Student’s Name

Course
Institution
Date
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Writing a Problem Statement

Writing a Problem Statement Worksheet

Complete each section of the chart below. Refer back to the section guidelines and completed
sample worksheet above as needed.

The level of employee performance of Tesco is not improving

Original problem or
despite significant resources being allocated for employee rewards
focusing question
 Internal stakeholders: Employees, board members
Stakeholders who are most
 External stakeholders: Customers, Competitors
affected by the problem
 Poor financial gain
 Poor service
Impact on stakeholders
 Hampered reputation
 Losing market share
 Poor employee performance leading to poor organizational
Type of problem performance

 Lack of employee skills and abilities

 Employees not finding rewards satisfying
Suspected cause(s) of the
 Poor management style
problem
 Lack of group work rewarding programs

 Create an environment that values group achievements

Goal for improvement and  Create a strong training and development program to train
long-term impact supervisors and employees

 Design a reward system that encourages teamwork

Proposal for addressing
the problem
Final problem statement
 Training the recruiters, managers, and employees for enhancing
their abilities and skills
 Shift in management and leadership style to improve
communication
 Using strong performance appraisal framework and key
performance indicator tools to specifically monitor each of the
performances, find flaws and seek a solution.
 There has been a visible lack in employee performance despite
generous performance-based system has been kept in place. This
begs the question exactly where the problem is lying. Due to poor
employee performance, the overall organizational performance is
declining to result in the poor financial and non-financial
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performance of the organization. Therefore, at the same time, the

customers are getting bad service and the owners are losing profit.
Poor performance is also leading to losing market share. If the
situation has not been remedied and continues it will surely have a
very bad impact on the organization itself. Additionally, the current
marketplace is highly competitive and the smallest of mistakes
result in a poor rate of customer retention which opens up a new
set of problem. As a result fast and precipice actions must be taken
to change the scenario for the better.

Stakeholder Analysis

In this today’s highly competitive and ever-changing business world, employee retention

is the major concern for many organizations. Employees are the assets of the organization and

retaining them will give the organization competitive advantages and sustainability in the

modern business environment. Rewards are given to the employees with the aim of increasing

the productivity of their as well motivate them to work more enthusiastically to achieve the goal

of the organization. The problem here is that in spite of having a strong reward program in place

the employee performance of Tesco is declining.

Stakeholders are those who are impacted by the activities of an organization directly or

indirectly. In Figure 1.1 below, the stakeholders of Tesco have been categorized into different

categories who are impacted by this particular problem being addressed.

The employees and the board members are the two groups of operational stakeholders

concerned with the current issue. The broad members are considered to be the leaders of the

organization who formulate goals, objectives, strategies, and tactics. Employees are the ones who

are required to finally execute those plans made by the leaders of the organization. So, poor

employee performance makes it very difficult for the organization to achieves its goals. The
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customers are the ultimate service users of the organization and if they receive a bad service they

need to find better service somewhere else.

Competitors are also impacted by the actions of the organization; however, if the

employee performance of the organization is bad it is good for them.

Figure 1.1:

Predisposition
Title or Group Role Support Influence

- 0 + ++

Board Members Formulating goals,

objectives, strategies
and tactics ✓ Positive Positive

Employees Executing the plan

provided by
leadership ✓ Positive Positive

Customers Receiving service ✓ Neutral Neutral

Competitors Competing with the

organization ✓ Negative Negative

The board members and the employees are expected to be supportive of the solution of

the problem as it directly concerns them. The broad members are the main financial beneficiaries

of the organization so it is in their very best interest to solve the problem. Employees of the

organization are also expected to be supportive as improving their performance would be helpful

for their career and financial condition. However, every organization development faces some

resistance from the people involved so there might be some reluctance. Given the topic and kind

of changes to be made, the reluctance is expected to be very minimum. Competitors, on the other
 5

hand, do not have any say on this and improved employee performance of the organization is in

direct opposite of their interest. The customer would be supportive though they will not have any

influence over the plan.

In the next figure, the anticipated reaction of the stakeholders regarding the project has

been listed. The board member is the ones who will be most befitted with an enhanced employee

performance so there is anticipated as widely positive. This helps to make their organization

superior in the market place, establish a competitive advantage and improve their market share.

Both the financial and non-financial status of the organization is expected to be improved so

there is no reason for them to be unhappy.

Employees would also be happy as it helps to improve their performance which will

definitely lead to a better life. However, they might have to work extra hours or attend training

and seminars to make these changes happen. This might be something that they won’t welcome

very enthusiastically.

Customers will not have any influence or they won’t have to do anything here. They will

only receive an enhanced service if everything goes well. So they will be happy.

Competitors, on the other hand, will not be rejoiced about one of their competitors is

doing well. However, they also are powerless here.

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Figure 1.2:

Title or Group Role Anticipated Reaction and Issues

Board Members Formulating goals, Every positive and supportive

objectives, strategies
and tactics

Employees Executing the plan Mostly positive but slightly resistant

provided by
leadership

Customers Receiving service Positive as they will able to receive better service

Competitors Competing with the Negative as they will have to face tougher
organization competition

The employee is the ones who need to be most involved in the situation as it is their

performance that is the main concern here. They will need to undergo training sessions,

performance appraisals and other programs to improve their performance. This likely that they

would resist some changes but it is the job of the board members to implement the changes in a

way that it makes the employees realize that the programs will be very helpful for them. These

are the two stakeholders who will be actively involved with the program. Both of these groups

can profit from the program, however, as the performance of employees will be under the

microscope they would be slightly less motivated.

Customers would hold a neutral position. They will be just happy to receive good service

or else they can switch.

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Competitors will have a negative reaction and again their involvement would be none.

Figure 1.3

Motivation, Drivers, Expectations of

Title or Group Role
Exchange

Board Members Formulating goals, Enhanced organizational performance, financial

objectives, strategies and non-financial gain
and tactics

Employees Executing the plan Improved performance would result in a better

provided by career and a better life
leadership

Customers Receiving service Recipient of better service

Competitors Competing with the No motivation, they wouldn’t want something

organization like this to happen

The board members and the leadership of the organization need to formulate and propose

the changes. They will be the one to get involved at the very beginning. According to the plan,

they propose the whole thing would unfold. Once they are have made the plans the employees

will get involved and execute the plan.

Customers and competitors do not get involved. They will be impacted only after the

changes have been made.

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Figure 1.4:

When does this stakeholder need to be

Title or Group Role
involved in the change effort?

Board Members Formulating goals, At the beginning

objectives, strategies
and tactics

Employees Executing the plan Once the leadership has done with their plans
provided by
leadership

Customers Receiving service Never

Competitors Competing with the Never

organization

The leaders and the board members will be in charge of lay out the full planning that

includes briefing the managers and supervisors about their duties and responsibilities. Once they

are briefed the employees will be engaged and the plan will be started. Customers and

competitors will not have any role.

Figure 1.5:

Stakeholder Management
Title or Group Role Who Delivers
Activities

Board Members Formulating goals, Planning CEO

objectives, strategies
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and tactics

Employees Executing the plan Executing the plan Managers and

provided by supervisors
leadership

Customers Receiving service N/A N/A

Competitors Competing with the N/A N/A

organization

Board members are going to have positive support and a high influence as they are in

charge of the whole situation. Employees will have positive support however their influence will

be low as they will only be obeying orders. Customers will have positive support but low or no

influence. Competitors will have negative support but no influence.

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Writing a Problem Statement

 Problem/ Issue: The level of employee performance of Tesco is not improving despite
significant resources being allocated for employee rewards

 “Why” Question: Why employees are not improving their performances even after receiving
sufficient intrinsic and extrinsic rewards for their expected performance?

Employees
Employees lack
lack
sufficient
sufficient skills
skills
Employees
Employees are are not
not
finding
finding the
the rewards
rewards
satisfactory
satisfactory Supervisors
Supervisors are
are not
not
effective
effective Rewards
Rewards cannot
cannot
improve
improve abilities
abilities
Value
Value of
of the
the
rewards
rewards are
are not
not
enough
enough

Employees
Employees are
are not
not Inaccurate
Inaccurate performance
performance
motivated enough
motivated enough feedback
feedback
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Sorting:

Reward
Reward issues
issues Employee
Employee issues
issues Management
Management issue
issue

Employees
Employees are are not
not
finding Employees
Employees are
are not
not Inaccurate
Inaccurate
finding the
the rewards
rewards
satisfactory
satisfactory motivated
motivated enough
enough performance
performance feedback
feedback

Employees
Employees lack
lack Supervisors
Supervisors are
are not
not
Rewards
Rewards cannot
cannot sufficient
sufficient skills
skills effective
effective
improve
improve abilities
abilities

Connection: In this, today’s highly competitive and ever-changing business world employee

retention is the major concern for many organizations. Employees are the assets of the

organization and retaining them will give the organization competitive advantages and

sustainability in the modern business environment. Rewards are given to the employees with the

aim of increasing the productivity of their as well motivate them to work more enthusiastically to

achieve the goal of the organization. As employees are the major strength of the organization

they need to be motivated and give their best of efforts so that they can contribute to the

organizational goal achieving. There are many ways that organization can motivate the

employees those can be financial and non-financial rewards which had a great impact on the

performances of the employees. There are primarily two types of reward systems; extrinsic

rewards to be one that is giving a financial reward to the employees for them. Offering additional
 12

payments, bonuses are common form extrinsic reward. On the other hand, in case of intrinsic

reward, the rewards come in non-monetary forms (Moon, 2014).

Although better rewards should lead to enhanced performance, Tesco is having a hard

time improving the overall level of the employee performance even with what they think to be

sufficient reward.

Five Whys Root Cause Analysis:

Defined Problem: Rewards are turning out to be ineffective when it comes to improving the

level of employee performance.

Why the overall level of employee performance in Tesco is not increasing?

 The ability and the skill of the employees are not up to the mark

Why is that?

 Due to a flawed recruitment process and lack of training the employees are not being

efficient

Why is that?

 The management style is not effective enough to recognize the skill gap

Why is that?

 Due to lack communication and ineffective supervising

Why is that?

 Supervisors and recruiters are concentrating more on achieving their individual quotas

Why is that?
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 There is a lack of inspiration leading to teamwork and rewards are not designed in a way

where collaborated teamwork is especially rewarded.

Validation Root Cause:

The management style is concentrating more on individual goals while collective

achievements are not being valued enough. Due to such individualistic management style, a clear

lack of effective communication is hampering smooth flow of information. Therefore, the skill

gap of the organization is slowly growing. Even though rewarding can increase motivation to

improve performance, without training and appropriate job placements the performance cannot

be improved as rewards cannot increase the skills and abilities which are two core components of

employee performance.

Data Collection

Tesco is one of the multinational retailers in the UK which is operating with more than 4,

70,000 employees all over the world (Anjali, 2019). The organization facing a problem regarding

their employee performance level. Even after implementing strong rewarding programs for

expected performance, the improvement has not been satisfactory.

The following research tries to find out the impact of reward system on employee

performance and identify why it is failing.

The research has been conducted using a positivism research philosophy, deductive

approach and quantitative strategy. A questionnaire has been used in order to collect primary data

from 100 employees of the organization. Data has been collected in a quantitative way so that

statistical analysis and graphical representation of the data is possible (Cameron, 2013). In order
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to collect quantitative data, the 5-point Likert scale has been used against each of the statements

that evaluate respondents’ responses.

Data obtained from the 100 employees of Tesco will be discussed here:

Table 1: Gender Analysis

Frequency Percent Cumulative

Percent

Female 56 56 56
Male 44 44 100

From the above table, it shows that the percentage of the male and female of the

respondent. As from the 100 respondent, 56% were female and the rest of the 44% were male.

Figure 1: Gender analysis

Table 2: Tesco encourages expected behavior by providing rewards to the employees

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Frequency Percent valid percent cumulative

percent

Strongly Agree 53 53 53 53
Agree 35 35 35 88
Neutral 3 3 3 91
Disagree 9 9 9 100

Strongly 0 0 0

Disagree
Total 100 100 100

The response is indicating that 53% of the employees strongly agreed, 35% agreed, 3%

was neutral and rest of 9% disagreed with the statement implying Tesco encourages expected

behavior by providing rewards to the employees.

Figure 2: Tesco encourages expected behavior by providing rewards to the employees

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Table 3: I find the rewards given to me by Tesco satisfactory

Frequency Percent valid percent cumulative

percent

Strongly Agree 56 56 56 56
Agree 25 25 25 81
Neutral 5 5 5 86
Disagree 8 8 8 94
Strongly 6 6 6 100

Disagree
Total 100 100 100
The statement tries to find out if the reward system of Tesco is satisfactory or not and

56% strongly agreed and 25% agreed that they find the rewards are satisfactory while 5%

remained neutral, 8% disagreed and the rest of 6% were strongly disagreed.

Figure 3: I find the rewards given to me by Tesco satisfactory

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Table 4: Rewards do not help me to improve my skills and abilities

Frequency Percent valid percent cumulative

percent

Strongly Agree 52 52 52 52
Agree 34 34 34 84
Neutral 5 5 5 89
Disagree 4 4 4 93
Strongly 5 5 5 98

Disagree
Total 100 100 100
Skills and abilities are directly linked to performance and this statement tries to find out if

rewards are enough to increase the skills and abilities of the organization and it can be seen 52%

strongly agreed, 34% agreed to imply that rewards do not improve skills 5 % neutral, 4%

disagree and the rest of 5% were strongly disagreed.

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Figure 4: Rewards do not help me to improve my skills and abilities

Table 5: Whenever I receive a reward I want to improve my level of performance

Frequency Percent valid cumulative

percent percent

Strongly Agree 58 58 58 58
Agree 33 33 33 91
Neutral 1 1 1 92
Disagree 7 7 7 99
Strongly Disagree 1 1 1 100
Total 100 100 100
This statement tries to find out if rewards are motivating for the employees of Tesco to

want to improve their performance or not. According to the responses are given 58% strongly

agreed, 33% agreed with the assertion while 1% remained neutral, 7% disagreed and the rest of

1% strongly disagreed.
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Figure 5: Whenever I receive a reward I want to improve my level of performance

Table 6: Every time I receive a reward; I expect it to be better than I rewards I have

previously received.

Frequency Percent valid percent cumulative

percent

Strongly Agree 53 53 53 53
Agree 35 35 35 88
Neutral 3 3 3 91
Disagree 9 9 9 100
Strongly 0 0 0

Disagree
Total 100 100 100
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In order to find out the expectations that Tesco employees have on the rewards, they

receive the above statement has been included in the questionnaire. The responses show that 53%

of the employees strongly agreed and 35% agreed to imply that they always expect better

rewards next time while 3% were neutral and rest of 9% disagreed but none strongly disagreed.

Figure 6: Every time I receive a reward I expect it to be better than rewards I have

previously received.

ASDA’s who one of Tesco competitors strongly focus on employees satisfaction, as they offer

many perks such as health insurance, 401K plan, vacation and paid time off. “Any retention

strategy based solely on compensation will not succeed in the long run. A successful .strategy

combines market-rate compensation and a work environment that is competitively

distinctive.”(Gerin, Conner, 2002). Comment from an ASDA employee on job satisfaction “I

have been working at ASDA part-time, Pros: The staff work as a team. Management are

approachable and supportive. Good prospects .Cons: Can be slow to get on promotion courses.
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(ASDA, glassdor). Below is a graph showing rewards given by Tesco versus one of its

competitors ASDA employee satisfaction.

I find the rewards given to me by Tesco VS ASDA satisfactory

After conducting the survey of Tesco employees regarding their performance and the

rewards system of Tesco it can clearly be seen that these factors are related. Majority of the

employees shared their views that whenever they are working they need some kind of motivation

and these rewards drives them to perform better for the organization and well for themselves.

However, even though rewards play a key role in motivating the employees, rewards cannot
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improve the skills and ability of the employees which are the principal components of employee

performance (Frey, 2013). The research also finds out that the rewards given by Tesco are

satisfactory to them and they feel motivated to improve their performance whenever they receive

a reward.

Additionally, the research pointed out that the expectation of the quality of the reward

also increases with each reward.

From the research that has been conducted above the following recommendations can be made:

 The quality of rewards provided by the company to their employees is satisfactory to the

employees and Tesco must maintain that. The research indicates that the expectations of

reward changes as each time they are given, so the rewarding strategy must be formulated

very carefully on the basis of the available resources to keep the rewards up to their

expectation.
 The research shows that rewards are very effective in motivating the workforce, however,

not enough to increase the level of work skill. Therefore, it can only be used as a

motivating tool to increase performance but on as an active skilling enhancing tool. Tesco

should note that and design their strategies accordingly.

 The importance of reward clearly indicates that a lack of rewards would really damage

for the overall employee motivation and performance. This is also true if the rewards lose

their value. So, the value of the rewards given must be set very carefully and in

accordance with the resources available.

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References

Anjali, G, (2019), "Understanding the Relationship between Employee Motivation and Customer

Retention", St. Joseph Engineering College. 102-112.

Cameron, S. and Price, D. (2013). Business research methods. London: Chartered Institute of

Personnel and Development.

Frey, R., Bayón, T. & Totzek, D. (2013), "How Customer Satisfaction Affects Employee

Satisfaction and Retention in a Professional Services Context", Journal of Service

Research, vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 503-517.

Moon, T.C., Beck, S. & Laudicina, R.J. (2014), "Retaining Experts: Administrators' Views on

Retention Incentives and Older Employees", Clinical Laboratory Science, vol. 27, no. 3,

pp. 162.
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