Foundations of Business Analysis
Data Analysis Report
Business Analysis: Employee Satisfaction
Newcastle Ltd is a medium-sized business with 3000 employees across Australia. The
business specialises in the production and sale of safety devices for the mining industry.
Debra Smith has just been appointed as the new CEO of Newcastle Ltd. One of Debra’s
initial strategic goals for the business is to build and maintain a high level of employee
satisfaction, as she views this as an important way to maximise productivity. To that end,
Debra has approached you to undertake a study that investigates the current level of
satisfaction within the organisation and whether that satisfaction differs across individuals
and divisions. As a benchmark, Debra believes that the minimum level of employee
satisfaction required to maximise efficiency is 7 out of 10.
Debra is willing to allocate funds towards improving employee satisfaction if required, but
she wants to know the most efficient way to allocate this money. She has already
commissioned an initial exploratory report, which has identified several possible initiatives
that can be used to improve employee satisfaction, including: paying additional wages or
bonuses, improving staff training and development opportunities, providing work social
events and improving employee benefits by decreasing their overtime requirements. Debra
is interested to know which of these strategies would be most effective to increase the
satisfaction of Newcastle Ltd employees.
A member of your team has already collected data that can be used for this analysis. To
collect this data, a random sample of 100 employees was selected from each of the five
divisions within Newcastle Ltd: accounting, administration, marketing, human resource
management and production. Of the 500 employees that were sent surveys, 400 responded.
The survey used to collect this data is provided below and the survey responses have been
collated in the Satisfaction.xls Excel file. You are required to write a report after performing
analysis on data collected from the employees of Newcastle Ltd.
A member of your team has suggested that when you perform this analysis, you should
undertake a series of hypothesis tests to examine the following:
1. Does the current level of overall employee satisfaction differ from Debra’s goal of
7/10?
2. Is there a difference between the overall employee satisfaction of male and female
employees within the business?
3. Are there any differences in the overall employee satisfaction across business
divisions?
4. Are there any differences in the gender compositions across divisions?
5. Is there a relationship between an employee’s years of service and their overall
satisfaction?
6. Do employees who are employed on a different basis (casual, part-time, full-time)
have different perceptions about how they are valued within the organisation?
7. Is there any difference between the importance that employees place on their
income and their training and development opportunities?
8. Is there any difference between the importance that employees place on work social
events and the number of hours that they work?
9. Is there a relationship between an employee’s salary and their overall satisfaction?
10. Which of the determinants of employee satisfaction (Questions 10-13) are related to
the overall satisfaction of Newcastle Ltd employees?
Write a data analysis report that provides the results to each of the ten hypothesis tests
above and make overall recommendations to the business that Debra can use for future
business decision making. Based on your analysis relating to these hypotheses, your report
should focus on two key questions: the current employee satisfaction within the business
and the strategy or strategies that would be most effective to increase employee
satisfaction.
Employee Satisfaction Survey
Section 1: Personal information
Please complete the following information about yourself and your current employment.
Question 1 – Which department of the organisation do you work in?
Accounting Marketing HRM Production Administration
Question 2 – What is your gender?
Male Female
Question 3 – On what basis are you employed with the organisation?
Casual Part-time Full-time
Question 4 – How many years have you worked with the organisation? _____________________
Question 5 – What was your total taxable income for the 2013/2014 financial year? ___________
Section 2: Current Employee Satisfaction
Please circle the number that corresponds with your level of agreement.
Strongly Disagree = 1 Neutral = 5 Strongly Agree = 10
Question 6 – Overall, I am satisfied as an employee of Newcastle Ltd.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Question 7 – My pay is competitive with other places I could work.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Question 8 – I feel that I am valued within the organisation.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Question 9 – I agree with the strategic goals of the organisation.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Section 3: Determinants of Employee Satisfaction
Please circle the number that corresponds with your level of agreement.
Strongly Disagree = 1 Neutral = 5 Strongly Agree = 10
Question 10 – I am satisfied with my salary.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Question 11 – I am satisfied with the training and career development opportunities are available
within the organisation.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Question 12 – I am satisfied with social events that are provided within the workplace.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Question 13 – I am satisfied with the number of hours I am required to work each week.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Report Structure
Executive Summary
This section should provide a brief overview of the data analysis report. You should discuss the
subject matter, the method of analysis, the findings and recommendations and any limitations of the
report. It is suggested that the Executive Summary is the last section that you write. This section
should be 200 words maximum.
Introduction
Provide a brief background to the case to put your analysis in context. Provide a discussion of the
objectives of your analysis. This section should be 150 words maximum.
Research Design
Discuss the data collection process and the sampling procedures that were applied. In this section
you should also outline the ethical considerations that would have been taken into account when
collecting data from this survey and reporting your results. This section should include references
from at least three credible sources, such as textbooks or journal articles. The research design
section should be 300 words maximum
Analysis
Synthesise the hypothesis test results as they relate to the two key research questions. Report the
conclusions that can be derived from this analysis. This section should be 300 words maximum.
Recommendations
Briefly summarise your results and provide recommendations to Newcastle Ltd. Bullet points can be
used for the recommendations. This section should be 150 words maximum.
Appendix: Hypothesis Testing
For each hypothesis you should:
a) State the null and alternative hypotheses.
b) Select an appropriate statistical test and briefly justify your selection.
c) Perform the appropriate test using Microsoft Excel.
d) Report the results of your analysis (including test statistic and p-value).
e) Provide a brief interpretation (both statistical and non-statistical) of the results.
Each hypothesis should be discussed in approximately 100 words. An example is provided below.
Hypothesis Testing Example (Based on previous assignment)
Question 1) How much are potential patrons willing to pay for the entrées? Is the $18 amount from
the forecasting model the correct value to use when setting food prices?
Appendix 1: Average patron expenditure
H0: The average amount patrons are willing to spend is equal to $18
HA
: The average amount patrons are willing to spend is not equal to $18
A one sample t-test is used, as this is the appropriate test to compare the difference between one
variable and a pre-determined mean (Zikmund et al., 2013, p. 520). The results from this one-sample
t-test are shown below:
Table 1: One-sample t-test for difference in patron expenditure
Variable 1 Variable 2
Mean 20.14118 18
Variance 91.85022 0
Observations 340 340
Hypothesized Mean
Difference 0
df 339
t Stat 4.119569
P(T<=t) one-tail 2.39E-05
t Critical one-tail 1.649361
P(T<=t) two-tail 4.77E-05
t Critical two-tail 1.966986
From Table 1, it is evident that we can reject that null hypothesis that the average patron is willing to
pay $18 for their entrée (p-value 0.0000477). As the average expenditure is greater than $18
($20.14), this value should be used when pricing food in the restaurant.
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