I- CASE ANALYSE

1. High employee turnover rate

Labour turnover is the voluntary and involuntary departures of employees from a firm
due to attrition, dismissal, or resignation that provides a glimpse or illustration of the
turbulence in an organization (Effiong, Usoro & Ekpenyong 2017). Ahmed et al. (2016)
pointed out that the causes of employee turnover were related to organisation stability,
salary, motivation, training, and supervision. Mayhew confirmed that employee turnover
could be undesirable or desirable to the conglomeration depending on how
effectiveness and efficiency of employees perform (Effiong, Usoro & Ekpenyong 2017).
Significant employee turnover rate could harm the company's productivity, sustainability,
competitiveness, and profitability (Al-Suraihi et al. 2021) when the firm loses workers
with high experience, skillfulness, qualification, and performance that the workforce ‟left
consist of a high percentage of rookie workers” (Elliott et al., cited in Effiong, Usoro &
Ekpenyong 2017)

The first reason for the high employee turnover rate of Outdoor is the lack of
professional and productive employees. Despite having 20 full-time employees in
two branches, Ms. Ngoc was unable to delegate all ongoing activities to her
inexperienced workers, complete all steps by herself instead, and constantly deal with
departing employees and recruiting new people. Therefore, her low-skilled employees
face a scarcity of opportunities to gain real-world experience during working-hour and
learn from the old-hand labourers to enhance their ability, efficiency, and effectiveness,
consequently resulting in the nervousness of an unsustainable workplace. In the
Administrative Management Theory of Henri Fayol, stability of tenure is one of the
key principles (Hussain, Haque & Baloch 2019), which demonstrates that the
management should provide job security among the employees to contribute their
maximum efficiency in the organisation (Indeed Career Guide 2021). Organisations
experiencing a high level of instability and ineffectiveness can have high levels of
employee turnover rate (Alexander & Nuchols, cited in Ahmed et al. 2016). The Outdoor
did not create any opportunities for the employees to enhance and develop their ability
to prove that the organisation could guarantee the workplace's stability and long-term
viability.

Aside from the shortage of effective workers, the neglect of motivation in the
workplace negatively contributed to labour turnover. Motivation is a powerful stimulation
directing employees' behaviour to perform effectively and resulting in job satisfaction
(Varma 2017) which affects the workforce's decision to leave their position. Herzberg
Two-Factor Theory claimed that motivation was the factor of employee satisfaction,
while dissatisfiers were the hygiene factors (Wan, Tan & Idris 2013). Motivation factors
include achievement, recognition, responsibility, the work itself and promotion(Open
Textbook Library 2016). Specifically, employee recognition has been identified as a
powerful motivator that focuses employees' efforts on meeting organizational objectives
and has a significant positive relationship with employee performance (Amoatemaa &
Kyeremeh 2016). In this case study, Ms. Ngoc’s employees lacked the feeling of
recognition, with the evidence that she was unwilling to let employees come up with
ideas on their own and delegate new E-commerce project because of the fear of her
staff making costly mistakes. Not only did this situation fail to inspire, but it also caused
dissatisfaction with the feeling of unrecognised and unvalued. As a result, because of
not following the Herzberg Two-Factor Theory, Ms. Ngoc can not retain employees
and has constantly faced a strong labour turnover rate for two years. Subordinates
believe they have no chance to contribute to the business's operation and success,
resulting in a lack of promotion opportunities, forcing them to leave in search of better
opportunities similar to Mr. Bao's situation. 
2. Ineffective management
According to the Administrative Management Theory of Henri Fayol, management is
the combination of planning, organising, leading, and controlling (Huynh 2021a).
Management is the process of controlling a complex organisation to achieve desired
goals, which is responsible for the organisation's survival and development (Kaehler &
Grundei 2018). Accordingly, poor management can have long-term consequences for
the employees and organisation including high staff turnover, tarnished company
reputation, and decreasing productivity and morale (CluerHR 2021). 

The reason leads to ineffective management of Outdoor is the unqualified manager. In

the Scientific Management Theory, Frederick W.Taylor claimed that managers take
the responsibility of fulfilling the several missions to operate the organisation
scientifically and effectively (Turan 2015). Ms. Ngoc failed to fulfil her responsibility as a
well-qualified manager to ensure that the "Outdoor" stores develop and operate
efficiently and effectively with the unsuitable and effective division of work. With the
reflection of the Administrative Management Theory, division of work is one of the 14
key principles that contribute to effective management (Hussain, Haque & Baloch
2019). Lacking the division of work negatively affects the employees' productive
efficiency and is gradually unable to achieve the organisation's scalability (Borghans &
Weel 2005). Ms. Ngoc had to shoulder full responsibility for administration, product
selection and distribution, accounting, and marketing instead of dividing for professional
departments. Besides, she also moved back and forth to manage two branches in
different cities without middle managers, which led to being overburdened and losing
the connection with the outdoor community. Moreover, these actions could be attributed
to a manager's lack of human skills, which include the ability to communicate,
motivate, lead, and inspire enthusiasm and trust. t (Huynh 2021b). 

II- LINKING THEORY AND PRACTICE TO THE SOLUTION

1. Enhancing training and development 
According to Melissa, training policies and continuing education are highlighted as
an effective way to promote the permanence of employees in companies (Silva,
Carvalho & Dias 2019). According to the American Society for Training and
Development’s study, 41% of employees at poor training companies decided to
terminate employment contracts within a year, while only 12% planned to leave at
companies with excellent training (Open Textbook Library 2016). The Modern
Scientific Management Theory of Taylorism entailed scientifically selecting workers
with skills and abilities appropriate for each job and training them in the most efficient
methods of completing tasks ( Huynh 2021a). Moreover, training and development of
employees as a generator of new knowledge and enhancing skill, ability, self-value,
productivity, and effectiveness, is a critical component of any organisation's long-term
stability business strategy (Dragomiroiu, Hurloiu & Mihai 2014). Providing opportunities
for employees to gain high-level skills, beneficial contributions to the company will not
only ensure the employees’ self-worth to avoid being fired but also create promotion
conditions to convince them to stay, thereby demonstrating the principle of Personnel
Tenure Stability in Administrative Management Theory. Besides, employee training
and development procedures are designed to encourage creativity and outline the
entirety of the organisation's knowledge, providing uniqueness and differentiating from
the competition to maintain the longevity of employees (Dragomiroiu, Hurloiu & Mihai
2014). 
2. Empowerment
Employee empowerment is another suitable solution to improve workplace motivation
and management effectiveness. Empowering labourers by sharing authority and power
in decision-making can enhance their sense of self-efficacy and motivation strongly
relating to job satisfaction (Murray & Holmes 2021). Being empowered with authority
and responsibility to perform in their way results in the sense of "owning the result and
success" of their jobs and gaining the recognition and trust from the leader (Khanna
2015). Recognition and responsibility act as a motivator, as stated in Herzberg's
Two-Factor Theory, which promote employee enthusiasm and sense of worth, thus job
performance more efficiently and effectively (Khanna 2015). Moreover, Paterson
demonstrated that empowerment arises from an organisation's shared governance
accompanied by mutual respect and confidence between leaders and subordinates
(Judeh 2012). Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs showed that by satisfying the employees
esteem needs which included respect and acknowledgment, they could be motivated
and perform with all their potential and enthusiasm (McLeod 2020).
 
Besides, relating to Authority and Responsibility, the Administrative Management
Theory of Henri Fayol also noted them as the important principles of effective
management. Empowerment contributes to the realisation of managers' responsibilities
in division of work when delegating authority to subordinates to do the work suitable for
their specialism to develop their skills and abilities to fulfil their responsibilities in the
most effective way (Mehrotra 2021). Moreover, empowering middle managers is critical
because they can directly make decisions and resolve the department's operational and
technical issues without the top manager's permission. It will alleviate the burdens of
Outdoor’s manager of handling too many things. According to William, there are positive
correlations between employee empowerment and employee well-being, productivity,
and performance (Murray & Holmes 2021). During delegating authority in decision-
making, the relationship between manager and employees can improve positively
through communication. Managers with high levels of communication with employees
end up with loyalty and motivation of workers leading to boost efficiency and
enthusiasm (Surbhi 2019) which can solve the lack of communication in managerial
skills. Empowerment also demonstrates a management system's effectiveness and
commitment to providing potential advancement opportunities for employees (Murray &
Holmes 2021). 
III- RECOMMENDS SPECIFIC STRATEGIES
1. Creating specialised training programs related to major responsibilities
To enhance the employees' performance and productivity, the leader needs to
implement off-the-job training to gain theoretical knowledge away from the workplace
(Surbhi 2019) and on-the-job coaching training that guides employees through their
work by demonstrating how to perform specific activities and tasks (Open Textbook
Library 2016). Off-the-job training is the most suitable for new employees with no prior
experience in the workplace and lack the skills required for their current position
(Vasanthi & Basariya 2019). Employees are facilitated in developing and absorbing new
theoretical knowledge relevant to their expertise to improve their abilities and
background knowledge. After that, employees will have one week to apply previous
theories to the related job with the assistance, guidance, and test of old-hand labourers
to gain hands-on experience and increase productivity and efficiency.

One remarkable aspect of this approach is to enhance employees' ability to develop

foundational theories appropriate to each person's tasks and practice related-job in
reality, thereby improving productivity and efficiency intensively. When employees are
capable of operating their work effectively, Ms. Ngoc has the confidence to delegate
work and new projects to them and then balance her work-life time management.
Moreover, through this strategy, the company has created opportunities for employees
to develop new values, demonstrating the company's ability to ensure sustainability and
growth to retain employees. 
2. Implement Structured Empowerment
The strategy of implementing structured empowerment is recommended for the
Outdoor. In the Scalar Chain principle of Fayol’s Management Theory, to facilitate
formal organizational control, an uninterrupted chain of authority should be established
from the highest level to the lowest position of an organization (Rodrigues 2001). First,
Ms. Ngoc must accurately assess whether employee participation in decision-making
is feasible by identifying employees with sufficient experience and ability to make
decisions and take responsibility. However, it does not imply that those employees are
free to make any decisions; rather, they must be limited within the boundary of each
department. Next, she will convene a meeting with those whose relevant experience to
discuss strategic perspectives for growing the Outdoors and allowing employees to
contribute their ideas and creativity. When participants express legitimate opinions and
concerns, the leader should use good listening skills and avoid being defensive and
dismissive. Then, she will synthesise, sincerely evaluate and select persuasive and
effective initiatives and contributions before making decisions based on employees’
vote. 

Moreover, another structured empowerment plan is regional manager appointment

which belongs to the middle-manager level. Middle managers are critical to the success
of any organisation because they are closer to day-to-day operations, customers, and
frontline employees than upper management (ITD Assessments n.d.). Ms. Ngoc will
delegate the authority to directly manage and make decisions related to the operation of
each specialised department and solve customer problems for regional managers in 2
branches without the permission of the headquarters. 
When structured empowerment is conducted, Ms. Ngoc will immediately show
recognition and trust to employees to ensure motivation at the workplace, which
enhances employees' effectiveness, productivity, performance, and the organisation's
innovativeness (Meyerson 2012). Besides, it can improve the management's
effectiveness guaranteeing organisational commitment in promotion opportunities,
increase employee retention and blur the line between management and employees
(Murray & Holmes 2021).