ABSTRACT

Kalanka is a one of leading shoe retail company in Sri Lanka since 1988 by having the largest showroom in Sri Lanka which locate in Negombo. They have planned more than 30mn sale income for the last April season. But unfortunately they couldn’t achieve approximately 75% of the planned even there were similar customer visit more than last year. Informal talks & rumours revealed that the front office assistant of the showrooms are not happy with the management of the company.

To disclose the problem from the dark to light, simple questionnaire have distributed to randomly select 30 front office assistants 10 per one showroom. The analysis of the questionnaire proved that the informal talks are true which that more than 65% of the respondents are not satisfied with their jobs & they are trying to another options. This is a critical situation for the company & therefore need to recover as soon as possible. Therefore, the latter part of the study provides some practical less costly remedies which can be easily use by a small business like Kalanka.

1.0. Introduction

This chapter expects to provide a basic idea about the entire study. The first section is going to discuss about the background of the study, the way of identifying the problem for the study and the significance of the study while the last section expresses the scientific way of getting the solution for the question and the sequence of arranging all the chapters throughout the study.

1.1. Kalanka Group

In 1988, the group of Kalanka has commenced in Ehaliyagoda by the cooperation of two siblings who named as Mr.Rehena de Silva & Mr.Kapila de Silva. They are able to maintain a profitable relationship with more than 20,000 loyalty customer base by utilizing their 30 years’ industry expertise while possessing Rs.500mn annual revenue. Currently both of owners have maintained separate ownership of six showrooms. From among them, Mr.Kapila serves as the Managing Director by taking the ownership of the largest footwear showroom in Sri Lanaka which locates in Negambo while other two entities are operating in Horana & Awissawella .

1.1.1. Vision

“To be the most preferred & admired retailer in the industry while being socially responsible”

1.1.2. Mission

“To setting up a remarkable chain of shoe shopping malls where customer satisfactions are met beyond their expectations”

1.1.3. Product Range

The variety of the product collection can be depicted as follows,

Figure.1.1. Product Classification

Source: Developed by the Student

1.2. Problem Statement

The given sales target for April seasonal period did not achieve in this year is not achieved by any show room, which is one-fold half from the expected levels. These actual figures have already proved that the company will unable to achieve the predicted yearly income Rs.495mn at the end of 2018. These unsatisfactory aspects of the performance have declared clearly by Monthly Budget Review Report which is shown as below,

Table.1.1. Monthly Income Review of Kalanka Group on April-2018

Source: Monthly Budget Review Report of Kalanka Group

Table.1.2. Monthly Expenditure Review of Kalanka Group on April-2018

Source: Monthly Budget Review Report of Kalanka Group

By summarizing the data given above we can easily identify the sale income was not increased but the showroom expenses have increased than the budgeted level. There was not any competition in the shoe market as well as there were not any decrease of the number of consumers who visited the showroom. The problem was that, the visited consumers did not influenced by the front office assistants to purchase more. The problem was with the dissatisfaction of the employees. .

CHAPTER TWO

LITREATURE REVIEW

2.0. Introduction

This is the chapter is going to describe the term “Job Satisfaction” by basing on the little literature review.

2.1. Definition

Different authors over the word have been described the “Job Satisfaction” in different terms. From among them, some well-known definitions as follows,

Cranny, Smith & Stone has been defined job satisfaction as employees emotional state regarding the job considering what they expected & what they actually got out of it.

Wiess (2002,p.174 cites Locke (1969) who defines job satisfaction as feelings of contentment derived from the appraisal of one’s job & the understanding that the job is assisting in achieving one’s goals.

Job satisfaction is the level of contentment a person feels regarding his or her job. This feeling is mainly based on an individual’s perception of satisfaction.

2.2. Theories

Job satisfaction theories have evolved in a manner similar to motivation theories. As mentioned previously, content theory of motivation considered the same needs for human begins with no regard for personality differences. Process theories consider different individual cognitive processes. Some job satisfaction theories are also categorized under motivational theories such as two-factor theory, job characteristic theory and high performance cycle theory. Frank & Vecera (2008) discuss three models of job satisfaction: situational model, dispositional model and interaction model. According to them, the situational model proposes that job satisfaction results from job characteristics & that all people receive the same satisfaction from a job with certain job characteristics as defined by Hackman & Oldham (1980).

• Dispositional Model
• Two Factor Theory
• Job Characteristic Theory
• Content Theory

2.3. Importance of Job Satisfaction

Job satisfaction is a concept on the premise that the happiest worker is also the most productive worker & that to people in their work; their job does not feel as if it is work at all. Many variables make a difference in the levels of job satisfaction experienced by workers; some variables are found within the organization, some within the framework of the job itself & others are inherent in each worker’s character & personality.

2.4. Measuring Job Satisfaction

• Single Global Rating

One question, such as “All things considered, how satisfied are you with your job?

• Summation Score

Typical element here are the nature of work, supervision, present pay, promotion opportunities & relations with coworkers.

CHAPTER THREE

METHODOLOGY

3.0. Introduction

This chapter intends to describe about the scientific way of conducting the study. Both population and sample of the study are discussed by the first sections while data collection and analyze are explained of the final section of the chapter.

3.1. Population & Sample of the Study

The population of the study is the entire 125 front office assistants who work in the three showrooms. From among them, the 30 employees considered as the sample by covering 10 employees of each showrooms using simple random sampling technique.

3.2. Questionnaire

The selected candidates were given small questionnaire by including 13 questions to measure the level of satisfaction of them. The student prepared the questionnaire by taking several web-based questionnaires as the sources.

Table.3.1. Questionnaire

Source: Qualtrics-Employee Satisfaction Surveys Sample Template

3.3. Analysis of the Result

All the respondents have answered for all the questions without any guidance or supervision. The result was analysed by Microsoft excel simply & according to the analysis below results could be obtained.

Table.3.2. Analysis of the Questionnaire

Source: Amended Appendix Excel

• According to the analysis, approximately 77% of respondents said that, they feel not encourage to come up with new & better ways of doing things & just only 7% respondents got agree with this condition.
• 70% of respondents did not say that, the works give them a feeling of personal accomplishment.
• In addition, 66% of the sample says that, they don’t have enough resources to work better.
• Moreover, 80% of respondents says that, they don’t have clearly defined quality goals to achieve.
• Nearly 90% of respondents declares that, they do not have an enough information about the facts which affection them.
• Moreover, 80% of respondents says that, they do not know what to do instantly when customer get dissatisfaction.
• 90% of the respondents did not understand why it is so important for Kalanka to value diversity to recognize & respect the value of differences in race, gender etc.
• 70% of the respondents declares that, their jobs do not make good use of my skills & abilities.
• 76% of the respondents declares that, their supervisor’s manager do not visibly demonstrates a commitment to quality
• 60% of the respondents declares that,. They didn’t satisfied with the information they receive from management on what is going on in their division
• After all 70% of the respondents said that, they are not satisfied with their job
• 74% of the respondents declares that, they are not satisfied with their opportunity to get a better job in this company

After analysing all the data deeply, it can be easily identified that the front office assistant are not working happily with Kalanka.

CHAPTER FOUR

CONCLUSION & RECCOMENDATION

4.0. Introduction

This chapter, which can be used to describe the final output of the study. While the first section provide a conclusion about the entire study, the last section procured some recommendation & guidelines to use for the maximization of job satisfaction of Helanka.

4.1. Conclusion

Kalanka is a one of leading shoe retail company in Sri Lanka since 1988 by having the largest showroom in Sri Lanka which locate in Negombo. They have planned more than 30mn sale income for the last April season. But unfortunately they couldn’t achieve approximately 75% of the planned even there were similar customer visit more than last year. Informal talks & rumours revealed that the front office assistant of the showrooms are not happy with the management of the company. To disclose the problem from the dark to light, simple questionnaire have distributed to randomly select 30 front office assistants 10 per one showroom. The analysis of the questionnaire proved that the informal talks are true which that more than 65% of the respondents are not satisfied with their jobs & they are trying to another options. This is a critical situation for the company & therefore need to recover as soon as possible.

4.2. Recommendations

“The aim of leadership should be improve the performance of man & machine, to improve quality, to increase output & simultaneously to bring pride of workmanship to people” Dr.Edward Demin

There are some few steps to boost the satisfaction of the employees to reap the maximum benefit of the industry.

• Provide Positive Working Environment

This is the first step to increase the job satisfaction. A motivating working environment requires going over & beyond the call of duty & providing the needs of the worker. Giving wide range of services to the employees such as, employee discount program, childcare information & etc.

• Reward & Recognition

Personal recognition is a powerful tool in building morale & motivation such as a pat on the back, informal celebrations, good compliments & etc. They will not take much cost like awarding ceremony, night outs.

• Involve & Engage the Workforce

People are more committed & engaged when there is a process for them to contribute their idea & employee suggestions. This give them a sense of ownership & pride in their work.

• Develop Worker’s Skills & Potential

Training & education motivates people & make they more productive & innovative. There are many reasons training & development make sense. Well-trained employees are more capable & willing to assume more control over their jobs. They need less supervision which frees the management for other tasks. Employees are more capable to answer the questions of the customers that builds strong customer loyalty.