected talent shortage. Since 2003 the picture is once again changing, albeit not as

quickly as expected. For example, the Society for Human Resources Management

reported that 48 percent of the employees it polled are actively seeking new jobs.

Additionally, the workforce is getting older, with many of the baby boomers hitting

60 in 2006 and ready to retire. Over and above the workforce cost of increased

retirements, companies are beginning to take heed of the enormous financial costs of

turnover and increasingly viewing employee engagement as an imperative for keeping

their key employees— and attracting new ones—as the war for talent heats up once

again.

3. Popular appeal.

Remember the reengineering wave? Even those who used it as more than just

a guise for massive layoffs found it painful. Six Sigma implementations are

invaluable to business performance, but most companies are finding them too

complex to implement well. Engagement is a different matter altogether. While it still

takes patience to implement, engagement gets to the ―hard stuff‖ by focusing on the

―softer stuff.‖ As one manager said: ―It‘s about appealing to the head and the heart.‖

Engagement is about creating passion, it‘s about focusing on what people do well, and

it‘s about development and recognition. Some have called employee engagement a

form of positive psychology which, on the whole, is an easy pill for organizations and

their employees to swallow.

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4. Overwhelming impact.

The human resources function has been under pressure for decades to prove

that it makes a difference. While CEOs may espouse the importance of

their workforces in their annual reports, when times get tough, HR is among the first

to get the budget axe. Why? A lack of convincing evidence on the value of HR

initiatives. HR professionals are scrambling, according to a recent Conference Board

report, to prove that their activities and investments are both efficient and positively

influential to business strategy. The positive relationship between engagement and

performance (documented in hundreds of studies, with the evidence mounting every

day) provides a way for HR to prove its contribution. It‘s a fact: The higher the level

of engagement, the higher the performance of the business. The research is not

inconclusive, not limited to one country or industry, and not contained to a few

hundred people—it‘s overwhelming.

4.2.1 HOW TO MAKE EMPLOYEES ENGAGE?

• Growth and development –

An exciting position, with plenty of opportunity for growth, learning, and

advancement for employees is always helpful in retaining employees.

• Support and recognition –

Giving those rewards and recognition.

• In many instances, employee retention starts just as soon as an employee is hired. If

a company sees an unusual amount of potential in a new hire, management could

make them feel appreciated right off the bat. In a way, this practice can be considered

a combination of recruitment and retention tools.

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• Employee Participation in decision making is also a very effective engagement

activity in the organization.

• Aligning effort with strategy-

Engagement begins with employees‘ clear understanding of what they should be

doing on the job. Each employee needs a solid job description and a clear set of

performance expectations.

• Empowerment-

Empowerment is a feeling of job ownership and commitment brought about through

the ability to make decisions, be responsible, be measured by results, and be

recognized as a thoughtful, contributing human being rather than a pair of hands

doing what others say.

• Teamwork and Collaboration –

In the context of engagement, teamwork and collaboration require good relationships

both within the work group and across work groups. Many organizations have strong

teams with members who work well with each other.

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4.3 THE BENEFITS OF EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT:

The power of employee engagement is that it is closely connected to business

results. When employees work in an environment in which they can focus their

attention on their work and have a drive to do their best, organizations experience

higher levels of productivity and profitability.

Engaged employees look for better ways to do their work, spend less time on

wasted activities, and make effective use of resources. In the end, companies deliver

better products or services and have more resources left to invest in further

improvements. Although it is an important consideration, high financial compensation

is not the only driver of increased employee retention.

As addressed previously, employees decide to stay with organizations for

other reasons, such as growth and development opportunities, strong leadership, and

meaningful work. Turnover costs organizations millions of dollars each year, and

engagement has a proven relationship to employee retention. No one likes going into

a store where the sales clerks are sullen, absent, or uncooperative. It‘s easy to see why

customers notice engaged employees and are more satisfied and willing to purchase

again. For example, Tom Labadie, director of training and development at CompUSA

states, “When you walk into a store with high engagement scores, you can sense the

positive tone. Employees whistle and smile, they approach customers, and the store

gives off that elusive approachable feeling that customers appreciate.‖ Organizations

with engaged employees have more satisfied customers, but it‘s not just because

employees have better interactions with customers. Engaged employees are more

likely to improve other critical factors affecting customer satisfaction, such as

responsiveness, product quality, thought leadership, innovation, etc. Finally, higher

engagement translates into higher and faster revenue growth.

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Engaged employees are more innovative and place more emphasis on meeting

customer needs. The ―what can I do better or differently‖ attitude of engaged

employees versus the ―it‘s not in my job description‖ attitude of the unengaged

simply leads to better financial performance.

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4.4 ASSESSING ENGAGEMENT

Over the past eight years, The Gallup Organisation has been conducting

exhaustive studies of employee engagement to try and answer these fundamental

questions. One of a handful of engagement evangelists, Gallup has promoted the

value of measuring employee engagement through a series of books, seminars and

programmes; it has also taken the lead in identifying and managing the factors that

impact engagement levels.

4.4.1 Why Measure Employee Engagement?

A company is only as strong and successful as its members, its employees, are. By

measuring employee engagement in key areas, organizations can gain the information

needed to improve employee satisfaction, retention, and productivity. However, a

recent study by the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) indicated that

often the HR department's perceptions of employee engagement versus the true

measure of employee satisfaction are not always in sync.

Employees who aren‘t engaged with their jobs are very likely to leave. If they

don‘t leave they can become a source of bad morale and do a great deal of harm in the

organization. In many cases employers without proper data will assume the wrong

reasons for employee dissatisfaction. Many bosses will automatically think that

money is the top reason for leaving a job. Wouldn‘t it be better to have real data and

react accordingly?

Surveying employees on a regular basis is a great way to stay in touch with the

pulse of the business. Before launching a survey though it is important to establish the

ground rules. Many employees will be unwilling to express their honest feelings if

they think they will be singled out. Make sure that the surveys are conducted with

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anonymity. Be certain to have the support of company management all the way to the

top. Employees want to know that the leadership is behind the survey and that their

responses will be taken seriously.

Explain that employee comments are important to the company. State what

will be done with the results. And then live up to those statements. Employees will

become doubtful of management‘s intentions if they don‘t follow through.

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4.5 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

Over the past decade, the way in which people are managed and developed at

work has come to be recognized as one of the primary factors in achieving

improvement in organizational performance. This is reflected by popular idioms such

as ―people are our most important assets‖. Back in the good old days of corporate

world, things were pretty simple. Companies put people on career tracks straight out

of college; they gave employees a job for life and waved them goodbye with a gold

watch at retirement. The promise of the stable life as a company employee kept both

morale and productivity high. Then things changed. Competition increased, margins

shrank and shareholders got more demanding. Suddenly, company staff were finding

the very job security they‘d counted on was disappearing, and at speed. This upheaval

meant companies had to find new ways to motivate their employees in order to make

them more productive since, without stability, employees were looking for something

else from their employers. And thus, Engagement was born. In itself, engagement

isn‘t really a new idea; owners and managers have been talking about engagement, in

one form or another, for centuries… they just used different words to express it. In

former times, engagement focused more on productivity and achieving results through

threat of punishment or by means of reward. But common sense - and good

communication -eventually won out and, today, organizations everywhere are

spending serious money on all forms of employee engagement. Boiled down, it

simply means ‗developing a happy and loyal workforce‘. Enlightened managers now

realize that any company as a whole will benefit when its employees know what‘s

going on and they feel part of the team. The tricky part is in defining what makes a

workforce happy, and in understanding how this good will translates into company

success. From the extant literature review, it is acknowledged that successful

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organizations share a fundamental philosophy of valuing and investing in their

employees. In fact many research studies have described human resource

management as a means of achieving competitive advantage. Consistent with this it is

an equally important issue for the organization to retain their critical (core)

employees. Most organization today continues to struggle with retention because they

are relying on salary increases and bonuses to prevent turnover. Essentially more

organizations are now realizing that retention is a strategic issue and continues to be a

competitive advantage. The term ―engagement‖ stems from the work of Kahn (1990)

who distinguished between being engaged and disengaged at work. Putting the

humanistic factors together, Beer, Specter, Lawrence, Quinn-Mills and Walton (1984)

created the ‗Harvard Business School‘ model of HRM which focused on people in an

organization to be the key resource. In light of such critical emphasis being placed on

human capital, Paula Ketter has aptly noted,

“Engagement is all about creating a culture where people do not feel

misused, overused, underused or abused.”

At a very basic level, employee engagement draws from the tenets of the

‗Hierarchy of Needs‘ as conceptualized by Maslow, the highest stage of which is

self-actualization; the pinnacle of an individual‘s fulfillment of talent and potential.

This theory of ‗higher order needs‘ was largely overlooked in the heydays of

scientific ‗assembly line‘ manufacturing.

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4.6 EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT IN INDIA

The recent WorkAsia research study by Watson Wyatt Worldwide indicates

that India has the highest percentage of highly engaged workers at 78% in Asia as

compared to Japan, which has the lowest employee engagement level at 39%. Head to

head with China, the engagement level of the Indian worker is 20% more than his

Chinese counterpart. These are all encouraging signs - but the challenges and the

opportunities ahead are manifold. The imminent US slowdown, shrinking of talent

pool, slowdown in hiring, larger employee expectations are all challenges for internal

communicators to cope with. The Gallup Organization describes employee

engagement as the "the involvement with and enthusiasm for work". The challenges

faced by organizations in India are around attrition, communication,

career development and engagement while trying to keep pace with the explosive

growth. Outsourcing outfits have the highest attrition rates losing staff at a rate of

between 100% and 200% a year. It is widely believed that organizations spend an

average of 36% of their revenues on their employees but do not have a tangible way

to measure its impact. A Mercer study – ‗What‘s Working‘ – a series of national

research on worker insights, highlights factors that make a difference to employee

engagement. The survey‘s 125 questions elicit views in the areas defined by Mercer‘s

Human Capital Strategy Model and cover training and development, work

environment, leadership, performance management, work/life balance,

communication, compensation, benefits, and engagement. The India study throws up

some fascinating directions for HR and internal communication professionals.

Employee engagement is no more just about the employee‘s intent to leave. The

employee‘s commitment to the organization and motivation to contribute to the

organization‘s success plays a significant role. The top three drivers in India are trust

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in senior management, how the organization is perceived for customer service and fair

pay. Surprisingly, from an Indian context, the least valued factors in the continuum

were benefits, compensation and performance management. In India, having a long-

term career is considered positive and stable. Frequent job changes are viewed

negatively and therefore the high scores around the commitment count are in line with

the mindset. Internal communication and HR professionals need to take note of the

employee‘s need for giving feedback and to observe action taken from this.

Employees seem to be getting very little information on the organization‘s vision and

future plans, a cause of concern. Other areas for action include the organization‘s

reputation in the market – congruent to other research in this space which believes

that organization‘s which are socially responsible are considered better places to

work. In the talent management bracket, managers fare poorly for their involvement,

understanding and support as well as for merit based appraisals.

In India, with a large number of global players entering the market, the talent

pool has now a plethora of choices and even these multinationals are finding it tough

to retain staff. The Canadian HR Reporter writes that employees want to know where

their careers are heading and that is a critical component of the talent retention

strategy organizations need to focus on. Softer styles of leadership have a better

impact in India and China leaving organizations to develop or seek leaders who can

fill this need.

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4.7 RETAILING IN INDIA:

Retailing in India is one of the pillars of its economy and accounts for 14 to

15 percent of its GDP. The Indian retail market is estimated to be US$ 500 billion and

one of the top five retail markets in the world by economic value. India is one of the

fastest growing retail markets in the world, with 1.2 billion people.

As of 2013, India's retailing industry was essentially owner manned small shops. In

2010, larger format convenience stores and supermarkets accounted for about 4

percent of the industry, and these were present only in large urban centers. India's

retail and logistics industry employs about 40 million Indians (3.3% of Indian

population).

Until 2011, Indian central government denied foreign direct investment (FDI)

in multi-brand retail, forbidding foreign groups from any ownership in supermarkets,

convenience stores or any retail outlets. Even single-brand retail was limited to 51%

ownership and a bureaucratic process.

In November 2011, India's central government announced retail reforms for both

multi-brand stores and single-brand stores. These market reforms paved the way for

retail innovation and competition with multi-brand retailers such

as Walmart, Carrefour and Tesco, as well single brand majors such as IKEA, Nike,

and Apple. The announcement sparked intense activism, both in opposition and in

support of the reforms. In December 2011, under pressure from the opposition, Indian

government placed the retail reforms on hold till it reaches a consensus.

In January 2012, India approved reforms for single-brand stores welcoming

anyone in the world to innovate in Indian retail market with 100% ownership, but

imposed the requirement that the single brand retailer source 30 percent of its goods

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from India. Indian government continues the hold on retail reforms for multi-brand

stores.

In June 2012, IKEA announced it had applied for permission to invest $1.9

billion in India and set up 25 retail stores. An analyst from Fitch Group stated that the

30 percent requirement was likely to significantly delay if not prevent most single

brand majors from Europe, USA and Japan from opening stores and creating

associated jobs in India.

On 14 September 2012, the government of India announced the opening of

FDI in multi-brand retail, subject to approvals by individual states. This decision was

welcomed by economists] and the markets, but caused protests and an upheaval in

India's central government's political coalition structure. On 20 September 2012, the

Government of India formally notified the FDI reforms for single and multi-brand

retail, thereby making it effective under Indian law.

On 7 December 2012, the Federal Government of India allowed 51% FDI in

multi-brand retail in India. The government managed to get the approval of multi-

brand retail in the parliament despite heavy uproar from the opposition (the NDA and

leftist parties). Some states will allow foreign supermarkets

like Walmart, Tesco and Carrefour to open while other states will not.

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5. REVIEW OF LITERATURE:

5.1 EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

Before explaining deepened about employee engagement and the scientific

research related to it, we consider important to mention the significance of Human

Resources management in order to measure the employee performance and manage

the human assets of the organization. People should be considered as the most

important asset of the company (Oraman et al., 2011, p.413). They are the key and

differentiating factor in making a strategy successful, adding value to the customers,

and acting differently than the competitors (Oraman et al., 2011, p.414). Employee

engagement is a huge notion within human resources, which requires an explanation.

Several theories have been written to explain this concept based on motivation and

job satisfaction as theoretical foundation and it appears necessary to expose those

theories to understand better the notion of employee engagement.

Definition :

The term employee engagement was first presented by the Gallup

Organization, a consulting company, as a result of years of investigation in a

particular company, which purpose was to have a concept that measures and evaluates

performance (Little and Little, 2006, p.111). For that matter, the concept was created

by practitioners with direct application to the company. Employee engagement is a

wide notion rather recent, and it has been created by human resources consultancy

firms, but academics are sluggishly joining this concept (Macey and Schneider, 2008,

p.3). Hence it appears as the existence of several definitions of employee engagement

can create misunderstanding; for instance, Macey and Schneider (2008, pp.4-5),

suggest the folk theory as a good foundation to define employee engagement. This

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theory states that employee engagement ensues from the common intuitive sense that

employees have concerning work motivation, as passion, enthusiasm, involvement

and so forth. This implies a dualistic component, attitudinal and behavioral. While,

Macey and Schneider (2008) explain that engagement is at the same time a

psychological state, a performance construct, and a disposition such as positive affect.

As for employee engagement, Allen and Meyer (1996, p.252) define it as a

psychological link between the employee and his/her organization which is related

and influenced by job characteristics and job satisfaction (Shin et al., 2002, p.189).

Moreover, personal engagement is defined by Kahn (1990, p.700) as personal

presence, active role performances (physical, cognitive and emotional) and individual

behavior to promote connections to work. Therefore, the motivated employees take

initiative and participate actively, so engaged employees have a high level of activity,

initiative and responsibility (Dvir et al., 2002, p.737) and it induces that motivated

employees prefer to work in a company where people has a positive behavior such as

taking initiatives (Colbert et al, 2004, p.603). In consequence, a negative perception

of the work environment could influence employees‘ p.599).

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5.2 EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT FACTORS:

It was long thought that the fundamental interest of employees was high salary

and wages (Taylor, 1914, p 9); however, more recently, academics found that job

characteristics in general, not merely the remuneration, are impacting on motivation

and employee engagement. The founder of the human relation movement, Elton

Mayo (1945) found in his study that employee‘s engagement performance are

correlated and with social environment and job characteristics. He states that there is

an emotional dimension in work which impacts on employees‘ motivation.

Furthermore, a hierarchical approach Maslow of human motivation, by constructing a

pyramid largely known, from the top to the bottom, such as, self-actualization,

esteem, love, safety, and immediate psychological needs (Kenrick et al., 2010).

Through this pyramid, he shows the full range of individual needs, and he joins the

Mayo‘s approach by explaining that human is money. Thus, as motivation

means to be moved to do something (Deci and Ryan, 2000, p.54) it is necessary to

define that job characteristics, such as responsibility, advancement, growth, salary or

relationships, for instance, can affect the job attitude (Herzberg, 1987, p.91) and

employee engagement.

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5.3 THEORIES OF EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT:

5.3.1 Classical Theories of Employee Engagement:

First of all, the concept of the scientific management was stated by Taylor

(1914, p.9), and, according to him, the management has dualistic objectives which are

the maximization of prosperity for both employers and employees. The main idea of

the scientific management suggests that the real motivation for employers and

employees is the same, in fact “prosperity for the employer cannot exist through a

long term of years unless it is accompanied by prosperity for the (Taylor,

employee1914,.9).This and hypothesis vice induces that versa” the first motivation

for employees is wages; consequently, Taylor did not consider any other factor as

relevant when analyzing employees‘

Secondly, Mayo (1945) has conducted a study commonly named the

Hawthorne Effect, this experiment sustains that motivation increases productivity and

performance. According to Mayo (1945), the determination of optimum working

condition for employees is mainly built on tradition and dogma, or close to a

philosophical thought in a modern large scale industry, management faced three

problems. First of all is the shift between the employee the materials; secondly,

employees are not responsible and do not take any initiatives, and finally, the last one

which concerns the team work, which induces a narrow cooperation between

employees. By analyzing those problems, Mayo has discovered, and then suggested,

that employees became more motivated when their managers expected more from

them. This assumption means that the more responsibilities and liberties the employee

obtains, the more he/she will be motivated to be efficient in his/her work and reach

the objectives expecting from him/her.

Around the same period, Maslow (1943) created the concept of the pyramid of

26

needs. According to Kenrick et al. (2010) this model has been largely used as

foundation for other motivational theories within behavioral science. Maslow created

a several rank of human motives, thus, he defined a hierarchical approach of human

motivation. The basic postulated is the following, superior needs could not be

satisfied while the inferior needs are not satisfied. However, this approach should be

considered with wariness, because as Maslow (1943, p.374) explains “Human

organism when is dominated whole philosophy of the. Thus, future through this

pyramid, tends he showed also the full range of individual needs, and he joined the

Mayo‘s approach that by human beings are looking for something else at work than

money.

5.3.2 The Modern Factors of Employee Engagement:

Nowadays, the attitude towards human resources management has changed,

and the human focus is occupying a central position in the organizations. Several

academic researchers have point out criteria which have an impact on the employee

engagement. Most of the theories consider motivation as a unitary phenomenon; it

appears that people and more especially employees have different levels and

orientations of the motivation (Deci and Ryan, 2000, p.54). In the self-determination

theory (SDT), Deci and Ryan (1985, p.112) distinguish different types of motivation,

the main distinction is about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation (Deci and Ryan, 2000;

Petrescu and Simmons, 2008, p.653). The intrinsic motivation suggests a motivation

to do something which is pleasant, while the extrinsic motivation is dominated by the

idea of doing something because “it leads to a (Deciseparab and Ryan, 2000, p.55).

Intrinsic motivation is related to the funny part of an activity, which means,

there is no interest or advantages to do something except the pleasure encountered.

27

This phenomenon was exposed in several researches, but one experiment is especially

interesting which was done on animal behavior, and the reason about the tendency to

explore the place where they are. White (1959, p.298) explains that exploratory

behavior could be the consequence of avoiding uncertainty and reducing anxiety, but

it could be as well an independent motive. Related to human beings, it appears that

people are naturally creative, active and curious but this natural tendency is ensued

from their skills and knowledge, and this phenomenon states that all people are not

intrinsically motivated by the same things (Deci and Ryan, 2000, p.56). Furthermore,

Deci and Ryan (1985, p.62) developed a theory related to the intrinsic motivation,

named the Cognitive evaluation Theory (CET). This theory considers the social

variables determining the intrinsic motivation, and focus on the necessity for people

to obtain competence and autonomy (Deci and Ryan, 2000, p 58), which refers to the

other aspects of motivation, as the extrinsic motivation.

Extrinsic motivation is as well an important factor about employee

engagement. People are sometimes acting without any intrinsic motivation, however,

according to Deci and Ryan (2000, p.60), the same activities can be done through an

extrinsic motivation, but with different objectives and autonomy.

In addition, Skinner (1953, p.183) highlights that several behaviors are

motivated by the expectation of receiving rewards. Hence, the approach of reward

strategy differs between organizations and it is not a typical or perfect reward practice

(Armstrong, 2007, p.3). Thus Nohria et al., (2008, p.3), defines the reward system as a

part of the organizational levels of motivation. According to them, human beings got

four drives and every drive is associated to levels of motivation, firstly, the reward

system is associated with the need to acquire and it implicates that only good workers

could expect opportunities for advancement. Then, the need of bond implies a good

28

environment through cooperative team for instance. Thirdly, individuals need to

realize that their contribution at the workplace is useful, thus to motivate employees,

it is important to make their tasks understandable and explain clearly the way they

contribute to the company. And finally, to avoid consequence of a poor engagement

ensuring from the uncertainty, it is important to describe the whole process clearly.

Furthermore, several researchers join the scientific management theory, by

explaining the importance of the wages in employee motivation even if “professionals

are likely to seriously underestimate the motivational (Ryneset.,2004, potential.382).

In fact, of remuneration could be classified as an extrinsic motivation, reward could

be verbal (Deci et al., 1999, p.629), but could be financial too. According to Rynes et

al., (2004, pp.382- 383) it occurs that researchers found out that people are ranking

salary as the first motivator at work.

For this reason, according to Kenrick et al., (2010) there are several needs

which can motivate employees. To build their theory they start to be applicable to the

contemporary economy and business organization. By using a functional analysis,

they added to the pyramid several criteria such as mate acquisition, mate retention and

parenting in the top.

Kenrick et al. (2010), pyramid is not Maslow‘s sufficient to determine the

issues related to human survival as reproduction approach with the biological life-

history approach, which com motivational behavior to provide a better understanding

of the human motives evolution. The Figure N°1 shows the link and the importance of

all the factors. It explains that people classify their needs through an importance

order, but all the needs are interrelated with each other. For instance, self-protection

has an impact on parenting. The pyramid is divided in seven parts. First of all, the

immediate physiological needs which represents the human being needs such as eat,

29

drink, breath, sleep and so on, then the self-protection which represents the need to

feel safe. Afterwards, the affiliation which refers to the need to feel accepted to a

group (family, to friends consideration the…) status/esteem, that means to feel

recognize by the society, the family, etc. Then appears the mate acquisition and

retention which refers to the need to find a partner to live and try to build something

with that person. Finally, human being needs to be parent by having children and a

family.

Figure 1: An updated version of Maslow’s pyramid

(Source: Kenrick et al., 2010, p292-314.)

30

5.4 JOB SATISFACTION:

The dual factor theory

The dual factor theory was cited by Herzberg (1987) and Herzberg et al.

(1959); his research points out primary that human beings have two major needs. On

one hand, people need to avoid the pain, as animals, this idea refers to the hygienic

aspect; on the other hand, human beings need to grow psychologically (House and

Wigdor, 1967, p.369). The Herzberg research, conducted by studying approximately

one thousand employees, highlights that dissatisfaction motives are mainly linked

with the context or part of it that employees cannot control directly, while the

dissatisfaction comes from hygienic factors and the satisfaction comes from the job

factors; to contextualize the theory it is important to mention some examples of the

factors, for that matter, hygienic factors according to Herzberg (1987, p.8) are the

salary, supervision, personal life, status, security, relations policies and

administration, etc; while the motivators are considered as achievement, recognition,

work itself, responsibility, growth and advancement.

The bottom-up theory

The bottom-up theory supports that the individual implicitly measures work role

outputs and summate the positive and negative factors to determine whether he or she

is happy and satisfied with the job (Oraman et al., 2011, p.419). The bottom-up

approach helps to analyze the various ways in which relationships and variables

interact, resulting in allocation of different levels of importance to different types of

relationships and interactions (Bititci and Muir, 1997, p.367). Nowadays, people

spend a lot of time in business organizations, and it allows them to satisfy their

material and socials needs. Thus, they become easily dependent on their organization

31

to satisfy some of their needs (Oraman et al., 2011, p.419).

The role of leadership in motivation

Even when most of the theories focus on the factors that may influence the

engagement and motivation of the employees, the role of the leader is crucial and has

a direct impact on the employee performance and his/her degree of satisfaction

(Tietjen and Myers, 1998, p.229). As Sarros and Santora (2001, p.387) state, leaders

have to balance in caring for the employees and coaching them to achieve results, but

also taking direction and being focused on effectiveness when the occasion demands.

The Life cycle theory analyses the diverse dimensions of management and the

relation between tasks and relationship-oriented, simultaneously gives a framework to

managers to understand how they should adjust their leadership style according to the

situation and maturity of the employee (Tietjen and Myers, 1998, p.229).

32

5.5 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

After analyzing the theories and scientific research existent about the subject,

we consider that theories as Maslow and Mayo are the foundation of motivational

models, which help us to explain the main reasons of the human being behavior.

However, we also consider that those theories are not enough in trying to understand

employee engagement within the employees in sporting goods retail stores. That is the

reason why we have taken into consideration theories and models about employee

engagement and job satisfaction as directly related variables, in particular, the self-

determination theory (SDT) formulated by Deci and Ryan (1985, p.112) which make

a distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. We have identified three

important aspects, related with our research questions, that may influence the

engagement among the employees: job factors, personal factors and relationships

interactions, the first two parts respond to the first research question and use concepts

of the dual factor theory cited by Herzberg (1987), the bottom up theory (Oraman, et.

al., 2011), the updated version of

Maslow‘s pyramid Kenricket alof.,2010), needs scientific management( theory

(Rynes et al., 2004, p.382) and the self-determination theory (Deci and Ryan, 1985,

p.112). While the last point of relationships interactions answers to the second

research question. It also takes into consideration the life cycle theory (Tietjen and

Myers, 1998) which examines the role played by the leader on the employee

engagement, and Nohria et al., (2008, p.3) and Atkinson (1964) that highlights the

importance for employees to have a good relationship with the team. We consider

both interactions of great relevance for our study.

We have considered that the theories presented on the literature review are

relevant for the study which has the purpose to analyze in which degree the

33

employees are engaged working on a retail store. The theoretical framework we have

developed contains our comprehension of the theories and has been formulated using

our own words to denominate the various factors that constitute it. The figure N° 2

below present the theoretical framework which tries to find a response to the research

questions formulated. That is the reason why we focus the first two parts on

describing the possible factors that may influence the employee engagement, and the

third part on relationship interactions.

Job Factors are related with extrinsic motivation (Deci and Ryan, 2000;

Petrescu & Simmons, 2008, p.653) which refers to the idea that employees are

motivated in doing something because it will give an outcome as a result for the work

done. In this context, factors mentioned in diverse theories by Herzberg (1987),

Kenrick et al. (2010), Rynes et al. (2004) and Skinner (1953), such as: financial

compensation (salary), authority, promotion, complexity of the job (is the job position

correctly described and understand by the employee), task variety (the job position is

diverse and allows the employee to learn different things), autonomy, benefits

(working time, vacations, compensations, etc) and safety (physical work

environment).

Personal Factors are related with intrinsic motivation (Deci and Ryan, 2000)

which affirms that an employee is motivated because he/she is doing something

pleasant, and job satisfaction factors. However it is also related to the extrinsic

motivation. In fact some personal factors are done by expecting a separable outcome

such as the recognition. Moreover, the factors mentioned here are also related with

Herzberg (1987), as well as take into consideration the base concepts and factors of

the theories stated by Maslow and Mayo, Kenrick et al. (2010), and Atkinson (1964).

34

The factors we consider important to analyze are: sense of control (does the employee

have control over his/her work), feeling of accomplishment (achievement and

advancement on the carrier), feeling of contribution (is the employee doing something

relevant with his/her work that contributes with something at a certain level),

belongingness (social affiliation) and recognition (is the work done by the employee

that is recognized). Additionally, according to Colbert et al., (2003, p.599), the

perception the employee has about the work environment influence directly the

employees behavior and his/her motivation and engagement.

The last part, which refers to Relationship Interactions, is associated with the

second research question formulated, that wants to determine how employees are

influenced by the leader and co-workers. The items considered are based on the life

cycle theory (Tietjen and Myers, 1998) and Nohria et al., (2008, p.3), which

highlights the importance of a good relationship with the team, stating that employees

need to positively bond with a cooperative team, which implies a good work

environment. They examine the interactions between the employee and the leader,

and, the employee and co-workers.

35

6. DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION:

6.1 FOR EMPLOYEES

Q 1. Do you know what is expected of you at work?

a) Strongly Agree b) Agree c) Disagree d) Strongly Disagree e) Not Applicable

33%

67%

0%0%

0%

Q 1.

Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Not Applicable

Interpretation:

67% of the sample agreed to the fact that they are aware about the work which

they have to perform while 33% are strongly agree on this fact.

36

Q 2. At work, do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day?

a) Strongly Agree b) Agree c) Disagree d) Strongly Disagree e) Not Applicable

17%

55%

28%

0% 0%

Q 2.

Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Not Applicable

Interpretation:

Majority (55%) of the employees get the opportunity to do best of their work

every day while 28% of them disagreed on this and 17% of them strongly agreed.

37

Q 3. In the last three months, have you received recognition or praise for doing

good work?

a) Strongly Agree b) Agree c) Disagree d) Strongly Disagree e) Not Applicable

11%

74%

15%

0% 0%

Q 3.

Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Not Applicable

Interpretation:

74% of the employees have received recognition or praise in the last three

months for doing good work while 11% of the employees are highly satisfied with

recognition in their organization and 15% of them have not received any praise in the

last 3 months.

38

Q 4. Is there someone at work who encourages your development?

a) Strongly Agree b) Agree c) Disagree d) Strongly Disagree e) Not Applicable

5%

75%

20%

0% 0%

Q 4.

Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Not Applicable

Interpretation:

Generally people feel sense of belongingness when someone is there at their

work place to support them and 75% of the employees agreed on this fact while 5%

have strongly agreed and the other 20% disagreed.

39

Q 5. At work, do your opinions seem to count?

a) Strongly Agree b) Agree c) Disagree d) Strongly Disagree e) Not Applicable

9%

70%

21%

0% 0%

Q 5.

Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Not Applicable

Interpretation:

Employee‘s participation in decision making is again a criteria of measuring

employee engagement. 70% of the employees have agreed that their decision seems to

count, 9% strongly agreed to this and only 21% have disagreed.

40

Q 6. Are your associates (fellow employees) committed to doing quality work?

a) Strongly Agree b) Agree c) Disagree d) Strongly Disagree e) Not Applicable

6%

79%

10%

0%

5%

Q 6.

Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Agree Not Applicable

Interpretation:

79% of the sample agreed that their fellow employees are committed to do

quality work while 10% have disagreed on this fact. 6% of them have chosen strongly

on this and the other 5% has given no comments on this.

41

Q 7. In the last year, have you had opportunities at work to learn and grow?

a) Strongly Agree b) Agree c) Disagree d) Strongly Disagree e) Not Applicable

15%

60%

10%

0% 15%

Q 7.

Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Not Applicable

Interpretation:

Learning and Development is one of the most important aspects to find out the

employee engagement in the organization. 60% have agreed that they get the

opportunity to learn and grow in the organization while 15% of them have strongly

agreed on it. 15% of the employees have not given any reply and 10% were disagreed.

42

Q 8. Are the pay and benefits in your organization comparable to similar

companies?

a) Strongly Agree b) Agree c) Disagree d) Strongly Disagree e) Not Applicable

Interpretation:

40% of the sample is satisfied with pay and packages of their organization

while 33% are highly satisfied with it. 27% disagree on the competitive pay and

benefit packages.

43

Q 9. Are job promotions in this organization fair and objective?

a) Strongly Agree b) Agree c) Disagree d) Strongly Disagree e) Not Applicable

27%

54%

19%

0% 0%

Q 9.

Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Not Applicable

Interpretation:

Half the percentages (50%) of the employees believe that the promotions are

done objectively, 25% strongly agree to the fairness of the same while 17% doubt the

fairness and objectivity of the process.

44

Q 10. Are organization policies clearly communicated in the organization?

a) Strongly Agree b) Agree c) Disagree d) Strongly Disagree e) Not Applicable

37%

55%

8%

0% 0%

Q 10.

Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Not Applicable

Interpretation:

55% of the sample has agreed to be clear on the policies that prevail in their

respective organizations. A good proportion of 37% strongly agreed on the clarity

while only 8% reported ambiguity on the policies.

45

Q 11. Do you see yourself continuing to work for this organization two years

from now?

a) Strongly Agree b) Agree c) Disagree d) Strongly Disagree e) Not Applicable

22%

50%

20%

0%

8%

Q 11.

Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Not Applicable

Interpretation:

A majority of 50% has agreed to continue to serve in the same organization for

next two years, 22% are very much willing to do the same whereas a striking 20% of

the employees are those who are on the verge to leave the organization since they are

not even committing for next two years & 8% employees have not given any answer.

46

Q 12. Do you recommend your friends/relatives in your organization?

a) Strongly Agree b) Agree c) Disagree d) Strongly Disagree e) Not Applicable

24%

50%

26%

0% 0%

Q 12.

Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Not Applicable

Interpretation:

24% of the sample surveyed strongly believes in recommending friends and

relatives to their organizations, 50% agreed to this while 26% has disregarded the

option.

47

Q13. Select and rank the following engagement tools applicable in your

organization. Please rate the options, from 1- 8 (1 being the lowest and 8 being

the highest).

a) Stress Management b) Work life balance

c) Career development d) Employees Participation in decision making

e) Counseling/ Feedback f) Rewards and Recognition Schemes

g) Employee Referral Scheme h) Retirement Plans

Interpretation:

Rewards and recognition schemes to be the most popular engagement tool

amongst the employees, next is efforts on Career development. Employee

participation in decision making and Counseling/ Feedback seems to be equally

effective, next in line is Employee referral scheme. Stress management is then

regarded as important but Retirement plans and Work life balance surprisingly seem

to be of least effective.

48

6.2 FOR MANAGERS:

1. Does your company have a clearly stated and published employment policy?

a) Yes b) No

100%

0%

Q 1.

Yes No

Interpretation:

A whopping majority of 100% of the managers has agreed to the existence of

a clearly stated and published employment policy & only 11% has denied it.

49

2. Does your company communicate its corporate goals to all employees?

a) Yes b) No

Interpretation:

95% managers stated that their company communicated the corporate goals to

the all employees, where as 5% of them denied it.

50

3. Do you communicate what is expected out of the employee?

a) Yes b) No

Interpretation:

100% positive response has been received when asked about whether the

expectations are communicated to the employees.

51

4. Do you allow your subordinates to take their own decisions?

a) Yes b) No

Interpretation:

89% of managers allow their subordinates to take their own decisions, whereas

11% said that they do not delegate decision authority as they will be held responsible

for any mistake happens.

52

5. Is there any involvement of employees in their performance appraisal?

a) Totally involved b) Partially involved c) Not involved

52% 40%

8%

Q 5.

Totally involved Partially involved Not involved

Interpretation:

52% of the managers agreed in totally involving the employees in the

performance appraisal process, 40% agreed on a partial participation while 8% said

there is no involvement at all.

53

6. After appraisal, do you communicate to the employees the areas in which they

are lacking?

a) Yes b) No

89%

11%

Q 6.

Yes No

Interpretation:

Employees are given feedback about their performance after the appraisals in

view point of 89% of the managers but 11% has denied any such feedback system in

place.

54

7. What are the engagement tools which have gained popularity amongst the

employees? Please rate the options on a scale of 1 to 8, 1 being the lowest & 8

being the highest.

a) Stress Management b) Work life balance

c) Career development d) Employees Participation in decision making

e) Counseling/ Feedback f) Rewards and Recognition Schemes

g) Employee Referral Scheme h) Retirement Plans

Interpretation:

Employee participation in decision making to be the most popular engagement

tool amongst the managers closely followed by Rewards and recognition schemes,

next is efforts on Career development. Work life balance seem to be the next priority,

next in line is Employee referral scheme. Stress management and Counseling/

Feedback are then regarded as important and Retirement plans surprisingly seem to be

the least effective.

55

8. Are incentives linked to achievement of individual goals?

a) Yes b) No

87%

13%

Q 8.

Yes No

Interpretation:

87% of the managers have agreed to a close association of incentives and

individual goals but 13% has denied any such association.

56

9. What factors of the rewards scheme contribute the most in engaging the

employees? Please rate the options on a scale of 1 to 7, 1 being the lowest.

a) Compensation and benefit programmes

b) Idea collection schemes linked to rewards for idea generation

c) Stock ownership and profit sharing

d) Recognition programmes

e) Material benefits like trips, food and discount coupons, etc.

f) Competitive compensation packages

g) Long service and good performance awards

Interpretation:

Compensation & Benefit programs are observed as the most effective rewards

scheme closely followed by Competitive compensation packages. Idea collection

scheme is the next important tool and Long service & good performance awards

follow that. Next in line is Stock ownership & Profit sharing. Material benefits and

Recognition programs have come up as the least effective tools.

57

10. What are the activities you conduct to build the team-spirit in the

organisation?

a) Small team recreational activities, such as cricket, trips to the cinema

b) Social activities, such as family gatherings

c) Community outreach activities such as volunteering and fund-raising

d) Any other, please specify.

e) All of the above

72%

25%

3% 0% 0%

Q 10.

Small team recreational activities, such as cricket, trips to the cinema

Social activities, such as family gatherings

Community outreach activities such as volunteering and fund-raising

Any other, please specify.

All of the above

Interpretation:

Only three of the options have received some response when asked about the

efforts to be made in team building in the organization. Here Small team recreational

activities are the most preferred way and some importance is given to Social activities

in the organizations surveyed.

58

11. How often do you conduct training programs?

a) Yearly b) Half Yearly c) Quarterly d) After 2 years.

81%

19%

0% 0%

Q 11.

Yearly As per the requirement Half Yearly Quarterly

Interpretation:

Most of the Managers (81%) agreed that the training is undertaken annually by

the organization. And 19% said they take it as per the requirements.

59

12. What is the objective of training the employees?

a) To enhance their current set of skills as per the organization‘s requirement

b) To unleash the hidden skills/ talent

c) To update them on the technological advancements

d) To fill the gap of expected-actual performance

e) All of the above

f) Any other, please specify

Interpretation:

A combination of all the options has scored the highest when asked about the

objective of training the employees. Individually, enhancing the current skills as per

the organization‘s requirement, unleashing the hidden skills/ talent and updating them

on the technological advancement have also scored well.

60

13. Is there a provision of flexibility in terms of working hours? Please tick the

appropriate option.

a) Flex-time b) Telecommuting c) Job Sharing d) Any other

Interpretation:

When asked about providing flexibility in terms of working hours, maximum

managers agreed to provide flex-time. Telecommuting, Job sharing, a combination of

all these options and any other, each has scored equally.

61

15. Do you think the current engagement strategies are effective in retaining the

employees in the organization?

a) Yes b) No

Interpretation:

67% of the managers agreed that the engagement strategies of their

organization help in retaining the employees in the organization while 33% has

disagreed on this fact.

62

16. In general, how do the employees respond to such engagement policies?

a) Positively b) Negatively c) Indifferent

Interpretation:

68% of the managers have observed positive effect on the employees of the

engagement strategies while 22% said it is indifferent for the employees and 10% has

responded negatively.

17. Have you come up with any innovative idea for engaging & retaining

employees? Please mention.

Interpretation:

Majority of the sample survey has not been able to come up with any of the

innovative ideas in line with retaining employees.

63

7. FINDINGS:

To engage the workforce, most of the organization surveyed periodically

recognize employees and provides flexible working hours.

Nowadays employees are involved in decision making in the organization and

majority of the employees agreed on this fact.

Most of the organizations allow their employees to participate in performance

appraisals and to set their own Key Performance Areas.

Compensation & Benefit programs are observed as the most effective rewards

scheme.

For team building companies generally do small team recreational activities

and social activities.

Majority of the samples are loyal towards their organization and they also

recommend their friends and relatives to join the organization.

Stress management, Retirement plans and Work life balance surprisingly seem

to be of least effective engagement strategies according to the employees.

Majority of the organizations agreed that the engagement strategies of

their organization help in retaining the employees in the organization.

64

8. LIMITATIONS:

Scope of Area - The scope area was limited to South Mumbai only. Moreover,

I encountered limitations regarding the distribution of the questionnaires and

the choice of the employees interviewed. While I gave & collected the

questionnaires to/ from employees in apparel retail stores, it was managers

who gave and collected the questionnaires.

Age limit - I had access to the young employees that‘s why the study is mainly

on the youngsters.

Family issues – The reason being I did not want to go into personal details and

stick only to job & organizational related issues.

65

9. SUGGESTIONS:

As contrary to what managers believe that decision making is the most

effective tool, the employees still prefer rewards and recognition. The

Managers should focus on the rewards and recognition schemes in their

organization.

Practically people don‘t give much importance to stress management

programs, work life balance and retirement plans so there is scope of

improvement in this area.

To increase employee engagement, the organizations should:

Provide variety: Tedious, repetitive tasks can cause burn out and

boredom over time. If the job requires repetitive tasks, look for ways to

introduce variety by rotating duties, areas of responsibility, delivery of

service etc.

Conduct periodic meetings with employees to communicate good

news, challenges & easy-to-understand company financial information.

Managers should be comfortable communicating with their staff, &

able to give & receive constructive feedback.

Communicate openly and clearly about what's expected of employees

at every level - your vision, priorities, success measures, etc.

Get to know employees' interests, goals, stressors, etc. Show an

interest in their well-being and do what it takes enable them to feel

more fulfilled and better balanced in work and life.

Celebrate individual, team and organizational successes.

As responses from employees are very good so the companies should have the

engagement strategies to retain the employees.

66

10. CONCLUSION:

Employee retention continues to remain a top priority at many

organizations and one that companies increasingly view as a driver of business

strategy. Business-critical knowledge can walk out the door when an employee leaves

the company. While employee retention figures have long been used by companies as

a measure of their performance in developing an effective organization, this view of

employee retention is not only outdated, but these figures may not be comprehensive

enough to truly determine the organization's effectiveness. The concept of employee

retention is more complex than simply evaluating employee turnover from one year to

the next. These figures of employee retention can be somewhat misleading — it isn't

necessarily the number of employees an organization loses, it's the number of top-

performing employees that leave the company that should be of concern.

For example, management is one of the key reasons employees decide to stay or leave

an organization. If there is high turnover among the management ranks, employees

may also feel unstable in this ever-changing environment. Yet, on the other hand, it

may not be the best business strategy to retain a manager that is disliked by

employees. The business strategy of employee retention actually lies with employee

engagement; retention is an outcome of engagement. What most organizations fail to

realize is that employee engagement is the biggest retention factor they have control

over. Engaged employees not only stay longer with the organization, they are more

productive, more conscientious, make fewer errors, and take better care of customers.

The business strategy of employee retention must incorporate methods that achieve a

high level of employee engagement among the organization's top performers, not

necessarily the entire workforce. Thus the research study proves the significance of

engagement activities as a part of retention strategy in an organization.