BA6UK11O Consultancy in HRM Assignment Sample

Introduction of Research BA6UK11O Consultancy in HRM Assignment

Leadership is defined as capability of the person or group of people in order to direct and encourage followers of the society, team and companies (Moldoveanu and Narayandas, 2019). In every organization, leadership plays an immersive role in increase the productivity in the employees by shaping the culture and driving their engagement. In addition, leaders plays a crucial role in creating the positive work environment that helps in promoting the high productivity (Abdul-Azeez, Ihechere and Idemudia, 2024). Leaders are instrumental in setting the tone for creating the workplace culture which can significantly encourage employee's motivation and morale which leads to increase productivity. Generally, for improving employee's productivity, the leaders are emphasis on building trusts and loyalty, recognition and appreciation, strategic communication and career development initiatives (Huang et al, 2024). This research is based on role of leadership in improving the employee productivity in the UK retail sector i.e. M&S. It is one of leading British multinational company that is specialise in selling beauty, clothing, and food as well as home products. The headquarters' of this organization is situated in London, UK. In addition, M&S was founded in 1884 by Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer (M&S, 2024).

BACKGROUND OF RESEARCH STUDY

This research paper is majorly emphasis on how leadership helps in improving the productivity of the employees within the UK's retail sector. For the growth and success of the companies it is crucial for the leaders to enhance and increase the productivity of the employees by encouraging them and creating the positive work environment (Beauty and Aigbogun, 2022). To improve the employee productivity it is essential to develop the effective leadership styles. Apart from this, the current research highlights the various factors that impact employee's productivity.

RESEARCH AIM AND OBJECTIVES

Research aim

The key aim of the research is to determine the impact of leadership on employee's performance within M&S food.

Research objectives

• To identify factors that impact the productivity of employees within the retail industry
• To analyse the relationship between employee performance and leadership within M&S food.
• To recommend competent strategies to M&S Food's leaders for enhancing the performance of employees.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

• Q1. What factors influence employee performance within the UK retail industry?
• Q2. What is the interrelationship between employee performance and leadership?
• Q3. What strategies can M&S Food's leaders implement to enhance employee performance effectively?

Limitation of the study

The study has certain limitations that need to be acknowledged. Firstly, the research focuses solely on M&S Food, which restricts the generalizability of the findings to other companies within the broader UK retail sector. The insights gained may not fully capture variations in leadership practices across different organizations. Additionally, the study was conducted within a limited timeframe, which constrained the depth of data collection and analysis. This prevented the inclusion of longitudinal data that might have provided a more comprehensive understanding of leadership's impact on employee productivity. Furthermore, data collection relied on employee and leadership participation, which may have been influenced by response biases or limited willingness to share honest feedback. External factors such as economic conditions and market trends, which could also affect employee productivity, were not fully accounted for in the research. Despite these limitations, the study provides valuable insights into the role of leadership in the retail sector.

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Time Frame

The Following Gantt chart shows the time frame for the project of this report.

The project is divided into key tasks with start period of week 1 which is 25.05.2024 and end date week 28 (09.02.2025).

Research cost and resources

The total cost estimation for completing the research project has been 500 GBP. For completing the study on role of leadership in increasing employee's productivity within M&S food the researcher has been allocated the budget into administration costs, software and related expenses, wages, stationary etc.

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

Literature review is defined as complete review and evaluation of published literature that is related to specific research question and topic being studied (Alo et al, 2022). This review has been highlighted various factors that impact employee productivity and various theories related to leadership.

Underpinning theories and concepts

Leadership theory refers to set of principles that illustrates how and why individual become leaders in effective manner. This theory recognizes the characteristics and behaviours of people that should adopt in order to enhance the leadership capability (Hunt and Fedynich, 2019). Great Man and social exchange are considered as significant leadership theories that can adopt by the leaders in order to enhance the productivity of the employees. As per the view of Chukwuka and Dibie (2024), Great Man theory suggest that the leaders are born with the innate qualities instead of being made with the help of experiences and education. According to this theory, the innate capabilities of the leaders such as confidence, charisma and intelligence helps in motivating and inspiring the workforces that leads to increase productivity. As critically argued by Bashar et al, (2024), Great Man theory includes bias and exclusivity from which the employees feel unmotivated which directly impacts their productivity and performance.

Figure 1: Great Man theory

On the other hand, social exchange is considered as another leadership theory that is adopt by the leaders in order to enhance and increase employee's performance and productivity (Iskamto et al, 2021). This theory encompasses motivating and inspiring the people to adopt the changes that helps in Lakshmi and Varalakshmi (2024), the key aim of the theory is to improve commitment and engagement in between the team members by promoting the sense of purpose and compelling a vision. As opposed by Iskhak et al, (2024) social exchange theory assumes that individual always make the rational decisions in order to minimize costs and maximize rewards which impacts their performance.

Review Articles

Article 1: Factors affecting employee productivity in the retail industry

According to this Diamantidis, and Chatzoglou (2019), employability skills and competencies, job environment, management support, training and development etc., are significant factors that directly affects the productivity of employees. Supportive work environment is directly associated with the increase productivity. If the leaders are maintaining the positive work environment then it helps in increase satisfaction of employees which leads to boost productivity (Lee et al, 2020).

Article 2: The complex link between a company's organisational culture and employees' productivity in the retail industry

According to Cherian et al. (2021), there is positive relationship between the organizational culture and productivity of the employees. Organizations with the cultures of open communication, fostering equality and transparency demonstrated that the productivity of the employees are higher than 27% as comparison to less supportive cultures.

Article 3: The impact of training and development (T&D) programs

As per the view of Karim, Choudhury and Latif (2019), training and development has significant impact on the productivity and performance of employees within M&S food. Training programs helps in increase the knowledge and skills of the workers from which they are able to give their best performance which leads to increase productivity (Alkandi et al, 2023).

Article 4: Compensation policy has a crucial role in employee performance

As critically contented by Candra Dewi and Dewi (2019), compensation and employee performance has direct relation. If the companies are developing the well-structured compensation policies then it helps in improving employee satisfaction, morale and performance.

Article 5: Influence of Leadership on Employee Performance

According to Saleem et al, (2019), leadership plays an immersive role in enhancing the performance of employees. The effective leaders are capable to provide proper supervision and direction to the workers from which they feel motivate to give their best performance to increase their productivity. As per the opinion of Pinto, Nunes and Sousa, (2020) training and development is useful because it aids in reducing wastage, increase employee satisfaction and enhance employee productivity which ultimately helps in accomplishing organizational goals and objectives.

Literature gap

Previous research has widely examined the impact of leadership on employees but has unsuccessful to discover the significant information related to specific influence of the leadership on workforce's productivity and performance. This research has not integrate the information related to leadership styles that effects workforce's productivity.

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research methodology refers to procedures and techniques that is used by the researchers in order to determine and evaluate the information regarding the particular research topic (Gupta and Gupta, 2022). For conduct the research methodology to solve the particular research issue, the researcher has adopted research onion model. This model has been beneficial for the researcher because it helps in organizing the methodology in effective way by integrating all the layers such as philosophy, approach, strategy, methods, time horizon, data collection and analysis.

Research philosophy

Interpretivism and positivism are considered as significant research philosophies that are used by the researchers in order to address the particular research issue (Mahuika and Mahuika, 2020). To evaluate the role of leadership in improving the productivity of M&S food's employee's interpretivism philosophy has been used by the researcher. By understanding the interpretation of human experience, the researcher can evaluate the relationships between the leaders and workforces in retail sector (Dubey and Kothari, 2022).

Research approach

Inductive and deductive are significant research approaches that are used by the scholars in order to gain the valuable information and insights in regarding particular topic (Kumari et al, 2023). To develop the new theories and collect the data in relation to leadership and its impact on employee productivity researcher has been used inductive approach.

Research method

Qualitative and quantitative are recognized as significant methods which are used by the researchers in order to conduct the study in detailed and effective way (Dzwigol, 2022). For collecting the information in the context of role of leadership in increasing productivity of employees within M&S food the researcher has been used both methods. For collecting the qualitative data, the researcher has been conduct semi-structured interviews with the 20 employees of M&S food. On the other hand, for collecting the quantitative information, the scholar has been distributed online survey form to the wider sample of employees.

Data collection

For collecting the data in concerning to role of leadership in increasing employee productivity within M&S food, the researcher has been use both primary and secondary methods (Zou and Xu, 2023). For collecting the primary the researcher has been conduct interviews and online surveys. On the other hand, for gathering secondary data the researcher has been used books, journals, relevant literature, industry publication etc.

Data analysis

SPSS and thematic are significant methods that are used by the researchers to evaluate the collected data (Babii, 2020). For analysing data related to role of leadership in increasing employee productivity within M&S food the researcher has been used thematic method.

Research ethics

It is important for the researcher to maintain the appropriate ethical consideration while gathering data. To analyse the role of leadership in increasing employee productivity within M&S food, compliance with the taking of informed consent is made. All the collected data has been stored digitally with the strict security measures in order to ensure confidentiality. Additionally, the citations has been also utilised for secondary data in order to recognize original researcher.

CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

Research analysis is procedure of taking the potential decisions after transforming the raw data into valuable information. It is considered as critical process that helps in gaining the accurate information in related to research issue based on which conclusion can be formed. The current chapter depicts the presentation of survey result in graphical manner and provide the detail interpretation for the same.

Theme 1: Age group

Interpretation: On the basis of semi-structured interview and online survey conducted on 20 employees of M&S food, it has been identified that majority of the workforces have age in between 25-44. The leaders are significantly emphasis on them in order to increase their productivity and accomplishing organizational goals.

Table 1: Age categories of responses

Theme 2: Working duration at M&S

Interpretation: From the above table it has been depicted that, 30% of employees are working from 2-3 years within M&S food. For increasing their retention and productivity it is important for the leaders to implement the effective leadership styles.

Table 2: working duration of responses

Theme 3: Current position level

Interpretation: On the basis of data collected it has been evaluated that 60% employees are having the position of entry-level. For increasing the productivity and enhancing the position the leaders of M&S food are putting all the efforts to increase their motivation and encouragement.

Table 3: position of responses

Theme 4: Current employment status

From the above figure it has been identified that, 55% of the employees are performing full-time job and 20% are working on part-time as well as rest workforces on are temporary and contract basis. For the full-time and part-time employees of M&S food it is important for developing leadership because it aids in increase their productivity.

Table 4: employment status of responses

Theme 5: Department do you primarily work in

Interpretation: Store and customer service are considered as major department of M&S food in which majority of the employees are likely to work to enhance their performance and increase productivity.

Table 5: Department working of responses

Theme 6: Laissez-faire is the immediate supervisor's leadership style influenced work motivation and productivity

Laissez-faire is considered as one of the effective leadership style that helps in increase my motivation and productivity. It is important to have open minded leaders who provide opportunity to me to work at my own speed. For example, to increase my motivation and increase productivity my leader needs to develop positive attitude and fostering open communication.

Theme 7: Open communication is recommended to improve leadership effectiveness at M&S Food

According to me, to improve the effectiveness of leadership at M&S food the leader needs to foster open communication and also understand our health and well-being when they don't feel well. The leader need to increase the salary as minimum and conduct training and development programs from which they feel satisfied and encourage giving their best performance.

Theme 8: The Supervisor provides clear and consistent communication about work expectations

It has been depicted that among 20 employees only 8 were belive that their superviors are providing the clear and consistent communication about their work expectaions.

Table 6: Communication providing from Supervisor

Theme 9: I receive regular constructive feedback about my performance

From the above it has been determined that, in 20 employees of M&S food 9 were receiving regular constructive feedback about their performance.

Table 7: Receive feedback

Theme 10: Leadership at M&S Food effectively motivates employees to achieve their best performance

It has been depicted that only 7 employees believe that leadership effectively motivates them to accomplish their best performance.

Table 8: Motivational performance

Theme 11: The Supervisor supports my professional development and career growth

It has been determined that, in 20 employees 7 are believes that their supervisor is supporting their career growth and professional development to improve their productivity.

Table 9: Support from Supervisors

Theme 12: The leadership style in my department promotes teamwork and collaboration

It has been determined that only 8 employees were believe that leadership style in their department supports teamwork and collaboration.

Table 10: Teamwork and collaboration

Theme 13: On average, 0-2 hours per month do you spend in training or development sessions provided by leadership?

From the aabovbe diagram it has been determined that majority of the employees are spedning 0-2 hours on training and development which are provided by their leaders.

Table 11: Training and development

Theme 14: What percentage of your daily tasks are directly influenced by leadership decisions?

It has been depcited that, only 21-40% tasks are directly influnced by the decisions of leaders. 81-100 % not influnced by the decision of leadership.

Table 12: Task influenced by leadership

Theme 15: Which leadership quality do you value most in a supervisor?

Interpretation: from the above table it has been determined that 30% of the employees are want that their employees have the quality of open communication in order to increase their productivity. 25% of workforces want the quality of emotional intelligence in their employees.

Table 13: Leadership quality

Theme 16: How often do you have one-on-one meetings with your immediate supervisor?

Interpretation: Form the survey of 20 employees, only 9 workforces believe that they have weekly one-on-one meetings with the immediate supervisors and rest were having on daily, monthly and seasonal basis.

Table 14: Mittings

Theme 17: What type of leadership communication do you find most effective?

From the above table, it has been depicted that, 50 % of the employees believe that face-to-face meeting is considered as one of the effective leadership communication that helps in increase their productivity.

Table 15: Effective type of leadership communication

Theme 18: Which leadership initiative would most improve your productivity?

Above table depicts that, regular performance feedback is effective leadership initiative that aids in improve the productivity of the employees. While, 20% employee believes in mentoring programs that improves their productivity.

Table 16: Initiative improve productivity

Theme 19: How does your supervisor primarily recognize good performance?

From the above table it has been determined that verbal praise is considered as one of the effective initiative that is consider by supervisor to recognize the good performance of employees.

Table 17: Performance recognition

Theme 20: What is the most significant challenge you face with current leadership practices?

According to 25% employees, lack of clear direction and inconsistent communication are most significant challenges that are face by the leaders in their leadership practices.

Table 18: Leadership challenges practices

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Conclusively; this can be said that leadership plays pivotal role in improving employee's productivity. An effective leader prioritises the requirement of employees and further encourages them to perform their tasks in significant manner. There are different factors such as, employee morals, values, motivation and so on impacts practices of subordinates within organisation. However, effective leadership style contributes in creating consistent support for employees and further enables them to perform their tasks in significant manner. Below mentioned are the major recommendations for M&S food leaders in order to improve the performance of employees-

Organising training

It is recommended to leaders that they must organise training for employees, it requires to be developed after analysing the needs and requirement of subordinates (Shore and Chung, 2022). This supports in providing them opportunity for enhancing their practices to greater note. Therefore, it is important to organise training sessions for employees within organisation.

Collaboration

Collaboration is important in organisation; a leader needs to collaborate with their employees for ensuring consistent productivity within organisation. Thus, it is important to develop sense of belongingness in employees as this supports in gaining their trust. Hence, by implementing effective collaboration among leaders and employees, significant support can be assured to subordinates. This results in improving the productivity of employees and encourages them to perform their task in effective manner.

Open communication

Open communication is essential for motivating employees, they must be given opportunity for sharing their views and points. This boosts their morals and further their productivity to greater extent (Specchia et al, 2021). Henceforth, it is important to create focus on this area and open discussion must be organised in the company. This creates significant interaction between leaders and employees and subsequently, supports in enhancing productivity of the employees. Thus, in this manner food leaders at M&S can enhance productivity of the employees.

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Online

• M&S, 2024 about us. Online. Available through: < https://corporate.marksandspencer.com/about-us>
• Miller, K, 2022. Great Man theory. Online. Accessed through: < https://crowjack.com/blog/strategy/leadership-theories/great-man-theory>