1. Chapter One: Introduction

1.1Research Background

According to the analysis of Murphy (2009), the success of a company depends on the performance of its employees because these employees ultimately interact with the customers and thus if the employee perform well with the customers, then the company itself well with the customers. Murphy (2009) also explained that how the employees will behave with the customers depends on the motivation policies of the company, if the company can properly motivate and manage its employees, then it is expected that the employees will perform well for the company. On the contrary, if the employees perform badly with customers and if their behaviour with the customers is not good, then the customers will be dissatisfied with the customers (Jones, 2008). In this case, according to Cervone et al., 2006, motivation is a very significant factor in employee motivation and good performance of the employees. Motivational theories strive to explain the thinking process of the employees and these theories also discuss the ways on how to make the employees satisfied that will lead to good behaviour to the customers and as a result, the company will progress.

Sarvanaa Bhavan is a restaurant that has operation in 11 countries, including UK, with more than 38 outlets across the globe and the company is going to open 8 more outlets in 2 new countries (Sarvanaa Bhavan, 2015). Therefore the nature of this company is global. The outlets in UK are a very famous among the native British people. The company is famous to its customers because it has a good reputation of supplying Indian spicy food to all its outlets. Foreign Indians and the native people in the country of operation have made these restaurants popular because the company believes that service, innovation and dedication will bring success. Very recently there has been some problems relating to employee-services, their behaviours to its customers. The customers who visited the restaurants were very happy with the food, atmosphere but they were so much depressed with the behaviours and approach of the employees, the customers complained that the employees were rude (Tripadvisor, 2014). They also told that if the company continued to do in this way then the company will soon lose its customers. The sources just claimed that the behaviour of the employees was rude but none of them explained why the behaviour of the employees rude or the impact of motivation on employee performance. This research will investigate the impact of motivation to develop the performance of the employees. The research will also explain how the proper application of motivational factors and analysis of motivation theories may improve the performance of the employees.

1.2 Research aims and objectives:

The topic of the research is “A critical analysis of the impact of motivation on the employee performance at UK Restaurant industry: A case study of Green Pea”. Therefore, in this research the behaviour of the employees will be investigated and how the proper application of motivational factors and analysis and application of motivation theories may improve the employee performance of the employees of Sarvanaa Bhavan at the UK restaurant industry. To achieve the main objectives of the research, some sub-objectives should be created. The objectives of this research are given below:

1. To investigate the current employee performance level at Suvarnaa Bhavan, UK.
2. To investigate the factors that affects the level of performance of the employees of Suvarna Bhavan, UK.
3. To investigate the impact of motivation on the performance of the employees of Suvarna Bhavan?
4. To recommend proper ways to develop the performance of the employees of Savarna Bhavan to make the customers satisfied.

1.3 Research questions:

This research has focused on some specific questions to reach the research objectives. The main research question was “How the motivation may affect the performance of employees at Suvarna Bhavan, UK.” The subordinate questions are:

1. What is the current employee performance level of the employees of Savarnaa Bhavan?
2. What are the factors that affect the level of employee performance at Savarna Bhavan?
3. How the motivational factors and theories may affect the performance of the employees of Savarnaa Bhavan?
4. How the performance of the employees of Savarnaa Bhavan can be improved?

1.4 Research rational:

The issue of the research is that the customers are getting unexpected and rude behaviour from the employees of Savarnaa Bhavan and this fact will be discussed in this research. Especially, this research will investigate how the application of motivation factors will improve the performance of the employees at the UK restaurants industry of UK with reference to Savarnaa Bhavan. This research is very much helpful for the company because the company will understand the impact of bad performance on the perception of the customers; the company will also understand how bad behaviour and rude services may negatively affect the perception of the customers. Because if the customers perceive that the employee services at the restaurant are not good, then they will stitch to some other restaurants, in this case the company will loss the market share. In this research, the approaches to apply the motivational factors and analysis of motivational theories and their application to develop the performance of the employees will be discussed. Thus, this research will help the company to understand how motivational approaches and theories may be applied to develop the performance of the employees. This is very important for the company to develop the service level and to retain the existing customer, because retaining an existing customer is more important than gaining a newer one (Kerin, 2012). The research is also important for other companies of the restaurant industry because they can use the findings to develop the employee behaviour at their companies.

2. Chapter two: Literature review:

Reviewing the past literature is very important for any research activity because acquiring knowledge on the topic related issues and creating a standard for the research makes it possible to conduct the research activity. The standard helps to generate and find research data. In this research, the research topic is “Critical analysis of the impact of motivation on the performance of employees at Suvarnaa Bhavan, UK.” Thus past literatures review will help the researcher to collect, manage and present the past literature on the basis of the standard developed in the literature review. There are generally two variables in a research, in this research the independent variable is employee performance and the dependent variable if employee performance. This research will be conducted in a funnel approach in which there will be a wide range discussion on the past literature and finally a conceptual framework will be developed on the basis of the theoretical review of the research ideas.

2.1Theoretical framework: Motivation and employee performance

2.1.1 Motivation:

In accordance with the study of Carver and Scheier (2001), motivation relates to those activities that instigate the wish of the employees to achieve the vision of the organization and to run the activities for which they may be recruited. Motivation is a very important fact for making the employees move to achieve the vision of the organization (Ryan et al., 2006). When a company is successful in motivating its employees, they will be interested to work with the organization and as a result, the organization will be able to reach the vision. Motivation strives to analyse the thinking process of the employees, it suggests ways of how an organization may be able to understand the motivation process of the employees and accordingly it can take actions to motivate them (Robins and Judge, 2007). On the contrary, if the organization fail motivate the employees, then employees will be inactive they will lose the interest to work with the organization and as a result, customers will be depressed with the performance of the employees. Motivation relates to the functions of human resource of an organization and the HR managers are generally assigned to plan to motivate the employees of the organization.

2.1.2 factors affecting employee motivation:

In line with the analysis of Robins and Judge (2007), motivation to the employees does not come automatically and an organization needs to take initiatives to motivate its employees. They also explained that there are some factors that affect the motivation of the employees in the company. If a company can successfully control and address these motivational factors then it is logical that the organization will be able to motivate the employees. On the contrary, if the organization fails to control and manage these factors, it will fail to motivate the employees. The factors that affect the motivation of the employees in an organization are illustrated below:

Weightman (2008) has explained that the above factors affect the employee motivation in an organization. Among them the types of work is the most important which should match with the interest of the employees. If the types of work is perceived to be boring to the employees, then they will not be interested to work with the company and the level of motivation will decrease. Benefits and wages are also important to determine the level of motivation of the employees. Greenfield (2000) has explained that appreciation and recognition are very much important for motivating the employees, when the company appreciate its employees, employees will be happy and thus they will be more interested to work wok with the company because the level of motivation has increased. Job security is another important factor that affect the level of motivation among the employees, when the employees are sure about their jobs they will concentrate in their activities because secured job has made them motivated to work with the company (Barbara, 2011). The companies that can successfully control and manage the motivational factors can motivate their employees, on the contrary the companies that cannot, fail to motivate their employees, as a result, the failed company make the customers dissatisfied to its services (Pewewardy, 2002).

2.1.3 Importance of motivation

According to the analysis of Andrew and Covington (2001), motivation of the employees is related to the existence of growth of the company because these are employees or human resource who run the company with their innovation and creativity, so the importance of motivation is immense because this is important to lead the employees to accomplish the vision of the organization. Ryan and Deci (2000) have explained that motivation makes use proper utilization of human resources, when the company can motivate the employees, they become dedicated to work with the company and thus the company can accomplish the vision. When the motivational factors are properly addressed, employees become motivated and the efficiency level of the employees increases which is good for any company. Wigfield et al. (2004) have agreed that motivation leads to achieve the goals of the organization because motivation makes the employees to reach a point: the achievement of the organizational goals. Therefore, motivated employees help the organization to reach its goals. On the other hand Marinak and Gambrell (2008) have said that motivation is very helpful in building good relation among the employees of the company because when they are motivated, they work for a single goal and this unity makes a good relation among them. Chang et al., (2004) have said a very important fact of motivated employees. They said that motivated employees are less tend to switch the company because they are happy with the existing organization. This is very important to make stabilized human resources in the organization. The importance of motivation can also be illustrated in a graph:

On the contrary, if a company fails to motivate its employees, then they will be interested to work with the organization or even if they work, they will not work with full efficiency and thus the customers will be dissatisfied to the company and ultimately there is a chance that the company will lose the market share (Robins and Judge, 2007).

2.1.4 Employee performance:

Employee performance measures if the employees are able to reach the vision that the organization previously determines (Ryan et al., 2006). Employee performance may be good or bad, if the employee performs more than the expectation of the company, then it is called good performance. On the other hand if the employees perform below the expectation then it is called bad performance. This term is very important for any company because this determines the success or failure of the company, if the employee performs well then the organization does well, on the contrary, if the employees fail to follow the guidelines and do not have the capability to perform well, then the organization also fails (Pritchard and Ashwood, 2008). Employee performance determines the level of efficiency of the company and this is a major indicator if the organization will be able to reach the vision of the organization. In line with the studies of Lillemyr et al. (2010), this is very important for a company to review the performance of the employees, at least once in every 6 months because performance evaluation will help the employees to understand their strength, weakness. This is also significant for a company to make some advices on hot they can develop their performance.

2.1.5 Factors affecting employee performance:

In line with the analysis of Schacter et al. (2011), employee performance is not determined itself, there are some factors that affect the level of performance of the employees in a company. If a company can successfully utilize the factors and develop the performance of the employees, then it is expected that the company will develop to reach its vision. On the contrary, if the organization fails to affect the factors of performance then the employees exert bad performance and as a result, the company fails to expect good level of performance from the employees (Weightman, 2008). The factors affecting employee performance and how they affect the performance can illustrate in a diagram:

According to Cervone et al. (2006), leadership and mentorship is very much significant to improve the level of performance of the employees. If the employees are given the required training and development then they will be able to perform better. 

2.1.6 Process of employee motivation:

Motivation has a process and a company need to follow the process to effectively motivate its employees. According to Herzberg et al. (1959), motivation of the employees has broadly two steps, to meet the demand of the basic or hygiene factors and then to meet the demand of motivational factors. He farther said that the company first need to determine if the hygiene factors are present in the organization. If the hygiene factors are present in the organization then the employers are neither satisfied, not dissatisfied, rather they are neutral to the organization. At the second stage the company needs to address the motivational factors and if the company can ensure these factors, then this is very likely that they will be motivated to accomplish the vision of the organization.

2.2 Conceptual framework: Impact of motivation on employee performance

Motivation and employee performance are two important management issues which mostly determine the level of customer satisfaction that hugely affect the growth of a business. Motivation and employee performance are related to each other and motivation is one of the very significant factor of employee performance because motivated employees demonstrate good performance (Ryan et al., 2006). When a company is able to successfully motivate its employees, the employees become very careful to accomplish the vision of the organization and as a result, the performance of the employees increases. On the other hand, the relation between motivation and employee performance also moves in the same direction if motivation level decreases. When there is less motivation among the employees, their performance level decreases too (Elliot and Covington, 2001). The relationship between these two can be illustrated in a diagram:

If a company properly understand the motivation factors and can properly apply them to create a high level of employee motivation, then there will be less employee turnover, because motivated employees seldom leave an organization. As a result, there will be high level of employee performance because motivated employees tend to work hard for the company. Finally the result will massively good for the organization because motivated employees will perform better for the company. Customers will be satisfied and market share will grow. On the contrary, if a company fails to address the motivating factors and thus to motivate its employees, negative perception will grow among the employees who will not work for the organization effectively. Consequently the company will lose the sales and thus the market share.

3. Chapter three: Research Methodology:

3.1 Research philosophy and approach:

According to Berg (2009), research philosophy refers to how the research will see the world, this can also be called how the research will perceive the world and knowledge. There are different types of research philosophies, but the most prominent research philosophies are positivist, interpretive and realism research philosophy. Trochim (2006) has explained that positivist research philosophy refers to the fact where knowledge is theoretically bounded, this philosophy also perceives that those things are thought to be knowledge that can be felt and touched and experienced. Advantage of this philosophy is that it exerts a level of control on the research activities but major problem is that the research may be affected by personal interest (Creswell, 2003). In this research, positivist research philosophy will be applied because the researcher can control the research activities.

According to Shields and Rangarjan (2013), research approach refers to how the research will be conducted. There are mainly two types of research approach: deductive and inductive research approach. Deductive research approach is such an approach where the research theory and findings are given and the theories are analysed to make sure if that is true (Franklin, 2012). The main advantage of this approach is that there is a chance that a successful result will exert from the research, but the disadvantage is that the results may be biased by the researcher (Gauch, 2003). On the other hand, inductive research approach starts with some data and analysis is conducted to make theory. The advantage of this approach is that in-depth analysis is conducted to make a result and the result will be very valid, but the disadvantage of this approach is that there is chance that the huge discussion will not lead to a result. In this research, inductive research approach will be applied because this will ensure a successful result (Herrman, 2009).

3.2 Research purpose and method:

According to Rocco et al. (2011), research purpose refers to the reasons of research initiatives. This explains why the research is being conducted. There are some purposes of research, but the most prominent are: exploratory, explanatory and finally analytical. Exploratory research is conducted when both the research problem and the variable is unknown, this means very little is known about the research topic (Trochim, 2006). In this case, research is conducted to know the details of the research problems and the variables. On the contrary, explanatory research is conducted when some of the factors such as the problem of the research is known but the variable is unknown (Creswell, 2003). In this case research aims at analysing the variables for the research. On the contrary, analytical research is applied when everything of the research is known and the aim of the research is to critically analysing the research to compile the paper (Harrman, 2009). In this research exploratory research will be conducted because the problem: the level of employee motivation and the variables employee performance both are unknown and detailed analysis is needed to know these issues.

Research methods refer to if the research will be conducted in qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods (kara, 2012). In qualitative research, qualitative measures are used and the respondents are asked to answer in multiple choice questions, in lighter scale etc. As a result the advantage of this method is that research results can be illustrated in measurable means (Saunders et al., 2009). But the disadvantage of this method is that the respondents cannot express all the views because the responses are in limited means. Qualitative research method uses the open ended questions to take the responses of the respondents as a results this method is in in-depth analysis because the respondents can completely express their opinion (Patton, 2002). The advantage of this method is that it helps the researcher to take the insights of the respondents, on the other hand the disadvantage of this method is that the researcher cannot express the research findings in measurable and quantifiable ways. Finally, a mixed method helps the researcher to overcome the problems of both qualitative and quantitative methods and it helps the researcher to utilize the advantage of both the methods (Howell, 2013). In this research, mixed research method will be used, to do this both open ended questions, multiple choice questions and lighter scale responses will be used, therefore, the researcher will be able to utilize the usefulness of both the methods by avoiding the disadvantages of the two methods.

3.3 Research strategy, data collection:

There are several strategies for research. The major research strategies are: survey questionnaire, interview, observation, focus groups etc. (Saunders et al., 2009). In this research survey questionnaire strategy will be used because this is easy and both measurable information and in-depth information can be managed by applying this method. The questionnaire will be developed and both open ended questions and multiple choice questions will accompany the questionnaire. The data will be collected from the respondents from the country and outside the country. To collect the data, personal interview, telephone interview, e-mail etc. will be used. As research sample, 50 people will be selected, among them 35 will be the employees of the company and 15 will be from outside the company. 35 employees will be selected because their information is important for determining the types of motivational strategies, customers of the company will be selected to know their perception about the services from the company, for example what types of services they expect from the company, this will also help the company to determine motivational and employee performance related strategies.

3.4 Ethical issues:

According to Creswell (2003), higher level of ethical standards should be followed in research and in this research; high level of ethical values will be maintained. The data for the research will be collected from the employees and the customers of the company without any biasness and the research will also be neutral in conducting the research. The respondents’ personal information will strictly be made private because this is important for them. All the information that will be used in the research will be with proper acknowledgement and referencing and citation.

5 References

Bad employee and unresponsive Management – AVOID”, Tripadvisor, 2015. Retrieved from: http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g186338-d1852469-r230461819-Saravana_Bhavan-London_England.html [Assessed on 20th January, 2015]

WELCOME TO SARAVANAA BHAVAN, Suvarnaa Bhavan, 2015. Retrieved from: http://www.saravanabhavan.co.uk/ [Assessed on 22th January, 2015]

Kerin, Roger A. (2012). Marketing: The Core. McGaw-Hill Ryerson.

Murphy, Jim (2009), Inner Excellence, McGraw-Hill. 

Jones, Ishmael (2008), The Human Factor: Inside the CIA’s Dysfunctional Intelligence Culture (New York: Encounter Books).

Cervone, D.; Shadel, W.G.; Smith, Ronald E.; Fiori, Marina (2006), “Self-Regulation: Reminders and Suggestions from Personality Science“, Applied Psychology: an International Review 55 (3).

Carver, C.S.; Scheier, M.F. (2001), On the self-regulation of behavior, New York: Cambridge University Press.

Ryan, R. M., Rigby, C. S., & Przybylski, A. (2006). The motivational pull of video games: A self-determination theory approach. Motivation and emotion, 30(4).

Robbins, Stephen P.; Judge, Timothy A. (2007), Essentials of Organizational Behavior (9 ed.), Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.