CONFIDENTIAL

2018

Nordia Nanaimo –How

Important Is Employee
Motivation to Retention

Cynthia Okafor

4/23/2018
 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The purpose of this paper is to analyse how motivational factors can impact employee retention, or
reduce turnover intention for Nordia employees.

The macro environmental analysis indicates the essence of employee motivation, considering the
nature of call centre jobs; and the physical and psychological stress which employees face working in
these environments. Therefore it is pertinent for them to be motivated and committed to the
organization with commensurate wage rates and other non-monetary benefits which encourage
employees to work and perform optimally. With the impact of regulation and laws, a baseline is set for
adequate wage system and working environment for employees to be encouraged to work.

Based on the industry and organization analyses, it could be deduced that call centres are prone to high
employee turnover, especially if they are not well motivated. One salient point of observation is that, most
call centres focus on wages and monetary benefits to motivate employees; Nordia Nanaimo not being
an exception. In fact, the positive perception employees have about motivation and retention is based
on wages and monetary rewards. Nordia Nanaimo does well in this aspect and this is why it has the
best employee retention and the highest employee satisfaction in the industry. The organization needs
to focus on other aspects of motivation especially those which involve intrinsic motivation or else it
faces threat from its direct and indirect competitors who can poach their agents due to similar job
needs and appealing career opportunities.

The literature review evaluated different research studies which focused on how employee motivation
could be induced; and how these factors could influence retention. From these literatures, it could be
deduced that the major ways to motivate employees apart from wages, is by continuous training,
career progression and supportive communication with an effective feedback system. The review also
considered survey data from Nordia Nanaimo in support of the organization’s employee satisfaction
and retention strategy.

The paper further considered the operation of call centres in other countries like Germany, United
Kingdom, Ireland, India and Pakistan; reviewing strategies which these countries have used to motivate
their employees and highlighting aspects of motivation which Nordia Nanaimo can adopt. Although five
(5) options were generated, the most feasible recommendation chosen for the organization to
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implement centred on training and development with regards to enhancing employees’ emotion
regulation skills to cope with customers.

The limitations of this paper mainly centres on the fact that it relied primarily on secondary data and
personal observation, due to the fact that comprehensive primary data was not available. Furthermore,
this study is limited to Nordia Nanaimo, and does not represent the current situation in other Nordia
call centres across Canada.

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
My profound gratitude to God, for the grace and strength to undertake the MBA/MScIM program at
Vancouver Island University, and to also successfully complete this paper.

To my supervisor, Professor Bonita Russell, thank you for always challenging my thoughts and pushing
me towards achieving better results. It is a pleasure to know you, and also meet with other course
facilitators during the MBA course. The classes inspired me and constructive criticisms made me
develop critical thinking skills.

To my friends and colleagues, I cherish the great times and experiences with you; and I wish you all the
best in life’s journey.

To my family – parents and siblings – thank you for all your continuous encouragement throughout my
study.

To my husband, my support system – I am immensely thankful for your great support and extreme
loyalty towards my academic pursuit.

To my sons, I hope and pray that you achieve and attain heights greater than I did.

- Cynthia Okafor

TABLE OF CONTENTS
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY....................................................................................................................i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT...................................................................................................................iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS.....................................................................................................................iv

LIST OF FIGURES............................................................................................................................vi

LIST OF ACRONYMS......................................................................................................................vii

1 SECTION 1 - INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................1

1.1 An overview of the organization and the focus of the internship.................................................1

1.2 Research Question and Issues Addressed in this Report...............................................................2

1.3 Structure/Contents of the Paper...................................................................................................3

2 SECTION 2 - SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS.......................................................................................4

2.1 MACRO ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS............................................................................................4

2.1.1 Political / Legal Factors.....................................................................................................................5

2.1.2 Economic Factors..............................................................................................................................7
2.1.3 Social Factors....................................................................................................................................8
2.1.4 Technological Factors........................................................................................................................9
2.1.5 Conclusion........................................................................................................................................9
2.2 MICRO ENVIRONMENT - INDUSTRY ANALYSIS...........................................................................10

2.2.1 Industry Trends...............................................................................................................................10

2.2.2 Conclusion......................................................................................................................................13
2.3 INTERNAL ENVIRONMENT - FIRM ANALYSIS...............................................................................13

2.3.1 The Organization............................................................................................................................13

2.3.2 Resources and Capabilities of the Company...................................................................................15
2.3.3 Competitors....................................................................................................................................18
2.3.4 Conclusion......................................................................................................................................20
3 SECTION 3 – LITERATURE REVIEW........................................................................................21

3.1 The Role of Motivation and How an Organization can Induce Motivation................................21

3.2 Employee Retention through Motivation...................................................................................25

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 3.3 Research Methodology...............................................................................................................26

3.3.1 Research Approach/ Data Collection..............................................................................................26

4 SECTION 4 – POTENTIAL INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT............................................................29

4.1 Germany......................................................................................................................................29

4.2 United Kingdom..........................................................................................................................30

4.3 Ireland.........................................................................................................................................32

4.4 India and Pakistan.......................................................................................................................33

5 SECTION 5 – OPTION GENERATION AND ANALYSIS..............................................................35

5.1 Option 1: Training and Development..........................................................................................35

5.2 Option 2: Career Advancement Opportunities with Fringe Benefits..........................................36

5.3 Option 3: Active Employee Feedback System and Suggestion Platform.....................................38

5.4 Option 4: Job Rotation................................................................................................................40

5.5 Option 5: Home Based Agents....................................................................................................41

6 SECTION 6 – RECOMMENDATIONS.......................................................................................43

6.1 Motivating Benefit to the Employees.........................................................................................43

6.2 Ease of Implementation..............................................................................................................43

6.3 Cost of Execution.........................................................................................................................44

6.4 Implementation...........................................................................................................................45

6.4.1 Short Run Plan................................................................................................................................45

6.4.2 Mid Run Plan..................................................................................................................................46
6.4.3 Long Run Plan.................................................................................................................................46
6.5 LIMITATIONS................................................................................................................................46

7 SECTION 7 - INTERNSHIP AND PROJECT REFLECTIONS.........................................................48

7.1 Limitations of the Analysis and Further Research.......................................................................48

7.2 Reflections on Learning / Applied Business Project’s Contribution to my Competencies...........49

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8 CONCLUSION.........................................................................................................................51

9 REFERENCES..........................................................................................................................52

A. APPENDIX 1 - STATEMENT OF WORK..................................................................................A-1

B. APPENDIX 2 – PROJECT LOG................................................................................................B-1

C. APPENDIX 3 - PROJECT ASSESSMENT FORM.......................................................................C-1

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1 Research model 2
Figure 2 Business Environment 4
Figure 3 PESTEL Analysis 5
Figure 4 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs illustrating levels of motivation 22
Figure 5 Herzberg’s Two-Factor principle 23

LIST OF ACRONYMS

BC – British Columbia

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CHRA - Canadian Human Rights Act
CPPCC - Connect, Probe, Propose, Counter and Close
CRTC – Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission
CSIB – Client Solutions Inbound
CSOB – Client Solutions Outbound
EEA – Employment Equity Act
HHLT – Household Loyalty and Retention
ICT – Information and Communication Technology
KPI- Key Performance Indicators
LOB – Line of Business
MBA – Master of Business Administration
NN- Nordia Nanaimo
PESTEL- Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, Legal
RBV – resource based view
SWOT – Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats
TLP – tier leadership program
VIU – Vancouver Island University

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1 SECTION 1 - INTRODUCTION
1.1 An overview of the organization and the focus of the internship.
Nordia Nanaimo, one of Nordia’s branches located on the West coast of Vancouver Island, was
established by Bell Canada in 1999. It is made up of three major departments among others-
Household Loyalty Team (HHLT), Client Solution Outbound (CSOB) and Client Solution Inbound (CSIB) –
which are responsible for receiving escalated calls from all Bell’s customers’ in Canada. Agents provide
services ranging from technical solutions, billing, offering products and promotions, and providing
information about products and services to customers (Nordia – our story, 2017).

On a typical day, the call centre’s production floor is filled with the “noise” and activity from agents
talking on the phone, and the clicking sounds of the keyboard on the computers; agents typing so fast
to close a sale or hastily attending to customers in order to meet up with the expected average time to
be spent on a call. On one end of the floor, team managers could be heard chanting and cheering
agents, to increase their morale to make a sale; and once a sale is made, team mates clap for that
agent, to boost the confidence and optimism of others to make more efforts. On the other end of the
floor, rewarding gifts like lunch packs, Bluetooth sound systems, smart televisions, gift cards and other
home/kitchen appliances are kept and given to agents whose names appear on a board for making
sales.

As the day progresses, the call-queue increases by noon and keeps growing until six o clock, when the
tempo reduces. Agents are usually trained to expect the challenges of the afternoon rush, and the
higher responsibility to handle the numerous requests of customers. They are also aware that the call
service industry is a competitive one, and thus satisfying customers is of essence to the organization, so
as not to lose them to competitors for reasons of price and/or poor service. Therefore, it is usually not
uncommon to see agents taking breaks to have a smoke or de-stress in quiet rooms, or discuss their
frustrations with teammates, as a way to relieve themselves after taking calls from irate customers.
Sometimes, employees’ may feel inadequately rewarded or psychologically overburdened after some
months and may tend to seek job satisfaction somewhere else. To minimize this, the organization
needs to have an efficient reward system to address both the monetary and non-monetary needs of
employees and ensure that employees are satisfied (Terera and Ngirande, 2014, p.486). The service
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Industry, which is usually prone to fierce competition and involves a low cost for customers to switch,
requires the need to retain employees who are familiar with the values of the organization. This is to
ensure that customers remain loyal, are retained and avoid a loss of revenue. Organizations in this
industry that can retain customers enjoy a significant competitive advantage over those that cannot
retain customers (Colwell et al., 2009). Delivering this will be difficult if they constantly have to combat
employee turnover and the requirements to train new skills for such roles. Thus employee satisfaction,
according to Terera and Ngirande (2014) can lead to retention and also ensure that the competition
does not recruit a company’s valuable employee which can negatively affect its profitability (p.486).

Therefore, it is important that Nordia Nanaimo ensures that its skilled employees, who are already
conversant with its culture, vision, and mission, are motivated well enough, to be retained within the
organization.

1.2 Research Question and Issues Addressed in this Report

This project aims is to examine factors that motivate employees in Nordia Nanaimo and how important
this is to the retention or turnover rate of employees in the organization. In other words, Figure 1
below shows the essence of this research to examine how motivational factors (intrinsic and extrinsic)
could ignite the intentions of employees to either stay or leave the organisation.

Figure 1: Research model

Source: Cynthia Okafor

Below are the research questions this report will be addressing:

a. How do motivational factors impact retention of employees of a call centre?
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 b. How can a call centre like Nordia Nanaimo improve employee motivation and retention?

1.3 Structure/Contents of the Paper

This project paper comprises of 7 sections based on the requirements for the research. Section one
introduces the paper with an overview of the organization and the industry within which it operates
and the importance of motivation in employee retention. The research questions and contents of this
paper are also discussed.

Section two provides for a situational analysis where the status of the issues facing the organization will
be analysed. In addition, this section will present an in-depth examination of the business environment
(internal and external) of the organisation in order to shed some light on the subject matter of this
research. Section three provides a literature review which looks at empirical evidence of the research
topic in question. The main purpose of this chapter is to compare empirical studies with practical
realities in the organization.

Section four will discuss potential international context of this industry and compare it with approaches
used in other countries.

Section five provides options or alternative approaches available and also analyses these to help the
organization in its resolution. Section six will provide relevant recommendations which will be justified
to support the best course of action which the organization can implement, or use to sustain its
commendable practices.

Finally, Section seven will present a personal reflection of the entire project and its impact on the
author. Also, the limitations of the research project and learning outcomes from undertaking the
project are discussed in this section.

2 SECTION 2 - SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS

It is important for business leaders to understand that there must be a shift in the mind-set and
behaviour essential to lead, organize, motivate, manage and engage the 21 st century workforce (Walsh
& Volini, p.2). It is also important that in order to retain and improve the learning of an organization’s
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workforce, there must be motivation (DePasque & Tricomi, 2015, p. 185) which could plummet
turnover rate (Dill et al., 2016, p. 105); especially with a job like this which may lead to emotional
exhaustion (Houkes et al., 2013).

For the situational analysis, the issue of employee motivation and retention will be reviewed using an
environmental analysis framework which examines the macro environment and the industry within
which the organization operates, as well as an internal analysis using the resource based view of the
organization.

Figure 2: Business Environment

Source: Cynthia Okafor

2.1 MACRO ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS

This aspect of the analysis will review the political, economic, social, technological and legal factors
which affect Nordia as a telecommunication company in Canada, with regards to how it can motivate
its employees.

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Figure 3: PESTEL Analysis
Source: Cynthia Okafor

2.1.1 Political / Legal Factors

Most workers in Canada - about 90 percent - are protected by the employment laws of their province
or territory, since each province and territory is guided by its own legislation (Swartz, 2018).

The political position in Canada with regards to employees and their rights, compensation, incentives
or entitlements in the workplace are backed up by laws. This is why these will be discussed
complementarily with the legal aspect for this analysis. These laws cover issues which are necessary to
motivate employees knowing that they are well protected in areas concerning hours of work, overtime
and statutory days incentives, minimum wages, sick days, immigration, training and vacation and
severance provisions (Work BC, 2018; Government of Alberta, 2017). All of these and many more
related items are spelled out as Employment Standards and are the minimum standards established by
law that define and guarantee rights in the workplace, which make employees motivated to work.

In British Columbia, there is the Employment Standards Branch that administers the Employment
Standards Act and Regulation, which set minimum standards of wages and working conditions in most
workplaces. The purpose of the Act is to ensure that employees in BC receive at least basic standards of
compensation and conditions of employment, promote fair treatment of employees and employers,
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encourage open communication between employers and employees, resolve work disputes, contribute
in assisting employees to meet work and family responsibilities, and overall foster the development of
a productive and efficient labour force that can contribute fully to the prosperity of BC (British
Columbia - Information and Forms, n.d.).

Furthermore, with issues bothering on discrimination and employment equity in the workplace, the
Canadian Human Rights Act (CHRA) outlaws discrimination in general, on the basis of age, gender, race,
ethnicity and other grounds (Justice Laws Website, 2018). This law continues to be amended and
updated continually to make sure that employees may be intrinsically motivated to work anywhere in
Canada without fear or favour. Another similar legislation is the Employment Equity Act (EEA), which is
under the purview of the Department of Justice, Canada; and it categorises employees into four groups
namely – aboriginals, women, persons with disabilities and visible minority. The Act, under the
provision of employer obligations, gives employers opportunity to survey their workforce to determine
areas, policies and practices that require reviews and offer possible ways to improve aspects of
employee salary distribution, promotion, career advancement and termination. There should also be
accommodation for hiring, training and retention plans for employees (Justice Laws Website, 2018).

Employees are also entitled to discount plans for whatever organization they work with. For instance, in
the telecommunication industry, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission
(CRTC), under the provision of Telecom Order CRTC 2003-491 Reference: Tariff Notice 6771, makes
provision for employees and pensioners of Bell Canada and its subsidiaries (Nordia inclusive) to enjoy a
discounted plan of 35% on any select residential services (Canadian Radio-television and
Telecommunications Commission, 2003). This discount serves to provide current employees with extra
incentive to remain committed to the organization. Similarly, subject to the provision of Paragraph
27(6)(a) of the Telecommunications Act, the treatment of employees also extends to present and past
subsidiaries or affiliates which operated under the company’s corporate structure (Telecom Order CRTC
2003-491, 2003); for former employees, this is an opportunity to benefit from the company’s brand
name and identity for referral.

The use of these discounts is now prevailing in the industry (and other industries) and are seen as more
than just perks, but a key to business success for keeping employees motivated, be healthy mentally

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and physically while managing risks and investing in the workforce. It also provides opportunities to
formulate retention strategies for keeping existing employees, attracting new employees and
recognising retired employees.

Therefore all provinces are to ensure that the combined stipulations in the employment standards Act,
the CHRA and EEA are considered when developing minimum incentive plans to motivate employees,
or retention strategies.

2.1.2 Economic Factors

On the issue of motivating factors like wages, with the present minimum wage of $11.35 not keeping
up with the current standard of living for workers in Canada, different provinces are making plans to
increase employee wage rate to $15 per hour. Hopefully, Alberta is set to raise their minimum wage to
$15 in October, 2018 and Ontario in January, 2019 (Lowe - Global News, 2017) while British Columbia
will follow suit in 2021 (Morton & Benning – Global News, 2017).

In British Columbia, this current wage of $11.35 was set in accordance with the recent increase that
came into effect from September 15, 2017, and there would be another increase by June 1, 2018, to
$12.65 per hour. This is proposed in reflection of Consumer Price Index (CPI) otherwise known as Cost
of Living Adjustment (COLA), and to boost the income level of B.C residents (BC Minimum Wage
Factsheet, 2018). This reduced the national average of employees earning minimum wage to 6.9
percent (BC Government News, 2017).

For the telecommunication industry, it is essential for companies to extrinsically motivate employees by
increasing wages and incentives, up to or above industry level, so that they can meet up with standard
of living; this will help reduce turnover of employees who may be thinking of exploring other jobs with
better pay rates. Increased wages also makes it possible to compete favourably with other service
providing agents in other industries.

Furthermore, the labour force survey for December 2017 by Statistics Canada (2018) recorded a 5.7%
decline in unemployment (the lowest since comparable data became available in January 1976). This
means that, there are more employment opportunities, and thus if employees are offered wages below

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national average, or not given motivating options in an organization, they will quit. Therefore, wage
adjustments and enhancing positive, non-monetary aspects of a job is essential.

2.1.3 Social Factors

Keeping employees healthy and motivated to work is essential in for any organization. Employees who
are stressed, anxious and mentally unhealthy are less motivated to work (Altrum Reconnaissance,
2014). With the prevalence of mental health issues, it is estimated that in any given year, 1 in 5
Canadians experiences a mental health or addiction problem; and by the time Canadians reach the age
of 40 years, 1 in 2 have, or have had a mental illness (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, n.d.).

With regards to wage rate, it is also established from research that Canadians in the lowest income
group are 3 to 4 times more likely than those in the highest income group to report poorly to fair
mental health (Mawani & Gilmour, 2010; Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, n.d.). This is an
indication that mental health, working conditions and good wage rate can positively affect employee
motivation to work.

People are getting more informed about working in call centres in the telecommunication industry and
the health implications. There are news reports, statements, and published articles highlighting the
complaints of employees and previous agents about the toll that aggressive sales targets and other
customer related expectations have had on their mental and physical health while on the job, and even
after they have left (Johnson, 2017). Even though the job may be flexible in terms of work scheduling,
job expectations and the hours reserved for listening to calls may cause anxiety disorders and stress,
which may make agents reconsider long term consequences of their stay in the organization.

2.1.4 Technological Factors

IBISWorld (2017) identified 250 Key Success Factors for a business and the most important for the
Telemarketing & Call Centres Industry is the ability to quickly adopt new technology. According to Beer
(2012), progressive employers are making life easier for their employees by investing in technology that
can improve experience for both agents and consumers. Therefore it is mandatory that employees are
provided with and trained to use company and industry specific tools and software like CTI (computer

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telephony integration), Ordermax, SIMPLe, BluePrints contingency, BCRIS, to help boost knowledge,
motivation and confidence as well as improve operational efficiency and productivity.

Similarly, companies that improve work processes try to provide modern technological platforms
through internet, intranet and tools which motivate and empower employees to work with the
assistance of these technologies (Hendricks, 1999), and have some level of operational autonomy,
which leads to motivation (p. 98). According to McMahon (2016), the importance of technology cannot
be overemphasized in a call centre, as these systems help, rather than hinder employees. Having
customers who have more information than agents can result in poor customer satisfaction and low
agent morale. To avoid this, empowering agents with fully integrated systems that offer full visibility
into customer interactions is necessary.

2.1.5 Conclusion
In conclusion, the general environmental analysis indicate that there are potential opportunities
available for call centre organizations to motivate employees. Considering the nature and scope of the
job role, the mental and physical health implications for employees, technological advancement, and
increase in cost/standard of living, it is essential that motivating factors (extrinsic and intrinsic) are
provided to encourage and retain employees. Remuneration should be fixed above minimum wage and
reviewed when necessary to accommodate any increase in minimum wage.

2.2 MICRO ENVIRONMENT - INDUSTRY ANALYSIS

This analysis will look at the trends in the industry, which the organization needs to focus on in order to
improve its motivation and retention strategy.

2.2.1 Industry Trends

As call centres increase in number across Canada, this industry is subject to human resource challenges
such as low employee satisfaction, morale and motivation, high absenteeism and turnover rates. Some
of the trends prevalent in the industry which bothers on employee motivation include:

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 a. Demographics of employees is predominantly young - Call centres’ labour force are
more of younger age bracket (between 15-25 years), than the overall employed labour force; and it is
predicted that by 2019, the significance of demographic pressures will be evident across Canada
(Contact Centre Canada, 2009). From research, younger Canadians in this industry generally report
more mental health problems and may have more challenges adapting to call centre jobs as opposed to
other kinds of jobs. Therefore they need to be motivated, and additional support needs to be
implemented to help address work and non-work related issues (Shepell·fgi Research Group, 2008).
With motivating factors like wages, incentives and training, they become better adjusted as they
mature and get experience; otherwise, they may leave and be replaced by other young hires that end
up with the same challenges with little or no resolution. From the Shepell·fgi research (2008), it was
established that “there is a clear reason for call centre employers to ensure that the proper programs
and policies are in place, and being well promoted, in order to better support this group within their
workforce”. Some industry players have taken to motivating young employees by investing in long term
career development, leadership trainings and formal mentoring for this category of employees.
Additionally, tuition subsidies and online career planning programs are granted to young employees to
ensure their motivation (The Career Directory, 2018).

b. Increasing number of home based agents - In 2008, the Canadian Marketing

Association noted a growing trend in home based agents (Contact Centre Canada, 2009); and this has
continually been seen as a leading trend to which most call contact companies are open to explore to
improve productivity, reduce cost, heightening job satisfaction for employees, and giving organizations
a way of retaining valuable workers who might otherwise leave (Canadian Marketing Association,
2018). Early evidence on home based agents suggested that they tended to be older and better
educated than traditional on-site younger agents; and this has been recently supported to show that
this model appeals to older workers, allowing businesses to adapt to changing demographics
(Marowits, The Canadian Press 2016).

This trend helps to increase employee motivation because it is primarily designed to cater for
employees who desire a better work life balance and from an employer’s perspective, it improves the

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psychological disposition of the employee which in turn increases productivity (Marowits, The
Canadian Press 2016).

c. Increased work place stress – As one of Canada’s largest employment sectors, it is

imperative for employers in call centres to value employees health and well-being. According to the
Shepell·fgi research (2008), call centre agents are more likely to report emotional and stress problems;
a higher percentage of agents accessed the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and reported high
stress levels, compared to the national average in all workforce sectors; there is an increase in
emotional and drug related issues in call centres; and the high risk categories of agents in the EAPs
include younger, recent hires, older, less tenured employees. If the well-being of employees are
considered, by focusing on providing high quality, appropriate training and development opportunities;
and if they are also engaged in the organization’s improvement initiative, then they will be intrinsically
motivated to work.

In BC, the Workplace Compensation legislation seeks to protect and compensate stressed out
employees and other employees dealing with workplace- related mental health conditions. The
province will join Alberta, Saskatchewan, Quebec, Yukon, Nunavut and Northwest Territories, who have
already expanded their eligibility for workplace stress benefits (Meissner-The Canadian Press, 2011).
Thus, employers are encouraged to create awareness and support mental health programs, have
trainings to help with dealing with mental health issues, review benefits programs to ensure that
employees are motivated and encouraged to work in a healthy environment (Go2HR Canada, 2017).

d. High turn-over rate – The demands of the job is such that not all employees can
handle. There is low retention rate and sometimes employees only stay for the training period.
According to Bracey (2018), the some of the reasons cited for high turn-over rate in the industry
include low wages, customer complaints, pressure to meet sales quotas, handling repetitive and
monotonous calls, sitting for long periods during shifts and other physical and psychological stress/
workloads. This is a constant battle for managers who have to deal with frequent hiring and training of
new employees. According to the author, those centres which retain employees cite incentives such as
positive rewards and recognition, and hiring experienced workers, as the reason for success. There

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should also be growth opportunities within the organization to motivate and allow for representatives
to stay within the company and work through the ranks. Although the author believes that this trend is
almost certainly not going away anytime soon.

According to Statistics Canada (2018), due to competition within and across the industry, many
organizations are seeking to attract call centre agents by offering financial incentives, training packages,
and updated technology. Those companies that cannot satisfy the needs of employees end up losing
them to those with better offers.

e. Reliance on higher skilled workers – the declining demand for outbound services has
made the industry focus on inbound services which include technical and customer support services.
These services require employers to rely more on higher skilled employees (IBISWorld, 2018). Thus to
retain these category of employees, employers have to increase wages and provide incentives to
motivate and set progression plans for them. Accordingly, with elevated industry wage expense,
revenue for the industry decreases, leading to Canadian companies outsourcing such services in low
wage countries like India, Philippines, and the Caribbean (IBISWorld, 2017). With regards to technology,
it is important to have a skilled labour pool to support advanced ICT infrastructure (Statistics Canada,
2010), since technology (software and hardware) change for the industry is high, and new technologies
will motivate and empower these employees to seamlessly provide expanded and extended services to
clients.

2.2.2 Conclusion
From the above analysis, it is evident that this industry faces high employee turnover, therefore
managers should pre-empt threats of employee exodus by looking after their valued staff. The industry
is also experiencing recent trends in technology, nature of service delivered, and employee
demographics; and trying to adapt to these changes to meet with the demands necessary to retain
employees. Organizations that do not adjust to these changes will be faced with the challenge of
having dedicated employees to deliver premium service quality; which in turn provides them with a
means of obtaining sustainable competitive advantages over rivals because high-performing service
employees are valuable, rare, inimitable and non-substitutable.

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2.3 INTERNAL ENVIRONMENT - FIRM ANALYSIS
This analysis will focus on the organization, its resources and competencies; and also compare its
motivation strategies with competitors in the industry.

2.3.1 The Organization

Since 1999, Nordia (a subsidiary of Bell Canada) has been at the forefront of advanced customer
service solutions in the telecommunications sector and today is exclusively focused on providing
services to Bell customers. These services include technical support, customer service, sales and
loyalty, directory assistance, teleconferencing, and technology-assisted relay services to facilitate
communication for hearing and speech impaired customers (Bell Canada Enterprises Inc., 2018).

To increase motivation of agents who work in more challenging positions, pay rate for different
departments may differ due to the level of work needed to be completed and complexities faced.
Agents who receive escalated call types are prone to talk to very irate customers, therefore to
compensate them for this, they are paid higher. This is why employees who request to be transferred
from one line of business (LOB) or department must be compensated according to the level of the new
LOB. Transferring to higher level call type, will result in a higher pay rate. Employees choosing to
transfer to a lower level call type will result in a decrease in their pay rate (C. McIntyre, Personal
Communication, March 6, 2018; Nordia HR Document, 2016, Appendix 1). According to Greipp (2003,
pp. 321-323), in an article about nurses who face stress and lack of recognition in their workplace, she
suggests that when there are career ladders in place for employees, there should also be salary
increase to compensate for stressful jobs with minimum recognition.

Other means of getting agents motivated to work in Nordia Nanaimo is by offering the most
competitive pay and bonuses in the industry, to high performing employees as perks to improve and
maintain performance. Most agents in Nordia Nanaimo receive escalated calls, therefore hourly wage
rate is set at $14 per hour, plus an extra $3.25 added by Bell to boost wage to $17.25 (Nordia ADP,
WorkforceNow, 2018). Recently, the company realised that most of its employees are MBA graduates
looking for motivating financial benefits. It therefore increased wages to $18.75 starting April 1, 2018
with a 40 percent increase in bonus pay-out for all Q1-Q3 agents. Therefore Q1 full time agents earn
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bonus of $900, Q2 agents get $562, and Q3 agents get $337 with an additional $200 as a hype give
away for the first 50 top agents in the site (Nordia Internal Memo, 27 March, 2018). This fairly
supersedes wages offered by industry players like Rogers, TELUS, Shaw and Cogeco, which offer about
$18.31, $16.92, $14.92 and $14.20 hourly wage rates respectively.

Since the organization prides itself in caring about employees, it tries to make sure that the workspace
cultivates an environment of respect, opportunity, fun, support and team work (Nordia – our story,
2017). There is equal opportunity to use any work space based on first come first serve (FCFS), and
every agent is entitled to the same level of support and earned incentives, irrespective of tenure. The
organization has a rest and entertainment lounge with indoor games for employees to ease off tension,
which includes video games, board games, cue sports and table soccer.

It also offers other motivating benefits like free all day parking to employees, organizes out-door events
to improve work life balance, a quiet room to meditate or rest, paid training, a Registered Retirement
Savings Plan (RRSP), medical, dental, and life insurance, and great discounts on telecommunications
products and services (Nordia – where are you located, Nanaimo, 2017).

The organization has an on-site health and wellness committee, whose duty is to support employees
with regards to mental health challenges. This committee sends out emails and articles related to well-
being, healthy eating, and work life balance. There is also a workplace safety committee that ensures
that the working environment is conducive and safe for employees to perform their duties.

An internal survey conducted in December 2017 to determine employee satisfaction revealed that 82
percent of Bell employees are likely to recommend the company to potential employees; and this
places the organization highly above the industry for having the best employee retention (Nordia – our
story, 2017). Nordia Nanaimo specifically had a 93 percent employment satisfaction rate and were also
positive to recommend the organization to friends and family (Internal Memo, 26 January, 2018).

Despite the efforts which the organization puts in to motivate its employees, Nordia Nanaimo still
experiences a high turnover rate, and recruitment of about 25 agents are made in every department
monthly, or every two months. Thus, there is an inference that the positive perception which
employees have about the company and its motivating packages is hinged more on monetary benefits
(extrinsic motivation), rather than intrinsic benefits. The organization is not able to retain agents after
14
training, or at most 6 – 12 months of employment due to burnout, pressure to make sales and mental
stress; moreover, the absence of sustainable career progression plans with commensurate monetary
and intrinsic benefits are not present.

2.3.2 Resources and Capabilities of the Company

Nordia is a prominent and largest customer solutions company that has the resources (tangible and
intangible) to motivate its workforce, some of which include – 14 contact call centres located in B.C,
Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick; 17 years in business experience (Nordia – Solutions, 2017); more
than 5,000 employees (new recruits and experienced). (Nordia – FAQ, 2017); a recognized brand name
and association with Bell Inc. Canada; partnerships, and long term relationships (Nordia – Solutions,
2017); operating capital; offices and operation floors; high technology and networks; websites and
other related sites; wide base of loyal customers; the business’s values and work culture; and an on-site
trained and experienced psychologist working in the Human Resources (HR) management, to provide
employees with help from mental and psychological health challenges due to job pressure.

The major things the Nordia Nanaimo does well are:

a. Providing premium services and ability to retain customers through well trained employees:

Employee training is usually for 4-5 weeks and cover aspects of customer service experience, technical
trouble shooting, loyalty and retention. The organisation offers one of the best training and start-up
remuneration to employees compared to similar customer service providers in this industry. This
attracts highly qualified applicants for job positions; and in addition, current employees are eligible to
claim referral bonuses for recommending qualified and successful applicants to Nordia. More so, the
organization’s unique capabilities to provide great customer service are in the collective knowledge of
people as well as the organizational system (culture) that influences the way the employees interact.
Tenured employees are eager to help new employees adapt to the Nordia environment and culture,
and cope with customer challenges they face in the workplace.

Although on the other hand, the major encouragement for employees to provide exceptional customer
services is strongly attributed to wages, and performance bonuses or benefits. This could be a
disadvantage for the organization since there may be long term consequences on retention as a result
15
of lack of intrinsic motivation or sustainable career progression plan. Even with the presence of the
organization’s Tiered Leadership Program (TLP) – Tier 1 (mentor agents), Tier 2 (floor support agents),
Tier 3 (senior support agents), and Team Managers (TM) – there are no significant improvements in
incentives and benefits, which makes it unattractive to tenured agents who may consider other
companies in different industries. To add to this, the role of a tiered leader entails helping other agents,
and this may inconvenience them from improving on their own performance and reduce their chances
of bonuses; which makes it unattractive for employees looking to satisfy financial obligations.

b. Efficiency in operational processes:

As a Canadian owned and operated business with over 17 years in the business, the organization has
the experience, and also taken time to understand the business, customers and opportunities present
in the industry. This has made it financially stable since all employees and infrastructure are located in
Canada, thus efficiency over the years comes with knowledge of customers and the market. The
organizations infrastructure, processes and customer service expertise combined with an
entrepreneurial mind-set allows it to act quickly, learn faster than competitors, be accessible and
provide personalized service to its numerous customers across the country (Nordia – Solutions, 2017).

With recruiting the right people to deliver results, providing the right training to ensure smooth growth
and sustainable success, the organization has been able to manage performance, build its brand and
build customer loyalty. It also prides itself of having the best employee retention in the industry, which
translates to lower cost, higher performance and better value (Nordia – Solutions, 2017).

On the aspect of motivation and ease of access for employees, it has implemented a system of making
work flexible for employees, whereby they can call in through an automated system to report
absenteeism due to sickness or emergency situations. They do not need to send emails or call a
manager because everything is done through automation. Employees can also trade work schedule
timings via electronic means without involving team leaders or management. All these flexibility in
work helps boost employee work and life balance.

The organization also strives to make the working environment very conducive for employees to work
effectively, to make sure they are comfortable and relaxed while working. The results from the
December 2017 survey had an overwhelming 232 positive comments with regards to the work
16
environment, management support, wages and bonuses, work schedule flexibility, teammates, and
their overall welfare experience in Nordia (Internal Memo, 2018 – Appendix 2).

On the other hand, Nordia Nanaimo has limited autonomy or independence from Bell Inc. Canada, as
most of the equipment, infrastructure, and communication processes are directly gotten from its
parent company. Sometimes there may even be inconsistencies in information received from Nordia,
and that received from Bell, with regards to policies or products. Some of the policies sent from Bell
may not consider the peculiarity of the West Coast call centre. For instance, with regards to
performance management and metric, agents are stressed to meet up with Bell policy for sales target,
customer retention rate, and cost per call, and average handle time (which was recently replaced with
average Bell time). These policies relating to performance can sometimes again be herculean to
execute in practice, especially owing to the difference in customer type, nature and peculiarity of every
call type, external factors relating to price and competition, customer experience with products/
services, cultural and regional differences of customers in different locations. Employees who cannot
meet up with these targets are overstretched and this can lead to job dissatisfaction and thereafter,
turnover. With regards to the sales aspect of performance, employees have complained about Bell’s
policy of high pressure sales (Johnson, 2017), and how this has become a “non-stop nightmare” for
them (Johnson, 2017). In addition to these, the same December 2017 survey, even with the positive
reviews, also had some negative comments which covered aspects of stress and anxiety, inconsistency
in work schedules, management’s focus on results, difficult targets, mental exhaustion, and issues of
favouritism towards some employees (Internal Memo, 2018 – Appendix 2).

2.3.3 Competitors
The competitors of Nordia Nanaimo could be direct or indirect; but when it comes to direct
competitors within the same telecommunications sector, organizations like Rogers, Cogeco, Videotron,
Shaw, Eastlink, and TELUS among others (Bell Canada Enterprise Inc., 2018) are primary competitors.
Training, delivery of customer service, marketing and sales techniques are similar in this industry, and
there is a high potential to poach experienced or tenured agents to fill positions by competitors. With
the nature of the job, organizations in this industry try to set base wage above minimum wage, and
also include incentives/bonuses to motivate employees. This is important because if employees feel
17
they are not treated fairly with regards to pay rate, they may be driven to seek higher pay with
competitors, where they have employment chances. They would prefer to be paid at reasonable
balance when comparing salaries with other workers in similar hierarchical level as competitors (Brown
et al, 2003, p. 753). The average wage for call centre customer service representatives in Canada is
$14.09 per hour (PayScale Canada, 2018); in British Columbia, the median wage is set between $14 -
$15.30 hourly (PayScale Canada, 2018) to $20 in Ontario (Call Centre Workbook, 2000). Whereas, the
current B.C minimum wage is $11.35 (BC Minimum Wage Factsheet, 2018). Some other incentives and
perks used by competitors include paid trainings, free lunches, library access, nap room, a Registered
Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) and paid health care plans.

For instance, Rogers has taken a different approach in motivating employees by compensating
performance based on team results rather than individual performance and this helps reduce an overly
competitive environment. Again, in order to reduce stress, and improve health and wellness, the
company launched an initiative with the help of Scienta Health, to offer advice on diet, health
challenges and give out health-monitoring tools like pedometers to encourage a change. These changes
have helped increase employee motivation, satisfaction and overall corporate productivity, including
sales. The program is now being considered for Roger’s more than 6,000 customer service employees
(Beer, 2012). Recently, the company was awarded as one of Canada’s top 100 employers based on
some of its impactful strategies concerning employees like redesigning it’s workplace to suit employee
needs, providing long term employee opportunities, organising leadership and mentorship trainings,
offer tuition subsidies and new graduate leadership programs for young employees, among others (The
Career Directory, 2018). These make the company culture refreshingly modern and appealing to
employees.

Another telecommunication company TELUS, has adopted the work from home model for its call
centre employees, whereby they have the opportunity to work from home in order to help motivate
them and reduce work stress. This is based on the perception that employees are more motivated to
work and are friendlier people answering the phones while working at home, thus, leading to happier
customers (Beer, 2012).

18
Nordia Nanaimo faces threat of indirect competition from other competitors in the call centre business
like the financial service institutions, health care institutions, the hospitality industry, utility companies,
government departments and retail industry. This is because value is placed on the training agents’ get
on customer service, relationship building and management. These give agents’ opportunities for
career progression and diversifying to a different industry with already gained transferable skills. More
so, an added advantage of sales skills and retention capabilities make these institutions more attractive
to agents, especially with regards to perceived status, long term financial and professional benefits. The
banking industry sets competitive wages between $17 - $20 per hour; with TD bank hourly rate at
about $17.40 and Scotia Bank rate at $18.96 (Indeed, 2018).

The home based agent program was recently launched by Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) as a motivation
and retention strategy. One employee faced a family relocation to Halifax. The RBC team was
disappointed to lose such a valued employee, so it set up a home-based workstation for this employee
to take calls from home. Another employee in its Vancouver centre had to miss eight weeks of work
because of a severe allergy, so RBC set him up at home as well; so also an employee a disability who
was allowed to take service calls in a conducive and convenient location, after experiencing challenges
with the previous physical work environment (Canadian Marketing Association, 2018).

Westjet is also another company awarded for great customer services; and this is achieved because the
company values its call centre employees and motivates and satisfies their needs (Beer, 2012).

Chiang, Jang, Canter, & Prince (2008) further postulate that individuals select the option with the
highest motivational forces (p. 328); for instance in the hotel service industry, these may include pay,
monetary bonuses or benefits, opportunities for advancement and promotion opportunities for
increased job responsibility, recognition from managers, colleagues, customers, and family, challenging
work, feelings of accomplishment, development of self-esteem, good working conditions, good work
schedules, job security, and being regarded as a good employee (p. 330).

19
2.3.4 Conclusion
Consequently, it is evident that most call centres focus on wages and monetary benefits to motivate
employees. Although some call centres have begun to explore other ways to intrinsically motivate
employees, like making them work from home, and investing in their personal growth. When
comparing Nordia with other competitors, the organization is considerable doing well to motivate its
employees with extrinsic monetary factors. This is why it has the best retention rate in the industry. On
the other hand, there is room for improving its intrinsic motivating factors in order to retain employees
for the long term, or face risks from its direct and indirect competitors who can poach their agents as a
result of similar job needs and appealing career opportunities.

3 SECTION 3 – LITERATURE REVIEW

Motivation as a term/act is difficult to define or measure, as this is subjective and open to different
interpretations. It is often implied that it plays an important role, but the question is how and what role
does it play? Moreover, how best can an organization induce motivation? How will the organization
retain its finest employees, especially considering that employees are regarded as the most important
assets (Fulmer & Ployhart, 2014, p. 161)?

3.1 The Role of Motivation and How an Organization can Induce Motivation

In assessing the role of motivation and the relationship between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation on
employee performance, Makki & Abid (2017), conducted a survey which included 150 employees (80
males, 70 females), between the ages 20-70 years. The participants differed according to age, gender,
job designation, marital status, and job place. The study survey showed a significant relationship and
impact of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation on performance. Thus when employees are intrinsically
motivated, they practice activities for the interest and enjoyment those activities provide and they
typically perform at relatively high levels; and when individuals are extrinsically motivated, they take

20
part in actions in search for benefits they wish such as money, reputation, or publication of journals (p.
42).
The Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory and the Herzberg’s two-factor theory have been used to
illustrate the essence of employee motivation and how organizations can induce motivation. These will
be revisited below, using empirical studies.

Based on the theory of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, Rasskazova, Ivanova, & Sheldon (2016) conducted
two studies to measure low level need satisfaction in terms of security and financial satisfaction, and
high level need satisfaction in terms of autonomy, competence and relatedness. The first study
included 4,708 respondents sampled from six Russian regions and between the ages of 18 – 75 years,
while the second study included 10,827 workers from 10 Russian regions ranging from 16 – 77 years
old.

Figure 4: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs illustrating levels of motivation

Source: Cynthia Okafor

In both studies, both the lower level and higher level need satisfaction sets had strong main effects
upon many positive work outcomes, including intrinsic motivation and organizational commitment.
Although in the second study, it was shown that satisfaction of high-level needs had slightly larger

21
effects on outcomes and performance when combined with satisfaction of low-level need. The
indicators of motivation for this research included employee well-being, security, salary, work
engagement, work achievement, intrinsic work motivation like autonomy and competence,
organizational commitment, burnout, boredom and alienation at work. One of the factors that
negatively affected intrinsic motivation was competence, whereby some employees felt that their job
position did not fit with their abilities.

Sanjeev & Surya (2016), in determining whether the Hertzberg’s two-factor theory holds immense
relevance in employee motivation efforts conducted two surveys as an empirical verification. The pilot
survey had 149 respondents and used an online snowballing technique to recruit respondents who
were sent the survey questionnaire link. The second confirmatory survey conducted had 450
respondents and it used a multi stage cluster sampling to recruit the respondents. The results
indicated that, motivating factors had a role in inducing or influencing job satisfaction; and these
include - clarity of role and responsibility, recognition, ability utilisation, organisational stability and
prospects, independence and autonomy, co-worker relation, morality, creativity and communication
satisfaction. On the other hand, hygiene factors like job security, policy fairness and compensation,
showed no influence on job satisfaction; however, it co-varied significantly with the motivating factors,
indicating that the hygiene factors cannot be neglected while motivating employees (p. 167-168).

For example ‘organisation’s growth prospect’ may cause job satisfaction to an employee but when it
does not result in ‘higher salaries’ for the employees it may not have any effect on employee’s
satisfaction and rather may play a contradictory role. Similarly, recognition will improve job satisfaction;
however when there is no fairness in recognition of the employee, it may be counterproductive. Thus it
is imperative that the practicing managers liberally use the motivating factors to enhance the job
satisfaction level of employees while ensuring satisfaction levels with the hygiene factors (p. 168-169).

22
Figure 5: Herzberg’s Two-Factor principle
Source: Cynthia Okafor
To further illustrate and show the validity of the Herzberg’s theory, and how important is the
understanding of employee work motivation in a customer service oriented business, Lundberg,
Gudmundson, Andersson, Mittuniversitetet, Institutionen för samhällsvetenskap, & Fakulteten för
humanvetenskap (2009) conducted an exploratory research using data collected through
questionnaires and in-depth interviews from a sample of 613 employed respondents. The results
showed that hygiene factors were important for the general satisfaction of the workers at their place of
work; however, in order to motivate employees, the results suggest that the growth needs (motivating
factors) needed to be fulfilled as well. This implies that in order to get motivated employees,
management needs to give their employees responsibility and create platforms for feedback. This could
help improve employees’ intrinsic value and they will be able to develop themselves in their
occupational role. It is also imperative to provide the employees with information, knowledge and
training (p. 897).

The result also showed that different categories of workgroups have different needs. Some employees
are more interested in intrinsic motivating factors (hygiene) like team building and co-worker relations,
while some other employees took wage-level to be more important for their wellbeing at work (p.
897). Although the underlying conclusion from this research is that, motivation of employees is an
23
essential feature for any successful organization, and the extent to which an employer is able to
motivate employees is important for the overall success of the organization on its markets (p. 890).

Another way an organization can induce motivation is through supportive communication, with an
effective feedback system. A study conducted by Chiang, Jang, Canter, & Prince (2008), showed that
communication is an important tool to motivate employees. The study was carried out in two phases –
An elicitation study administered to 33 hotel managers, supervisors, and employees from 6 hotels; the
results of the elicitation study were similar to results in the literature pertaining employee motivation.
Pay, advancement opportunities, monetary bonus, and recognition from managers and colleagues
were found as primary motivators for hotel employees (p. 330). A further survey of 289 employees,
consisting of 84 (29.1%) males and 203 (70.2%) females, between the ages 17 – 70 years, was
conducted to determine the effect of communication on motivating employees. The results showed
that group of employees with communication satisfaction were more motivated and willing to work
harder. They strongly believed that if they met performance expectations, they would receive greater
rewards, and wanted better job outcomes than the low communication satisfaction group (p. 349). The
managers were open to provide feedback, listen to ideas, and offer guidance to solve problems made
communication successful (p. 333, 347). Therefore, it was concluded that through successful
communication, feedback, encouraging job involvement, and truly caring for employees, they learn
what they are expected to learn, find out how to do their jobs and become aware of what others think
of their work.

3.2 Employee Retention through Motivation

Call centres in recent times have been referred to as “sweatshops of the western world” or the “new
dark satanic mills” (Marr and Parry, 2004, p.56) due to the nature of work, the level of mental,
psychological and physical stress which the job entails. The authors, based on the Fujitsu case study
they conducted, state that for this industry to succeed and for an organisation to remain sustainable/
competitive in the industry, it requires a combination of technology, process and human talent to meet
with its complex operations (p. 56). Call centres are prone to high employee turnover, therefore
managers should pre-empt threats of employee exodus by looking after their valued staff now
(Sylvester, 2010).

24
Therefore, in order to retain employees who will have affective commitment to the organization, they
need to be motivated and empowered, to be willing to invest effort to help the organization grow. To
buttress this, Cai, Loon & Chan (2016) in their research established that empowerment has a positive
impact on performance and employee job satisfaction, making them be in a better frame of mind to
deal with customers. The questionnaire based survey included 86 sample respondents, including 50
females and 30 males. The research further showed results that service employees who are
psychologically empowered are likely to be proactive and show initiative in problem resolution,
because they have autonomy and authority to make decisions, improve the level of services they
provide, thus generating a feeling of responsibility and accountability. They deliver premium service
quality which provides organisations with a means of obtaining sustainable competitive advantages
over rivals because high-performing service employees are valuable, rare, inimitable and non-
substitutable (p.1).

Albrecht & Andreetta (2011) in their research also note the importance of training and development
initiatives aimed at promoting empowering leadership, empowerment and engagement in service
contexts. Such feelings of empowerment led employees to feel motivated and engaged and also led to
feelings of connection and belongingness to their organization. Furthermore, when employees
experience such affective commitment they will be less inclined to entertain thoughts of leaving the
organization (p. 234). The sample on which conclusions were based consisted of 139 employees of a
community health service (who participated), out of the 424 surveys distributed, and most of the
respondents were female – 70 percent. This is further supported by a recent research by Bani,
Yasoureini & Mesgarpour (2014), engaging a much larger sample size of 270 respondents and using two
questionnaires to measure the effects of employee empowerment and their commitment to stay or
leave the organization. The results showed that empowerment is positively related to commitment and
reduces turnover intention.

In Mutale, Ayles, Bond, Mwanamwenge, & Balabanova, (2013), job satisfaction and motivation were
identified as critical to the retention and performance of health workers. A baseline survey was
conducted in 42 out of 48 facilities, with 96 respondents participating. The result indicated that
continuous in-service training with an environment that encouraged higher wages and incentives to
reward high quality performance was essential to employee retention. To this end, an understanding of
25
employee motivation is necessary to design systems with the right incentives. Some of the factors
which were found to negatively influenced retention were employee burnout, poor pay, stress and
work overload. This were the reasons why most employees confirmed that they were prone to eaving
their current posts in search for greener pastures (p. 3).

3.3 Research Methodology

3.3.1 Research Approach/ Data Collection

The research approach for this paper is exploratory to examine the relationship between employee
motivation and retention; and how motivational factors may help increase performance and reduce
turnover rates in Nordia Nanaimo. The result of this research will also help the organization improve its
retention strategy. The analytical framework was formulated based on data available and the adopted
methodology; thereafter, leading to recommendations and conclusion.

The data used for this paper include:

c. Primary data from the Organization’s internal documents like policies, forms, emails, surveys
and statements from employees; as well as personal communication with members of senior
management.

d. Secondary data from websites’ information, published research reports, journals, articles, online
library materials, peer reviewed and scholarly literatures, and any other relevant information
gathered other than through primary research.

With regards to the Nordia 2017 survey report on employee satisfaction, a reasonable sample of
employees were sent questionnaires; Nordia Nanaimo had 91 percent participation rate. Out of the
participating sample, 92.7 percent of employees agreed that they are likely to recommend Nordia as an
employer to friends and family, which could deduce employee satisfaction. The recommendation rate
varied across different departments: client service inbound - 97.1 percent; client service outbound –
90.1 percent; household loyalty team – 92.1 percent; Quad – 88.2 percent (Internal Memo, January 26,
2018). The survey had 232 positive comments in relation to employee motivation, some of them which

26
included: an amazing work environment with supportive and accommodating staff; great pay, great
benefits and bonuses; call type is hard, but management does so much to make work fun; the people
are approachable, motivating and they care about each other; a great leadership development
program; caring and empathetic management.

Although, there were about 17 negative comments, some of which include: job being too stressful and
causing anxiety; inconsistency in scheduling; targets are too hard to achieve and management is too
focused on results; and calls being mentally exhausting and upsetting, requiring a stronger response to
mental health. The results challenged management to focus on some key objectives regarding
employees in 2018. These areas of attention and motivation will be on improving time off request
process, giving more recognitions, individualized support programs for employees, stress busters and
self-care support.

Survey results since 2014 have shown positive participation and recommendation rates. In 2014,
participation was 86 percent and recommendation was 89 percent; in 2015, participation was 85
percent and recommendation was 93 percent; and in 2016, participation was 93 percent and
recommendation was 88 percent (Internal Memo, January 26, 2018).

All data collected for this research was only used for internal references only.

27
4 SECTION 4 – POTENTIAL INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT
This section will examine international approaches used to motivate and retain employees in call
centres and the telecommunication industry. Various countries are identified and compared with
Nordia Nanaimo, to see how the organization may improve and sustain its motivation and retention
policies.

The nature of call centres in different countries is similar in terms of markets, service offerings,
organizational structure and characteristics of workforce (Holman et al, 2007, p. 2). Although according
to the authors, despite these similarities, significant differences lie in policies and human resource
practices across countries; therefore they grouped countries into 3 categories: the first being
coordinated or ‘social market’ economies, with relatively strong labour market
regulations and relatively influential labour market institutions (Austria, Denmark, France, Germany,
Israel, Netherlands, Spain and Sweden); the second are liberal market economies, with more relaxed
labour market regulations and less influential labour market institutions (Canada, Ireland, UK and USA);
and finally, we have the recently industrialized or transitional economies (Brazil, India, Poland, South
Africa and South Korea).

28
It was discovered that the quality of job in call centres was higher in coordinated economies and they
had lower turnover rates and wage distribution than call centres in liberal and transitional economies,
with weak labour market regulations. (p. 2). With regards to job quality and employee wellbeing, job
discretion and low performance monitoring (which is an indicator of how motivated an employee will
be to work effectively in an organization), 41 percent of call centres in coordinated economies have
high job quality, and 24 percent have low job quality. Whereas, in liberal and transitional economies,
more call centres have low to very low quality jobs (48 percent and 50 percent) than high to very high
quality jobs (25 percent and 21 percent) (p. 6).

4.1 Germany
In Germany for instance, there has been an increase in the number of call centres and call centre jobs.
In order to combat demotivation of employees due to wage rate, working environment, limited
autonomy and so on, the industry is regulated by collective agreements or works council agreements
which cover aspects of wages structure, work time regulation, breaks, ergonomic workplace designs,
trainings (all of which help to boost employee enthusiasm to work) (Duell, Duell and Leitzke, 2014, p.
7). There are rules with regards to wages and bonuses for employees as well as breaks to help with the
psychological health of employees. Other research by Shire, Holtgrewe & Kerst (2017), also stated that,
some companies in Germany have also tried to improve the enthusiasm of employees to work by
focusing particularly on ergonomics, which in turn improved efficiency due to better working
conditions. Based on collective agreements, these companies were commissioned by trade unions and
employers to produce a checklist that lays down some important criteria for the ergonomic design of
call centre work stations. There are laws which govern factors like screen size, keyboard design,
headset, work station layout, which help reduce stress and promote employee well-being. An
investigation further revealed that call centre agents with their own work stations display significantly
fewer psychosomatic problems than those who work at different work stations each day (p. 77-78).
Therefore, in order to improve employee motivation, friendliness, and ability to handle different
customers and their inquiries, call centres in Germany have put an effort into making the work
environment more personal and accommodating for employees (Benninghoven, Bindzius, Braun,
Cramer, Ellegast, Flowerday, Genz, Heyden, Pfeiffer, Schittly, Schweer & Stamm, 2005).

29
Nordia Nanaimo can apply the German approach of ergonomics by giving employees permanent work
stations or spaces; because currently employees’ sit on first come first serve basis. This makes it
inconvenient for employees, who sometime come to work and have to scout for available seats, and
change their computer and phone log in information regularly. Again, even though employees are
allowed to personalize their work stations by having pictures of their family and loved ones on the
desk, or other personal belongings, the seats are not permanent, and moving personal belongings (and
work headsets) daily causes frustration for employees before the start of work.

4.2 United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, about 3 percent of the workforce are employed by call centres, and there has
been a cautious approach taken towards motivating employees in the form of rewards and recognition
(Sylvester, 2017). This industry, even though it employs about 800,000 people, most employees spend
just two years working in the industry before moving on due to the working conditions, low wage,
monotonous tasks, which could result in decreased job satisfaction and depression (Amble, 2004). In
fact, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development – CIPD, which is the professional
association for human resource management professionals in the UK, reportedly places this industry
among those with the highest turnover rates, with the cost of staff replacement estimated to be about
£6,125 (call representatives) to £9,000 (senior managers) (Sylvester, 2017). The author suggests that, in
order to avoid the threat of turnover and improve retention, employees should be offered aspirational
incentives for achieving long term goals; and it is time to re-introduce the necessary performance
incentives to motivate the workforce.
An investigation conducted by Malhotra, Budhwar & Prowse (2007), with the help of a large survey in
four call centres in the UK showed that work rewards were beneficial for continuously motivating
employees. The research conducted was to examine the relationship between rewards (extrinsic and
intrinsic), with the three components of commitment. The results showed that intrinsic motivation like
promotional opportunity, participation in decision making, role clarity and autonomy were effective for
affective commitment (p. 2114 - 2115). With regards to normative commitment, both intrinsic and
extrinsic motivation were essential. For instance, the “benefits aspect” was crucial to satisfy and fulfil
the idea of psychological contract for the employee. In addition to this, other intrinsic benefits would
include autonomy, feedback and training (p. 2115). Finally, for the continuing commitment of
30
employees, only extrinsic rewards had a significant influence on this component (p. 2116). Thus, the
results conclude that all three components are vital and none can be ignored, since, continuance
commitment leads to normative, and normative further leads to affective commitment; but it clearly
showed that intrinsic rewards were powerful, and this helped to redesign strategies in the call centres
(2117).
Research conducted by Brannan (2015), on call centres in the UK revealed that in addressing the issues
of high turnover, it is usually apparent that it is based on locus of extrinsic factors like pay, reward and
work-life balance; and also increasing scope of employee engagement or commitment or autonomy
thereby providing more opportunities for motivating employees (p. 803 – 804). In addition, initial
screening and training of employees, in order to select those who were a great fit to seamlessly align
with the organizational context and culture, was used to reduce turnover; since these employees were
more capable of working based on intrinsic factors like their values and beliefs which tended to help
them cope with the demands of the job (p. 804). From the above, it clearly shows a relationship
between employee motivation and retention. Therefore, the more motivated employees are, the lower
the rate of turnover for the organization.

For Nordia Nanaimo one major area for improvement would be on the aspect of role clarity; and also
employee feedback. From the above research by Malhotra, Budhwar & Prowse (2007), these emerged
as the most powerful indicators of affective and normative commitment. Employees in most
department are faced with the responsibility of having similar roles which may cause confusion for
customers. For example, the retention team, which should focus on retaining loyal customers is
pressured to make sales (which is the primary duty of the sales department, and the outbound save to
sell department, or the save-back department). This pressure makes them lose focus on their primary
duty of retaining customers by trying to offer them best value at affordable price; and rather they use
manipulative methods to sell products to customers. This pressure sometimes even makes retention
agents fraudulently put products on customers’ accounts, just to meet up with sales targets and
improve their KPIs. There is also no culture of employee feedback especially when they are coached for
positive or negative reasons. Supervisors do not encourage agents to send feedback except during the
first weeks of training.

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4.3 Ireland
In Ireland, the emphasis on customer satisfaction in organisations has led to the huge growth in the call
centre sector, thus Crosby (2015), in investigating employee commitment in Irish call centres, and
based on studies conducted, realised that employees who have job satisfaction were able to reach
management expectations with regards to performance, and eager to stay with the organization. The
author links satisfaction with motivation stating that pay, rewards, promotional opportunities, trainings
and reduced scripting help motivate employees and improve retention in Irish call centres. Apart from
these, in Dublin, those older in age had higher organisational commitment levels than those who were
younger in age, therefore more emphasis had to be put into training programs to help encourage and
motivate younger employees. According to Holman’s research of 2007, unlike in Austria where training
is done for about 4 weeks, in Ireland, training takes about 25 weeks to complete, and thus takes an
average of 6 months for call centre agents to become proficient on the job. This level of training helps
them to be better at what they do, become more motivated and enthusiastic about their roles since
they understand the value of their work with the success of the organization.

Even though employees in Nordia Nanaimo are trained intensively for up to 5 weeks, and are
incentivised with adequate wages and industry competitive bonuses, this is not enough to motivate all
categories of employees. With regards to older and domestically engaged employees, the work
schedule is not designed to cater to the commitment of this category of employees, even though these
employees may have higher commitment levels than younger employees. Employees with families or
children, and older employees find it difficult to cope with the work timings due to health requirements
and/or domestic responsibility.

4.4 India and Pakistan

Another country which has a significant impact/influence in this industry is India. The country is
renowned for its call centre industry and one of the largest provider of customer services in the world
(Crosby, 2015).

According to Budhwar, Varma, Malhotra, Mukherjee (2009) reports show that out sourced call centre
employees experience a number of health, social and psychological problems and these do not
motivate them to work; and when asked about the three main motivators for employees, money (good

32
wages), career opportunities and work environment emerged as the key factors that attracted them to
work in call centres (p. 17). A questionnaire based survey led to the finding that the most important
factor that emerged as key reason for high turnover was restricted growth and career development
opportunities (p. 18). Due to the impact of this business on the Indian economy, the government and
the corporate sector are closely collaborating to address the issues; unfortunately, the authors reveal
that this is far from day to day practice in several call centre organizations. Therefore, there are
proposals to improve internal marketing, which aims at satisfying the needs of employees so that they
can deliver quality service for customers. Thus, companies will need to attract, develop, train, motivate
and retain qualified employees through job products (p. 22). Some of these include industry specific
training programmes, career planning, fun in the workplace, family involvement and employee welfare.
Therefore, this implies that India is still a work in progress with regards to the issue of employee
motivation.

The telecommunication industry in Pakistan also faces similar challenges. The issue of motivating
employees so that they perform better, thus leading to lower turnover rates has also been a problem
for managers and supervisors in this sector. Average turnover rate in the call centre industry is 30% to
45% and this is caused by factors like non-competitive reward system, high stress, unpleasant physical
and interpersonal working conditions, monotony, poor direct supervision, limited chances of career
advancement and workload (Khan and Du, 2014, p. 207). A survey was conducted by the authors, and
it was realised that employees were not happy with their jobs primarily because of lack of
compensation and benefits, workload and job conditions which is not commensurate with the stress
the job brings. One of the results from this survey was that there was a significant relationship between
compensation and benefits and turnover intentions (p. 210); so also with job condition and turnover
intention (p. 211). This has led telecommunication companies to take the issue serious and invest on
retention of employees (p. 211).

Putting all these contexts into perspective and comparing with Nordia Nanaimo, in as much as
employees in the organization are paid reasonable wages with additional bonuses, it could be deduced
that the organization can improve its motivation strategies by applying some of the approaches
adopted in these countries to improve commitment and retention.

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5 SECTION 5 – OPTION GENERATION AND ANALYSIS
In this section, five (5) options are generated to address the issue of motivating employees in order to
retain them, based on the situational analysis discussed above.

5.1 Option 1: Training and Development

An important practical path for the organization to take would be the development of training
programs to enhance employees’ emotion regulation skills in order to cope with customer
mistreatment (Grandey, Dickter & Sin, 2004; Groth, 2005; Rupp, McCance, Spencer & Sonntag, 2008)
and to improve emotion regulation strategies. This is very important since agents often have to resolve
complaints, inquiries and verbal aggression from customers, thus experiencing more emotional labour
and dissonance. This may lead to health impairment and reduce motivation (Molino, Emanuel, Zito,
Ghislieri, Colombo, & Cortese, 2016).

Even though employees undergo trainings in Nordia, these trainings cover majorly aspects of Bell’s
products and services, and customer service experience. This is why the company has the capability to
provide premium services and retain customers through its well-trained employees, as explained in the
situational analysis. But then, the organization needs to realise that, in order to improve its internal
marketing strategies, employees should be viewed as its internal customers whose needs and wants
34
must be satisfied (Budhwar, Varma, Malhotra, Mukherjee, 2009, p. 22); and all aspects of their health,
social and psychological wellbeing is essential to have a positive impact on any internal marketing
activities to be carried out in order to motivate them (Budhwar, Varma, Malhotra, Mukherjee, 2009, p.
9). Therefore, it is important for the organization to offer periodic (quarterly) trainings on stress
management, to discuss the importance and benefits of taking regular breaks at work, using the quiet
room to vent off steam, taking a walk during break, socializing, rehydrating, healthy diets, and having a
good sleep. These will help alleviate stress both at work and at home. There should also be trainings
which cover development of some personal skills like self-awareness, conflict management, time
management, team building, emotional and cultural intelligence, to help employees with effectively
handling irate customers and fellow colleagues. Moreover, according to Molino et al., (2016) “recent
studies have maintained the importance of improving emotional intelligence (Boyatzis et al., 2002;
Gabriel et al., 2016), emotional self-efficacy (Pugh et al., 2011), and peer-rated emotional competence
(Giardini and Frese, 2006) through training programs, to help employees effectively engage in
emotional labour” (p. 9).

The benefit of this type of training and development is that, it helps the organization invest in its
employees and increases their commitment since their physical and mental health is positively
affected. This could lead to retention too, because employees will appreciate the effort of management
in their wellbeing. It will also improve their work performance.

On the other hand, this strategy will need commitment in human and capital resources, as there will be
costs incurred to train employees, and potential revenue foregone by the organization on the days that
employees do not have to work for the trainings. This training requires adequate time, and if important
aspects are missed or rushed, it will defeat its purpose. Furthermore, the organization may face the
threat of losing a well-trained employee to another organization which offers higher wages and
incentives.

5.2 Option 2: Career Advancement Opportunities with Fringe Benefits

As discussed in the situational analysis, even though the organization offers a Tiered Leadership
Program (TLP) which allows agents progress to Tier 1 (mentor agents), Tier 2 (floor support agents),
Tier 3 (senior support agents), and Team Managers (TM) (in the order of hierarchy); this does not come

35
with substantial benefits. It rather burdens employees with extra responsibility in helping other agents,
rather than improving on their own performance. Therefore, to make this leadership program
successful, the organization could reflect a salary increase of about 10 percent for Tier 1 positions, 20
percent for Tier 2 positions, and 30 percent for Tier 3 positions. This should also come with more
health and welfare benefit packages, like gym and recreational discounts, car servicing discounts and so
on. This will help align the perception which agents have, that increased financial rewards are linked
with career advancement through the tiered program; thus attracting and motivating them to look
forward to taking up such roles, in terms of improving esteem or self-actualization. There should also
be provision for such agents to participate more in decision making, as well as have higher level of
autonomy to make decisions. This will boost creativity and thinking outside the box and motivate them
intrinsically.

Also, with regards to the calibre of employees which Nordia Nanaimo recruits, a portion of the
workforce include students on part-time employment; who see this as a transitional opportunity to
progress in their career plans after graduation. Flowing from the hierarchy of needs, apart from the
desire to get increased wages, bonuses and recognition, their motivating factors will change from time
to time. For example, the student employee may majorly be interested in financial stability to take care
of basic needs like rent, food, primary welfare. But as a graduate, there is a high tendency to pursue
career advancement and feel some level of esteem in relation to job roles, which can only be satisfied
through career advancement opportunities with assigned benefits.

According to Finlayson & Peacock (2017), motivating packages help to attract and retain the younger
age bracket; therefore, if the organization improves its motivating packages, coupled with career
advancement, these category of employees will be willing to stay back and progress with the
organization. In addition to this, it will boost the commitment level of employees, since they will be
aware of the hard work and dedication it takes to climb the leadership ladder and attain such benefits.

Apart from this, another way to motivate tiered agents, is to increase their participation, especially in
the decision making process or team meetings. They will feel more valued and motivated, and thus be
more productive. A study by Wolf and Zwick (2002) found out that when employees are involved in a

36
company’s decision making, they feel like a vital member of the team, and increases their participation,
thus enhancing workplace productivity.

Similarly, there should be increased level of autonomy, which should come with this career
advancement, so that tiered agents do not rely on team managers, in order to get promotional codes
or special discounts for customers. In Nordia, tiered agents (just like every other new agents) are still
subject to using the same promotional offers for customers, and even when they are called upon to
help a new agent, still need to consult with a team manager to get special discounts to satisfy
customers’ demands. Research done by Oldham & Cummings, 1996 showed that autonomous
employees were described by their managers to be more creative, flexible, and capable of effectively
resolving customer needs. It will reduce the likelihood of tiered agents having to meet team managers
for input to help resolve customer minor billing challenges or loyalty compensations. Thus managers
can have more time to focus on other important issues.

In the short run, this may be a burden to the company as this strategy will increase financial cost for
the company as the budget estimated for employees will rise by approximately 10 – 20 percent. There
will be increased budget to pay for the wage increment and other benefits. Similarly, another con for
the organization is that as the number of tiered agents increase, there will be the need to increase
budget to provide and manage more incentives.

The benefit of this strategy will be appreciated in the long run, as there will be improved motivating
factors like bolstering of employee morale, work engagement and esteem, which will positively aid in
employee commitment, and also reduce the cost of new recruitments caused by employee turnover.

5.3 Option 3: Active Employee Feedback System and Suggestion Platform

In Nordia Nanaimo, the major source of feedback from employees is obtained while conducting side-
by-side coaching sessions with Tiered agent leaders at their work space. This puts pressure on new
agents since they would not like to hear they are not performing optimally. Therefore, constructive
criticism needs to be given with caution, starting with areas where the agent has done well, or
improved in, or highlighting the strengths of the agent. This will make the agent more comfortable and
open to receive feedback on areas that need improvement. Negative feedback on performance can
diminish intrinsic motivation, since employees connect feedback with their perceived competence
37
(Ryan & Deci, 2002). These feedback (coaching) sessions could be held in private one-on-one meetings
for about 15 minutes, and not just by sending emails. Each session should close on a positive note by
giving reassurance of better performance and highlighting the agent’s strengths again. This will
guarantee that the agent leaves, being more motivated and ready to take corrections and make
improvements. Although it is difficult labelling it as either intrinsic or extrinsic motivation, due to the
fact that it has a little bit of both when it portrays praise and commendation, Ryan & Deci (2002, pp.
59, 64) suggest that either way it has a positive impact on motivation.

Additionally, effective feedback sessions could be by mode of role play or simulations; whereby a
recent call interaction between an agent and a customer is used to demonstrate ways to improve. An
agent could act like a customer, and the supervisor as the agent. With this scenario, it is easier to grasp
or understand from the supervisor, what the agent should do in particular situations, and consequently
be able to tweak their approach. This will help agents learn new skills and be more confident when
they handle further calls.

The organization should also implement different feedback channels apart from those that come from
the side-by-side and call evaluation sessions. Other feedback channels could be by (i) feedback forms,
which could be sent by emails (in order to improve paperless communication); (ii) peer-to-peer
assessment, where colleagues who have a more work relationship with an agent, will be in a better
position to assess fellow agents; (iii) anonymous feedback system where by feedback is also seen as a
two way traffic, and agents can have the opportunity to voice or write out their opinions about
supervisors or team managers freely and anonymously, and recommend ways which the leaders can
improve supportive communication and effectiveness with them. These models or channels are not
currently in place in Nordia Nanaimo and this makes some agents feel demotivated, supressed or
locked in a box in terms of creativity and independence.

With regards to a suggestion platform, employees are in constant communication with customers and
can give first-hand information about some practical customer complaints, which top management can
implement to avoid future hassles on the same issue. Some of these issues which need proper
resolutions from top management are what cause psychological pressure on employees. For instance,
older customers call in and make suggestions about personal needs like seniors’ discount or a life line

38
button incorporated into their home phones; some other customers ask for better loyalty discounts or
have issues regarding Bell’s harassing telemarketing calls, or suggest ways to improve customer
experience. With no suggestion platform in place at Nordia Nanaimo (which serves as a link between
customers and management), most customer requests fall on deaf ears, and ends with the call. These
prolonged cycle of unanswered issues will keep coming up until they get to the top level for resolution.
With an active suggestion platform, it will help the organization, and its parent company listen to
customers and employees as well. It will also help employees submit new ideas to improve work, and
managers can also get involved by submitting challenges or asking for suggestions on problems
encountered and ways to solve it, thereby making the necessary stakeholders take reasonable action.

The benefit of this strategy is that, feedback improves agent/supervisor relationship; and an active
suggestion platform creates an avenue for the organization to listen to its employees thereby increasing
their interest to work. In the long run, these will help boost agent motivation, since there will be
improved confidence and a sense of independence to handle tasks.

On the other hand, this strategy will need more of human resource and cost of time to achieve. Also,
employee feedback and suggestions may not be executed because not all employees are willing to be
forthcoming with their opinions, and even anonymity cannot guarantee honesty in feedback or
suggestions.

5.4 Option 4: Job Rotation

Another option which could be explored by Nordia Nanaimo is job rotation; whereby employees are
moved around to various departments within the organization. This will help employees gain exposure
in other departments and get a feel for different aspects of the job, while expanding and developing
their skills. For example, agents in the household loyalty department, can be transferred to the mobility
department; or agents in inbound departments, be transferred to the outbound department. It will
make employees feel more valuable to the company and give them a sense of value in terms of their
self-worth. It will also help to increase their level of interest and boost motivation to work. More so,
employees who feel they can do better in a different department, or who want to change job unit as a
result of cogent reasons can request to be moved, subject to further training for that role.

39
This is important for the organization because its workforce is comprised of skilled employees, the
majority of whom have university and post-graduate degrees; and these employees will need to be
motivated and challenged to stay in an organization which encourages change and dynamism, rather
than remain in a monotonous environment doing the same thing for a long time.

The organization can initially start with the option of an internal job rotation, and later proceed to liaise
with its parent company about moving or swapping employees to any of the other Nordia subsidiaries
within Canada (based on referral or agent’s request). Top five performing agents in the organization can
be selected and offered this opportunity to move or be trained for a different unit. This will create an
option for employees to engage in roles that align with their career choice and help them be motivated
to work hard to achieve such goals. As for the organization, it will benefit from internal knowledge
building and transfer, and increase in performance of employees.

This strategy requires for the human resource team to schedule such rotations in a way that every
department has the requisite number of workforce to achieve the organization’s corporate and
functional level strategies. Job rotation should be optional, and employees should be made aware that
some burden associated with changing roles or transferring to a different site will be borne by them.
For this strategy to be sustainable, it also requires the organization to conduct occasional evaluation of
employees through interviews, forums or interactions, to ascertain employees’ long term goals, and if
they align with their current roles.

The benefits of this strategy is that it helps reduce the boredom and monotony associated with the job,
which basically requires employees to do the same thing every day. This will help improve employee
morale and excitement to try something different. It also encourages employee development in
different aspects of the job, and personally helps some employees identify where they may be a great
fit within the organization.

On the other hand, job rotation can be time and money consuming since it involves rescheduling and
reassignment of roles and location for employees. There may be the possibility of having disgruntled
employees who may not be ready to bear the burden or cost associated with job rotation.

40
5.5 Option 5: Home Based Agents
This option could be explored by the company, especially since there is a trend of increasing number of
home based agents. This will create an opportunity for the organization, based on the perception that
employees are more motivated to work and are friendlier people answering the phones while working
at home, thus, leading to happier customers (Beer, 2012). The organization can design a work from
home policy to cater for certain categories of employees who cannot keep up with the inconsistency of
work scheduling. Employees with families or children, and older employees find it difficult to cope with
the work timings due to health requirements and/or domestic responsibility. This option will help them
have a better work life balance and improve the psychological disposition such employees thus leading
to increased productivity. As earlier stated in the situational analysis, evidence on home based agents
suggested that they tend to be older and better educated than traditional on-site younger agents; and
this has been recently supported to show that this model appeals to older workers, allowing businesses
to adapt to changing demographics (Marowits, The Canadian Press 2016).

The benefits of this option include – increasing job satisfaction, creating a wider range of work options
for employees, giving organizations a way to retain valuable workers who might otherwise have left,
and improving overall productivity for the organization.

On the other hand, even though this option may seem to be reducing cost for the organization, in that
the employee works from home, sometimes the cost of setting up the employee at home or at a
convenient location may be more because of the technology management needed to get the employee
up and running daily. Moreover, the organization may be at risk of not being able to account for
employee work time from home. The employee may be too relaxed and distracted while working at
home, and there are possibilities of difficulties separating home and work demands.

41
6 SECTION 6 – RECOMMENDATIONS
This section will discuss recommendations for the organization in terms of motivating employees in
order to improve its retention. It will further propose implementation plans to be followed to ensure its
execution. This section will also identify areas of further work and the limitations of this paper.

Putting into consideration, the importance of both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, and how these
two factors play a role in improving commitment, performance and retaining employees; the most
feasible recommendation from the alternatives generated in section 5 is to undertake the option 1
(training and development for employees). Although option 2 (career advancement opportunities with
fringe benefits) would also be recommended as a complementary option for a robust solution; but
emphasis for this section will be on option 1 having considered the cost implications for the
organization, ease of execution, the benefits to the employees, and the organization’s vision and values
centred on investing in people, nurturing talent and creating opportunities to surpass individual
expectations (Nordia - vision and values, 2017).

6.1 Motivating Benefit to the Employees

As stated above in section 5, these trainings will cover aspects of health, social and psychological well-
being of employees. Thus, it will be focused on offering health beneficial training, stress management
and personal development classes. The overall benefit of this is to improve the state of mind of
employees and boost intrinsic motivation to help them effectively handle irate customers and fellow
colleagues. Based on these, it would be pertinent to take this recommendation with urgency, since one
42
of the capabilities of the organization lies in its employees as a valuable resource. This option is
particularly important since from the organization’s 2018 survey, employees have complained about
lack of motivation due to the job being too stressful and causing anxiety, mentally exhausting and
upsetting calls requiring a stronger response to mental health (Internal Memo – Survey, 2018). This
training will be the most suitable response to their complaints.

6.2 Ease of Implementation

This option is much straight forward than other options and also easy to implement since it will
basically need the services of about 2 – 3 experts to deliver the trainings, for agents and supervisors
respectively. Option 2 (career advancement opportunities with fringe benefits) involves different
benefits which are meant to accrue during its implementation, and may not be as easy to execute in
the short run, unlike option 1. Similarly, option 4 (Job rotation) will also require longer time frame to
get approvals and putting modalities into place, and therefore not feasible in the short or mid run. It
will also require the involvement of other Nordia sites and departments. Moreover, student employees
may be reluctant to undertake any responsibility that jeopardises location convenience since they are
in school.

This option is also faster to implement and requires major rescheduling and booking of the training
classes with the experts; and the trainees are already assessable onsite.

Moreover, since the Organization already has an internal committee in charge of health and wellness,
which has the primary duty is to send health journals and articles via email, it could also take
advantage of this forum to set up those trainings, so as to put more weight to its effort. It makes more
practical and effective.

6.3 Cost of Execution

The cost of conducting these trainings in option 1 will be relatively low, since it is to be done
periodically (quarterly). In comparison with other options, options 2 and 4 will be continuous and
expensive to sustain in terms of setting up modalities to put into action; and even though option 3 may
be financially effective to implement, employee feedback and suggestions may not be executed
because not all employees are willing to be forthcoming with their opinions, and even anonymity
cannot guarantee honesty in feedback or suggestions.
43
Albeit that option 4 will incur continuous costs to the organization, Nordia Nanaimo could consider
adopting this, in addition to the trainings, to achieve long term results, and boosts employee
motivation both intrinsically and extrinsically. Also, option 4 is not adequate enough, except it is
combined with other motivating factors like positive perception of the organization, job satisfaction,
and continuous employee development, among other things.

These trainings, apart from helping employees recognize, manage, cope or develop resilience with
stress, can also help motivate and encourage them. The training can be programmed to run for one
week quarterly for different departments, with about 20-25 agents (who will not be taking calls)
participating daily. This will ensure that there are other agents available on the production floor on
duty.

It should also be conducted by health professionals, and possibly outside the work environment, with a
more relaxed ambience. This will make employees feel that it is not a work obligation, but more of a
personal development program. A feedback system should also be incorporated within the training
program, whereby employees give their responses, comments and reaction, and this should be
recognized by the team managers at work to better understand the employees and areas of work-life
balance they may be struggling with. This in turn, would help improve the relationship between agents
and their supervising team managers. It will also help them recognize and support the effort to combat
psychological stress and promote employee wellbeing. In fact, it would be important to create an
employee-supportive environment, rather than a managerial-controlling one since employees in Nordia
have recently complained that targets are hard to achieve, and management is too focused on results
rather than their wellbeing (Internal Memo - Survey, 2018).

6.4 Implementation
The implementation plan will consider short, mid and long run respectively.

6.4.1 Short Run Plan

This will involve the health and wellness committee drawing up the plan, preparing the proposal,
selecting the trainer/facilitator/expert and drawing up the schedules for the trainings.

44
The first three (3) months will involve setting modalities - identifying the development activities, set
targets, methods and resources to be used. Between three to six (3-6) months, the committee (which
should involve one representative from the human resource department, administration, operations,
team manager, tiered agents from each departments) should engage the services of the experts. They
will at this stage, work with the expert to discuss the set targets, draw up the training schedule and
areas which the workshops/trainings will cover – mental and physical health, stress management,
people management and career development. The committee acts as the primary communication link
between the experts and employees, in sending information regarding schedule, location and
objectives of the trainings. The objectives of the training should be aligned with the mission and vision
of the company, and the aim to improve motivation.

6.4.2 Mid Run Plan

In the mid-term, the requisite approval from management should prior be obtained. Thereafter,
between six to twelve (6-12) months, the plan should be put into action, at least for the first time. This
will help to evaluate progress early and make adjustments for long run purposes. Employee feedback
should also be implemented after the training for employees to give their responses, comments and
reaction about the training, thereafter, evaluation report based on employee feedback should be
drawn and reviewed by the committee to know what further trainings could cover.

6.4.3 Long Run Plan

In the long run, the organization will be able to manage arrangements for these periodic trainings. The
employee feedback will help also improve or eliminated areas of the training which requires attention
or have no substantial value.

For this training option, more than eighteen (18) months could be considered long term, which should
show improvements in employee commitment, enhanced knowledge in the mental and physical health
of employees.

Although it is important to point out that, in light with this implementation plan, Nordia Nanaimo,
based on the recent survey, has noted that one key area of focus this 2018 will be to provide and
organise support programs for employees’ stress busters and self-care support to improve motivation

45
and retention (Internal Memo – Survey, 2018). Therefore, these can be achieved if this
recommendation is actually implemented.

6.5 LIMITATIONS
Although this option is the most feasible and likely effective, it is not without limitations and
constraints to maintain a sustainable plan.

The organization may face resistance to continue this training due to cost (including cost of setting up
locations away from office environment); limited interest in a long term commitment by senior
management; time and scheduling requirement which serves as an extra cost to the organization;
getting suitable and qualified trainers, who will be dedicated and enthusiastic about the objectives, and
not just rushing or omitting important aspects; getting employees to attend the training and also be
committed to its aim; management having control of the training, so as not to deviate from the
objectives of the training and aligning it with the organization’s goals.

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7 SECTION 7 - INTERNSHIP AND PROJECT REFLECTIONS
7.1 Limitations of the Analysis and Further Research
Despite the fact that this analysis provides insight about motivational factors; and how Nordia Nanaimo
can improve employee motivation and reduce turnover, it is not without limitations.

The first limitation has to do with time allotted for the completion of the project. With the limited time
available for this project, it was not possible to conduct a comprehensive on-site survey or get specific
responses from employees. Moreover, in order to conduct the survey, or distribute questionnaires, an
approval from the organization’s headquarters needed to be obtained to ensure employee
confidentiality for the purpose, which also takes time. This is why reliance had to be made on Nordia’s
December 2017 survey as the primary data source.

Furthermore, there was limited resource materials available from the organization’s archives, to be
used as primary source. Although management was cooperative, it was still impossible to get detailed
data beneficial for this research topic. The survey provided by Nordia was not comprehensive with
information about employee motivation, as the organization could only provide a summary of the
survey for the purpose of this project, in compliance with its policy of confidentiality. The survey
provided was not specific for the topic, as it was also used to analyse other issues like employee
recommendation, absenteeism and work scheduling. Therefore, this analysis relied primarily on
secondary sources for data, as well as personal observations, while working in the organization.

In addition, this analysis focuses more on the call centre’s agents, and ways to motivate and retain
them; it does not consider other members of staff in the management, administration and human
resource departments’ who are also employees of Nordia. To make this analysis more detailed and
conclusive, it is pertinent to consider the perspectives of all employees in the organization.

47
Another limitation has to do with the sample size used in the survey which this paper used to analyse
employee motivation. Out of a total population of employees from all Nordia sites (14 locations in 4
provinces - British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick), focus was on Nordia Nanaimo; not
considering that culture may also play a role on employee motivation. Therefore, employees in Quebec
may have a different perception about what motivates them. A larger sample size cutting across
provinces (perhaps 3 or 4 Nordia sites including a French speaking centre, and the Mandarin translation
centre), would have generated a more conclusive result on this subject matter, in order to improve and
create sustainable strategies for Nordia as a whole.

Finally, information provided about monetary benefits as extrinsic motivation does not offer detailed
financial implications for the company, in relation to cost and profitability. It does not review how the
recommendation will affect Nordia Nanaimo’s budget or profit, and what percentage of employees will
be motivated and retained if the recommendation is considered.

7.2 Reflections on Learning / Applied Business Project’s Contribution to my Competencies.

I have had the opportunity to work on a project that affects me as an employee in Nordia Nanaimo;
and have been more insightful to the fact that the organization relies mainly on monetary (extrinsic)
motivating factors to maintain employee satisfaction. This is why employees are interested in working
for a short time in the organization, and the company does a lot of recruitments monthly. There are
valuable takeaways from this project and internship which will be discussed summarily below.

This project has given me the opportunity to research and gain knowledge about my workplace and
how call centres in the telecommunication industry operate. Having discussed with my friends and
team mates at work, and hearing their personal stories about how they feel working in Nordia, I was
drawn to choose this topic on motivation. I have been able to understand the company I work for,
identify its competency, and its areas which need improvement using different situational analysis
tools. Researching helps me build on my knowledge, analytical and critical thinking skills, making me
use deductive reasoning to come to a logical conclusion. This project also gives me a clearer
perspective about my future career progression plans and how it aligns with my hierarchy of needs.

The internship helped me apply my MBA theoretical learning, and getting first hand practical
experience in Nordia Nanaimo. For instance the concepts of self-awareness, emotional/cultural
48
intelligence, conceptual blocks, problem-solving skills, principles of supportive and effective
communication has really helped me in managing customers and colleagues. I have been able to
appreciate working with different communicating agents – from customers to colleagues to senior
management- and being open to changes, adaptability and the call centre’s complex environment. My
finance and marketing knowledge is relevant to understand and read bills, predict billing and proration
errors, as well as add a revenue generating unit to the line of business. These in general, builds me to
deliver my duties and responsibility of offering quality and exceptional service to customers.

Finally, this opportunity has contributed immeasurably to my newly acquired and transferable skills. My
supervisor has also been helpful in guiding me to understand how research topics and questions are
framed, recognize the important aspects of research analysis and developing suitable
recommendations. I believe my whole experience from the project and internship has made me better
and more improved than in my knowledge and research abilities.

49
8 CONCLUSION
This research paper sought to address two questions - the impact of motivation on retention and how a
call centre like Nordia Nanaimo can improve its motivation and retention strategy.

With regards to the first question, it has been established based empirical evidence that motivation is
crucial to retention, as this can help plummet employee turnover intentions. Highly motivated
employees are empowered, satisfied with their job roles, show affective commitment, exhibit a positive
attitude to work and perform better. When they are also given opportunities for career development
and personal growth, these increase their affective commitment, thus, they will be less inclined to
entertain thoughts of leaving the organization.

Consequently, in answering the second question, an organization like Nordia Nanaimo can improve its
motivation strategy by focusing on factors that inherently empower its employees. The organization
invests more in providing monetary benefits for employees and this may not be a sustainable retention
strategy, because, the positive perception employees have about motivation and retention is based on
wages and monetary rewards. With the combination of both monetary and non-monetary benefits, the
organization is set for long term success in employee retention.

The options and proposed recommendation in sections 5 and 6 above, have been presented and
discussed with some members of the management team in the organization, and these have been
positively noted; especially with regards to personal growth trainings and enhancing employees’
emotion regulation skills to cope with customers.

50
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 STATEMENT OF WORK

A. APPENDIX 1 - STATEMENT OF WORK

CONFIDENTIAL 2

Nordia Nanaimo –How

Important Is Employee
Motivation to Retention

Cyn
1 18/
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Introduction............................................................................................................................3

2. Scope of the Work..................................................................................................................4

3. Assumptions and Constrains..................................................................................................7

4. Deliverable Schedule..............................................................................................................8

5. Applicable Standards..............................................................................................................9

6. Acceptance Criteria.................................................................................................................9

7. Special Requirements.............................................................................................................9

8. Amendments..........................................................................................................................9

9. Signature...............................................................................................................................10

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PART I – INTRODUCTION
i. Organization:
Nordia operates call centers across Canada with 14 locations in 4 Provinces - British
Columbia, Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick - providing services and support to Bell
customers. Its operations and activities are regulated by the Canadian Radio-Television and
Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). Nordia’s major competitors are Rogers, Shaw,
Cogeco and Videotron; and its organizational culture is geared towards solving complex
customer problems while maintaining a fun and relaxed environment. The company recently
signed up Canada Post as one of its clients; and is engaged in lots of charitable works with
Canadian mental health and United Way non for profit organization
The telecommunication industry has competitive players and requires series of skills,
employee training and work experience acquired over time. With adequate knowledge
about what motivates employees to produce better results, this may further improve
employee retention and eliminate hiring and training costs of new recruits, who need to
develop skills overtime to satisfy and retain loyal clients, or get new clients. It is therefore
important for Nordia to ensure that efficient and reliable tenured employees, conversant
with the policies, culture, vision, and mission of the organization, are encouraged to remain
with the organization.
ii. Location: Nordia Nanaimo - 3200 Island Highway Nanaimo, V9T1W1
iii. Internship Mentor:
My mentor’s name is Chris MacIntyre; he is an accommodating, experienced and
knowledgeable person. As the operations manager and part of Management at Nordia, he

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is conversant with Bell and Nordia’s policies, tools, assessable data, and has great knowledge
about customer experience, problem solving and sales.
iv. Goals and Objectives:
Some of my goals for this project are:
 To work in consensus with my mentor in obtaining necessary and adequate data
relevant to the successful completion of this research project
 To determine factors that motivate and encourage employees to work and boost
productivity
 To establish the relationship between motivation, job satisfaction, compensations, and
employee retention
 Examine how the employer can minimize employee turnover rate by 25 percent
 Propose possible ways to boost motivation (intrinsic and extrinsic), and if this will
positively improve employee retention
 Identify some other key factors that can aid employee retention
v. Learning Objectives
 Improve and develop already learnt skills in research and consulting
 Learning and understanding more about the Canadian business culture
 Experience practical hands-on training in building personal connections with team mates
and other work colleagues
 Development of self in the field of telecommunication and technology, and what is
expected of the organization

PART II - SCOPE OF WORK

Primary focus for this research is on the production floor agents who act as consultants on
behalf of the company, in resolving client problems. They are saddled with the responsibility
of receiving escalated calls transferred from other departments (sales, customer care,
technical support, collections and back office), regarding client services. Thus, these agents
face challenges associated with their role as the last line of defense for the organization, and
may encounter irate clients who demand prompt solutions to their problems. This is one of
the reasons why motivation is essential to making sure that they execute their roles to the
satisfaction of clients, while upholding the goals of the organization.

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My role as a retention specialist in Nordia requires that I listen and respond to clients’ with
courtesy and professionalism, while evaluating and resolving issues with little or no
supervision. I have to provide necessary explanations to them until satisfied, and/or provide
compensation and loyalty benefits to retain or recruit new clients. I must also offer
additional products/services that correspond to their needs and ensure confidentiality,
accuracy, courtesy and efficiency with every particular client need. My ability to multitask
and manage time effectively is of paramount importance.
While working with team mates and colleagues, I realized that most of the concerns raised
are focused towards what encourages them to work, and issues that may influence their
decision to leave the company. These issues center around financial compensation, role
misfit, nature of the job, work schedules, career progression with minimal perks, over-
emphasis on sales, family obligations and psychological strain from dealing with irate clients.
Therefore the aim of this project is to examine factors that motivate employees in Nordia
Nanaimo and how important this is to the retention or turnover rate of employees in the
organization. The research approach will be exploratory to examine if there is a relationship
between employee motivation and retention; and how motivational factors may induce
turnover rates or intentions of employees in Nordia. This may provide the organization with
useful information on retention strategies. The proposed data sources will include:
 Primary Data – from the Organization’s policies, forms, human resources benefit
information sheets, surveys and fizz backs from employees; as well as personal
communication and interviews with members of senior management.
 Secondary Data – will be obtained from website information, published research
reports, online library materials, scholarly literatures, surveys on the Internet, and
any other relevant information gathered other than through primary research.

The major research questions to be answered are as follows:

a. How do motivational factors impact retention of employees of a call centre?
b. How can a call centre like Nordia Nanaimo improve employee motivation and
retention?

Duration:

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Even if this is a full time job, the internship duration is for 16 weeks starting from January 8,
2018 till April 30, 2018.
Communication  Have regular meetings with mentor during breaks and after
work to discuss activities.
 Communication is in person and by email
Work Location  3200 Island Highway Nanaimo, BC V9T1W1, Canada
 Nordia Office
Work Hours  6:30 AM to 9:00 PM Monday to Friday
 6:30 AM to 6:00 PM Saturday and Sunday
*Time for work may differ based on schedule. Although as
a fully employed intern, it is mandatory to work 8 hours a
day (inclusive of break and lunch time); 37.5hours a week.

PART III - ASSUMPTIONS AND CONSTRAINTS

Assumptions:
 The project is conducted within the context of the regulations of legal business ethics
 The office is equipped with computers and equipment necessary to carry out the
project
 The research data will be analysed with little or no error so as to ensure accuracy in
analysis
 The team management and internship mentor who will be supportive till the
completion of this project, are supposed to be updated and informed on weekly basis
via emails or meeting; and any fundamental changes in the project to ensure that all
are in the same page and to save time and effort of going on the wrong direction.
 All information will be handled with care and appropriate disclosure policies and not
released to anyone outside the research or project team
 The project report will be written with compliance to the code of conduct governing
report writing which includes the Harvard APA style of writing
 There may be conflicting agendas since the ABP project and the internship are being
done at the same time.
Constrains:
 Effective and supportive communication skills is important in getting data and
information from all parties necessary to ensure successful delivery of this project

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  Difficulty may be encountered in accessing reliable and necessary materials /
sources of data related to the project
 Compilation and data analysis requires concentration and focus so as minimize
margins for error
 Time constraint may pose a challenge to carrying out extensive research
 Up to date data – within the last five years - may not be readily available.

PART IV - DELIVERABLE SCHEDULE

February 2018 March 2018 April 2018

Submit Statement of Project Work

Conduct Research, Collect and Gather

Data
 Compile and Analyze Data
 Introduction to Project Work
 Deliver Situational Analysis /
Literature review for Project
 Conduct more Research
 Interpret & Evaluate Results of
the Analysis
 Develop Research Report
 Generate Options and
Recommendations
 Submit First Draft of Project
Report
 Meet with Mentor to discuss
feedback
Complete Project Report

Presentation of Project Report

PART V - APPLICABLE STANDARDS

 The report is written in adherence with applicable standards relevant to Vancouver
Island University’s Academic Code of Conduct, the MBA and Applied Business Handbook

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 The report will be written with full knowledge of the work mentor and examined by the
project coordinator before ratifying them

 Data collected shall be for the sole purpose of this research project and kept with the
objective of safety

PART VI - ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA

The project supervisor will act as a professional advisor, and the report will adhere to the
standards outlined in the Applied Business Project Handbook.
The work mentor will also act as a guide to see to the successful completion of the project;
and may demand for the outcome/recommendations proposed in order to foster employee
motivation and retention in the workplace.

PART VII - SPECIAL REQUIREMENT

There are no special requirements associated with this project; training and skills are
developed on the job and is continuous. Interns are also required to complete work quizzes
and trainings on new software and programming changes.

PART VIII - AMENDMENTS

This project research is on-going and may be subject to changes in relation to expectations,
scope, approaches and deliverables, however adjustments may be accommodated by the
supervisor.
In any event of significant differences between the Statement of Project Work and the final
ABP, or any project modification, this will be discussed with the supervisor, in order to align
and/or be merged into the ABP as an addendum.

PART IX - SIGNATURES

__________________
Chris MacIntyre (Internship Mentor)
Nordia Nanaimo

___________________
Cynthia Okafor (Student Intern)
Vancouver Island University
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____________________
Prof. Bonita Russell (ABP/ Internship Supervisor)
Vancouver Island University

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 B. APPENDIX 2 – PROJECT LOG
Student Name: Cynthia Okafor
Supervisor Name: Prof. Bonita Russell
Project Title: Nordia Nanaimo – How Important Is Employee Motivation to
Retention

Record of Email Exchanges

Date: 15th January 2018

Progress Made Proposed project topic selection
Agreed Action Presented initial project topic to supervisor. Proposed topic
was deliberated upon, and it was recommended that topic
be narrowed down to a specific business problem and firm.
Student Signatures:

Supervisor Signature:

Date: 19th January, 2018

Progress Made Final topic selection
Agreed Action Final project topic was approved.
This also involved deliberations on data sources, availability
of data and research questions for writing the project paper.
Student Signatures:

Supervisor Signature:

Date: 18th February, 2018

Progress Made First Draft of SOPW
Agreed Action Adjust research question, data sources and research
methodology
Student Signatures:

Supervisor Signature:

Date: 19th February, 2018

Progress Made Submission of SOPW
Agreed Action SOPW meets project requirements. No further revisions.

Student Signatures:

Supervisor Signature:

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Date: 20th March, 2018
Progress Made First draft of Section(s) 1, 2 and 3
Agreed Action Modifications to be made on research questions, external
environment, industry analysis and firm analysis.

Literature review needed to focus on experimental studies

rather than theory, highlighting research approach, sample
details and results.

More information needed to be mined from the

organization’s survey data for the research analysis.
Student Signatures:

Supervisor Signature:

Date: 10th April, 2018

Progress Made First draft of Section(s) 4, 5, 6 and 7
Agreed Action Few edits and grammatical corrections needed.

Student Signatures:

Supervisor Signature:

Record of Telephone Conversation

Date: 17th April, 2018

Progress Made Review of Section 2
Agreed Action Focus industry analysis on trends in the industry
Focus internal analysis on what the organization is doing, its
retention and turnover rates, and ways it motivates
employees; also what competitors are doing to motivate and
retain employees
Student Signatures:

Supervisor Signature:

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Email Exchange

Date: 25th April, 2018

Progress Made First draft of final project work
Agreed Action Add concluding summaries for external and internal analysis
Add final conclusion at the end of the paper, which answers
the research questions
Approved for final submission after inclusions are made.
Student Signatures:

Supervisor Signature:

Date: 26 April, 2018

Progress Made Final Copy sent
Agreed Action

Student Signatures:

Supervisor Signature:

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 C. APPENDIX 3 - PROJECT ASSESSMENT FORM
STUDENT:
SUPERVISOR:

Award an A+,A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C- or F grade for each section and average for an overall grade
using the Vancouver Island University 4.33 point scale.

Segment: Elements: Guidelines:

Process Project SOW Follows the format prescribed herein?
Clear and feasible objectives?
Is there a clear definition of problem, issue or situation
addressed?
Is the selection of sources of information suitable?
Is there plan of work to be undertaken?
Is it realistic?
Project Management Was the project registered on time?
Was appropriate use made of the opportunities for
supervision?
Were agreed deadlines met?
Did the student proactively adjust the scope of the
project as necessary?
Grade and Comments:

SOW and ABP Report Logical Sequencing Is there a logical sequencing of material – all appropriate
Structure sections included, executive summary, contents, list of
acronyms, appendices, etc?
Does the argument flow?
Writing Style Appropriate style – are statements substantiated, spelling,
grammar, and punctuation correct?
Referencing Is an appropriate referencing protocol adopted?
Is there a list of references?
Presentation Within the word length? Suitable font, layout, diagrams,
margins, covers? Have figures/tables been correctly
labelled, discussed, and sourced?
Grade and Comments:

Sections 1 and 2 – Introduction Does the report provide an overview of the organization
Introduction and sponsoring the internship/ABP and introduces the issues
Situational Analysis to be discussed in the report?
Situational Analysis Has a suitable methodology been employed?
Have alternative methodologies been considered?
Has it been understood, explained and justified?

Methods of data Are these appropriate?

collection Have they been conducted properly?

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Segment: Elements: Guidelines:
Is the data valid and reliable?
Grade and Comments:

Sections 3 and 4 - Identification of Is the theoretical underpinning of the project

Option Analysis and appropriate strategies appropriate?
Recommendations and theories Have alternative theoretical models or strategies been
considered?
Independence of Is there evidence of independent thinking and/or the
thought/ideas integration of concepts?
Conclusions and Do conclusions follow logically from the body of the
recommendations report?
Have cost implications been considered (where
appropriate)?
Are recommendations appropriate and justifiable?
Have areas of further work been identified?
Grade and Comments:

Sections 5, 6, and 7
Literature employed Is it up to date?
Is it appropriate?
Has an adequate range of literature been considered?
Critical Has the literature been approached critically?
assessment/review Analytical rather than descriptive?
International context Has the international aspect of the project been explained
and related to the situational factor?
Limitations and further Are the limitations of the work acknowledged?
opportunities Are areas for further research identified?
Reflections Has the student discussed how the Applied Business
Project has contributed to the student’s competencies?
Has student reflected on his/her own learning?
Has the process of production of the project been
considered and evaluated?
Grade and Comments:

OVERALL GRADE:
Faculty Supervisor’s Comments:

Second Marker Comments:

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