The research highlights the methods required to retain employees in an organisation and the manner in which motivation factors can be used to encourage employees to work. As stated by Cummings and Worley (2014) employee retention is one of the most important aspects that need to be considered by organisations so that proper productivity and reputation is maintained in an organisation. The research provides an overview of the literary concepts that are linked with retention of employees at a work place and the possible measures that can be adopted to ensure such retention policy takes place. The focus of the research is on ICS Learn.
ICS Learn (International Correspondence School) provides online learning courses in the UK. The institute was initially founded in 1889 in Scranton, Pennsylvania (Icslearn.co.uk 2018). In the UK, the institution was established in 1904 and currently provides education to 15,000 students out of which 88% of the students are from the UK. The institution provides courses on various subjects that also include Accounting and Business Management (Icslearn.co.uk 2018).
Aim
The aim of the research is to understand the manner in which retention of employees can be made. The research focuses on the manner in which employee retention policy is used in ICS so that the best employees can provide quality education to the students enrolled at the institution.
Objectives
Key stakeholders
As stated by Miner (2015) stakeholders are important for the development of an organisation and the work process undertaken. The support of the stakeholders in the decision-making activities within an organisation helps in building success in the market as well as competitive advantage. In the case of ICS Learn certain stakeholders can be identified that can help in analysing the issue faced by the institution. These include
|
Stakeholder |
Level of interest |
Reason for interest |
|
Senior Manager |
High |
Maintain the satisfaction of the employees |
|
Employees |
High |
Maintain the satisfaction of the customers and provide quality education to the students |
|
Government |
Medium |
Helps in maintaining the legality of the business |
Table: Key stakeholders of ICS Learn
(Source: Effelsberg, Solga and Gurt 2014)
The key stakeholders of ICS Learn are the senior manager, employees and the Government. These stakeholders provide the required support to the institution and help in its growth and development (Burgess, van Diggele and Mellis 2015). The senior manager plays the most important role, as the reason of interest is to maintain the satisfaction of the employees. The level of interest of the senior manager is high and it can be reflected from the interest they have in resolving the issue that indirectly hampers the satisfaction level of the customers. Therefore, it can be said that the employees also posses high interest in the growth and development of the institution. At the same time, the Government is medium as it helps in maintaining the legality of the business. The UK Government plays a less dominating role in the affairs undertaken by the organisations within the market but helps in maintaining the legal way of conducting the business (Schuh et al. 2014).
As stated by Sparks and Repede (2016) retaining and motivating employees is one of the most important factors for any organisation. Every manager need to ensure that employees are made satisfied and encouraged to maintain a competitive advantage in the business market. Therefore, techniques and theories related to the retention of employees as well as motivating the employees need to be assessed so that organisations can maintain its dominance in the business. As such, some of the theories that can be used to provide a gateway for motivating the employees can be discussed.
Ahmad et al. (2014) stated that motivating employees could be done by using Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs that help in identifying the demands of the employees. Maslow’s hierarchy is a systematic analysis of the needs of the employees that denote the initial and basic needs and increase to the luxurious needs. For example, it is necessary that employees be provided with necessities such as security of jobs and a minimum salary so that employees remain interested in the work (Manz 2016). This can encourage the employees to remain satisfied initially and perform for the betterment of the organisation in which they work.
The employees can further be motivated by providing rewards and recognition. According to Khuong and Hoang (2015), the rewards can be either in the form of monetary benefits or by providing non-monetary benefits. The monetary benefits include the extrinsic rewards such as bonus, commission, fringe benefits and incentives. These motivate a person to work hard so that extra money can be obtained along with the initial salary that is provided to them. On the other hand, as stated by Syafii, Thoyib and Nimran (2015) the non-monetary rewards include the promotion and recognition for the service provided that hep in earning respect in an organisation.
Therefore, it can be said that factors that satisfy the employees and encourages them to work provide them with an opportunity to continue working can be analysed by the application of Herzberg’s two-factor theory. According to Dong et al. (2015), it is necessary that the managers analyse the factors that provide motivation and satisfaction to the employees and compare with those that causes dissatisfaction among the organisational members. For example, factors such as poor working conditions, relationship with co-worker, policies and rules set up in the organisation are some of the factors that need to be perfect so that employees can be satisfied. As stated by Lee (2016) these factors play a major role in retaining the services of the employees.
One of the important observations made by Berson et al. (2015) is that improving the hygiene factors results in the satisfaction of the employees. Hygiene factors such as rewards and recognition provide employees with a feeling of being valued in the organisation and likewise provide them with an opportunity to improve in the company. Therefore, it can be said that hygiene factors need to be taken care of by the managers so that it can be used in managing and retaining the services of the employees. At the same time, it is also necessary that the leadership adopted in the organisations help in encouraging employees (Berman 2014).
As stated by Berson et al. (2015) without effective leadership it can be difficult for employees to take proper decisions in an organisation. Therefore, the support of the leaders is an important hygiene factor that helps in the retention of employees. The leaders need to be inspiring and provide the employees with an opportunity to flourish in the organisation. The role of the leaders is particularly important for guiding new employees in an organisation. The initial assessment of the employees about an organisation plays an important role in developing the future of the employees and helping the organisations to succeed in the organisation.
Therefore, it can be said that retaining employees require skill and effective management skills. The factors that contribute towards the retention of the employees play an important role in dominating factor of an organisation. As observed by Wang, Tsai and Tsai (2014) motivation and leadership are two of the most important factors that contribute towards the development of employees and their retention in the organisation. According to Barrick et al. (2015), without the support from the employees it can be difficult for every organisation to continue their business process and ensure that dominance is maintained in the market.
At the same time, the manner in which the employees can be retained points to the fact that every organisation need to comply with the basic standards that denote the minimum payment to be provided to the employees (Lazaroiu 2015). The satisfaction of the employees needs to be such that it provides the organisations with an opportunity to continue with recruiting the best talents that can help in organising the business in a proper manner. Therefore, satisfaction of the employees is important for strategic planning in an organisation.
The methods used for conducting the research are secondary data analysis. The methods mainly include analysing the theories related to motivation and leadership as these are the most important factors for retaining the support of the employees. According to Mikkelsen, Jacobsen and Andersen (2017), motivating the employees with the application of strong leadership can provide the employees with the required encouragement to continue working for a particular organisation. At the same time Lau and Roopnarain (2014) is of the opinion that the employees need to provide self-motivation so that they can remain effective in the organisations.
Justification of research selected
The research conducted has been useful in understanding the manner in which employee can be retained in an organisation. The selection of the journal has been useful as it provides the required information about leadership and motivation. In this regard, it can be said that unlike in other organisations, ICS Learn does not possess the quality of leadership. This is mainly because experienced teachers are appointed in the institution and the teachers apply own techniques while trying to teach the students. This one drawback requires changes in the institution so that it can retain the talented employees in an efficient manner.
Advantages and disadvantages of research selected
The research method conducted in this case was the secondary analysis of the data. The advantage of adopting this research methodology includes excess amount of books, journals and websites can be researched to identify the information required. As stated by Tourish (2014) secondary research provides a critical as well lengthy discussion of the topic at hand and provides the researcher with an opportunity to analyse the topic. At the same time, the disadvantage of this method is that practical and first hand, expertise of the people is not gained. The experience and opinion of the people cannot be obtained with the application of secondary research. Overall, secondary research have a good return rate and the sample journals used for conducting the research has been effective in the successful understanding of the topic.
Application in business
The findings from the literature review can be applied in an institution like ICS Learn by analysing the hygiene factors of the employees. The fact that this is an educational institution provides for an advantage to the managers as the employees can be provided with the freedom to teach in the manner they think best for the organisation. The motivating factors can be in the form of bonus and leaves that are required for the teachers particularly after a productive session at the institution. The analysis of the secondary data can help in identifying the requirements of the employees. The detailed manner in which employees can be retained and the proper applicaton of motivating factors can help ICS Learn to maintain its reputation among the educational institutions.
Introduction
The section talks about the manner in which the findings can be presented. Usually in the case of secondary, research the findings of the theories mentioned are presented and analysed by using thematic analysis. In the case of collection of primary data, the data are collected, analysed and presented in a graphical manner either by using a line graph or a bar graph. In this case, the advantages and disadvantages of the two proposed presentation of findings are discussed along with the manner of representing the data. However, real data are not considered as examples as the research is conducted based on the secondary analysis.
Line graphs
Advantages of line graph
The advantages of line graph are that it is effective in showing the changes that take place over time. This is important in analysing the rise and fall of a particular topic that is in focus. In this case, the changes that take place in the mentality of the employees while being retained in the organisation can be analysed with the help of the line graph. At the same time, estimation of the values between different points of data can be estimated and based on the estimation future prediction of the changes can take place. The composite manner in which the line chart portrays the changing totals as well as relative changes provides another advantage for the use of the line graph.
Disadvantage of line graph
The disadvantage of the line graph is that the graphs cannot be used to show differences that exist of different variables. The variables need to be different so that different place and time can be depicted. At the same time, plotting of too many line graphs may become excessively clumsy and provide difficulty for the researchers to understand the data. The line graph also portrays a wide variety of data and because of that; it can be difficult to read the graphs accurately. Therefore, this can be considered as another disadvantage for the use of line graph.
Reasons to use it
The reason for using line graphs is that it helps in drawing independent data on the horizontal axis and the depended data on the vertical axis. This provides clarity of the use and in the case of sudden changes, the use of the axis can help in identifying the data. However, some debates need to be considered about the degree of measurement that exists between the points. Despite this, the application of line chart can provide clarity of similar and dissimilar changes along with plotting of the future changes in the organisation.
Presentation of the line graph
The line graph can be presented in an excel file so that clear plotting of the data can be identified.
Figure 1: Example of line graphs
(Created by author)
Bar charts
Advantages of bar charts
The bar charts are simple to draw that provides easy access for researchers to understand the data. The straightforward interpretation of the data provides an advantage for the researchers to plot the graphs and analyse the data. At the same time, the scale and figures can be easily read and interpreted so that the accuracy of the data can be predicted. It can show the relationship and comparison between two or more variables.
Disadvantages of bar charts
The disadvantage of bar charts is the fact that the bar charts can be complicated if there are uneven class intervals. The reading received from the data cannot be interpreted properly and due to this, it can be difficult for researchers to continue with the plotting of the data. At the same time, the number of classes used need to be accurate so that the impact of the bar charts can be maintained. The bar charts are only suitable for data that are made up of total figures.
Reasons to using it
The bar charts can be used to compare between two or more variables. The depiction of the variables can help in identifying the relationship as well as the comparison between two or more data. The changes that take place over time are analysed and based on the changes accurate data can be plotted. Bar charts can be considered as the best option while depicting changes that have a large area of analysis.
Presentation of the bar chart
The bar chart can be presented using Microsoft Excel so that the depiction of changes can be anaysed.
Figure 2: Example of bar charts
(Created by author)
Conclusion
It can be concluded that for an organisation to succeed it is needed that employees make effective contribution. The retention of the employees needs to be done by adopting methods such as motivation and leadership. This can help in maintaining a proper relationship with the employees and ensure that effective collaboration is maintained between the employee and the employer. Therefore, certain recommendations can be made for ICS Learn so that it can continue to maintain its effectiveness in the business.
ICS Learn needs to ensure that the proper leadership and guidance is provided to the teachers so that they can continue to provide effective service in the institution. Effective leadership can help ICS Learn to continue its business in the institution and ensure that the employees receive the necessary support required for maintaining effective change in the institute.
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