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

Le Thi Kim Khang

POOR WORKING ENVIRONMENT
IN HARDLINE SECTOR AT AEON
MALL TAN PHU CELEDON

MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

Ho Chi Minh City – Year 2019

1


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

Le Thi Kim Khang

POOR WORKING ENVIRONMENT
IN HARDLINE SECTOR AT AEON
MALL TAN PHU CELEDON

MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

SUPERVISOR: DR. DOAN ANH TUAN

Ho Chi Minh City – Year 2019

2


Table of Contents
LIST OF FIGURE .......................................................................................................... 5
LIST OF TABLE ........................................................................................................... 6
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................ 7
1.

2.

3.

COMPANY OVERVIEW: ..................................................................................... 8
1.1.

AEON GROUP AND AEON MALL VIETNAM: ..................................................... 8

1.2.

HARDLINE SECTOR: ........................................................................................ 10

SYMPTOMS: ....................................................................................................... 10
2.1.

HIGH TURNOVER RATE: .................................................................................. 10

2.2.


DECREASE SALES VOLUME: ........................................................................... 12

PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION:.......................................................................... 13
3.1.

POTENTIAL PROBLEMS: .................................................................................. 13

Personal reasons: ................................................................................................... 13
Direct supervisor: .................................................................................................. 14
Working environment: .......................................................................................... 14
Decrease in sales volume ...................................................................................... 15
3.2.

VALIDATING PROBLEMS: ............................................................................... 16

Managers’ perspectives:........................................................................................ 17
Employees’ perspectives:...................................................................................... 18
3.3.
4.

THE MAIN PROBLEM: ...................................................................................... 18

CAUSE VALIDATION: ...................................................................................... 19
4.1.

POTENTIAL CAUSES:....................................................................................... 19

Poor qualification of tool & equipment ................................................................ 19
Bad ventilation system .......................................................................................... 20

Unreasonable shift hour ........................................................................................ 20
4.2.

VALIDATING CAUSES: .................................................................................... 20

Poor qualification of tool and equipment.............................................................. 21
Unreasonable shift hour ........................................................................................ 21

3


Bad ventilation system .......................................................................................... 21
5.

ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS: .......................................................................... 22
5.1.

ALTERNATIVE SOLUTION 1: REPLACE POOR QUALIFICATION TOOLS AND

EQUIPMENT................................................................................................................ 23

Phase 1: Recheck office tools and equipment....................................................... 23
Phase 2: Finding the potential suppliers. .............................................................. 23
Phase 3: Control and monitor. .............................................................................. 25
Phase 4: Report and evaluate result of solution. ................................................... 25
5.2.

ALTERNATIVE SOLUTION 2: FIX THE UNREASONABLE SHIFT HOUR. .............. 25

Phase 1: Evaluate how unreasonable shift hour of employees ............................. 26

Phase 2: Suggest new daily working time. ........................................................... 26
Phase 3: Report and evaluate result of solution. ................................................... 26
5.3.

ALTERNATIVE SOLUTION 3: STANDARDIZED PROCESSIZATION ..................... 26

Phase 1: Making a standard working process ....................................................... 27
Phase 2: Evaluate to complete the processes. ....................................................... 28
Phase 3: Report and enhance the system .............................................................. 28
6.

ACTION PLAN: ................................................................................................... 29
6.1.

ACTION PLAN 1: REPLACE POOR TOOLS AND EQUIPMENT.............................. 29

6.2.

ACTION PLAN 2: FIX UNREASONABLE SHIFT HOUR ........................................ 31

6.3.

ACTION PLAN 3: STANDARDIZED PROCESSIZATION ....................................... 33

1. Making a standard working process ................................................................. 33
7.

SUPPORTING INFORMATION: ........................................................................ 34
7.1.


INTERVIEWEE’S DEMOGRAPHIC: .................................................................... 34

7.2.

INTERVIEW GUIDE: ......................................................................................... 34

Introduction ........................................................................................................... 34
Warm – up question .............................................................................................. 34
Main body of interview......................................................................................... 34
REFERENCES ............................................................................................................. 35
APPENDIX 1: TRANSCRIPT SUMMARY ............................................................... 37
4


List of figure
Figure 1. Aeon Mall Tan Phu Celedon .......................................................................... 8
Figure 2. Basic principle of Aeon Mall .......................................................................... 9
Figure 3. Hardline structure at Aeon Mall Celadon ..................................................... 10
Figure 4.The percentage of turnover rate in Hardline Sector in Aeon Mall Celedon in
2018 .............................................................................................................................. 11
Figure 5. Sale volume of Hardline Sector in 2018 ....................................................... 12
Figure 6. Reasons of Turnover in Hardline Sector in 2018 ......................................... 13
Figure 7. Initial Cause - effect map .............................................................................. 16
Figure 8. Updated cause - effect map ........................................................................... 19
Figure 9. Final cause - effect map of Hardline Sector ................................................. 22
Figure 10. Registering shift hour process..................................................................... 27
Figure 11. Selling process ............................................................................................ 28

5



List of table
Table 1. The percentage of turnover rate of Hardline Sector in Aeon Mall Celedon Tan
Phu in 2018 ................................................................................................................. 11
Table 2. Potential suppliers ......................................................................................... 25

6


Executive summary
According to research report of EU – Vietnam Business Network (1), Vietnam’s
retail industry is the prosperous market which attract many different domestic and
international companies to invest and develop in there. However, the biggest challenge
facing employers in this industry is the high turnover rate of employees, even turnover
is an issue that both businesses and workers are not expecting. Ideally, Hai Van (2)
reported, 20% of workers said that candidates’ did not have enough obligation and the
high turnover rate are the biggest challenges, with 49 per cent claiming that candidates
are easily effected when they have offers from another company.
Today, AEON Group is one of the largest retail companies with impressive
linkage scales and performance in Japan as well as in other countries. AEON Vietnam
Co., Ltd. opened the first shopping center "AEON MALL Tan Phu Celadon" with the
largest scale in Ho Chi Minh City on January 11, 2014. This shopping center will be
the third country after Malaysia and China to mark AEON's emergence as a large-scale
shopping mall.
However, one of the most difficult challenges that AEON Tan Phu Celadon has
to confront one of the hardest problems which are how to maintain a permanent human
resource. Spending a lot of time and money training a quality team and keeping them
motivated in a stressful working environment is not a simple challenge. In addition,
talents are often attracted to some other attractive offers, along with better remuneration.
This issue not only increases the personnel cost of the enterprise but also reduces the

business efficiency and even leads to the lack of and weak personnel that can "destroy"
the business. If this problem continues, it will adversely affect the business, as well as
the image of the company. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze each influencing factor,
assessing the risk of each of those factors to each employee, right from the time of
recruitment to the appropriate and appropriate measures.
Starting from the above, I decided to choose the topic “Poor working
environment in Hardline Sector at Aeon Mall Tan Phu Celedon” which is topic for my
thesis. Since then, propose some solutions to reduce poor working condition and
improve the situation in Hardline Sector.

7


1. Company overview:
1.1. Aeon Group and Aeon Mall Vietnam:
Aeon Group was established in 1758 in Japan. Aeon is one of the largest retail
company and has 179 joint ventures in both domestic and oversea.
Throughout its operation time, the AEON Group maintains an unwavering
commitment to set "Customer First" consistently. The basic principle of AEON Group
is towards a prosperous, stable and peaceful society through retailing. With that
responsibility, AEON Group has gained the trust of customers as well as expanding
business activities not only in Japan but also in other countries in Asia which are China,
Vietnam, and so on for a long time.
AEON officially started its operations in Vietnam in 2009 as a Representative Office
from 01/12/2009 to 10/07/2012. In 07/10/2011, The company was approved by the
People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City, AEON Vietnam Co., Ltd was officially
established, investing for construction, organization, management and business
activities: Trade Center, General Department Store and Supermarket. This is considered
the main business direction. In addition, AEON conducts other business activities
related to import-export, trade and research.


Figure 1. Aeon Mall Tan Phu Celedon

8


AEON MALL system in Vietnam includes AEON - Tan Phu Celadon Shopping
Center in Ho Chi Minh City in 2014, AEON Shopping Center - Binh Duong Canary in
Binh Duong, AEON - Long Bien Shopping Center in Hanoi in 2015 and AEON
Shopping Center - Binh Tan District in Ho Chi Minh City in 2016. In 2019, Aeon Mall
Vietnam plans to open new shopping center at Ha Dong of Hanoi.
Basic principle of AEON:
• "Peace": All AEON activities aim to pursue prosperity to create a stable
peace.
• "Human": AEON always respects and values human qualities and values,
as well as strives to promote the building of close relationships in the
same collective.
• "Community": AEON is constantly devoted to contributing to creating
the sustainable development of the community.

Figure 2. Basic principle of Aeon Mall

9


1.2. Hardline sector:
There are two basic forms of goods in a retail store of Aeon which are Hardline
and Softline. If the term soft goods or Softline refers to merchandise that is literally
“soft”, Hard goods or hardlines are goods that are “hard” to the touch. A department
store or product line consisting primarily of goods such as household appliances,

electronics, sporting goods, health care and beauty products or toys will be considered
hard goods. In Aeon, hardline includes three divisions: Home Appliance – Multimedia,
Home fashion – Household – DIY and Stationary – Sports – Bike. The numbers of
employee are 78 people. Besides, in Hardline sector, it also has two levels of staff like
other department which is front desk staff and managers.

Figure 3. Hardline structure at Aeon Mall Celadon

2. Symptoms:
2.1. High turnover rate:
During the working time and data of company in 2018, I realized that main
symptoms of company are high turnover rate and decrease in sales volume. Turnover
rate is one of the most important things which human resources need to pay more
attention and manage it in suitable limitation. Nowadays, turnover likes phenomena

10


especially in young people. Some of them think that they are so good to do their old
work. Therefore, company or organization realizes that turnover is issue which can
affect badly for finance, operation situation in one company or organization. According
to define of Cambridge dictionary that turnover shows that the rate of people who work
in specific company quite or change their jobs and replace by new employees. While
Adams and Beehr (3) claimed that turnover likes cycle which the company always has
to hire and train new employees who will instead of the old workers.
Month
Headcount
Resigned
Turnover
rate


1
76
1
1.32
%

2
78
8
10.26
%

3
74
6
8.11
%

4
76
10
13.16
%

5
75
7
9.33
%


6
74
3
4.05
%

7
75
4
5.33
%

8
73
1
1.37
%

9
78
4
5.13
%

10
74
4
5.41
%


11
74
5
6.76
%

12
75
3
4.00
%

Table 1. The percentage of turnover rate of Hardline Sector in Aeon Mall Celedon Tan Phu in 2018
12

14.00%

12.00%

10

10.00%
8
8.00%
6
6.00%
4
4.00%


2

2.00%

0

0.00%
1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Number of employee quit their job

8

9

10

11


12

Turnover rate

Figure 4.The percentage of turnover rate in Hardline Sector in Aeon Mall Celedon in 2018

According to below table and figure, the number of people change their own
job were pretty high in during year. Although the rate declined in the end of the year,
they still had affected badly for finance or operation situation of the company. In April,
11


the turnover was the highest among other months in one year which was 13,16%. While
August was the month which had 1.37% employees who quite their job in 2018.
2.2.

Decrease sales volume:

Sale volume of Hardline in 2018
20,000,000,000.00
18,000,000,000.00
16,000,000,000.00
14,000,000,000.00
12,000,000,000.00
10,000,000,000.00
8,000,000,000.00
6,000,000,000.00
4,000,000,000.00
2,000,000,000.00

1

2

3

4
Sale volume

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

Target sale volume

Figure 5. Sale volume of Hardline Sector in 2018

According to figure above, sale volume of Hardline Sector in 2018 was not good

and decearse from January to December which was from over 18 million VND to under
8 million VND. Moreover, the actual sales were lower than benchmarks which were set
differently in each month.
Besides, based on data in figure 5, from January to December, even though
turnover rate in Hardline reduced, the numbers of sale were still pretty low and did not
reach the target. Therefore, decreasing sales volume is another symptomd besides high
turnover rate.
All things considered, high turnover rate is a symptom which Aeon Mall Celedon
Tan Phu should be investigated main problems and found out potential solutions to

12


solve this symptom. Because this symptom not only affected operation process but also
made profit run down.
3. Problem identification:
3.1. Potential problems:
According to data of employee engagement survey and in – depth interview
about what factors effect turnover decision of employees in Hardline sector, several
potential problems are listed below:
Personal reasons:
Personal reasons defined as several causes relate to health, family issues,
education conditions of children and social status which can lead to turnover of
employee in individual organization (4) . Aeon Mall Celedon Tan Phu also faced to this
situation when the front desk officers of Hardline Sector decided to quit their position
because of personal reasons such as joining military, studying, working location and so
on. Besides, employees in there also quit their jobs because of finding new job. Personal
reasons also showed ability to adapt with new working conditions if employees cannot
fit with this environment, they will easily to turnover (5). Therefore, during the
probation, several workers could not pass and go on their position.

Reasons of turnover in Hardline Sector in 2018
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Personal Studying
reason

Family
reason

Health

Location New job Discipline Military Probation
service

Figure 6. Reasons of Turnover in Hardline Sector in 2018

As a figure 6, family reason, studying, new job, personal reason and health are
the most reasons which almost employee turnover reported to Human Resource
13


Department why they wanted to change their job. Family reason was reason which was

chosen 17 people when they quit. Besides, studying was reason of 7 people because
front desk staff was recruited from above 18 years old. Therefore, some of them would
have aspired to continue their study path for reach higher degree. While health problems
were pretty high which was around 7 persons to choose this reason. Health issues were
able to relate with workload and shift which were not suitable for themselves. The
employees had to work extra time in weekend especially in the holiday. Besides, shift
hour of the workers did not reasonable. Sometimes, they would work in six or eight
hours which was not consistency.
To sum up, personal reasons are one of the simplest reasons which most of
employees easily choose to quit their job. Besides, personal reasons are from their
internal thinking. Therefore, organization gets hard to manage the issues and only
control it as minimize as possibly.
Direct supervisor:
Communication is an important skill which can support and remain good
relationship between managers and employees. It is preliminary factor to affect an
ability to employee turnover (6). Hardline Sector also faced to several problems which
related directly to lack of communication skills. Employees in there felt not respect and
dissatisfied because of their direct supervisor who lack of communication skills. In this
sector, managers sometimes did not have enough listening skill to know clearly about
what employees need. Besides, during working time, managers vociferated and treated
their own staff unfairly. Moreover, when mangers missed communication skills, they
were able to make other people feel unrespected. Employees are from all of levels in
company who always want to treat with all respect because they are deserve by all things
they did for increasing profit for company (5). Because of these problems, they made
employee turnover in Hardline sector. In short, ways of communication between direct
supervisor and workers are one of the factors which affects employee retention in
Hardline.
Working environment:
Working environment is sum of interaction relationship between employees and
employers and the environment where workers work, including technology, people and

14


organizational environments (7). It means that working environment has an important
role during working time of each employee in specific business. For this reason, when
employees work in poor working environment, they will change their job easily. In fact,
in Hardline sector of Aeon Mall Tan Phu Celedon has confront with several problems
which exist from working condition. People in there claimed that they had to work in
condition which had broken tool and equipment such as broken air – conditioners.
Besides, in some case, they had to work overload in weekend especially in the holiday.
Moreover, shift hour of front – desk staff in Hardline has not worked in the consistent
schedule. Sometimes employees had to work in shift, which was 6 hours, other shift
was 8 hours. It also is one of factors which make workers feel not uncomfortable in
there working time. To sum up, working environment in Aeon Mall Tan Phu Celedon
still has some weaknesses which make people feel dissatisfaction and want to quit their
position.
Decrease in sales volume
Sales volume number of goods which was sold in operation process of company
in a specific time. So that when sales volume decrease, it will become one of problems
which the company should pay more attention and find out potential solutions. In Aeon
Mall Tan Phu Celedon, Hardline sector has to face with decreasing in sales volume
because of several problems. The first potential problem is from compensation policy
of company. The front desk employees in there do not have their own KPIs which is
known as key performance indicators. When employees do not have KPIs, they do not
have for themselves target which can follow to reach and feel unmotivated to work.
Besides, online shopping becomes one of the most trends which attracts customers to
use it. Online shopping can help buyers save their time because of its convenience.
Therefore, it is also other potential problems which affects badly on sales performance
of company. Moreover, Aeon Mall is a new player in Vietnam retail marketing. This
company only joins the market from 2014. Thus, the company is in a favorable situation

in the market which other competitors such as BigC, Saigon Coopmart, Lotte Mart and
so on. As a result, goods of Hardline sector cannot compete with others which company
has to join the market from long time and has a strong position in mindset of consumers.
Besides, when sales volume of Hardline are low, it also affects to employee
15


performance. They might feel boring during their working time because of small
number of customers who come and buy goods in this sector. Finally, it also becomes
potential problem which influence indirectly on employee turnover situation in
Hardline Sector of Aeon Mall Tan Phu Celedon.
Subjective
employees reason

Poor qualification of
tool & equipment

Unreasonable shift
hour

Poor working
environment

High job
dissatisfaction

High
turnover
rate


Bad ventilation
system
Direct supervisor

Do not have
KPIs

Poor
communication
skills

Feel unrespected

Low
competitivesness

Decrease in
sales
volume

Figure 7. Initial Cause - effect map

3.2. Validating problems:
In 2017, as reported by Navigos Group (8), several companies have to face with
high number of employees who are willing to leave their position after working in one
or two years in retail market. It means that high turnover rate is not only problem of
individual organization but also issue of many businesses which join the Vietnam retail
market recently. Because organization has to invest a lot of money for human resources
to provide for employees many different things which are training, working process,
making plan and so on to reach goal of company (9). Aeon Mall Tan Phu Celedon also

confronts with this kind of situation in Hardline sector. According to data and result
survey about how Hardline front staffs satisfy and reason to quit their jobs in Aeon Mall
Tan Phu Celedon, some potential problems led to high turnover rate in Hardline sector
which were personal reason, direct supervisor and working environment. The first
reason is family reason, their home was far from workplace which was one of reasons.
Secondly, almost front desk employees are students who just graduated from college or
university, so that they could change the job when they found new job or want to go on

16


studying. In the next factor, health of their own workers is one of reason that they want
to quite their job. They had to work overtime in the weekend and holiday. Moreover,
the shift hour is not suitable for them. Several days, they had to work much more time
than others. That was also reason which made unsatisfied and found another job.
Besides, the workers did not receive respect from their direct supervisor. In addition,
some communication skills of supervisors were not good enough to persuade
employees. They recently shouted or forced employees work their own task which made
people feel uncomfortable during working time. Especially, working environment is a
factor that front – desk employees in Hardline Department felt dissatisfied to work in
Aeon Mall Celadon. Several people did not have enough patient to work in probation
time. Besides, when people had to work overtime and unsuitable jobs, employees would
feel tired and want to quite the job. On the other hand, employees worked in the
condition with broken equipment and tool which made people interrupt their working
process. Therefore, working environment is considered as main problem which affect
directly on employee turnover in Hardline sector.
To confirm the importance of main problem, the further information which was
collected by interviewing managers and employees in Hardline sector are summarized
in below:
Managers’ perspectives:

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Trieu – Hardline Manager said that his focusing on
improving working environment to improve on their business this is very importance
factor for the current Hardline situation. Moreover, employees need to work towards a
common goal and ensure they are responsible for the job of the whole team, instead of
working alone and taking personal responsibility. Notably, if there is a problem in team,
the team members responsible for solving those problems can ask other departments to
coordinate and receive support to find a quick and accurate solution.
In addition, Ms. La Thuc Trinh - Hardline's current Division sales leader also
said that the lack of team spirit is the biggest problem and due to the lack of working
environment among teams, it makes internal work overloaded and a change in job
responsibilities between teams.

17


Employees’ perspectives:
In the thinking of employees, working environment is one of the most important
factors which people concern when they have desire to quite their job. Workplace
condition can help people have the best situation to work and earn profit. According to
interview of Ms Le Yen Ngoc, she mentioned that machines worked well, it could help
the workers improve the productive in working process. Besides, she also hoped that
company should have more policies which created more chance and good working
condition for every worker especially front desk employee.
Besides Mr Tran Cong Tuan thought that he felt uncomfortable because of his
noisy co – workers. His colleagues usually talked loudly or ate in air condition room.
While Mr Tran Minh Tuan loved to work in fresh, clean room. When they were
interviewed about what should be changed to improve workplace in Aeon Mall, both of
them had the same opinion about creating more opportunities for development in
working condition.
3.3. The main problem:

The influence of working environment has an important role to impact employee
satisfaction in the company. Because workplace combines physical, psychological and
social environment in a specific workplace (10). Besides, poor working environment
can cause many different problems such as job dissatisfaction, poor productivity, health
of workers and so on. When working environment needs to improve, the consequence
claims that it will affect negatively on employee performance and lead to turnover and
low profit situation.
The first impact poor working environment is job satisfaction which is defined
as how employees feel about their work in various aspect of jobs, so that job satisfaction
and dissatisfaction appear easily in any circumstances during working time (11). Job
satisfaction have an influence on the performance of employees in the organization.
Moreover, environment in workplace also effect on the health of worker. Impact
of working environment on the worker health, both of physical and social environment
still have their own specific influence on the health of workers (12). In this research,
health of employees not only is affected by lighting, ventilation systems and so on but
also job stress, job position or KPIs of individual staff. It claims that working
18


environment is very important factor which should be concentrated during the operation
process.
In addition, environmental in workplace also effects on the productivity of
workers during their working time. Productivity of employees who work in the
company is effect by the overall working environment and proves that interrelationship
between productivity and environmental in workplace (13).
In the conclusion, working environment is very important because it is main
problem which lead to high turnover rate and impact on the sales volume which are
symptoms that the Aeon Mall Tan Phu Celedon has to face with in the Hardline sector.
4. Cause validation:
4.1. Potential causes:

Based on the previous data from survey, result of in – depth interview and
literature reviews, several potential causes of the main problem are identified in the
below figure which is the updated cause- effect map of the department as follow:

Poor qualification of
tool & equipment

Unreasonable shift
hour

Low worker health

Poor working
environment

Bad ventilation
system

High job
dissatisfaction

Poor
productivity

High turnover
rate
Poor employee
performance

Decrease in

sales volume

Figure 8. Updated cause - effect map

Poor qualification of tool & equipment
Tool and equipment are factors as machinery which belong to the working
environment (10). It also affects directly or indirectly on the performance of employees
if the qualification of these do not good enough to support operation process. Besides,
some of tool and equipment in Hardline Sector face with broken situation which make
people get hard during their work. Productivity of employees are also impacted by this

19


problem. Therefore, poor qualification of tool and equipment are issues which Hardline
Sector should pay more attention to improve the performance of employees.
Bad ventilation system
Ventilation system is another factor which relate with physical factors of
working environment so that it is also issue which company should concern to improve
and develop working condition for employees. Air and heating systems should check
and repair regularly (14). However, ventilation system of Hardline Sector has to
confront with several circumstance as non – working air – condition which affect
negatively on health and working ability of people in the sector.
Unreasonable shift hour
The final issue impacts on performance and health of employees which make
people want to quite their own job, is an unreasonable shift hour. It leads to workload
situation because their working time are not consistent. Workload has a relationship
with job stress and turnover (15). Besides, workload is able to affect health of workers.
Therefore, unreasonable shift hour also is one of factors that Aeon Mall Tan Phu
Celedon should consider providing good working condition for their own employees.

4.2. Validating causes:
According to in – depth interview of employees in Hardline Sector, people have
to confront with many different issues which relate with situation about poor working
condition. Environment of workplace in individual organization includes physical
factors which surround space of employees and psychological elements are able to
effect performance of people who work in the company (16). In the Hardline Sector,
employees in there has to face with several causes as poor qualification of tool &
equipment, bad ventilation system and unreasonable shift hour which effect directly on
working environment. According to Carnevale, physical environments in organizations
include all of the material objects and stimuli such as buildings, equipment, lighting and
air quality as well as how to arrange those objects and stimuli which are open-space
office plans and flexible team work spaces that employees can encounter and interact
with others in workplace (17). Thus, both poor qualification of tool & equipment and
bad ventilation system belong to physical factors which impact directly on health and
productivity of people who work in the company. Besides, bad working environment
20


not only physical objects but also other factors which relate to shift hour of workers.
These poor qualify of conditions in workplace are able to lead employees to several
negative results for themselves for example health conditions, stressful, overload and
so on (18).
Poor qualification of tool and equipment
According to result of survey about employee engagement, it proved that
employees had to face with trouble from broken tool and equipment which should be
repaired early. However, this problem has not solved immediately. It pushes employees
have work in poor condition without good equipment. Therefore, it is one of problems
which affect directly on physical working environment.
Unreasonable shift hour
Besides, unreasonable shift hour is other potential cause which influence the

central problem. It made employees feel unfair between themselves to others. In some
situation, workers should start their shift at 8.30 am and end at 17.00pm. However, this
schedule has not been the same as among employees. As Ms Le Yen Ngoc said that,
she had to work at 8.30 am and her shift would end at 17.00 pm. While Ms Thanh Ngan
who is her colleague, started her shift at 9:30 am and ended at 15:30 pm. Because of
this situation, it also made people who work in the same shift will feel uncomfortable.
Moreover, with this unreasonable shift hour, it also affected negatively on health of
workers. In some working day, they had to work over 8 hours a day. Otherwise, they
only worked around six or seven hours in their shift. They would get hard to arrange
their personal schedule because of this shift plan.
Bad ventilation system
In addition, employees in Hardline sector also confront with bad ventilation
system. In some places in store, the ventilation system had problem which air –
conditioner did not work. It means that workers had to work in hot temperate. This
circumstance could make employees feel uncomfortable in the working time. However,
bad ventilation system also belongs to physical environment which relates to material
that can support and improve the productivity of workers. When people work in good
condition, they can focus their own mind on working process, and it will help to create
high productivity. Mr Tran Cong Tuan shared that, in some hot day, he felt very terrible
21


when he had to work in hot and uncomfortable atmosphere because of broken
ventilation system.
In general, poor qualification tools & equipment and bad ventilation system are
belonged to the physical factors of working environment. Therefore, the main causes
lead to the high turnover rate and decrease in sales volume situation in the Hardline
sector.

Main causes

Poor qualification
of tool &
equipment

Symptoms
Validated problem
Poor working
environment

Unreasonable shift
hour

Consequences
Impact health of staffs
Job dissatisfaction

Figure 9. Final cause - effect map of Hardline Sector

5. Alternative solutions:
According to final cause – effect map, Hardline Sector of Aeon Mall Tan Phu
Celedon has to face with two main causes which have a relationship with poor working
environment. By these causes, employees in Hardline Sector have to face with several
difficulties such as health, stress, productivity and so on. With poor qualification tools
and equipment, Mr Cong Tuan said that with broken tools and equipment, he had to pay
more time to complete his task. It means that workers waste more their time to finish
their task because of bad tools and equipment. Besides, ventilation system also causes
to some of disease as sore throat, dry skin, cold and flu. Therefore, the company should
check and replace or repair tools and equipment to improve the working environment
for employees in the Hardline Sector. Moreover, unreasonable shift hour is another
issue of people who work in there. Ms Yen Ngoc told that the shift hours were

unreasonable, and she had to work over 8 hours a day while other day I only have to
work around 6 or 7 hours. By this shift hour, she might feel tired and could not have

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enough health to do mission well. In general, shift hour also needs to enhance to adapt
with necessary of jobs and be suitable for health of employees.
In the conclusion, qualification of tools & equipment with unreasonable shift hours
are two important causes which can impact negatively on employees. According to
above parts of thesis, two alternative solution below are suggested to improve working
conditions for people who work in Hardline at Aeon Mall Celedon Tan Phu.
5.1. Alternative solution 1: Replace poor qualification tools and equipment.
In this alternative solution, check and replace or repair broken tool and equipment.
However, Hardline Sector should divide into four phases to solve the problem about
working ability of tools and equipment in the department. These phases are following
in the below:
-

Firstly, Hardline Sector should focus on recheck the number of office equipment
and make sure these have problem or not.

-

The second phases, the sector should find out the potential supplier that can
supply good equipment with high qualify for the Aeon Mall.

-

In the next phases, Hardline Sector should control and monitor the items that the

supplier has provided for company right or wrong with the proposal in previous
phase.

-

Reporting is the final phases that Hardline should pay attention. In this phase,
people can evaluate result of solution and how the solution improve the
performance and productivity of employees.

Phase 1: Recheck office tools and equipment
In the first phase, recheck office tools and equipment is the necessary step for
Hardline Sector to validate how many broken tools and equipment in the department.
In addition to, this process also supports for Hardline Sector which can identify how
much poor qualification tools and equipment should be improved. Besides, the manager
has responsibility for rechecking and making list of tools and equipment which need to
replace or repair in the Hardline Sector.
Phase 2: Finding the potential suppliers.
After making list of tools and equipment, the manager has to find and connect
with potential supplier that Aeon Mall cooperated before as following table below:
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No.

Name of
company

Services/ Products
Provided


both

services

Advantages
as

consultancy, layout and design,
implementations, installation and
1

TOT

maintenances, spare parts, sales &

Company

servicing and several products
such as supermarket gondola,

- Vietnam company.
- Provides variety services and
products.
- Located in Phu Nhuan
District nearby Aeon Mall.
- Cooperated with many
famous retail brands as Aeon

check in counter, blast chillers,


Mall, E- Mart, Co.opmart,

trolleys/shopping carts and so on

Lotte Mart, and so on.
- Japanese company.

2

Provided door pull handle, lever -

Have both Japanese and local

handle, push – pull handle, swing

staff.

SEMBA

door lock, sliding door, door -

Vietnam branch office at

Company

accessory, bathroom accessory,

Binh Thanh District.

room accessories, kitchen series, -


Provide

furniture knob and hotel amenity.

services and products relate

many

different

with commercial facility.
-

Two main business fields
relate

3

OKAMURA
Company

Main services are water treatment
system,

wastewater

treatment

with


wastewater

system.
-

Japanese company has many
branches in Japan, Vietnam

system and disinfection system.

and Thailand.
-

Located in District 2 which is
far from company.

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4

The company provides consultant -

Provides services in hotel

services; creating safe working

collection, medical facility


KAWAJUN environment;
Company

designing

equipment, interior hardware

architecture, structure, M&E and

and so on.

BIM, construction and building -

Japanese company.

care office services.

-

Branch office at District 1.

Table 2. Potential suppliers

According to above table, the manager can clarify and choose potential company
which are suitable suppliers for this solution. In this phase, the manager is a direct
person who connect with supplier and report with upper level manager to ask for
permission.
Phase 3: Control and monitor.
During this phase, the supplier has taken a responsibility for providing right tools
and equipment as the contract which was made in previous phase. While replacing or

repairing the broken tools and equipment process, the manager should pay attention on
controlling and monitoring construction of the supplier. In this phase, the manager could
have fundamental to report with the upper level manager of Aeon Mall Tan Phu
Celedon.
Phase 4: Report and evaluate result of solution.
In the final phase, the manager has liability to report and evaluate result of
solution to the upper level manager. Besides, the manager not only report the result of
construction but also evaluate how employees in Hardline Sector satisfy with the
improvement of company about physical condition of the department. Moreover, the
evaluation should support for proving that replace or repair broken tools and equipment
is the good solution for company to decrease the high turnover rate in the sector.
5.2. Alternative solution 2: Fix the unreasonable shift hour.
The second alternative solution enhances the unreasonable shift hour is the main
mission of the Hardline Sector. To support for this solution, the sector also should divide
into three phases which are suitable for pre, during and post the process.

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