Organizational Structure and Performance - Research Proposal Example

Organizational Structure and performance Organizational Structure and performance IntroductionThe present section briefs about research philosophy, approach, techniques, design and instruments used to carry out this study. Keeping in mind, the research objectives of the study, the quantitative research approach is adopted to conduct the study. Research Objective: The main objective of the study is to investigate how organizational structures influence organizational behaviours and activities based on the dimension of the organization. Type of Investigation The research is based on the experimental investigation as the research aims to identify the impact of organizational structure on performance. Hence, the use of experimental investigation is appropriate with respect to objectives to be attained. The reason to opt for experimental investigation is because it allows determining the change in the variable and its impact on the other variable. Ryan, William & Theobald (2009) explains experimental investigation as a research technique in which ‘an independent variable is manipulated while others are controlled to how these impact dependent variables’ (Ryan, William, & Theobald, 2009). The present study determines two different types of organizational structures i.e. Mechanistic and Organic organizational structure and its impact on performance measures of the firm. Experimental Investigation is appropriate to determine the impact casted on the change of independent variable. The use of the experimental investigation for this study can be justified on the basis of past researches that have been conducted on the similar topic. Dobre (2013) investigate how the organizational structure impacts employee performance (Dobre, 2013). Research Philosophy Research Philology is systematic pathology or direction in which research is carried out. The present study is based on organization structure and firm performance. Therefore, the research objective laid for the study and on the basis of gained knowledge, Positive Paradigm Philosophy is implied to carry out this study. Positive Paradigm enables the researcher to investigate the research objective based on the observation of the primary information gathered by the data (hypothesis testing). Creswell (2013) explains that the Positivist Paradigm is an attempt to discern natural laws through direct manipulation and observation (Creswell, 2013). The reason to opt for Positivist Paradigm philosophy is because it allows the researcher to investigate the event in a systematic manner to identify the main cause for the problem to occur. Research Strategy Keeping in view, objectives to be attained Case Study Strategy is used to carry out this research. Research strategy gives direction to a research defining the research processes induced in the study to persuade research. Since, the primary aim of this study is to determine the impact of organizational structure on firm performance; the data is gathered from the different firms. Case study approach enables the researcher to investigate research problem that are subjected to human knowledge and existing in real life. The application of case study research strategy facilitates the researcher to investigate the research question by understanding complex relationship and factors prevailing in an organization structure that affected firm’s performance. Adopted Research Approach Keeping in view, research objectives to be attained by the study. The quantitative research approach is adopted to conduct the study. Creswell (2013) states quantitative research is ‘explaining phenomena by collecting numerical data that are analysed used mathematically based methods’ (Creswell, 2013). Unlike quantitative research approach, quantitative research approach provides valid answers to the questions, as well as the hypothesis testing can be done using statistical techniques that can identify the relationship between variables. Previous literature has provided insight to determine the impact of organizational structure on firm performance often lack empirical valid theory to predict the impact of organization structure on firm’s performance. The adaptation of quantitative research approach benefits the researcher to gather statistical information as a base to attain empirical findings to investigate the research problem (Csaszar, 2012). In addition, hypothesis testing can also be done using quantitative research approach to determining significance, and statistical results obtained. The use quantitative research approach can enable the researcher to investigate and identify the research in a naturalistic approach, using it as a base for empirical finding can be used to interpret phenomena. Thus, the researcher has gathered primary and secondary data to study empirical data. The adaptation of quantitative research approach can be justified on the basis of past researches that have been conducted on the similar topic. Csaszar (2012) made use of quantitative research approach to investigating the relationship between organizational structure and firm performance (Csaszar, 2012). Inductive reasoning is used to carry out the study, as it allows the researcher to form a valid reasoning by examining the possible logical possible factors affecting the phenomena based on theory and observation. It allows the researcher to investigate the research issue in a systematic manner by generalizing with a logical conclusion. Research Design The data for the study is gathered using implying quantitative research approach as a source of primary information. The researcher made use of close-ended questionnaires to gather responses from participants. The selection of the participants for the study has been done keeping in mind the research objectives of the study. Therefore, the use of survey questionnaire was done by the researcher that was mailed to 100 employees working in the different organization. 50 percent of the responses were obtained from the organization that has organic organizational structure, whereas 50 percent responses were obtained from the mechanic organizational structure. The research questionnaires for the study are developed with respect to gained knowledge and past studies. The question of the survey questionnaire is designed in accordance to knowledge gained from past studies, theoretical and conceptual underpinning of the study. Hypothesis The hypothesis is the claims posed by the researcher in accordance with gained knowledge. The independent variables for the study are organization structure that is coded in the category, mechanism and organic. The dependent variables are the performance that is categorized as financial performance and employee performance. The conceptual framework is based on the comparison between the effectiveness of two organizational structures on performance measures of the company. Hence, it is possible to write down two hypotheses: The following are the hypothesis to be tested: H1 firms using organic organization structure positively impacts performances of organization H2 Firms using mechanic organization structure positively impacts performance of organization Research Instrument In this research, the primary instrument was a questionnaire. The researcher made use of e-mail survey questionnaires to collect the data. The reason that the researcher made use of email survey questionnaires is because of easy accessibility costs effectiveness and convinces of the research participants (Creswell, 2013). The questionnaire was designed considering all major factors that can play an essential role to analyse the performance. The questionnaire has different dimensions of the performance there are four dimensions used in the questionnaire that are honesty and behaviour, reliability, level of work done, accurateness in work performance. The overall performance can be measured by using the questions that are developed by the researcher. The questions pertain different points such as the nature of work, operating conditions, communication, and relations with other employees. The questionnaire based on two pages in which the cover letter proceed to the questionnaire in which the purpose of the study is stated, and the significance and confidentiality statement is written. The ethical issues are also considered while designing the questionnaire questions. The questionnaire contains two different sections in which the first section is based on the management response about the overall performance of the employees. The other section is based on the overall productivity and sales of the company. The questionnaire will be answered by using the Likert scale. In order to determine the overall performance of the company and employees, a five-point scale is used. It starts from strongly disagree to agree strongly. The higher rating will show the higher performance of the company (Creswell, 2013). The last section of the questionnaire is a sample of demographics. The primary purpose of this section is to collect the core and basic information about the overall performance. The demographic section is for the individuals to place their comments and views about the performance of employees or company. Data Collection The researcher has made of primary and secondary sources for data collection. The gathered information was collected from the primary and secondary sources. In addition, the collected information by the researchers in this report is gathered from the surveys and interviews. The collected data is the primary source of information. The primary source is collected for analysis, and the some secondary sources are also used for the collection of the data. For the secondary sources, the past researches on the same topic helped to complete the current research study. Therefore, there are number of different books and journals, and online sources are used for this study. It can be said that the collected data from both primary and secondary sources are reliable and authentic data. Sample Convenience sampling is selected to choose the research participants. The reason that the researcher has made use of convenience sampling is because of convenient accessibility and proximity to participants to the researcher. In order to reach participants from the different organizational level it was difficult for the research because of their busy schedule and unavailability of the resources to the researcher. It allows the researcher to select research participants that are easier to recruit and access for the researcher, as it is an ideal way to select the participants from the different organization. However, to gather the data from the larger population is difficult and impossible for the researcher. Therefore, the researcher has made use of convenience sampling technique because it is fast, inexpensive and easy to gather information. A total number of 100 male and female employees working in different organizations are selected for the study. However, the 50 percent of survey questionnaires were distributed among employees working in organic organization structures, whereas 50 percent were distributed among employees working in mechanic organizational structures at different positions. Data Analysis In order to analyse the statistics of the data, SPSS Software was employed. For computing means and for standard deviation the descriptive statistics were applied. Descriptive analysis has been used, to summarize, the responses from the participants. The method of cross-tabulation was also used to describe the demography of all respondents. In addition, a two-sample t-test was also used to examine the relationship between the variables. It helps to analyse the organizational structure and the overall performance of the firm. Regression analysis is used to determine the relationship between the variables by determining significant p-value. On the basis of regression analysis, the researcher can test the hypothesis claimed by the researcher. Regression analysis, correlation, and two-sample tests were helpful to examine the relationship between the variables and overall performance of the company. The use of the correlation coefficients helped to examine the relationship between the dimensions of the organizational performance and performance. The hypothesis is tested on the basis of significance level p-value 0.05. The p-value less than 0.05 indicates acceptance of hypothesis (Creswell, 2013). Limitation Like every other study, the scope of the present study is limited because of unavailability of resources and time to the researcher. If there have been sufficient time and resources the researcher would have been able to gather the data from a larger sample size that would have extended the scope of the study. The sample size of the study is small, as the survey is conducted with the respondents of the firms that were easily accessible to the researcher. Hence, the results and findings obtained from the study can be only applicable to the certain group. If the researcher had been able to gather larger sample size, it would have been able for the researcher to gather results that are more representative of the population. Hence, the parameters of the researcher are limited and cannot be generalized. Ethical Consideration The researcher has ensured to meet all ethical standards to conduct the study. The principle of confidential and anonymity is maintained by the researcher while gathering information from the participants. Therefore, the personal information of the participants is not disclosed. In addition, the researcher has provided numbers to each of the participants as an identification number and securing that data that is out of reach of the others. In addition, the researcher has ensured to provide credentials to authors by putting in-text citations to avoid plagiarism. The research is conducted in accordance with academic standards to meet academic ethical standards.  List of References Bryman, A., & Bell, E. (2007). Business Research Methods (2nd ed.). Oxford: University of Oxford Press. Creswell, J. W. (2013). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches. New York: SAGE. Csaszar, F. (2012). Organizational Structure as a Determinant of Performance. Steinberg: University of Pennsylvania. Dobre, O. I. (2013). Employee motivation and organizational performance. Review of Applied Socio- Economic Research, 5(1), 53-62. Draft, R. (2012). Organization Theory and Design. Mason: Cengage Learning. Ryan, B., William, R., & Theeoblad, M. (2009). Research Method and Methodology in Finance and Accounting. New York: Thomson. Read More