Solutions to improve ineffective supervision at FPT digital retail joint stock company

1 SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVE INEFFECTIVE SUPERVISION AT FPT DIGITAL RETAIL JOINT STOCK COMPANY TRUONG THUY QUANG MBA THESIS INSTRUCTOR: Dr Nguyen Thi Nguyet Que Feb 6, 2017 Table of Contents Acknowledgement Executive summary CHAPTER I PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION 1.1 Company background 1.1.1 Industry overview 1.1.2 Market share and competitors 1.1.3 Company history and structure 1.2.Background of problem 11 1.3 Problem Justification 17 1.3.1 Potential central problem 17 1.3.2 Justify the existence of problem 19 1.3.3usify the importance of problem 21 1.4 Identification of potential causes: 23 CHAPTER II ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS 27 2.1.Causes validation 27 2.2.Solution design 30 CHAPTER III SELECTED SOLUTION AND CHANGE PLAN 37 3.1.Introduction to selected solution 37 3.2.Details plan 37 3.3.Change plan and counter measures: 41 CHAPTER IV SUPPORTING INFORMATION 42 4.1.Questionnaire development to justify central problem 43 4.2 Questionnaire development to justify causes 44 4.3 Transcript of all interviews 46 REFERENCE 77 List of Tables Table 1: Asia retails sales volume growth from Economist Intelligence Unit, 2016 Table 2: Electrical appliances and housewares: Market demand growth from Economist Intelligence Unit, 2016 List of Figures Figure 1: FPT Corporation structure from FPT Retail Human Resources, 2016 10 Figure 2: Staff growth at FPT Retail JSC from FPT Retail JSC Human Resources, 2016 .11 Figure 3: Turnover rate at FPT retail JSC from FPT Retail JSC Human Resources, 2014 to 2016 11 Figure 4: Initial cause and effect map 16 Figure 5: Final cause and effect map 26 Acknowledgement I would like to express my deepest appreciation to my supervisor, Dr Nguyen Thi Nguyet Que, who always stands by me and motivates me to complete this Without her full support, this master thesis cannot be fulfilled Needless to say, her guidance helped me in all the time of writing this thesis In addition to that, I want to show my sincere gratitude to Prof Nguyen Dinh Tho, who are always dedicated and patient to us in every single moment Besides my advisors, I would like to thank my family and friends for encouraging me spiritually throughout writing this thesis Executive summary This thesis of “Solutions to improve ineffective supervision” had been composed and completed in four main chapters: problem identification, alternative solutions, selected solution and change plan, supporting information Chapter I included company introduction which is FPT Digital Retail JSC, main features about FPT as well as some recent issues that illustrated from a wide variety of secondary data To make it clearer and convincing, in depth interviews were conducted to explore problems further to see what was really going on in this company A problem mess had been created to show out all symptoms, organization outcomes and problems as a general picture Specifically, a central problem of ineffective supervision was selected to be solved as a core problem of company with the justification of its existence and importance After validating and selecting the central problem of organization, three causes of central problem listed as supervisory relationship, soft-skill training, gender-related leadership were investigated to verify and determine so as to give out alternative solutions which were presented in chapter II In this thesis, there were two solutions proposed for short-term and long-term to tackle problem with evaluation and comparison between these two solutions to best out the most relevant and suitable for organization which were discussed in chapter III The last chapter was named as the supporting chapter to support all information and information source for the above three chapters It composed three sections of questionnaire development to justify central problem, questionnaire development to justify causes and transcript of all interviews In-depth interviews were widely used at different levels from staff to manager to collect data and to diagnose various aspects of the problem with the methodology of design-oriented and theory-informed from a wide variety of fields such as retails, service industry, management etc After collecting data and information to analyze, it was believed that employee satisfaction had been greatly affected by lots of factors such as nature of work, pay and benefit, motivation etc However, this research illustrated that factor of supervision had been mostly influenced which led to the very alarming consequences such as high turnover, low job performance and employee satisfaction CHAPTER I: PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION 1.1 Company background 1.1.1 Industry overview In this constantly changing world, Vietnam is one of the most actively emerging markets Particularly, despite the world economic slowdown, retail sector of Vietnam is highly considered as high level of attractiveness As being illustrated in Table 1, over the past year, Vietnam had a pretty low growth rate in comparison with other developing countries such as China, Hong Kong However, recently from 2016, it is predicted that the second-highest growing country belongs to Vietnam though these figures varied slightly Table 1: Asia retails sales volume growth from Economist Intelligence Unit, 2016 Needless to say, retail competition of electric device market is getting gradually aggressive and expansive Follow the very similar pattern with the growth rate in the first table, this second table illustrates the rapidly growth of Vietnam in term of electrical appliances and housewares Since 2014, Vietnam won the second-highest place in market demand growth just after China as presented in table below: Table 2: Electrical appliances and housewares: Market demand growth from Economist Intelligence Unit, 2016 1.1.2 Market share and competitors Several biggest mobile phone retailer listed must be Thegioididong Joint Stock Company, FPT Digital Retail Joint Stock Company, Vienthong A etc During the past years from 2010 to 2014, Thegioididong drives the position of one of 500 leading retail companies in Asia Pacific area and won the first place of mobile retail business (according to doanhnhansaigon.vn) “The Vietnam mobile phone retail market is heating up with an enormous expansion of the largest retailers such as Thegioididong, FPT and VienthongA Therefore, smaller retailers in the mobile phone business need to adapt in order to survive in this competitive market Vietnam’s largest mobile phone retailer, Thegioididong has accounted for 40% share of mobile retail market in Vietnam and its revenue in 2015 was reported to increase 60% compared to the previous year from 15,800 billion VND to 25,250 billion VND “The market share of Thegioididong is up to 40% and not stoppable; It is really not easy for anyone who wants to penetrate into this market to compete with Thegioididong” Nguyen Duc Tai, the CEO of Thegioididong, said.” The strongest rival of FPT Shop must be Thegioigidong, the first comer in this playground with more than 688 stores, 16.969 employees in all regions of Vietnam It accounts for 30% market share followed by FPT Shop 10%, Vienthong A Viettel 20% and the remaining belongs to small and medium sized shops Nevertheless, due to this strong competition, it is confronting with one another giant competitor named FPT Shop whose number of shops sharply rocket in all around Vietnam To reach out this target, retail staff has made great contribution though this company is under threat of high turnover rate which is the result of low job satisfaction, working time, competition between staff etc 1.1.3 Company history and structure On August 28, 2007 FPT Digital Retail JSC was established with the store chain named [IN]Store nationwide After that, in 2008, [IN]Store changed its name to FPT Shop And since 2009, FPT brand name has become popular with customers Three years later, FPT Retail JSC changed its name to FPR Digital Retail JSC and this name has been widely used until now 10 Regarding the structure, FPT Digital Retail JSC (FPT Retail) operates under FPT Corporation as one of its subsidiary People in Vietnam witness this familiar name FPT Shop Until now, there are approximately 300 stores in around Vietnam mainly in Ho Chi Minh City, Ha Noi, Hai Phong, Can Tho, Da Nang and Hue Predictably, Year 2016 witness a sharp increase up to 400 shops FPT CORPORATION FE FIS FOC FRT FTEL FTG FS Figure 1: FPT Corporation structure from FPT Retail Human Resources, 2016 FPT Shop provides huge ranges of products from Mobile phone, Laptop, Accessories to Service, used mobile phones For staff, there is a dramatically increase in staff growth with career path from newbies to Regional Shop manager In 2015, the number of staff reached 4500 people and increase to around 5000 staff in 2016 5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 Staf growth 2007 2010 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 Q13: When you were under pressure and tired or get stuck, did you receive any support from upper lever manager or colleagues? A13: Yes I asked some people, and upper level manager, it doesn't mean that all manager are qualified Some upper lever manager are not as qualified as staff Other experienced and qualified manager already left company It reflected the truth that now in FPT, salesman get easier to be promoted to shop manager Q14: In your opinion, why did experienced and qualified manager leave company? A14: Working style and management way is not suitable for them They cannot adapt to it Then, they feel tired 80% manager in FPT quit job and left company I can take example that, there is a Shop manager working in FPT for or years but still stays the same position, he cannot promote even though he has done a great job, everyone loves him While other less experienced shop manager promote very fast, the reason is that the Area Shop Manager (ASM) not treat staff equally Most of upper level manager in FPT are female and this person, she works on emotions Q15: What are the possible outcomes if number of leavers is increasing significantly? A15: yes There must be should changes and problems happened Some people have to deal with overload work, new staff with less experience cannot work well or new managers not know how to deal with trouble, cannot manage shop, which impacts job performance Q16:Are you satisfied with salary and benefit that FPT offered you? A16: No When I worked at FPT, I never got 10 million VND whereas other salesmen could get or million, almost the same to mine Base salary of a shop manager in FPT is only 5.5 million VND Total income is base salary plus bonus from other full target ,then deducted insurance cost, income tax … will be around million VND Q17: What are the reasons that you quit job and left FPT? A17: There are many reasons that I decided to quit job, some of them are personal reasons In addition to that, I don't feel happy with my upper lever managers Employee can work under pressure, employee can love company, but here they cannot love their managers Thank you nd Respondent - The interview with Mr Vu Thanh Tung Q1: Hi Mr Tung again, to continue our last talk, deepening in ineffective supervision A1: Ok Q2: What is the main reason that you think employee leave FPT Digital Retail JSC? A2: Here in FPT, salesman must suffer from lots of things: work overload, poor pay and benefit, … However, they cannot leave this company only because of factors mentioned above Staff may love company, but they won’t like their managers or supervisors They are not satisfied, not happy with their managers During more than years working here, there are so many people left this company due to ineffective supervision from their managers For me, I am not happy with my boss supervision In the meeting, sometimes, I just sit from the morning to the evening in room just to listen to complaints or shouts from my managers I felt extremely exhausted and they are not emotional to solve problem Q3: Your manager challenged you to think outside box, he encouraged you to work with clients you would have hesitated to work with? They are honestly, friendliness, modeling how to be/interact with clients in egalitarian and supportive way? A3: No Managers don’t like receiving opinions from their staff, they act on their emotions In FPT, most of managers are female so their emotions can influence their actions and decisions Q4: Your manager brainstormed ideas with you, or having ability to ask difficult or uncomfortable questions regarding your thoughts, feelings, and perceived development in a non-provoking not sugar-coated manner A4: No, we don’t have time for that Just focus to generate good sales Q5: Your supervisors or managers showed that they are very knowledgeable in field of expertise, strong analysis of transference, countertransference issues or provided concrete examples of potential intervention strategies? A5: Currently, very few people in FPT at level of managers are strong in techniques and skills, they all leave to another company to work For soft-skill, it depends But very few people in FPT have strengths in soft-skill such as communication, and my direct managers Q6: Can you give me an example A6: Shop manager are usually the one who self-design and solve problems For example, if I have any problem about compensation and benefit at company, I cannot ask my direct managers I have to ask head office first Q7: Your manager demonstrated trust and confidence in your abilities and making you feel as though you are working with them instead of working for them or providing you safe space in supervision? A7: No whenever I try to raise voice and give out opinions, they don’t listen to or don’t try to understand Q8: Whenever they don’t want to listen to you, you ask them the reason? A8: Yes They just said that, we cannot argue or oppose with what comes from the top I believed that at FPT Retail JSC at this moment, there is no training in terms of listening skill, understanding and communication skill And you know, it is not true that everyone can communicate well Q9: Your manager provided effective feedback, or your supervisor demonstrated the ability to deliver constructive criticism in the most positive manner coupled with a positive? A9: Sometimes, when I try to give out my own opinions, they said “no” right after that even they don’t try to take a second to think about that which makes me really disappointed Q10: You mentioned that there is no training in terms of listening skill, understanding and communication etc But for you how important soft-skills training to supervision effectiveness? A10: For me, it is very important If they know how to listen to us, how to communicate with us well, the relationship between us will be improved and of course more effective supervision Q11: I know that in FPT, most of managers are female? A11: Yes Q12: Do you think that this gender-related issue will influence their supervision effectiveness? A12: No I don’t think so Because it depends on their capabilities, skills and so on Q13: In terms of supervisory relationship, Is there goal setting between you and your supervisor? A13: Maybe no You know, whenever there is a new event or program, I need to follow from top-down Goal setting is also set from the top, not from me Even I know it’s not effective, but I have to follow Q14: Is there rapport between supervisor and you? A14: Not all the time Q15 : Does your supervisor trust you ? A15: No When I try to raise my opinion, they can stop it immediately Q16: Is there caring from your supervisor? A16: No For example, as a shop manager like me has to solve all problems by myself Just in very urgent cases, I call my manager They only care the sales result Thank you Respondent : Ms Le Thi Bich Ngoc Q1: Hello, My name is Thuy Quang and I am now postgraduate student in Master of Business At this moment, I am working on my graduation thesis Can we talk to each other around 30 minutes? A1: Yes Q2: Can you introduce yourself ? A2: I am Le Thi Bich Ngoc, I am 25 years old and currently working as Shop manager at 344 Le Van Khuong, District 12, of FPT Shop Q3: How long have you been working in FPT? At position or change many positions? Can you share with me how you can feel when working here? A3: For years The first position is a salesman in months, then join taskforce team months and then promoted to be Shop Manager at 344 Le Van Khuong, District 12 in year Q4: Can you share with me your feeling when working here? A4: My direct boss is wonderful, and higher manager I have no ideas, my colleagues are nice Regarding pay, in comparison with time consuming and effort, it is not commensurate Even though I work at Shop for hours/day, after I leave work and arrive home I must lots of things: check mail, zalo, with new updated information, I have to implement immediate for my Shop Generally speaking, this job brings much pressure In terms of pay, benefit policy, I am not satisfied with it Overall, this working environment is really harsh under pressure Pressure from target, from managers, employee below, market competition For me, everyone can only work in this industry and company in a very short time Q5: Why you said that everyone can only work in this company for a very short time? Due to intra competition or too much work pressure? Or any other reasons? A5: Ok, I take an example, if you cannot reach sales target or cannot reach customer service target in months continuously, he or she must be kicked out of company One another reason can be unequal Hence, salesman decide to quit the job and leave company Q6: So, based on your talks, is it right that there is a high turnover rate in FPT Shop? I heard 50%? A6: That's completely right Q7: So as far as you know, what are the reasons that make salesman quit the job? A7: Salesmen quit the job because they cannot meet target and then feel tired and stress at work, or feel like loss of energy They don’t want to go to work One another reason is that they are asked to leave company Q8: Any other reasons that make a salesman quit the job and leave company? A8: Because they found another job that they can earn stable living and only work from am to pm Or due to the strict competition among salesmen Q9: If salesman quit the job and leave company? Does it impact on FPT Shop? A9: Yes for sure, company has to train a new sales staff from the beginning, if many salesman quit the job in the same time, it influences shop manager Q10: How can it influence shop manager? A10: In evaluation from higher manager It may happen because of a not good shop manager Then, with a new sales staff, shop manager will take time and effort to train again Q11: How about any productivity influences? A11: Yes A new salesman surely don’t know how to sell products, which can lost customer and lower productivity Thank you Respondent 6: Ms Nguyen Ngoc Thanh Hieu Q1: Hello, My name is Thuy Quang and I am now postgraduate student in Master of Business At this moment, I am working on my graduation thesis Can we talk to each other around 30 minutes? A1: Yes Q2: May I ask what your name is? A2: My name is Nguyen Ngoc Thanh Hieu and I am now working at Hoa Thien Phu group as customer service staff Q3: I heard that you used to work for FPT Retail JSC A3: That ‘s right Q4: What position did you work for and for how long? A4: I used to be a salesman for months Q5: When you worked there, how did you feel about working environment at FPT in term of managers, colleagues, nature of work? A5: My manager is not caring enough In addition, there is a tough competition among colleagues This is a very difficult and hard job because of the nature of work I have to stand all the time, I feel very tired and stressed Q6: Why did you decide to leave FPT? A6: I am not satisfied with pay and benefit, and the nature of work is terrible which can affect my health status About competition among staff, we have to grab clients with a negative thinking that is bad for human psychology Q7: Do you have any suggestions for the development of FPT? A7: Company should design a scheme of assigning clients to staff, there is no need to grab here to build up relationship, enhance team work Thank you Respondent 7: Mr Ho Nhut Khuong Q1: Hello, My name is Thuy Quang and I am now postgraduate student in Master of Business At this moment, I am working on my graduation thesis Can we talk to each other around 30 minutes? A1: Yes Q2: May I ask what your name is? A2: My name is Ho Nhut Khuong and now I am working Q3: Where you usually buy electronics device and accessories? A3: Oh I usually buy them at well-known shop like Bach Long, Thegioididong or FPT … Q4: Why did you decide to buy at these shops? A4: I want to make sure that they are good product with high quality as well as its guarantees service there You know some electronics are risky, that ‘s why Q5: So, often what kinds of product you buy in FPT? A5: In FPT, I bought a laptop and some other different accessories Q6: In terms of sales policy and service in FPT, are you happy with that? A6: It seems to be quite good, not too bad Q7: In comparison with other competitors such as Bach Long, or Vien Thong A, Thegioididong how you think? A7: If sales staff attitude and their enthusiasm, I believe I am still happier and feel more comfortable with Thegioididong I am always satisfied with what Thegioididong has provided me Q8: Do you have any suggestions or recommendations for bettering FPT service? A8: If yes, It must be guarantees service I had one problem with my laptop which was bought in FPT several months ago I came there to return and complain, you know, the procedures of guaranting products is really complicated I really need help from FPT to that FPT sales staff that, I must go to DELL brand to fix and get guarantee from there FPT will not take any responsibility to my issue It is extremely confused to me, because I bought my laptop in FPT, not at DELL store Thank you Respondent : Mr Le Dinh Qui (Customer) Q1: Hello, My name is Thuy Quang and I am now postgraduate student in Master of Business At this moment, I am working on my graduation thesis Can we talk to each other around 30 minutes? A1: OK Q2: May I ask what your name is? A2: My name is Qui Q3: Where you usually buy electronics device and accessories? A3: I always buy these products at Thegioididong or Nguyen Kim Q4: Why did you decide to buy at these shops? A4: My criteria is trust-worthy, quality, price, service (staff attitude) Q5: Have you ever bought at FPT Shop? A5: Yes, I used to go there for reference Q6: Why don’t you choose FPT to buy products because FPT is a very big brand A6: I used to go there to look for a laptop But when being asked, sales staff said No, they don’t have Right after that, that sales staff left and leave me alone to go around without any explanation and further assistance After that, I just go around to see all products, sales staff there don’t advise me suitable products that meet my requirements They tried to introduce another one that they Shop is having in stock or what they want to push sales I am not happy with that and disappointed, too Q7: I see, In addition to that, What else that makes you dissatisfied? A7: I think at that moment, there are very few customers, I strongly believe that sales staff attitude seems to be not good and caring enough They are not proactive and active Q8: So, for you, to help FPT increase competitiveness with other competitors, what should FPT do? A8: I think they need to change the way they treat their customers, it should be opener, happier They need to catch up with what clients say and advise the most suitable products, exactly with what customers want If that product is not available at that moment, they should recommend another relevant to Therefore, customers will easily get familiar with that without any strangeness Thank you REFERENCE (1)Mercer and Talentnet Total Remuneration Survey (TRS) 2015 - Steadily rising Talentnet Vietnam [Internet] 2015 [cited 2016 Oct 12] Available from http://www.talentnet.vn/en/information-center/talentnet-viewpoints/mercer-and-talentnettotal-remuneration-survey-trs-2015-steadily-rising MonEuy2wnh (2)FPT Retail keeps strong growth FPT Vietnam [Internet] 2016 [cited 2016 Oct 12] Available from https://fpt.com.vn/en/newsroom/detail/fpt-retail-keeps-strong-growth (3)Morgan MM, Sprenkle DH Toward a common-factor approach to supervision Journal of Marital and Family Therapy 2007;33(1):1-17 (4)Pell AR Supervision: Making things clear to the team Manager's Magazine 1992;67(4):26 (5)Magnuson S, Wilcoxon S, Norem K A Profile of Lousy Supervision: Experienced Counselors' Perspectives Counselor Education and Supervision 2000;39(3):189-202 (6)McSparran K Total sales management - sales supervision: The Weak Link Beverage World 1992;111(1507):48 (7)Thacker RA, Holl KB Behaviorally-based management training: linking behaviors to employee satisfaction Industrial and Commercial Training 2008;40(2):102-108 (8)Ladany N, Mori Y, Mehr KE Effective and ineffective supervision Couns Psychol 2013;41(1):28 (9)Ambreen U Employee satisfaction in retail banking at Lahore-a case study of HBL International Journal of Information, Business and Management 2013;5(1):157-175 (10) Saif-ud-Din, Khair-uz-Zaman, Nawaz A Impacts of demographic variables on job- satisfaction of the academicians in universities of NWFP, Pakistan Bulletin of Education and Research 2010;32(1):53-68 (11) Ongori H A review of the literature on employee turnover African Journal of Business Management 2007;1(2):49-54 (12) Chou RJ, Robert SA Workplace support, role overload, and job satisfaction of direct care workers in assisted living J Health Soc Behav 2008;49(2):208-22 (13) Yang C, Hwang M Personality traits and simultaneous reciprocal influences between job performance and job satisfaction Chinese Management Studies 2014;8(1):6-26 (14)Osibanjo AO, Gberevbie DE, Adeniji AA, Oludayo AO Relationship modeling between work environment, employee productivity, and supervision in the Nigerian Public Sector American Journal of Management 2015;15(2):9-23 (15) de Menezes L Job satisfaction and quality management: an empirical analysis International Journal of Operations & Production Management 2012;32(3):308-328 (16) Tian W Chinese Management Studies 2009;3(4):356-378 (17)Banks-Johnson A Perceptions of the supervisory relationship: Minority supervisors working with minority supervisees Ann Arbor: University of Virginia; 2002 (18) Britton PJ, Goodman JM, Rak CF Presenting workshops on supervision: A didactic- experiential format Counselor Education and Supervision 2002;42(1):31 (19)Santucci PJ Put training where it belongs Training & Development 1993;47(11):4 ‐Foreman (20)Doughty EA, Leddick GR Gender differences in the supervisory relationship Journal of Professional Counseling, Practice, Theory, & Research 2007 Fall;35(2):17-30 (21)Mena K Impact of the supervisory relationship on worker job satisfaction and burnout Ann Arbor: University of Houston; 2000 (22)Comer LB, Jolson MA, Dubinsky AJ, Yammarino FJ When the sales manager is a woman: An exploration into the relationship between salespeople's gender and their responses to leadership styles The Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management 1995 Fall;15(4):17 (23) Melissa Kraemer Smothers Counseling self -efficacy: The contributions of early attachment and the supervisory relationship Ann Arbor: The University of Wisconsin Milwaukee; 2009 (24)Lindo DK Training supervisors for success CA Magazine 1985;118(6):75 (25) Jain S, Anjuman ASS Facilitating the acquisition of soft skills through training IUP Journal of Soft Skills 2013;7(2):32-39 ... competitors Several biggest mobile phone retailer listed must be Thegioididong Joint Stock Company, FPT Digital Retail Joint Stock Company, Vienthong A etc During the past years from 2010 to 2014,... 1.1.3 Company history and structure On August 28, 2007 FPT Digital Retail JSC was established with the store chain named [IN]Store nationwide After that, in 2008, [IN]Store changed its name to FPT. .. structure, FPT Digital Retail JSC (FPT Retail) operates under FPT Corporation as one of its subsidiary People in Vietnam witness this familiar name FPT Shop Until now, there are approximately 300 stores