Factors Affecting Employee Job Satisfaction In Departmental Stores Of Australia

Project objective

Job satisfaction can be referred to contention of an employee towards his or her work which can be negative or positive. Satisfaction of employees toward their work is very important as lack of it can reflect on their workplace performance negatively (Mohammad et.al, 2011). Such negative impact will indirectly affect the productivity and profitability of an organization. Job satisfaction also leads to job motivation as they are directly interconnected. Hence job satisfaction as be used as a tool for job motivation. Motivation of employees can result in increased employee’s efficiency. According to research conducted by Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), job satisfaction levels in employees have increases as compared to job satisfaction level in previous years. This increase in job satisfaction may be due to the fact that in recent economy has been stable and companies are able to provide adequate monetary benefits to their employees (Becker & Huselid, 2010).In this research proposal we will try to evaluate what are the major factors which are effecting employee’s satisfaction in departmental stores of Australia. For this purpose will be follow adequate research methodology and prepare research question. For the purpose of evaluating job satisfaction level in employees in departmental stores we will conduct interviews with the employees of different departmental stores across Australia.  

Project objective refers to goals which the research proposal is expected to achieve. These objectives should be assessed carefully as it is one of the important steps in research proposal.  Objective of this proposal is to evaluate the factors which can effect employee’s satisfaction in departmental stores of Australia. After evaluation of such factors an organisation will be able to concentrate on such factors and take necessary steps to increases level of employee’s satisfaction. By increasing employee’s satisfaction a departmental sore will be able to increase its productivity and profitability margin (Bakhshi et.al, 2009).

Scope of a project should be decided by following principles of project scope management. Project scope management contains set of processes which ensures that research proposal is mapped in accordance with its goals and objectives. This research proposal has a wider scope for the departmental stores in Australia. Research question are formed on the basis of problems faced by employees in Australian departmental stores. Outcome of this research will enable Australian departmental stores to evaluate current job satisfaction level of their employees and find out the factors through which it could be increased. On the basis of results, departmental stores can evaluate and make necessary changes in annual employment plans. Hence we can conclude that research proposal will be helpful for Australian departmental stores.

In today’s technologically advanced environment availability of effective and efficient of human resource capital is very important as it can give competitive advantage over others. In any type of industry quality of services and goods offered by an organisation is highly dependent upon it’sthe job employees. Hence it is very important to bring employees satisfaction to increase profitability of an organisation (Jackson et.al, 2011).Employee’s satisfaction also enables to bring out innovative thinking in an employee which could create breakthrough for organisation as well as such employee. It could be said that employees satisfaction plays very important role in timely achieving of set goals and objective of an organisation. Employee satisfaction is not only beneficial to an organisation but it also helps to bring best in an employee which helps in individual growth of such employee.

Project scope

There are various factors that can influence level of job satisfaction at workplace. Study of these factors is very important as through promoting positive factors and avoiding negative factors an organisation can increase its efficiency (Ahsan et.al, 2009). Some of these factors explained as under-

An employee will be able to give his 100% in a job only if he enjoys the work he is doing. If not than a small problem arising in his job can be very frustrating and time consuming. Hence onle desired job should be given to the employee.

An employee will be happy if he is able to maintain a balance between his personal and professional life. If the pressure of workload at workplace is very high than such pressure will reflect on his or her professional life. An organisation should have a consultant in human resource management team with whom an employee can discuss such issues (Braun et.al, 2013).

Employees will be motivated if they feel individual growth and development in their current jobs.While preparation of financial plans and setting goals for an organisation, it should also consider employees growth and development. Current employees will be self-motivated to perform better at their jobs if the see an opportunity for moving up in chain of command in an organisation. This can be done with the help of monetary or non-monetary incentives (Straume & Vittersø, 2015)

Working environment at the workplace also has a great degree of effect on level of satisfaction level of employee. Nowadays major organisations like Google, IBM, Viacom, etc. are giving special consideration to ambiance at workplace to make employees comfortable. Working environment factors includes ambiance, workplace hygiene,and relationship with other employees, relationship with supervisor, etc. (Anitha, 2014).

One of the most conventional and effective method to motivate and bring job satisfaction in employees is monetary rewards. There should be equality in pay among the employees working on same level irrespective of their gender or age. Bonus and incentive scheme can be prepared by an organisation to motivate employees. Other monetary incentives includes raise in salaries, promotions paid vacation days, bonus schemes etc. (Sarker et.al, 2015).

Employees will be more satisfied with their jobs if they are able to see opportunity of grown and reaching to an upper level in an organisation. If they think that there is no scope of advancement in the organisation than the might leave the organisation. Some organisation pay for management courses or tuition fees of employees so that they can gain skills and knowledge. During the annual performance review of employee, top level management should also evaluate the chances of advancement of employee in organisation. Supervisors of employees should also give advice to employees regarding his or her limitation and skills required to advance in organisation.

In today’s competitive environment one of the major factors that had become hindrance in job satisfaction of employee is stress level. Stress level of an employee increases due to various factors such as bad working environment, workplace conflicts, falling short of deadlines etc. management should give consideration to these factors and educate employees about stress management.

• Brand name of the company  
• Goals and objective of a company
• Growth rate of company in market
• Expectation of company

Literature review

Benefits arising from employee satisfaction can be categorized in two major sub divisions that are explained as follows-

• Decreases rate of employees leaving the organisation that reduces staffing and training cost.
• Increases overall productivity of the employees
• Helps to achieve better quality of product and services which results in customer satisfaction
• Increases overall profitability of an organisation.

• Helps employee in individual growth and development.
• Brings a sense of loyalty and accountability toward company.
• Creates a better and efficient working environment.   
• Betterment of future prospects of employee.
• Enable them to perform efficiently at their jobs and getting appreciation from senior management(L?z?roiu, 2015).

Primary and secondary research questions are very important part of the research proposal as they help in achieving goals and objective of the research under consideration. Some of the researchers have suggested that while developing the research questions FINER criteria should be used (Smith, 2015). FINER criteria help in developing questions which are in direct relation to the research conducted and expected to give better results.FINER criteria give the factors to be considered while developing a research question. These factors are feasible, interesting, novel, ethical and relevant. In this report main objective is to evaluate the factors which will be used for Australian departmental stores to increase employee satisfaction. Following are the research questions which are included in this research proposal.

1. Are employees working in Australian departmental stores are satisfies with their jobs?

1. What are the 5 major factors through which employee satisfaction can be enhanced?
2. Whether employees are adequately compensated for the services provided by them?
3. Whether their jobs are helping in individual growth and development?

Research design can be defined as a blue print of the manner in which a research is conducted so as to active its intended goals and objectives. In simple words research design can be describes as when, how and from where the relevant data of research should be collected. Research can be categorized in two division i.e. quantitative research and qualitative research. Hence for an adequate research both qualitative and quantitative data should be collected (Mackey & Gass, 2015).

Qualitative data is used for exploring the behaviors, experience and nature of the subjects under consideration (Tesch, 2013). In current case we are trying to evaluate the behavior and nature of employees working in Australian departmental stores.     

Data collection- best method for collecting qualitative data is through face to face interview with employees of departmental stores. The interview should be concise and properly designed so more and more information can be gathered.

Sampling technique- In present case systematic sampling will be used so that sample represents every aspect of population. For example different group of employees working at same level can be made and selection will be done from each of such group.

Sample size- interview will be conducted of around 30 employees from 5 different departmental stores of Australia.

Analysis of data- This is most important part of research analysis, hence it should be done by analysis experts.   

Main objective of a quantitative research is to quantify data and generalize results from a sample to the population of interest.

Data collection- as in quantitative research more and more data is required to be collected therefor data collection methods like on street questionnaire, online questionnaire and telephonic interviews should be selection (Fraley and Hudson, 2014). In present case we are collecting data through telephonic interviews.

Sampling technique – In case of quantitative research random sampling will be done.

Sample- 60 employees of around 8 departmental stores of Australia

Analysis of data- Data can be analyzed by using statistical techniques.

This research is limited to employees of a particular industry whereas more conclusive results could be analyzed if research on more than one industry would have been conducted. Also the number of employees from which the data is collected is limited. Results could have been more conclusive if interviews of employees from different countries had been conducted through online questionnaires.

Research activities are performed as per following schedule-

S. No.	Activity	Start Date	End Date	Total duration
1	Project Objective	4 June, 2017	6 June, 2017	3 Days
2	Project Scope	7 June, 2017	10 June, 2017	4 Days
3	Literature Review	11 June, 2017	20 June, 2017	10 Days
4	Research Question	21 June, 2017	22 June, 2017	2 Days
5	Research Design	23 June, 2017	28 June, 2017	6 Days
6	Research Limitation	29 June, 2017	02 June, 2017	4 Days
7	Total days for completion of activities	–	–	29 Days

Conclusion

From the evaluation of literature review we can say that employee’s satisfaction has a direct impact on the productivity and profitability of an organisation. It also has a vital impact on employees own growth and development. Hence not only departmental stores but every organisation should evaluate the factors trough which positive impact can be done on employee’s satisfaction. For this evolution conducting this research on employees of Australian departmental stores is very important.  We have tries to do same through this research proposal. If all the activities are done according to plan then this research will be very use for Australian departmental stores.

References

Ahsan, N., Abdullah, Z., Fie, D.G. and Alam, S.S., 2009. “A study of job stress on job satisfaction among university staff in Malaysia: Empirical study”. European journal of social sciences, 8(1), pp.121-131.

Anitha, J., 2014. “Determinants of employee engagement and their impact on employee performance”. International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management.

Bakhshi, A., Kumar, K. and Rani, E., 2009. “Organizational justice perceptions as predictor of job satisfaction and organization commitment”. International journal of Business and Management, 4(9), p.145.

Becker, B.E. and Huselid, M.A., 2010. “SHRM and job design: Narrowing the divide”. Journal of organizational Behavior, 31(2?3), pp.379-388.

Braun, S., Peus, C., Weisweiler, S. and Frey, D., 2013. “Transformational leadership, job satisfaction, and team performance: A multilevel mediation model of trust”. The Leadership Quarterly, 24(1), pp.270-283.

Fraley, R.C. and Hudson, N.W., 2014. “Review of Intensive Longitudinal Methods: An Introduction to Diary and Experience Sampling Research”.

Jackson, S., Schuler, R. and Werner, S., 2011. “Managing human resources”. Cengage Learning.

L?z?roiu, G., 2015. “Employee Motivation and Job Performance”. Linguistic and Philosophical Investigations, (14), pp.97-102.

Mackey, A. and Gass, S.M., 2015. “Second language research: Methodology and design”. Routledge.

Mohammad, S.I.S., Al-Zeaud, H.A. and Batayneh, A.M.E.B., 2011. “The relationship between transformational leadership and employees’ satisfaction at Jordanian private hospitals”. Business and economic horizons, 5(2), pp.35-46.

Sarker, M.R., Ortega-Vazquez, M.A. and Kirschen, D.S., 2015. “Optimal coordination and scheduling of demand response via monetary incentives”. IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, 6(3), pp.1341-1352.

Smith, J.A. ed., 2015. “Qualitative psychology: A practical guide to research methods”. Sage.

Straume, L.V. and Vittersø, J., 2015. “Well-being at work: Some differences between life satisfaction and personal growth as predictors of subjective health and sick-leave”. Journal of Happiness Studies, 16(1), pp.149-168.

Tesch, R., 2013. “Qualitative research: Analysis types and software”. Routledge.