Work overload at vietinbank – x branch

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

Vu Thi Thuy

WORK OVERLOAD
AT VIETINBANK – X BRANCH

MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

Ho Chi Minh City - Year 2018

1


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

Vu Thi Thuy

WORK OVERLOAD
AT VIETINBANK – X BRANCH

MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

SUPERVISOR: DR. PHAN THI MINH THU

Ho Chi Minh City – Year 2018

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Table of Contents
Executive summary .........................................................................................................5
CHAPTER 1: COMPANY INTRODUCTION ..............................................................7
1.1. General Information about Retail Banking...........................................................7
1.2 Company background ............................................................................................8
1.3. The Symptoms ......................................................................................................9
1.3.1 The first symptom: High turnover rate of employees .....................................9
1.3.2 The second symptom: Low job satisfaction ..................................................11
1.3.3 The third symptom: Low key performance indicators ..................................12
1.3.4 The fourth symptom: Low job performance .................................................14
CHAPTER 2: PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION ............................................................16
2.1 Problem mess .......................................................................................................16
2.1.1 Over working hours.......................................................................................17
2.1.2 Job stress .......................................................................................................18
2.1.3 Unrealistic targets..........................................................................................19
2.1.4 Not enough Coaching & feedback ................................................................20
2.1.5 Inconsistent of management style .................................................................21
2.1.6 Unfair between compensation and contribution of employees .....................21
2.1.7 Lack of vacation and family benefit .............................................................22
2.2 Tentative problems ..............................................................................................24
2.2.1 The first tentative problems: Work overload ................................................24
2.2.2 The second tentative problems: Ineffective leadership .................................25
2.2.3 The third tentative problems: Incompatible compensation policy ................25
2.2.4 New findings from literatures .......................................................................26
2.3...............................................................................................................................29
The central problem ...................................................................................................29
2.4 Problem definition ...............................................................................................29

2.5 Problem existence ................................................................................................30
2.6 Problem importance .............................................................................................31
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CHAPTER 3: ALTERNATIVES ANALYSIS AND POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS ........34
3.1 Potential causes of the problem ...........................................................................34
3.2. Verify causes of the real problem .......................................................................38
3.3. Root cause ...........................................................................................................42
3.4. Tentative solutions ..............................................................................................42
3.4.1 Set solution ....................................................................................................46
3.4.2 Plan design: ...................................................................................................49
Conclusion .....................................................................................................................57
References .....................................................................................................................58
APPENDIX ...................................................................................................................62
Appendix 1: Interview guide .....................................................................................62
Appendix 2: The result of interview ..........................................................................70
Appendix 3: Transcript ..............................................................................................78
Appendix 4: The example of a set KPI at Vietinbank – X Branch ...........................91

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Executive summary
Today, the banking profession is considered a dream job with many people because
the high salary and reward up to several tens of millions per month. However, in order
to achieve that high pay, the bankers must suffer a lot of pressure and hardships. At the
retail division of VietinBank - X Branch, the average income of non-title staff ranges
from 10 to 20 million VND, maybe even higher if the employees achieved good sales.
However, the rate of employee quit the job at X Branch is always high at

approximately 50%, the number of new recruiting staff is not enough to offset the
number of employees resign. The retail division is always has the highest staff
turnover rate compared to other departments in VietinBank - X Branch. The unstable
personnel situation caused significant negative impacts on the business results of X
Branch, the revenue and profit decrease continuously in recent years.
One of the main unsettled problems at VietinBank - X Branch is the staff being work
overload, pressure and heavy stress. The main reasons leading to this problem is the
quantity and quality of personnel not meeting the demand of work, the staff is not
trained leading to low productivity, lack of confidence and disappointed. In addition,
the inappropriate workflow with many unnecessary steps is also one of the causes to
increase workload for employees.
To improve the work overload situation, this paper proposes two solutions related to
the focus on training human resources and reducing the number of customers at the
counter by encouraging more and more customers to use the Internet banking channel.
The total cost of this solution included the training cost and the alternative system is
about 698,882,500 VND. However, the benefits from the above solutions can
completely cover the above costs. In detail, with the target of successfully register a
minimum of 10,675 Internet banking per year, X Branch will obtain a huge fee from
this product estimated about 1,127,280,000 VND per year. These solutions not only
have a positive impact in the short term but also in the long term. The emphasis on
human resource training contributes to help the staff increase their knowledge and
skills to confidently handle work, improve employee productivity, enhance employee
satisfaction and engagement. In addition, the move to Internet banking channel is a
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suitable solution with the development trend of the banking industry, bringing many
benefits for both customers and banks (saving costs, fast and convenient, etc).

6

CHAPTER 1: COMPANY INTRODUCTION
1.1. General Information about Retail Banking
Retail Banking is defined as the type of bank that deals directly with individual customers
by providing them with a multiplicity of services like opening a savings account,
taking a loan, applying for a credit card and customers may also inquire about
potential banking products that they may need at a future date. A retail bank which
acts as a comprehensive financial service provider for retail clients, allowing them to
purchase multiple financial instruments, under one roof (1, 2).
Related to the trend of Retail Banking in Vietnam, Mr. Rahn Wood (Head of Retail
Banking at VIB Bank) said that start in 2014, development of retail banking will be a
natural development trend. With a developing country characterized by low average
incomes, the primitive banking system and the demand for finance and payment
services increases exponentially, surely the retail banking market in Vietnam will be
grow strongly in the next decade (3).
Nowadays, most banks have started to focus on promoting retail banking in the
Vietnamese market. According to Vietnam Banking Industry report 2015, corporate
lending is the main activity of the banks in Vietnam and it accounts for almost half of
total loans while only 28% are loans to individuals. According to the State Bank of
Vietnam, only 20% of the population in Vietnam holds a bank account. This illustrates
that the banks in Vietnam has a huge opportunity to develop retail banking services
(4).
Currently, local banks are competing fiercely to increase market share in various ways,
such as expanding Branch network across the country, developing online banking and
telephone services, Giving priority financial services to VIP customers and etc.
However, one of the difficulties for banks in Vietnam when joining the retail market is
that the human resources are not professional and lack of concentration and
synchronization. Therefore, the banks in Vietnam have to pay attention to the
recruitment and training of staff, build a team of professionals not only have the

qualifications, knowledge of retail banking but also have skills to communicate with
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customers. They also create a good working environment for employees to promote
the capacity and enhance the cohesion of employees with the bank (5).
1.2 Company background
VietinBank - X Branch in Ho Chi Minh city was established in April 30, 1985. It has a
wide network with the headquarters in X District and eight transaction offices in 8, 10
and 11 District.
VietinBank - X Branch always provides variety of banking products and services to
customers like opening a savings account, taking a loan, providing banking guarantee
products and etc. After over 30 years of operation, total outstanding loans for retail
customers of X Branch reached 1.110 billion VND, accounting for 12,98% of
outstanding loans in the area; total mobilized capital reached 3.855 billion, accounting
for 18,61% of total deposits in the area. With these results, VietinBank is the bank
with the third largest market share of credit and the largest market share of deposits in
the area.
To specialize in customer management and design policies tailored to each customer
segment, VietinBank classifies customers into two segments in the whole system:
Retail customers segment and Wholesale customers segment. Retail division
specialized in providing banking products for Retail customers including individuals
and micro enterprises with turnover of less than 20 billion Dong. Wholesale division is
responsible for developing wholesale customers that are organizations and enterprises
with turnover of over VND 20 billion.
The organizational model of VietinBank – X Branch is described as follows:
Figure 1: Organizational model of VietinBank - X Branch
Director

Vice

president of
Wholesale
division

Enterprises
customer
department

Vice
president of
other
divisions

Vice
president of
Retail
division

Retail
customer
department

Eight
transaction
offices

Accounting
department

Personnel

administration
department

Synthetic
department

8


As you can be seen in the organizational model above, X Branch is managed by the
Directors of Branch and three Deputy Directors. The branch is divided into 6
departments with different functions. At June 30, 2018, the total number of personnel
of X branch is 78 staff. In which, the Retail division accounts 57 employees including
Credit officers and Tellers accounted for the largest share of personnel at X Branch
with about 73% of total.
In recent years, the business results and the personnel situation of the retail division at
X Branch has many significant negative changes. In detail, the level of employee
satisfaction is very low and the number of employees resigning has increased rapidly
in consecutive years, X Branch is always in shortage of personnel; the business results
have been declining continuously for many years. In this analysis, I will analyze to
find out the potential problems and provide solutions to improve this situation of
VietinBank – X Branch.
1.3. The Symptoms
1.3.1 The first symptom: High turnover rate of employees
The below chart will show the number of employees of VietinBank - X Branch from
2015 up to now:
Figure 2: Compare the actual number of employees and the minimum number
80
70

68

69

71

62

61

60

60

72

57

50
40

The actual number of
employees

30

Minimum number of
employees

20

10
0
Y 2015

Y 2016

Y 2017

Y 2018

Source: Human Report 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 in VietinBank - X Branch

Each year, based on the size and business network of each Branch, VietinBank will
assign the minimum number of employees for each Branch, it is also called boundary
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of human resources. The boundary is the minimum number of employees required to
run the business normally. Every year, based on the size, the number of transaction
points of each branch and the personnel policy of Vietinbank from time to time, the
Head office will assign the minimum number of employees to each Branch in the first
quarter of year.
It can be seen that, X Branch always in the shortage of personnel from 6-11
employees. In recent years, the recruitment at X branch is very difficult, the number of
applications is very low and the quality of personnel does not meet, leading to X
branch did not recruit the required needed. In addition, the existing staff at this Branch
continuously quit the job lead to the new recruitment does not cover the full number of
employees leave.
Figure 3: The number of labors classify based on the work time
60%

53%

51%

50%

46%

40%
32%
28%

30%

23% 23%

21%

23%

20%
10%
0%
Y 2016

Y 2017
<= 1 year

1-2 years

Y 2018
>2 years

Source: Human Report 2016,2017, 2018 in VietinBank - X Branch

These chart show the number of labors classify base on the work time. In 2018, the
rate of human working in VietinBank - X Branch less than one year is 46%, from one
to two year is 23%. It mean that, most of retaile human resources are new recruiting
personnel, the time of cohesion with banks is low, mostly from one to two years.
Figure 4: The rate of personnel quitting the job

10


50,9%
60,0%

43,6%
46,7%

50,0%
23,1%

40,0%

25,0%

39,5%

21,4%

30,0%

14,3%

20,0%

Y 2018

10,0%

Y 2017

0,0%
Retail
department

Wholesale
department

Other
department

Y 2017

Branch X

Y 2018

Source: Human Report 2015, 2016, 2017 in VietinBank - X Branch

The rate of employees quit the job in Retail department very high and always higher
substantially than the other department and average rate of VietinBank - X Branch.
1.3.2 The second symptom: Low job satisfaction
Table 1: Results of the satisfaction survey of personnel in 2016, 2017
Year

X Branch

Average of region

2016

56.5

68.3

2017

58.3

71.8

Source: Human Report 2016, 2017 at VietinBank – X Branch

In 2016, for the first time, VietinBank carried out the employee satisfaction survey to
provide a comprehensive and multi-dimensional picture in the field of employee
engagement. VietinBank hired a third partner (Aon Hewitt Singapore) to ensure
independence and objectivity, encourage officials and employees (employees) to share

honestly and openly. Aon Hewitt Singapore has studied and developed a questionnaire
consisting of 12 short questions related to key aspects of personnel such as
remuneration, leadership, working environment and asking them about their proposals
related to personnel policies. This survey will be sent online via email to all staff of
VietinBank.

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The result of employee satisfaction survey has helped VietinBank to have clear and
specific information to measure the health of the organization, understand the
aspirations and the attachment level of employees according to each age, each
department and branch. This survey also receives many feedbacks and contributions
from the "voice" of the employees.
You can see in this table, in the last two year, the score of employee’s satisfaction at X
Branch has improved slightly but is still lower substantially than the average of region.
Although this is the result of whole X Branch, but with the number of employees
accounting for 73% of the total staff of X Branch, this result also reflects the
satisfaction of employees in the retail division is also very low
1.3.3 The third symptom: Low key performance indicators
The set KPI at VietinBank - X Branch is detailed in the attached appendix. It includes
over 13 indicators of all kinds, it is divided into four main categories: Financial Factor
(F), Customer Factor (C), Process / Operations (O) and the human element (P). In
which, the financial factor accounted for 62% of the total KPI, which was the most
significant factor in the overall KPI of the X Branch.
Details of some key financial indicators of the Branch are as follows:
Figure 5: The Sales
4500

4.173,36

4.206,77
3.854,60

4000

3.793,32

3500
3000
2500

Credit

2000
1500

1331,65

Capital

1.375,32
1.109,99

1.073,88

Y 2017

Y 2018

1000
500
0
Y 2015

Y 2016

Source: Business Report 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 at VietinBank - X Branch

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From 2015 to 2016, the growth of outstanding loans and capital mobilization of
branches is negative: The balance of loan reduce 19% and the balance of capital
reduce 9.1%.
Figure 6: Completion rate of business targets in VietinBank - X Branch

100,0%

93,4%
87,7%

90,0%

84,7%
75,4%

80,0%
70,0%
60,0%

95,9%

50,0%

93,5%

Credit
81,6%

80,7%

40,0%

Capital

30,0%
20,0%
10,0%
0,0%
Y 2015

Y 2016

Y 2017

Y 2018

Source: Business Report 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 in VietinBank - X Branch

Due to the decline in sales, in recent years VietinBank - X Branch has not completed

its business target, the level of completion from 75% to 93%.
Figure 7: The Profits of retail division at VietinBank - X Branch
70
60

56,32

57,32
46,33

50

39,56
40
30
20
10
0
Y 2015

Y 2016

Y 2017

Y 2018 e

Source: Business Report 2015, 2016, 2017 in VietinBank - X Branch

Profits of X Branch have dropped rapidly over the past three years.
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1.3.4 The fourth symptom: Low job performance
At the retail division, staff performance is assessed monthly through the average gross
incomes earned by every staff, including income from loans interest, deposits interest
and cross-selling fees such as bank guarantee fees, money transfer fees, insurance fees
and etc. The reason why the income is chosen as a measure of job performance is
VietinBank argued that the last important factor is business profitability. To assess in
a most objective way and reduce the impact of regional factors and differences
between job positions, staff performance is measured separately between different job
positions and locations.
The average income of personnel at Vietinbank – X Branch from 2016 to 2018 As
follows:
Table 2: The average income of personnel
Y 2016
Income

Income
(billion
dong)

Y 2017

Compared
with the
regional
average

Income
(billion

dong)

Y 2018

Compared
with the
regional
average

Income
(billion
dong)

Compared
with the
regional
average

VietinBank - X Branch
1 Teller/year

0,74

85%

0,61

77%

0,52

61%

1 Credit officer/year

1,01

86%

0,91

75%

0,83

67%

VietinBank - Hồ Chí Minh region
1 Teller/year

0,88

0,79

0,85

1 Credit officer/year

1,17

1,21

1,23

Source: Business Report 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 in VietinBank - X Branch

Based on the above table, it can be seen that the average income of a Teller bring to
VietinBank – X Branch per year dropped from 0,74 billion dong to 0,52 billion dong,
down nearly 30 percent. The regional average also declined but was not significant.
The yield per Teller at X Branch also dropped from 85% to 61% in comparison with
the regional average. The income of a Credit officer bring to X Branch has the similar
trend as the Teller, the average income declined from 1,01 billion dong to 0,83 billion
dong, lower than the regional average. Teller and Credit officer are the main forces
contributing to the retail profit of the Branch, so the decrease in the productivity of
each staff directly affected to the profitability of X Branch as analyzed above.
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Based on the above analysis, it can be seen that the business situation of VietinBank X
Branch has many dramatically negative variations in recent years: The revenue and
profit decrease significantly, low job satisfaction and low job performance. The main
reason may be due to personnel change, business development has encountered many
disruptions. In addition, new personnel lack experience leading to low sales
effectiveness.

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CHAPTER 2: PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION
2.1 Problem mess

Based on the analysis of the above symptoms in chapter 1, the researcher conducted an
in-depth interview to collect data from the organization. The purpose is to investigate
what main problems exist leading to these symptoms at VietinBank - X Branch.
Similar to the previous section, in this part also verify by theories informed in every
problem and cause.
This study chose in-depth interview method because the advantage of this qualitative
research approach is that the interviewees would feel comfortable and openly share
their opinions related to the topic with some sensitive questions. Beside, this method
also helps gather information in the most comprehensive and intensive way.
To have a multi-dimensional assessment of the personnel situation at VietinBank X
Branch, this study interviewed five employees from different positions in retail
department as details at attached appendix 01 (Part 1). The interviewees were selected
carefully with a requirement of at least one year of experience working in the retail
division, to ensure that interviewees have sufficient experience and understanding of
the personnel situation at X Branch.
Details of the 5 selected interviewees are as follows:
The first two selected interviewees were a Customer relationship Officer and a Teller
who are currently working at VietinBank - X Branch. In which, the Customer
relationship Officer has a working time of nearly 2 years and the Teller has more than
3 years working at the current position. The opinions of these two interviewees
represent the views of existing employees working at X Branch.
This study also conducted interviews with two employees of the above positions but
now they have resigned at VietinBank - X Branch and moved to work at another bank.
These employees also have a relatively long working time at the retail department of X
Branch, they have been associated with X Branch for more than 2 years. Because
these interviewees are no longer working at VietinBank - X Branch, their opinions are
relatively objective about their assessments of the working environment at X Branch,
the reasons for employees leave and their comparisons of differences in working
environment between VietinBank - X Branch and other banks.
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Finally, this study also selected interviews with a manager who has the the largest
number of employees leave X Branch in the past time. The purpose of this interview is
to collect opinions from the perspective of the manager related to the reasons why
many employees leave work and capture the impact of the uncertainty in the personnel
to the business situation at the transaction office.
The interview consists of from 9 to 10 questions which are open-ended questions
depending on the job position of the interviewee in detail in the interview guide
attached at Appendix 1. The main difference between the interviews is that except for
questions related to personal information and job description, the resigned employees
will be asked more about their assessment of the pros and cons of X Branch’s
workplace, their comparison of working environment between VietinBank - X Branch
and their current workplace, and about the reason why they left X Branch; the
manager will be asked more about the impact of personnel fluctuations on the business
of his division and his thinking about reasons why many of employees in his
department quit their job.
Based on the opinions of the interviewees, the study draws some key limitations about
the personnel situation at VietinBank - X Branch as follows:
2.1.1 Over working hours
All five interviewees reported that their average working time from 9-10 hours per
day instead of 8 hours per day as usual. This means that every employee is required to
work overtime on average from 1-2 hours per day.
Mrs. Tran Thi Phuong Loan - a current Teller shared that in addition to the working
time of the week as regulation, X Branch usually generates additional meetings on
weekends leading to the staff not having enough rest and family time. She also added
that next year her daughter will start go to school in grade 1, it is possible that she will
have to find another workplace to conveniently take care of her daughter. Similar to
Mrs. Phuong's situation, the children are the concern that Mrs. Nguyen Thi Thanh
Nhan - a Teller who left her job at X Branch has to give up her job at VietinBank to

have enough time to take care of her children.
According to Mr. Tran Cao Nguyen - a current Customer Relationship Officer, his
work at VietinBank - X Branch occupies the majority of his time, he does not have
17


enough time for his hobbies such as traveling or gathering friends. Mr. Truong Van
Cuong – a manager also said that one of the main reasons for the resignation of his
staff is work - life imbalance. Indeed, with the average working time of 9-10 hours per
day and even weekends as shared above, it can be seen that, the personnel at X Branch
are suffering the condition of over working hours.
There are many views on standard working time, according to Allan, Brosnan &
Walsh, the “standard” working week consisted of work between 9am and 5pm,
Monday to Friday. Rutenfranz et al. argue that standard work hours were considered
those that did not intrude on the workers’ premium social time on evenings and
weekends (6).
Kodz et al. found that for some people Work-Life Balance concerned flexibility of
schedules, whereas for others it was a reduction in working hours. Dow-Clarke defined
Work-Life Balance with reference to, amongst other things, family life, income and
the life cycle. She is also interesting when found that all focus groups talked about
Work-Life Balance in relation to work hours. The above sharing of interviewee at
VietinBank – X Branch show that long working hour makes employees unbalanced
work and life. An study of Joanne White MSc and Johanna Beswick also suggests that
working long hours is perceived to impact negatively on various aspects of home life
(7).
2.1.2 Job stress
Mr. Tran Cao Nguyen said that he is very pressure because he is managing a large
number of customers and a huge credit balance of over 80 billion Dong. He is feeling
stressed because of the over workload and high business targets. Sometimes, depressed
psychology makes him unable to focus on his work, which also partly affect to his

quality of work. Mr. Le Truong Man – a Customer Relationship Officer who has
resigned from VietinBank - X Branch also had the same situation with Mr. Tran Cao
Nguyen. Even when he got home, he was also under pressure to think of business
goals and work in progress. This is also the main reason for his resignation at
VietinBank - X Branch. For the Teller position, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Thanh Nhan said
that “When I was working at X Branch, I am often stressed because every day I have to
serve an average of 60-70 customers requiring fast and accurate”. Considering the
18


manager's perspective, Mr. Truong Van Cuong also admitted that most of his staff quit
the job due to work pressure.
Based on the above comments, it can be seen that the "Pressure" and "Stress" of the
work is the common opinion of all respondents when evaluating about the working
environment at X Branch, these are also major manifestations of the “Job stress”.
According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), job
stress can be defined as the harmful physical and emotional responses that occur when
the requirements of the job do not match the capabilities, resources, or needs of the
workers (8).
Talk about the relationship between job stress and job satisfaction, there are many
researches discuss about it. The study of Landsbergis and Terry et al. showed that high
levels of work stress are associated with low levels of job satisfaction. Moreover,
Cummins have emphasized that job stressors are predictive of job dissatisfaction and
greater propensity to leave the organization (9).
Regarding the effects of job stress on job performance, a study of Benish Shabbir et al.
showed that work-related psychosocial stress is a multi-faceted phenomenon which
may affect employee attitudes and behaviors and later stresses put negative impact on
the performance. When job stress increases or cross its limits it directly affects
performance which causes performance reduction (10).
2.1.3 Unrealistic targets

According to the interviewees, the employees at X Branch are subjected to many types
of business targets and each indicator is very high. Specifically, Mr. Truong Van
Cuong shared: “The KPI set of each employee includes over 13 indicators of all kinds
such as outstanding loans, funds, cards, e-banking and etc. Each indicator is
important and occupies a certain weight in the scorecard, however, each staff has only
limited time so it is difficult to focus on all indicators. Many types of indicators, if not
completed, will be deducted for penalties resulting in the KPI score of employees are
relatively low”. Similar to Cuong's share, Mr. Le Truong Man also shared that the
business targets increased exponentially, although he tried a lot but he can only
achieve less than 80 points. The failure of business targets completion has a
particularly significant impact on employee incomes at VietinBank because the
19


income of each staff depends on their KPI score, so if they have a low KPI score, their
income will be low respectively.
Studies also show that the mentality of these employees is consistent with the
motivation theories. In detail, Atkinson’s achievement motivation theory proposes that
individuals are motivated mainly by performance targets that are set at levels of
intermediate difficulty, neither too high nor too low. The individual motivation and
performance decreases as the perceived difficulty approaches the impossible. It means
that they are certain that they will fail to achieve their target (11).
Because the target is too high, the employees try a lot but did not achieve, they will
feel their contributions are not recognized. Mr. Le Truong Man said that although he
has tried a lot, but his KPI score could not cross the 80 points and he was always
underestimated he is always appreciated not complete the task well. In the same view
with Mr. Le Truong Man, Mrs. Tran Thi Loan Phuong shared, "Because of the
relatively long working experience compared to other staff in my division, I often have
to handle more complicated tasks. That is so but not recognized by many people, so I
do not want to try again. Although I am hard but also not recognized, so I do not want

to try anymore”.
2.1.4 Not enough Coaching & feedback
In view of Mr. Le Truong Man, this is the point that X Branch has not got and need
attention and improvement. He concludes that at his current job at Vietcombank, his
leaders regularly orient the staff, follow the process, give feedback and suggestions for
staff to draw experience and do better in the next time. Mr. Tran Cao Nguyen also
wishes to receive more orientation from the leadership to improve his professional
skills, this is also a factor in supporting the employees to accomplish business goals
more easily. Mr. Truong Van Cuong admitted that due to limited time, he did not pay
much attention to coaching and feedback his staff as the role of a leader.
There are many researches related to the relationship between coaching, feedback and
job performance. According to Fournies, coaching has been defined as a process for
improving work performance. It is as a one-to-one process of helping others to
improve, to grow and to get to a higher level of performance, by providing focused
feedback, encouragement and raising awareness. Beside, concerning the consequences
20


of coaching to coaching on job satisfaction and job performance, many people have
praised the positive consequences of coaching on these factors. The reasons why is in
a coaching context, people will feel more valued and respected by their employers,
thus they will tend to be more loyal and work harder. Two qualitative studies
conducted by Deeter-Schmelz et al. found that both salespeople and sales managers
agreed that coaching skills impact salesperson’s development, which ultimately
increases salesperson’s job performance and customer relationships development (12).
2.1.5 Inconsistent of management style
Regarding the management style of the leader, Mr. Le Truong Man responded about
inconsistent leadership among the leaders. It means that in the same problem, each
Manager directs in a completely different way. Or even, in the same problem but the
leader also different direction at short times, sometimes yes, sometimes not yes. This

makes the staff feel very contradictory when making decisions and confused how to
choose the right way.
According to situational leadership theories, it is important to adjust the leadership
processes to fit the needs of followers in a given scenario. However, if the leaders who
become overly oriented to this approach, they may become so focused on constant
adjustments in the short term that they lose sight of the long-term implications of a
leadership approach. A situational leader may be deemed inconsistent and hard to
predict by followers, which can produce a lack of trust in his direction (13).
2.1.6 Unfair between compensation and contribution of employees
All five interviewees have had time to work in another bank. When they are asked to
compare their earnings when working at VietinBank - X Branch with another bank,
only two out of five interviewers said that total income at VietinBank was higher than
when they worked at other banks. Although they said that the total income at X Branch
is higher, but these interviewees are not satisfied with the income because they think
it's not worth with their effort. Specifically, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Thanh Nhan said that
with the working time more than the old bank she had worked about 2-3 hours a day,
the actual income in VietinBank X Branch is not higher than at the bank she used to
do.

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A research employee compensation by Cowherd and Levine suggest that individuals
often compare their pay to that of people higher in the organization structure. If lowerlevel employees feel inequitably treated, they may seek to reduce their effort to
achieve equity. So that, the job performance will be reduced.(14)
2.1.7 Lack of vacation and family benefit
Most of employees believe that X branch is lacking welfare policies besides wages for
staff and their families such as holidays, parties. In proposing solutions to increase
staff engagement at VietinBank - X Branch, three out of five interviewees
recommended that X Branch should to organized some holidays and team building

link between staff in X Branch. The Branch can also combine to invite the family and
relatives of employees to participate as a part of increased welfare for the staff and
help they balanced work and life, this will motivate staff to be more attached with X
Branch.
According to the International Accounting Standard, holiday and family benefits (For
husband (wife), children or other dependents) are two of nineteen types of Employees’
Benefits. A study was conducted by Alexandru Salceanu showed that employees’
benefits were conceived as forms of motivation and reward in order to help increasing
work performance.(15)
Nowadays, the benefit plays a significant factor in the attraction and retention of
employees. Benefits encompass all other inducements and services provided by an
employer to employees. Work-family benefits are a form of accommodation and
enhancement benefit, they are a benefit designed to “promote effective coping skills
and educational opportunities for employees and, sometimes, family members”. They
are designed to address the conflicting demands between work and family. (16)

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Above is the analysis of the data collected from the interview, the theories has proved that the relationships between variables are reliable and

valid. The initial cause -effect map of VietinBank – X Branch was built upon data collected from the interviews described as follows:
Figure 8: The initial cause -effect map of VietinBank – X Branch

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2.2 Tentative problems
To find out the central problem that X Branch is facing, this study will analyse in detail
about the tentative problems as follows:

2.2.1 The first tentative problems: Work overload
Based on the analysis of the variables above, it can be stated that the first problem that
maybe the company is experiencing is work overload. The reason why is that over working
hours, job stress, too high target and not enough time to coaching and feedback are the
main signal of work overload problem.
The arguments that verify work overload maybe is the problem leads to these variables are
as follows:
Over working hours: Many studies have shown that work overload causes employees to
work overtime. In detail, Uehata studied over 200 karoshi victims and found that twothirds of the victims had been working 60 or more hours per week and more than 50 hours
overtime per month prior to the attacks. His reported that third experienced other stress
factors such as increased workload. Sparks et al found that individuals are working
longer hours because of increasing workloads and job demands (7).
Job stress: Tolman and Rose defined work stress as “a hypothetical state that is influenced
by an environmental force and is demonstrated by reactions at various physiological,
psychological, and social levels” Thompson, in his study called depression, anxiety,
helplessness, frustration, fear, and despair as psychological consequences. Particularly, in
the literature stress has received great attention and described that work overload is the
resources that create stress and one of the most widely studied indicators. In this study, the
researcher also found that due to work overloads employees suffer from anxiety, poor
work performance and most important from stress, it results in decreasing job
satisfaction, and declining profits (17). Beside, Dow-Clarke in a study about Work-life
balance found that with regard to stressors, all groups mentioned workload.(7)
Unrealistic targets: In this situation at X Branch, it means that the targets are too high and
over the ability of the staff. Ksenia argues that over workload is work as the working
environment exceeding personal capabilities and further resulting in threats and the
reactions of nervousness, anxiety, frustration, pressing, or annoyance (18).

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Not enough coaching and feedback: In the interview (Part 1), Mr Truong Van Cuong – A
manager shared that due to limited time, he did not pay much attention to coaching and
feedback his staff. As analysed above, many study showed that coaching and feedback has

a positive impact on increase job performance, so it can be help employees reduce the
workload more quickly, thus reducing the pressure on the job.
2.2.2 The second tentative problems: Ineffective leadership
The arguments that verify ineffective leadership maybe is the problem leads to these
variables are as follows:
Not enough coaching and feedback: Many empirical studies agree on this point and
consider coaching to be effective because it offers employees an intense way of learning
that is suited to their individual needs and thus leads to greater career satisfaction. Moen
and Allgood note that this practice makes participating managers more efficient and
effective in their leadership roles, as employee performance will improve if the coaching
process is prepared and implemented properly (19).
Inconsistent of management style: This is analyzed in section 2.1.5, the inconsistent of
manager can produce a lack of trust in his direction.
2.2.3 The third tentative problems: Incompatible compensation policy
Regarding the compensation policy, sections 2.1.6 and 2.1.7 have specifically analyzed
employees' compensation policy at VietinBank - X Branch. It can be seen that the majority
of employees claim that the compensation policy is not attractive and commensurate with
their efforts. Thus, incompatible compensation policy maybe is a problem that exists at X
Branch.
Lawler argued that, the compensation system sends a message to employees as to what is
valued in an organization. Beside, many studies also show about the disadvantages of an
ineffective compensation policy. A confusion in this policy can potential for breaches of
procedural justice and this might lead to lower productivity levels among employees as
well as higher. In addition, procedural justice and equity are crucial factors for employee
performance and commitment. Therefore, Managers should be aware as to how their
compensation systems can best support the culture of the organization because an

incompatible compensation system could create perceptions of injustice.

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