Microsoft word pham thi kim huyen ID 22180014 ISB MBA 9 2 master thesis (low level of motivation at ITVN)

UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY
International School of Business
------------------------------

PHAM THI KIM HUYEN

LOW LEVEL OF MOTIVATION
IN DATA ANALYSIS TEAM
AT IMPERIAL TOBACCO VIETNAM

MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

Ho Chi Minh City – Year 2020

TIEU LUAN MOI download :


UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY
International School of Business
------------------------------

PHAM THI KIM HUYEN

LOW LEVEL OF MOTIVATION
IN DATA ANALYSIS TEAM
AT IMPERIAL TOBACCO VIETNAM
MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

SUPERVISOR: DR. NGUYEN THI MAI TRANG

Ho Chi Minh City – Year 2020

TIEU LUAN MOI download :


TABLE OF CONTENT
LIST OF FIGURE........................................................................................................................... 1
LIST OF TABLE ............................................................................................................................ 1
Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................ 2
Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................................... 3
1. COMPANY INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................. 4
1.1 Company overview ............................................................................................................. 4
1.2 Organizational structure ...................................................................................................... 5
2. PROBLEM CONTEXT ........................................................................................................... 7
2.1 Symptoms ............................................................................................................................ 7
2.2 Symptom validation and justification ............................................................................... 11
3. PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION .......................................................................................... 14
3.1 Problem mess .................................................................................................................... 14
3.2 Potential Problems and validate the main problem ........................................................... 16
3.2.1 . Income dissatisfaction ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 16
3.2.2 . Poor working environment------------------------------------------------------------------ 18
3.2.3 . Low level of motivation ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 21
3.3 Updated preliminary cause and effect map ....................................................................... 24
3.4 Problem justification ......................................................................................................... 25
4. CAUSE VALIDATION ......................................................................................................... 27
4.1 Potential causes ................................................................................................................. 27
4.1.1 . Lack of Intrinsic motivation: --------------------------------------------------------------- 28
4.1.2 . Low level of Extrinsic motivation: --------------------------------------------------------- 29
4.2 Cause justification ............................................................................................................. 31
5. ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS ............................................................................................ 33
5.1 Alternative solution 1: Eliminate benefits inequality........................................................ 33

5.2 Alternative solution 2: Ensure the employees’ job security ............................................. 36
5.3 Solution justification ......................................................................................................... 38
6. ORGANIZATION OF ACTIONS ........................................................................................ 41
6.1 Contents of organization of action .................................................................................... 41
6.2 Timeline of implementation .............................................................................................. 42
7 CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................................... 44

TIEU LUAN MOI download :


8 SUPPORTING INFORMATION ......................................................................................... 45
8.1 Interview Guide................................................................................................................. 47
8.2 Questionnaire .................................................................................................................... 50
8.3 Summary of transcripts ..................................................................................................... 51
REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................ 69

TIEU LUAN MOI download :


LIST OF FIGURE
Figure 1. ITVN Operation diagram ................................................................................................ 5
Figure 2. ITVN Organization Chart ................................................................................................ 6
Figure 3. Turnover trend - Talentnet – Mercer post survey report 2018 ........................................ 8
Figure 4. Top 3 & Bottom 3 Turnover - Talentnet – Mercer post survey report 2018 ................. 10
Figure 5. Turnover rate at ITVN ................................................................................................... 12
Figure 6. Preliminary cause and effect tree .................................................................................. 15
Figure 7. Updated preliminary cause and effect map ................................................................... 24
Figure 8. Cause and effect map..................................................................................................... 31

LIST OF TABLE

Table 1. Total employee turnover rate at ITVN ............................................................................. 7
Table 2. Breakdown employee turnover rate at ITVN in 2018 and 2019....................................... 9
Table 3. Turnover rate of Data Analysis Team............................................................................. 11
Table 4. Replacement costs of Data Analysis Team..................................................................... 13
Table 5. Costs to implement solution 1 ........................................................................................ 35
Table 6. Costs to implement solution 2 ........................................................................................ 38
Table 7. Questionnaire .................................................................................................................. 40
Table 8. Survey results .................................................................................................................. 40
Table 9. Detailed action plan ........................................................................................................ 41
Table 10. Implementation plan ..................................................................................................... 43

1

TIEU LUAN MOI download :


Executive Summary
Employees is often considered as the most valuable assets in all organizations. Recruiting and
retaining employees in organizations is not only tasks of Human Resources but also involves all
other departments. Therefore, managers and leaders in organizations should care about employees,
understand their expectations as well as their difficulties, then give ideas to help organizations in
establishing appropriate policies to attract and develop employees to retain them. By doing so,
organizations can enhance employees motivation and reduce employees turnover rate, which helps
to increase employees productivity and company performance.
The purpose of this research is to find out the main problem and the root cause leads to the high
turnover rate in Data Analysis team at Imperial Tobacco Viet Nam Representative Office recently.
With the secondary data provided by Human Resources Department and primary data collected
during the in-depth interviews with three groups of the company’s leaders and the employees who
are currently working in Data Analysis team and who are also left the company, it revealed that
income dissatisfaction, poor working environment, and low level of motivation are potential

problems lead to the high turnover rate in Data Analysis team at Imperial Tobacco Viet Nam
Representative Office.
Further investigating the underlying problems by analyzing the interview results and using the
theories from literature, the main problem is identified as the low level of motivation, especially
extrinsic motivation, which caused by benefits inequity and job insecurity, that leads to the high
turnover rate in Data Analysis team at Imperial Tobacco Viet Nam Representative Office.
After finding the root cause of high turnover rate, alternative solutions are designed and justified.
The solution to eliminate benefits inequity as well as reduce job insecurity by revising the company
benefit policies and enhancing engagement meetings for sharing company strategies to the
employees is suggested by the managers, selected by the indirect employees and supported by the
company Director for execution. Then, the detailed action plan of this solution is presented to the
company for implementation to solve the problem.

2

TIEU LUAN MOI download :


Acknowledgements
I would like to express my appreciation to all people who supported me during my studies. First,
I would like to send my thankfulness and special appreciation to my supervisor, Dr. Nguyen Thi
Mai Trang, who has kindly supported, guided, advised, and motivated me to complete this thesis.
Then, I would like to thank my managers, my colleagues at Imperial Tobacco Vietnam
Representative Office who gave me chances for conducting interviews and spent their valuable
times for giving me comments and opinions which helps me to come up the results of this thesis.
In addition, I would like to send my regards to all of my classmates of MBA 9 for their support,
encouragement and giving me strength in all the time writing this thesis.

3

TIEU LUAN MOI download :


1.

COMPANY INTRODUCTION

1.1

Company overview

Imperial Tobacco is a group of subsidiaries of Imperial Brands ( 1), one of the biggest corporations
in tobacco industry in the world. Imperial Tobacco subsidiaries manufacture and trade a range of
cigarettes, tobacco products, cigars, and tobacco accessories such as papers and tubes. Imperial
Tobacco International Limited Company in United Kingdom has established its representative
office in Ho Chi Minh city, Viet Nam since 1995 and the office is called Imperial Tobacco Vietnam
Representative Office (ITVN). ITVN’s scope of activities is a liaison office, conducting market
surveys, identifying and accelerating the trade opportunities in Vietnam market on behalf of the
Head Office in United Kingdom. ITVN is not allowed to conduct any directly profitable activities
in Vietnam, but only supports the Head Office (Imperial Tobacco International Limited Company
in United Kingdom) to boost sales of the company’s products in Vietnam market. Therefore, ITVN
is responsible for spending investments to increase the quantity of the company’s products selling
in Vietnam market, because the more company’s products are sold in Vietnam market, the more
profits the Head Office are earned.
The key product of ITVN is Bastos cigarettes, which are producing by local manufacturer under
the licensing contract with Imperial Tobacco International Limited Company in United Kingdom.
Bastos cigarettes have been produced and sold in Vietnam market for nearly 25 years, and up to
now, Bastos cigarette brand is in the list of top ten selling brands in Vietnam, gaining its market
share around 5% (based on data of AC Nielsen 2018). Bastos cigarette brand is strength in
mainstream segment, having price ranges from 10.000 dong to 12.000 dong per pack of 20

cigarette sticks. The key competitors of Bastos cigarettes in the same price segment is Thang Long
cigarettes and Sai Gon cigarettes, which are produced by Vinataba, a state-own corporation.
The operation diagram of Imperial Tobacco in Vietnam market can be described in the Figure 1 as
below:

4

TIEU LUAN MOI download :


Imperial Tobacco
International Limited
Company in United
Kingdom (Head Office)

Supply materials based
on licensing contract
Earnings profits on material
supplied and Royalty fees on
products sold

Dong Nai Food
Industrial Corporation
(Manufacturer)

Funding
for ITVN
activities

Imperial Tobacco Vietnam

Representative Office
(ITVN)

Distribution
channel of Bastos
products in Vietnam
market
Investment to distribution
channel to boost sales

Distributors in
Vietnam

Figure 1. ITVN Operation diagram
(Source: ITVN Management Department)

Besides, Imperial Tobacco Vietnam Representative Office inherits six values from Imperial
Brands: we can, I own, I am, we surprise, I engage, we enjoy. Those values are focused to
employees’ competency, performance, motivation, and retention. Furthermore, Imperial Brands
has built the Leadership Expectations that give opportunities for not only leaders but also
employees to drive performance, to take accountability, to build capability, to lead by example, to
improve and learn, and to create great teams.
1.2

Organizational structure

At the end of the year 2019, ITVN has 20 direct employees who are working in 6 departments in
ITVN, which are: Operation Support, Human Resource (HR& Admin), Finance, Marketing, Sales,
and Business Intelligence. Besides, ITVN also has 12 indirect employees working in Data Analysis
Team who are reported to Business Intelligence Manager of ITVN. Those indirect employees

working in Data Analysis Team are having their labor contracts signed with the labor supply
agency of ITVN, Humidor Company. Though having salary paid by ITVN through Humidor
5

TIEU LUAN MOI download :


Company, the recruitment process of Data Analysis Team is done by Human Resource Department
of ITVN. This means ITVN is responsible for recruitment, training, appraising, and paying salary
to the direct and indirect employees. However, although working in the same office, there is a
difference in benefits between the direct employees and the indirect employees of ITVN, in which
the direct employees - who have labor contracts signed with the Representative Office - have some
additional benefits such as yearly performance bonus, healthcare insurance for their family, while
the indirect employees – who have labor contracts signed with the labor agency – do not have
those types of benefits. Furthermore, the direct employees of ITVN are official headcounts of
Imperial Brands, so they have employee codes which can be used to log in the intranet websites
and access to online resources of Imperial Brands. The organization structure of ITVN is described
in Figure 2 below.

Labor
contract
signed
with
ITVN

Data
Analysis
Team

Labor

contract
signed
with
Agency

Figure 2. ITVN Organization Chart
(Source: ITVN Human Resource Department)
Data Analysis team has been established since 2015, and the purpose of having this team is to
collate and analyze market data of tobacco industry and ITVN’s competitors in Vietnam market.
The daily tasks of Data Analysis team are to input daily data collected from market to the internal
system, keep track of Bastos cigarettes sell-in, sell-out volumes and cigarette inventories of
distributors and wholesalers, to run and analyze the reports regarding the Bastos cigarettes and its
competitors. Those type of reports will help the Business Intelligence Manager having a clearer
picture of the whole tobacco industry in Vietnam market so that he can support the Director for
6

TIEU LUAN MOI download :


decision making. The Director is responsible for all operations and activities of ITVN, as well as
provides strategies to the head quarter for future growth of ITVN.
Before 2015, without Data Analysis team, ITVN had to buy the market data of tobacco industry
and ITVN’s competitors in Vietnam market from AC Nielsen, which costs about 5 billion dongs
per year. Therefore, from 2015, the Director of ITVN made the decision to form up a Data Analysis
Team to do collating and analyzing tasks regarding the market data. The total employment costs
for Data Analysis team is about 2 billion dongs per year, and the total cost for collecting raw data
from market is around 1 billion dongs per annum. Having Data Analysis team, ITVN can save
about 2 billion dongs per year while ITVN still has the same results of having reports regarding
the market data of tobacco industry and competitors in Vietnam market.
2.

PROBLEM CONTEXT

2.1

Symptoms

Though Imperial Tobacco Vietnam Representative Office and its Group has a strong and clear
strategy to attract, motivate, and retain people, the voluntary turnover rate of the employee at ITVN
was high in the past two years, and increased significantly in 2019. This is a symptom that needs
to be validated, identify the problems, analyze and diagnose the problems to find out the root cause,
then provide the solutions and implementation plans to improve the company situation.
Based on the data collected from Human Resource Department of ITVN, the voluntary turnover
rate of total direct and indirect employees at ITVN is showed in Table 1 as below:
Table 1. Total employee turnover rate at ITVN
Year

2016

2017

2018

2019

Q1/2020

Total number of employee
(at the year-end)
Total resigned

34

35

35

32

31

5

6

8

10

2

Replacement

6

6

5

9

3

15%

17%

23%

30%

6%

Turnover rate

(Source: ITVN Human Resource Department)

7

TIEU LUAN MOI download :


Turnover rate is the percentage of the employees leaving the organization during a period of time.
Turnover rate is calculated by using “the total number of employees leaving the organizations
during the month divided by the average number of employees during the month”, postulated by
Phillips as cited by Hernández et al ( 2).
Table 1 showed that the turnover rate of total employee at ITVN in 2019 at 30%, which is
significantly higher than 2017 and 2018 and has an increasing trend year on year. Besides, the post
survey seminar report from Talentnet-Mercer in October 2018 ( 3) (see Figure 3) showed that the
voluntary staff turnover rate is 15.1% in 2017 and its trend is to increase to 15.6% in 2018 in

multinational corporations (MNC).

Figure 3. Turnover trend - Talentnet – Mercer post survey report 2018
Comparing the employee turnover rate at ITVN during the past four years with the staff turnover
rate in local companies and also multinational corporations, it can say that the total employee
turnover rate at ITVN is significantly high in 2018 and 2019.
As ITVN is a representative office of Imperial Tobacco International Limited Company in United
Kingdom which is a subsidiary of Imperial Brands - a global corporation - therefore, ITVN inherits
all factors of a multinational corporation. Since cigarette and tobacco is a special type of business
that requires Vietnam Government’s controls, thus it is not allowed Imperial Tobacco International
8

TIEU LUAN MOI download :


Limited Company in United Kingdom to establish a company limited in Vietnam, but just only a
representative office. Despite the business license of a representative office, ITVN is still
considered a multinational corporation, same as its competitors such as British American Tobacco
(BAT), Phillip Morris International (PMI), and Japanese Tobacco International (JTI). Therefore,
the employee turnover rate of ITVN can be compared with the staff turnover rate in MNC.
In addition, the breakdown turnover rate data for 2018 and 2019 provided by Human Resource
Department of ITVN (Table 2) showed the details of turnover rate by department at ITVN. There
is a huge gap in turnover rate between the direct employee and the indirect employee at ITVN, in
which the turnover rate of the direct employee is less than 10% in these two years, while the
turnover rate of the indirect employee at ITVN is significant high in 2018 (50%) and 2019 (64%).
Due to the high turnover rate of the indirect employee at ITVN, which is Data Analysis team, leads
to the increasing in total turnover rate of the whole ITVN, 23% in 2018 and 30% in 2019.
Table 2. Breakdown employee turnover rate at ITVN in 2018 and 2019
Yearly turnover rate
in ITVN, breakdown

by department
Direct employee
HR & Admin
Finance
Marketing
Sales
Business Intelligence
Operation Support
Indirect employee
Data Analysis
Total

Year 2018
Year 2019
Average
Number of Turnover Average
Number of Turnover
number of resigned
rate
number of resigned
rate
employee employee
employee
employee
23
8
3
4
3
2

3
12
12
35

2
1
0
1
0
0
0
6
6
8

9%
21
2
10%
13%
6
1
17%
0%
3
0
0%
25%
4

1
25%
0%
3
0
0%
0%
2
0
0%
0%
3
0
0%
50%
13
8
64%
50%
13
8
64%
23%
34
10
30%
(Source: ITVN Human Resource Department)

Besides, the post survey seminar report from Talentnet-Mercer in October 2018 ( 2) also showed
that the highest turnover rate in 2018 is 37.6% belongs to Retail industry in Vietnam market (see

Figure 4).

9

TIEU LUAN MOI download :


Figure 4. Top 3 & Bottom 3 Turnover - Talentnet – Mercer post survey report 2018
ITVN is participating in annual surveys conducted by Talentnet-Mercer on human resources
topics, such as compensation and benefits trend, voluntary staff turnover trend, which conducting
within organizations in retails industry and also in tobacco industry. The post survey report 2018
of Talenet-Mercer has been conducted with 602 organizations in 16 industries. This survey report
shows the trends of voluntary staff turnover rate within those organizations and industries.
Based on the data in Table 2, the turnover rate of Data Analysis Team at ITVN in 2018 is
significantly higher than the staff turnover rate in MNC, 50% versus 15.6%, and about 2.5 times
higher than the staff turnover rate in local company (20.2%). Furthermore, this turnover rate of
Data Analysis Team in 2018 is higher than the highest turnover rate in Retails industry in 2018 of
37.6% (Figure 4). In 2019, the turnover rate of Data Analysis Team at ITVN increased to 64%
(Table 2), that is a symptom needs to identify its problems and causes.
As stated in Section 1.2 Organizational structure, Data Analysis team is indirect employees of
ITVN, whose employment contract has been signed with the labor supply agency of ITVN,
Humidor. Despite signing labor contracts with the agency, Data Analysis Team is following the
recruitment and training processes of ITVN, working in ITVN’s office, and reporting to ITVN’s
Business Intelligence Manager. Thus, Data Analysis Team is reported as indirect employees of
ITVN, having their recruitment and training costs, and salary paid by ITVN through agency. It can
be said that Data Analysis team is part of the ITVN workforce and cost to ITVN’s employment
10

TIEU LUAN MOI download :

costs. As a result, any change in direct and indirect employees leads to the increasing in the
employment costs of ITVN. Therefore, it is crucial for ITVN to manage their workforce to
eliminate their employment costs for better performance. Hence, the high voluntary turnover rate
in Data Analysis Team is a symptom that the Management of ITVN needs to investigate its causes
and design solutions to solve the issue.
2.2

Symptom validation and justification

With the detailed data provided by Human Resource Department of ITVN in Table 2, it showed
that Data Analysis team has the highest turnover rate comparing to other departments at ITVN
during the past four years. The turnover rate of Data Analysis Team is more than two times
comparing to the total turnover rate of ITVN. It is showed in Table 3 below:
Table 3. Turnover rate of Data Analysis Team
Year
Number of Data Analysis employee
(at the year-end)
Total quit
Turnover rate of Data Analysis Team
(Indirect employee)
Turnover rate of other Departments
(Direct employee)
Total Turnover rate of ITVN

2016

2017

2018

2019

Q1/2020

10

11

13

12

11

3

3

6

8

2

30%

29%

50%

64%

17%

8%

13%

9%

10%

0%

15%

17%

23%

30%

6%

(Source: ITVN Human Resource Department)

The data from Table 3 showed that the turnover rate of Data Analysis team in 2019 is significantly
higher than 2018, 64% versus 50%, and it is more than two times higher than 2017 (29%), with an
increasing trend since 2018. It can say that the turnover rate of Data Analysis team is the highest

number among the turnover rate of all the departments at ITVN (Table 2), and also is much higher
than the retails industry data (Figure 4).
Total turnover rate of ITVN is illustrated by the chart below (Figure 5)

11

TIEU LUAN MOI download :


70%

64.0%

60%
50.0%
50%
40%
30.0%
30%

29.9%

28.6%
22.9%

20%

14.7%

10%

8.3%

17.4%
12.5%

8.7%

9.5%

2017

2018

2019

0%
2016

Turnover rate of Indirect employee

Turnover rate of Direct employee

Total turnover rate of ITVN

Figure 5. Turnover rate at ITVN
Though the interview, Ms. Tran Hanh – HR Manager of ITVN, said that:
“We have to pay to the agency for the recruitment fees, at about 2 times of monthly salary. Besides,
we need to spend time for induction, training, then the newcomers can familiar with their tasks after
about two month. During this time, we have to pay overtime wages for the others to complete the

task requirements on time. Also, it costs our managers time for interviewing and training”.

Mr. Tran Son – Business Intelligence Manager of ITVN, shared his opinions:
“I am the person suffering most for the resignation of my team members. I have to re-assign tasks
for others when someone leaving till we have a replacement one. Also, it takes my time for interview,
training, coaching, assessing newcomers. It takes at least 2-3 months for the new one to get familiar
with their tasks”.

According to Mr. Andrew Wang – Director of ITVN, the company performance is decreasing
because the company has to spend money for recruitment and training costs. Besides, the higher
the turnover rate, the lower the productivity of the employees. He said:

12

TIEU LUAN MOI download :


“Of course, we have to spend for recruitment and training costs. The productivity of a whole team is
also lower than normal. New employees need time to get used to their work, to get familiar with their
team, and to coordinate smoothly with colleagues to have the teamwork tasks done. In addition, other
people in the team need to spend their time to guide newcomers, therefore, the team’s work is slowed
down”.

The data from Human Resource Department of ITVN (Table 4) showed the replacement costs
spent for recruitment and training, overtime wages paid for other team members to complete the
reports on time, facilities such as uniform and working tools of Data Analysis Team in the past
two year 2018 and 2019.
Table 4. Replacement costs of Data Analysis Team
Replacement cost of Data Analysis team
(in million dongs)

Year 2018

Year 2019

Recruitment cost

90

168

Training cost

25

35

Overtime wages

30

63

Other facilities

25

35

Total replacement cost of Data Analysis

team

170

301

Total Employee costs of Data Analysis
team

1,872

1,950

Percentage of replacement cost in total
cost of Data Analysis team

9.1%

15.4%

Increasing %
of cost YoY

177%

(Source: ITVN Human Resource Department)
Table 4 showed the replacement cost of Data Analysis team in 2019 increases 177% versus 2018,
and the percentage of replacement cost in total employee costs of this team increases from 9.1%
in 2018 to 15.4% in 2019. That means ITVN has paid more for Data Analysis team's replacement
costs in 2019.

According to Michael et al. (4), labor cost is significant, then the leakage of human capital by
unnecessary turnover is one of important factor affecting to the performance of the company.
13

TIEU LUAN MOI download :


According to Lashley and Chaplain as cited by Michael et al. (4), employee turnover is not only a
significant tangible money cost but also intangible or hidden cost related to loss of skills,
inefficiency, and replacement costs. In addition, Abbasi et al. ( 5) stated that besides visible costs
of turnover such as costs of termination, advertising, recruitment, selection, hiring, training, and
assigning, there are many hidden costs such as disruption of customer relations, the erosion of
morale and stability of those who remain, the loss of valuable time which the new comers acquire
their tasks and achieve efficiency.
Through the interview results and the data provided by Humane Resource Department of ITVN,
the visible replacement costs of Data Analysis team can be calculated and recorded, while other
hidden costs such as low employee productivity, loss of time of managers, which cannot be
calculated. Since the turnover rate of Data Analysis team at ITVN is the highest among other
departments at ITVN, and it has an increasing trend, therefore, further investigations are focused
to the symptom of high turnover rate of Data Analysis team at ITVN.
3.

PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION

3.1

Problem mess

In order to find out the problems leading to high turnover rate in Data Analysis team at ITVN,
qualitative research method were used and in-depth interviews have been conducted with three

groups. The first group consists of three persons, who are at the manager levels: Ms. Tran Hanh HR Manager, Mr. Tran Son – Business Intelligence Manager, and Mr. Andrew Wang - Director
of ITVN. The second group is the employees currently working in Data Analysis team, and the
third group is the employees who left Data Analysis team.
Ms. Tran Hanh – HR Manager, shared the results from her exit interviews that people left Data
Analysis team because of having better jobs with higher salary and better benefits. From her point
of view, reasons for employees working in Data Analysis team quitting their jobs are low salaries
and unequal benefits that make them dissatisfied.
The interview with Mr. Tran Son – Business Intelligence Manager, has revealed some reasons that
people leaving the company because of low salary, no career growth, and unstable jobs. According
to Mr. Tran Son - Business Intelligence Manager, people in Data Analysis team quit their jobs
because of job insecurity and no retention plan that makes the staff feel unengaged with the
company.
14

TIEU LUAN MOI download :


The opinion from the Director, Mr. Andrew Wang, that workplace condition makes Data Analysis
team unconnected with other people in the company. According to Mr. Andrew Wang, may be the
nature of the tasks of Data Analysis team which requires a silence working area to focus on their
tasks, so this makes them low-engaged with other groups in the company.
The interviews with the staffs who are working and who left Data Analysis team released some
information about their decision of quitting their jobs. There are low incomes, inequity benefits,
isolation and working apart from other departments, job insecurity, no retention, no career growth
opportunities and development plans.
With all the information collected from the first round interviews with the HR Manager, the
Business Intelligence Manager, the Director, the existing staff and the staff who left Data Analysis
team, and combined with the theory in the book Problem Solving in Organizations of Joan Van
Aken and Hans Berends - Third edition 2018 (item 4.3, page 55-58) ( 6), the potential problems can
be described in the preliminary cause and effect tree as below:

Low engagement
Isolation
Working apart

Poor Working
environment
High turnover rate
of employee

Unstable jobs

Increase recruitment
and training costs

Lack of
Motivation
No career
development plan
No career growth
opportunity

Low employee
productivity
Low salary &
uncompetitive benefits

Figure 6. Preliminary cause and effect tree

15

TIEU LUAN MOI download :


3.2

Potential Problems and validate the main problem

From the above preliminary cause and effect map, there are three potential problems that identified
from the interviews are income dissatisfaction, poor working environment, and low level of
motivation which caused the high turnover rate in Data Analysis team at ITVN. Further analysis
from the interview results and combined with literature will help to find out the main problem that
leads to high turnover rate in Data Analysis team at ITVN.
3.2.1 Income dissatisfaction
According to Mercy et al. (7), salary is defined as a fixed amount of money paid to a worker usually
measured at a monthly and yearly basic, salary is compensation that an employer paid to an
employee in return of work done. Besides, Matz et al. and Crow et al. as cited by Schuck et al. (8),
stated that salary factor is important in understanding job satisfaction and organizational
commitment as well as voluntary turnover. In addition, Carraher ( 9) indicated that salary and
satisfaction with salary are important factors for attracting and retaining employees. Luna-Arocas
et al (10) stated that salary and benefits are related to pay satisfaction. According to Luna-Arocas
et al (10), money is a motivator, and there is a positive relationship between income and satisfaction.
This means that low salary and uncompetitive benefits lead to income dissatisfaction of the
employees, then reduce their retention to work. Therefore, if employees are unsatisfied with their
salary, they may look for another job to get a better income.
The interview conducted with Ms. Tran Hanh - HR Manager, mentioned that one of the reasons
why the employees at Data Analysis team left the company is income dissatisfaction. She said:
“I usually conduct exit interviews with people who want to leave the company. Some of them said
that they received job offers with higher salary. Some people said that they were unhappy with their
benefits here”.

An employee who is currently working in Data Analysis team – Mr. Nguyen Tung, shared his
opinion about the salary:
“My salary is not very attractive. I know that the salary will be reviewed and increased every year,
but the percentage of increasing is not much”.

The results from interviews with another employee – Mr. Nguyen Thien, who already left Data
Analysis team, indicated that he did not happy with his salary and benefits. He shared:
“The salary there is lower than my current job. In addition, benefits are not attractive. We don’t
have annual performance bonus, except for the thirteenth month salary.”

16

TIEU LUAN MOI download :


In addition, Mr. Tran Son – Business Intelligence Manager, shared his view on the reason that
leads to the high turnover rate in Data Analysis team:
“Data Analysis team has the highest turnover rate. When leaving, people usually told me that they
have a better job with higher salary”.

Furthermore, Schuck et al. (8) stated that higher levels of salary are associated with lower levels of
voluntary turnover. Besides, Mercy et al. (7) indicated that salary provides great satisfaction to
employees, makes them happy and brings about improvement in their efficiency, which helps in
retaining them.
From the interview results and analysis mentioned above, it can be said that low salary and
unattractive benefits created income dissatisfaction that leads to the reason why the employees in
Data Analysis team at ITVN quit their jobs.
However, from the in-depth interviews, it is found that there is a procedure of appraisal, reviewing
and increasing salary at ITVN. Besides, ITVN conducts annual salary surveys with TalennetMercer to have more information for making decisions on employees’ salary. Annual salary

surveys are conducted by Talentnet-Mercer with organizations in several industries which
including the tobacco industries to collect a database of salary rates for each job code in each
industry for the companies to reference. Then, ITVN has the username to login to the salary
database and search for the salary range of each job code and job level for salary benchmarking
within the tobacco industry.
Ms. Tran Hanh – HR Manager, stated that:
“We have annual individual performance review process for both direct and indirect employees to
appraise their performance and review their salary. Then the salary increase is based on employee
contributions and is also benchmarked with the market, as we have salary survey reports from
Mercer-Talentnet”.

Besides, Mr. Andrew Wang – Director, shared his opinion that when employees agree to join the
company, it means they accept their salary. He said:
“Knowing that they complaining for low pay comparing to others, but we have benchmarked all
employees’ salary with market and industry rate. When they accepted the offer letters to join us that
means they agreed about their salary rate”.

17

TIEU LUAN MOI download :


In addition, the interviews with two employees who are currently working in Data Analysis team
disclosed that they are quite happy with their salary.
Ms. Nguyen Truc – who has been working in Data Analysis team for three years, shared her
thought:
“I have yearly salary reviewed and increased, so I think my salary is acceptable”.

Sharing by Mr. Phan Nhan, who has joined Data Analysis team for six months:
“Well, I have just graduated for one years, so I am happy with the salary that the company is paying

me. I still need to work for sometimes to have more experiences for my better career path”.

Ms. Doan Hang – employee has left Data Analysis team, revealed that:
“The salary there is higher than my current salary, but I am happy with my current job”.

Furthermore, Mr. Andrew Wang – Director, shared his view:
“We have to follow our Group policies on employee performance evaluation process as all salary
information is reported to Group. I do not want to fail to comply with the Group policies”.

In addition, Ms. Tran Hanh – HR Manager, stated:
“Based on the salary surveys, our company salary rate does not lower than the market rate. I
realize that some people are unhappy with their salary because they may not know about the
market rate and have high expectation on salary”.

From the in-depth interview results as shared above, it can say that there is a confliction in salary
perception between the employees working in Data Analysis team at ITVN. Besides, from the
information sharing by the HR Manager and the Director, ITVN is subject to the salary appraisal
and pay raise process of the Group, therefore, salary problem is out of scope of this report.
3.2.2 Poor working environment
Another factor that can affect to the turnover rate of the company is working environment.
According to Hertati as cited by Setiyani et al. (11), working environment is a condition that exists
around workers and then working environment has greatly influence to a person in carrying out
his tasks. Røssberg et al. (12) stated that working environment is strongly related to employee
satisfaction to retain them. According to Røssberg et al. (12), a poor work environment is likely
one of the main reasons leads to the high employee turnover rate. Thus, poor working environment
may lead to high voluntary turnover rate to the organization. Therefore, the organization should
pay attention to improve the working environment to retain their people. Furthermore, Setiyani et
al. (11) concluded that working environment has influence on employee motivation which means
18

TIEU LUAN MOI download :


that a good working environment can improve employee motivation and employee engagement to
the company. Sofyan as cited by Riyanto et al. ( 13) noted that paying attention to a good working
environment or create working conditions can provide the motivation to work.
From the interview results, it seems that Data Analysis team in ITVN is having an uncomfortable
working environment. Although working in the same office area, Data Analysis team in ITVN is
sitting in a separate room which makes them feel isolated and less engaged with other people in
the company. The sharing from Mr. Andrew Wang – Director, indicated that:
“I’ve noticed that data analysis team less engaged with others. Though I offer some opportunities for
them to communicate with other people in the office, but it seems that they are working in isolation.
I really don’t know whether their tasks requires silence for focusing to the numbers or because they
feel unconfident talking to others.”

Mr. Tran Son – Business Intelligence Manager, shared his opinion about the working environment
of Data Analysis team in ITVN:
“We have a separate working room for people in Data Analysis team since they need to concentrate
on the data and numbers to avoid any mistakes in doing their reports. Therefore, this makes them less
chance to interact with other people in the office”.

Mr. Nguyen Thien – left employee, shared his thought:
“The working environment is not very comfortable for me. Although everyone is very kind, but
sometimes I feel isolated because I am unconfident to talk to others.”

At ITVN, Data Analysis team is sitting in a separate room because they need a silence area to
focus on their tasks. Then, this working condition may make them apart from other colleagues and
that leads to the feeling of isolation of the members in Data Analysis team.
Lazauskaite-Zabielske et al. (14) mentioned that work engagement can explain for employees well
performance in resourceful working environment. According to Munir et al. ( 15), employee’s

perception of detachment from their company and coworkers is called workplace isolation.
Marshall et al as cited by Munir et al. (15) defined that there are two dimensions of workplace
isolation: workplace isolation with company, which shows employees perceptions of lack of
support from Manager and company; and workplace isolation with colleagues, which shows that
employees feel isolated when they do not have formal interaction, friendship and coworkers help.

19

TIEU LUAN MOI download :


Working in this isolated environment makes them feel un-engagement that reduces their
motivation and causes high turnover rate in the company.
However, the results from the in-depth interviews with employees working at Data Analysis team
showed some opinions about the working conditions and relationships at ITVN.
Mr. Phan Nhan – existing employee, shared his opinion:
“My teammates are very kind to me, and also other people in the company are very nice. People here
are very supportive. Whenever I have troubles in my work, they guide me and help me to settle it,
especially my manager. The office workplace is very quiet so we can easily concentrate to do our
tasks”.

He also shared his opinion about his tasks:
“I am new in the team and am still learning from others, but I think my tasks are quite easy. It’s ok
for me to do these types of works”.

Mr. Nguyen Tung – existing employee, shared his viewpoints about the tasks and working
environment at ITVN:
“It really enjoyed me. I learned a lot working here”.

He also shared:

“This task is my major subject in university so I can apply my knowledge to do my tasks. I really
love this job. My manager and people in my team teach me a lot. People here are very friendly and
helpful. This is a great place to work”.

Besides, Ms. Nguyen Truc – existing employee, shared her thought about working environment at
ITVN:
“Very nice and convenient office workplace. Our working room and facilities are very good and
convenience. My manager and team members are very kind and helpful. I am doing routine tasks,
nothing interesting, and it is also no challenging. My tasks are easy that I am familiar to do”.

Ms. Tran Hanh – HR Manager, gave her opinions:
“We always arrange and offer the best office facilities to make the employees feel comfortable to
do their tasks. I don’t think we have any issues with working conditions here. Besides, we have
monthly activities for all people get together for lunch, and I have noticed that everybody enjoyed
that”.

20

TIEU LUAN MOI download :


From the in-depth interviews with the employees in Data Analysis team at ITVN, it showed that
they are happy with their tasks, satisfied with the working conditions and the relationships with
their colleagues and managers in the company. It is possible that the thoughts of the Director and
the Business Intelligence Manager at ITVN about working in isolated environment is their
perception problem, since HR Manager stated that all employees enjoy the company activities
together. The results of the interviews showed that the employees working in Data Analysis team
at ITVN are happy with their working environment, and the poor working environment is a
perception problem of the Director, it is not a main problem for the company to be solved.
3.2.3 Low level of motivation

 Unequal benefits
According to Piotrkowski et al as cited by Tokarz-Kocik ( 16), motivation is a set of elements that
cause, direct and sustain behaviors of people. Aside from direct compensation such as salary,
indirect benefits such as a corporate mobile phone, laptop, personal health insurance, coupons for
free meals or holiday vouchers are other elements of motivation instruments which can determine
the effectiveness of a motivation system, stated by Tokarz-Kocik (16). So, there are direct
motivation factor such as salary, incentive, and indirect motivation factor such as benefits,
allowance, which effect to the job satisfaction of the employees. Besides, MetLife and Dale-Olsen
as cited by Carraher (9) indicated that although salary may be an important factor in attracting
employees, benefits seem to play a more important role in retaining as well as attracting
employees.
It seems that there is an unequal benefits scheme at ITVN, especially for Data Analysis team. The
inequity scheme can be seen as Data Analysis team have their labor contracts signed with the
agency, while other team in the company having their labor contracts signed with ITVN. This
differentiation leads to the unequal in the benefits scheme of Data Analysis team comparing to
other teams in ITVN, which may be one of the reason causes high turnover rate in Data Analysis
team.
Ms. Nguyen Truc – who is working in Data Analysis team, shared her opinion about the labor
contract signed with agency which leads to inequity in benefits scheme and reduce her motivation
to work. She stated:

21

TIEU LUAN MOI download :