ARM Lecture 2

 Advanced Research Methods (ARM) Company Logo

Scientific Method and Overview of Research in Management Lecture - 2

Objectives of Research Make contribution to scientific knowledge by  gaining a better understanding and explanation of organizations (basic / fundamental research)  To make a contribution to a real-world situation  by solving problems (practical or applied research) 

Research Steps 1. Statement of Problem 2. Design Research Study

3. Measurement       R     e      p         l       i     c      a        t     e  

4. Data Analysis 5. Conclusions

Journey from Fundamental to  Applied research Fundamental research (FR) is based on theories and Fundamental abstract concepts  Going from fundamental to applied research (AR), concepts and their interrelationships must be operationalized  Both researches have different starting points: 

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In FR, research questions arise from theory or scientific literature In AR, research questions often stem from a particular client

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Both researches have different end points. AR  pays more attention to questions like:  What is the use of this study?  For whom is this study interesting? 

 AR is just as scientific as FR 

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Methodological Requirements 

FR must meet a number of requirements Researchers must have a good knowledge of what already has been found out wrt the research topic   A researcher cannot therefore, just come up with a research question, but has to take into account all the findings from previous research  Researchers must stick to a number of methodological rules, reflect on them explicitly and answer for their use  Requirements of objectivity, preciseness, replicability, publicity, ethics, simplicity, and generalizability  

Research Process Orientation to the  problem: social and scientific

Aim

Research Question / sub questions

Literature Review Report and Presentation

Data Analysis

Design and  planning research model and variables

Hypotheses

Data collection

Research strategies

Operationalization

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Problem Orientation Orientation to the  problem: social and scientific

Aim

Literature Review

Research Question / sub questions

Overview of Problem Orientation 

First step to take when conducting scientific research is to establish the aim of the research and formulate main research question 

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But how? Through literature review. You should determine what is already known about the topic by  studying the published literature

Then determine what type of research you should conduct in order to formulate your research question and answer it

How to establish aim of the research?  You must make clear:

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 Why you are doing the research?   What you want to achieve and for whom you want to achieve this?   What is the desired final product? 

Theoretical vs practical aim 

Theoretical aim usually involves a contribution to scientific knowledge: 

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Developing or testing a specific theory about absenteeism

Practical aim usually involves a solution to any  problem: 

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Helping to solve a problem from the daily practice of  controlling absenteeism Developing an instrument to measure the tendency of  employees to be absent

Examples of research objectives  Acquiring more insight into the causes of  absenteeism within the company   Investigating the nature of differences in culture  between organizations and developing a classification system for these differences  Developing an accurate performance management for departments in an organization  Developing and testing a method with which administrative procedures can be described and classified 

Formulating the research questions Research question is the central, briefly worded question that you are going to answer in your research: what exactly are you going to do?  You must define the domain: 

The set of all objects to be studies (e.g. individual employees of an organization)   Attributes of the objects (e.g. tendency to be absent or  job satisfaction)  Expected relationships b/w attributes of the objects (e.g. low satisfaction is related to high tendency towards absenteeism) 

It is not the objects themselves that vary, but the attributes of these objects  Attributes of the objects that you are interested in are defined as variables in the research  In the research question, you relate the variables from a specific domain (the set of research units or objects) to each other 

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Dissatisfaction leads to more absenteeism

Sometimes, research question is called as problem statement

Example: Historical analysis of performance measurement and management in operations management 

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Purpose – This paper seeks to take a historic perspective on performance measurement and management (PMM) within operations management (OM) across all sectors (manufacturing, (manufactur ing, service and public) in order to reflect on and undercover relevant lessons and issues about PMM in OM.

RQ1. How has PMM within operations RQ1. management evolved and developed?  RQ2 RQ2.. How have the measures and the management of them changed?  RQ3 RQ3.. How can PMM be defined within operations management?  RQ4 RQ4.. Finally, considering an historical analysis can any conclusions be drawn about the future and, importantly, the challenges of PMM in OM? 

Other examples What are the effects of management development   programme on organizational performance?   Does management development programme have an effect on organizational performance?   Is maximum organizational performance achieved after 40 hours of management  development programme?  

Relationship b/w Research Questions & Research Methods 

If you are exclusively interested in the occurrence of objects (or characterist characteristics ics / attributes thereof), then this would be defined as a descriptive research  What is (…)?   What does (…) look like?   Which (…) are present? 

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If you suspect suspect that that there are are possible possible causes or influencing factors for attributes of objects, this is defined as exploratory research 

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This is concerned with the tentative formulation fo rmulation of  relationship between phenomena and explanations of  them There is still no theory and / or hypothesis present: the aim is to develop these. E.g. What is the link / relationship between (…) and (…)? Why is (…)? How is it possible that (…)?

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If you want to explicitly evaluate a relation or a difference based on a number of criteria, this is defined as empirical testing research  You statistically test whether certain explicitly  formulated relationships or correlations between phenomena exist and whether specific explanation indeed apply   Is there a significant positive correlation between (…)? Is it true that (…)? 

 Advisory and prescriptive research questions can occur specifically with applied organizat organizational ional research

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Is the implementation (…) desirable? If yes, how can this best be done?

Feasibility  Check to see whether it is theoretically possible to research the question which is under consideration. Is it possible to collect the empirical data?  Example: as part of a study of absenteeism: 

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Is the frequency and degree of absenteeism properly  recorded? Is it possible to measure the variables like tendency  towards absenteeism, and work satisfaction?

Example Should people be allowed to call in sick if  they are dissatisfied with their work?  It is difficult to answer in empirical research.  Solution: Focused group discussions among the stakeholders like trade unions, employers, the government and experts in labour laws and etics 

Sub Questions Researchers can develop a number of sub questions from a research question?  Answers to sub questions should contribute to the solution of the main research question.  The sub-questions are independent i.e. one sub question can be answered w/o knowing the answer to another sub-question.  They often concern the distinct attributes of the main research question 

Sub-questions should not enlarge the domain of  the research topic but should make it more specific  Sub-questions often define the structure of the report 

Example  Research Question: What factors cause the high rate of return?

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Sub-questions:: Sub-questions Is there a high rate of absenteeism?   What exactly is absenteeism?  How do I determine whether the rate of absenteeism is high? 

Example 

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The purpose of this paper is to identify the main problems that can be encountered during the implementation and use of a performance management system (PMS). Research Question: 

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 What are problems organizations can expect when implementing a PMS?

Sub-research questions: 

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How often has a particular problem been encountered during PMS implementation and use?  What is the impact of this problem on the implementation and use of  the PMS? Can the problem easily be solved or not?

Example 

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Title: Performance measurement: a remedy for increasing the efficiency of public services? Purpose – Promoters of performance measurement are convinced that performance measurement can greatly  contribute to an efficiency boost in the field of public services. The purpose of this article is to treat this as a hypothesis and examine this hypothesis from various theoretical perspectives. Research Question: Is performance measurement a driver for making public service delivery more efficient?

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Hypothesis

Hypothesis  A tentative theory that has not yet been tested.  Hypotheses are propositions which are empirically testable. They are usually concerned  with the relationships between variables 

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Example: Increasing salary by 10% will double the production If basic needs are not met, then motivation level among the employees will be low 

The Role of the Hypothesis Guides the direction of the study   Identifies facts that are relevant  Suggests which form of research design is appropriate  Provides a framework for organizing the conclusions that result 

 What is a Good Hypothesis?  A good hypothesis should fulfill three conditions:

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Must be adequate for its purpose Must be testable Must be better than its rivals

Types of Hypotheses 

Descriptive Hypotheses:  

These describe properties Example: Current turnover in Pakistan telecom industry is greater than 15 per cent per annum

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Relational Hypotheses:  

These describe relationship between two variables Example:  CEOs with higher education spend more on training and development of their employees  The greater the employees welfare measures provided by the management of a company, the smaller the labour turnover of skilled workers

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Explanatory Hypotheses: These indicate a cause-effect relationship  Direction of the relationship is important and should  be interpreted properly   Example:  When the salaries of government employees increase, their families spend more on their clothing. 

Example: A universalistic perspective for Example: explaining the relationship between HRM practices and firm performance at different points in time

 According to the universalistic perspective, organizations organizatio ns from different sectors, across industries, and through different time periods should use a series of select human resource management practices (HRMP).  The main purpose of this paper is to investigates  whether there is any difference in the relationship between HRMPs and organization organizational al performance across time (stable or not). 

H1. Training and perceived organizati H1. organizational onal performance are related to each other and are not time-specific.  H2 H2.. Employee participation and perceived organizational organizatio nal performance are related to each other and are not time-specific.  H3 H3.. Compensation and perceived organizational performance are related to each other and are not time-specific. 

H4. Internal labor market and perceived H4. organizational organizatio nal performance are related to each other and are not time-specific.  H5 H5.. Selection and perceived organizational performance are related to each other and are not time-specific. 

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Should we kill the performance appraisal process? process?

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 A Survey of Research Methods

Research Methods Exercises 1. Available Available data still still suggest suggest that on average, women women receive receive lower pay pay than men. A professor professor decided to design design a program to train college c ollege women to negotiate higher salaries. To assess the effectiveness of the program, 30 college women were randomly assigned to attend either a 12-hour  salary negotiation skill training course or to be on a waiting list for the the course. After the first group attended the training, training, both groups were tested on their negotiation skills by a trained individual(a grad student) role-playing as an employer making making a job offer. offer. The individuals individuals that had salary negotiation training training negotiated a higher salary in the roleplaying exercise.

Exercises Exercise 1.  Research method? 

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Independent variable? 

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Answer: Training

Dependent variable? 

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Answer: Lab experiment

Answer: Salary negotiated

Confounds (To cause to become confused or perplexed) ? 

Answer: Did negotiator know intent of study? study?

Exercises 2. A researcher wants to understand to what extent variables such as financial difficulties, difficulties, employment commitment (how much work means to a person), social support, and an individual’s ability to structure his or her  time and keep busy have an impact on mental and physical health during unemploymen unemployment. t. In order to answer this question, 100 unemployed executives are asked to complete a questionnai questionnaire re that asks questions about financial difficulties, employment commitment, social support, time structure, mental health, and physical health. Forty of the 100 100 questionnaires questionnaires given out are returned.

Exercises Exercise 2.  Research method? 

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Independent variable(s)? 

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Answer: Financial difficulties, employment commitment, social support, and time structure

Dependent variable? 

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Answer: Survey

Answer: Mental and physical health

Confounds? 

Answer: Are the the 40% 40% who returned the the surveys surveys representative of that populatio population? n?

Exercises

3. The Scandinavi Scandinavian an Sweets Factory recently implemented shift work. The factory is is now open 24 hours a day, and employees either work an early shift, a late shift, or a night shift. shift. The manager manager plans plans to compare compare each shift in six months to assess whether there are differences in the groups on productivity and turnover.

Exercises Exercise 3.  Research method? 

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Independent variable(s)? 

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Answer: Shift worked

Dependent variable? 

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Answer: Field experiment

Answer: Productivity and turnover 

Confounds? 

Answer: How were shifts assigned?

Exercises 4. A researcher wanted to examine whether anew machine would lead to increased productivity on an assembly line at Sam’s Sam’s Office Supply Factory. He randomly randomly assigned assigned ten workers to the new machine and ten workers to the old machine. machine. The workers workers in the two groups were carefully matched in terms of their ability and experience. The researcher monitored the total number of products produced and the amount of product rejects on the two machines over a period of of two weeks. Results showed showed the workers on the new machine had higher levels of  productivity.

Exercises Exercise 4.  Research method? 

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Independent variable(s)? 

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Answer: Machine

Dependent variable? 

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Answer: Field experiment

Answer: Products produced and rejects

Confounds? 

Answer: Hawthorne Effect?

Exercises 5. In a study of bias in work performance ratings, black and white undergraduate psychology students were assigned the task of providin providing g work performance ratings for videotaped “employees” (really grad students pretending to be employees) who differed in terms of their race (black or white). Level of  performance was held constant on the videotape videotape.. Results showed that white raters tended to give slightly higher work performance ratings to the white employees on the videotape. Black raters, raters, on the other  other  hand, tended to give slightly higher work performance ratings to the black employees on the videotape.

Exercises Exercise 5. 

Research method? 

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Independent variable(s)? 

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Answer: Race of rater and ratee

Dependent variable? 

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Answer: Laboratory experiment

Answer: Work performance ratings

Confounds? 

Answer: Was gender gender a factor factor or experience of  raters?

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Thank you for your kind attention Go forth and research…. ….but be careful out there.