Employee Motivation. A Case Study from the Fast Food Chain KFC in Central London

Master's Thesis from the year 2012 in the subject Leadership and Human Resource Management - Miscellaneous, grade: 60%, Cardiff Metropolitan University, language: English, abstract: The main aim of this dissertation project is to critically examine the chosen organization KFC and to study the effect of its leadership on the motivation of its employees. The research question is "How can management develop their leadership style to motivate staff members to achieving their organizational roles?" Attracting and retaining employees in the current business world has become a big challenge for the organizations. Due to increase in competitors and new entrants, it has become a tough task for the organizations. Globalization has also added a new dimension to the challenge. The workforce is now comprised of people from different countries and different cultures. As a result, keeping them motivated to give a high performance is a big task for the managers. There have been many research and theories of leadership and motivation. However, these are not still fully understood and the relationship between leadership and motivation still needs in depth research. Leaders need to find ways to motivate their subordinates by catering their individual needs and move away from the traditional methods. For the purpose of explaining the causal relationship between leadership and motivation, the researcher pursued an action research strategy and followed an inductive approach as the researcher had to work closely with the organization. Both quantitative and qualitative data was collected using an employee survey questionnaire and a focus group interview of the managers. The data analysis gave information about leadership and motivation of KFC. The managers stressed on having clear communication, independence and decision making for them. The staff stressed on communication, recognition, rewards, improved work condition and self satisfaction. The results revealed that KFC should look to employ some new strategies to increase the motivation of its staff. The researcher has made some recommendations at the end of the report. However, as this research was conducted in a small location, it may require further in depth research to come to an exclusive conclusion.