Executive summary
In the paper, a research is carried out to determine the effectiveness of four initiatives that are put in place by the management of Beaufidul Limited to improve the level of employee satisfaction in the company. The company had a declining trend in the level of profit due to lack of motivation among the employees. Questionnaires were sent to a sample of 500 employees and only 445 responded.
The analysis shows that resources & training and promotion process are the most significant determinants of employee satisfaction in the company. As a recommendation, the management needs to improve the level of satisfaction among male, full-time and part-time employees. Also, also the management needs to review and improve the promotion process, resources and training in the company.
Introduction
Beaufidul Limited, a company that manufactures a variety of beauty products, was experiencing a decline in the bottom line. The drop in perform was caused by staff-related issues. Specifically, the company was experiencing high turnover and absenteeism of employees.
Thus, the management established that low employee satisfaction contributed immensely to the poor performance. In response to these problems, the management came up with four initiatives that aimed at improving overall satisfaction of the employees. In this paper, analysis will be carried using various tools to establish the effectiveness of these measures.
Research design
A survey was conducted in the company to collect data. The questionnaire that was used to collect the data had three sections. The first section had five questions that focused on personal information such as gender, age, and income among others. The second section has one question that was dedicated on the level of employee satisfaction. A Likert scale of ten points was used to collect some data (Bade & Parkin, 2013).
The final section concentrated on determinants of employee satisfaction. Four questions were asked in this section and each had a Likert scale of ten points. The random sampling technique was used to select a sample of 500 customers. 100 employees were selected from each of the five departments. The questionnaires were sent to the 500 customers and only 445 responded (Zikmund, Babin, Carr, & Griffin, 2012).
Hypothesis Testing
Hypothesis Test 1
Does the current level of employee satisfaction differ from management’s goal of 6 out of 10?
Null hypothesis: The current level of customer satisfaction = 6.
Alternative hypothesis: The current level of customer satisfaction ≠ 6.
Statistical test
In this case a one sample t-test will be used to test the hypothesis. This is based on the fact that customer satisfaction is a continuous variable.
Test in Excel: t-test: paired two sample for means
Results
Interpretation
The mean of employee satisfaction is 5.59. The results show that t-calculated is greater than t-critical. Also, the p-value (0.000137996) is less than alpha (0.05). Therefore, the null hypothesis will be rejected at the 95% confidence level. This implies that the current level of customer satisfaction differ from management’s goal of 6 out of 10.
Hypothesis Test 2
Is there any difference between the overall satisfaction of male and female employees within the business?
Null hypothesis: There is no difference in the overall satisfaction of male and female employees.
Alternative hypothesis: There is a difference in the overall satisfaction of male and female employees.
Statistical test
Independent sample t-test will be used to test the hypothesis. This can be attributed to the fact that employee satisfaction between two mutually exclusive groups will be compared.
Test in Excel: t-Test: Two-Sample Assuming Unequal Variances
Results
Interpretation
The mean satisfaction for female employees is 4.86 while for male employees is 6.29. Further, t-calculated (7.066) is greater than t-critical (1.96). Also, the p-value (6.21541E-12) is less than alpha (0.05). Therefore, the null hypothesis will be rejected at the 95% confidence level. This implies that there is a difference between the overall satisfaction of male and female employees.
Hypothesis Test 3
Are there any differences in the overall employee satisfaction across the three bases of employment?
Null hypothesis: There is no difference in the employee satisfaction across the various bases of employment.
Alternative hypothesis: There is a difference in the employee satisfaction across the various bases of employment.
Statistical test
ANOVA is the most suitable technique for testing hypothesis that entails comparing the mean of more than one group. One way ANOVA will be used because there is only one independent variable.
Test in Excel: ANOVA: Single Factor
Results
Interpretation
The mean level of satisfaction for casual employees is 6.39, 5.88 for part-time, and 5.24 for full-time employees. In the results above, the value of F-calculated (9.41) is greater than the F-critical (3.02). Besides, the p-value (9.9E-05) is less than alpha (0.05). Therefore, the null hypothesis will be rejected at the 95% confidence level. This implies that there is a difference in the overall satisfaction across the various bases of employment.
Hypothesis Test 4
Are there any differences in the gender compositions across the five departments?
Null hypothesis: There are no differences in gender composition across the five departments
Alternative hypothesis: Gender composition is different in at least one of the departments.
Statistical test
A Chi-squared test will be used in this case because a comparison is made between two definite variables.
Test in Excel: Chi-square test
Results
Interpretation
The p-value (1.1081E-17) is less than the alpha (0.05). Thus, the null hypothesis will be rejected and this implies that there is a difference in the gender composition across the five departments.
Hypothesis Test 5
Is there any difference in employee satisfaction in response to the initiatives of ‘increased resources and training’ and ‘increased communication with management’?
Null hypothesis: Employee satisfaction in response to the initiatives of ‘increased resources and training’ equals to satisfaction in response to ‘increased communication with management’
Alternative hypothesis: Employee satisfaction in response to the initiatives of ‘increased resources and training’ is not equal to satisfaction in response to ‘increased communication with management’
Statistical test
In this case, a paired sample t-test will be used to test the hypothesis. The test is the most suitable for comparing the mean of two related variables.
Test in Excel: t-Test: Paired two samples for means
Results
Interpretation
The mean level of employee satisfaction in response to initiative of ‘resources and training’ is 6.2 and ‘increased communication with management’ is 6.95. The results show that t-calculated (-4.62) is greater than t-critical (1.96). Also, the p-value (2.51E-06) is less than alpha (0.05). Therefore, the null hypothesis will be rejected at the 95% confidence level. This implies that there a difference in employee satisfaction in response to the initiatives of resources and training and increased communication with management.
Hypothesis Test 6
Is there a relationship between an employee’s years of employment and their overall satisfaction?
Null hypothesis: There is no relationship between years of employment and their overall satisfaction.
Alternative hypothesis: There is a relationship between years of employment and their overall satisfaction.
Statistical test
Simple regression – this test will establish if there is a linear relationship between overall employee satisfaction (dependent variable) and employees’ years of employment (independent variable).
Test in Excel: Regression
Results
Interpretation
The value of R-square shows that the number of years of employment explains 73.50% of variation in employee satisfaction. Further, the value of significance F (8E-130) is less than alpha (0.05). This implies that the overall regression line is significant and that the independent variable explains a significant proportion of the dependent variable.
Further, the significance value of the t-statistic (8E-130) is less than the alpha (0.05). This shows that the independent variable is significant. Thus, the null hypothesis will be rejected and this implies that there is a relationship between the employee’s years of employment and their overall satisfaction.
Hypothesis Test 7
Are any of the initiatives proposed by management related to the overall satisfaction of Beaufidul Limited employees?
Null hypothesis: There is no relationship between the initiatives proposed by the management and the overall satisfaction of Beaufidul Limited employees.
Alternative hypothesis: There is at least one relationship between the initiatives proposed by the management and the overall satisfaction of Beaufidul Limited employees.
Statistical test
Multiple regression analysis – this test will establish if there is a linear relationship between overall employee satisfaction (dependent variable) and other independent variables.
Test in Excel: Regression
Results
Interpretation
The value of R-square shows that explanatory variables explain 86.39% of variation in employee satisfaction. Further, the value of significance F (5E-189) is less than alpha (0.05). This implies that the overall regression line is significant and that the independent variables explain a significant proportion of the dependent variable.
Further, the p-values of t-test show that ‘resources & training’ and ‘promotion process’ are the significant independent variables while salary and ‘level of communication with management’ are insignificant variables. Thus, the null hypothesis will be rejected and this implies that there is at least one relationship between the initiatives proposed by the management and the overall satisfaction of Beaufidul Limited employees.
Analysis
The first test shows that the overall employee satisfaction is statistically different from the goal of 6 out of 10 (Baltagi, 2011). The estimated mean is 5.59 and it is less than the goal. The result of the second question shows that the satisfaction of male employees is lower than that of female employees.
The third test indicates that there is a difference in the overall satisfaction across the various bases of employment. Further, there is a difference in the gender composition across the five departments as indicated in the fourth test. The level of employee satisfaction in response to the initiatives of ‘increased communication with management’ and ‘resources & training’ differs as indicated by the results of the fifth test.
The sixth test shows that there is a negative relationship between the employee’s years of employment and their overall satisfaction. The final test shows that ‘resources & training’ and ‘promotion process’ are the significant independent variables while ‘salary’ and ‘level of communication with management’ are insignificant variables (Verbeek, 2008).
Recommendations
The analysis above shows that the goal was not attained. Thus, the management needs to take into account some of the recommendations that are summarized below.
- The level of satisfaction of male employees should be improved.
- There is a need to implement measures that can improve the level of satisfaction of full-time and part time employees.
- The company should increase the availability of ‘resources and training’. This will improve the quality of service delivery.
- The process of promotion in the company needs to be reviewed and improved because it has a significant impact on overall employee satisfaction.
References
Bade, R., & Parkin, M. (2013). Essential foundations of economics. USA: Pearson Education.
Baltagi, B. (2011). Econometrics. New York: Springer Publisher.
Verbeek, M. (2008). A guide to modern econometrics. England: John Wiley & Sons.
Zikmund, W., Babin, B., Carr, J., & Griffin, M. (2012). Business research methods. USA: Cengage Learning.