Human Resources at Etisalat Telecommunication Company - Research Proposal Example

Title Research proposal Human resources at Etisalat Telecommunication Company Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Date of Submission: Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Research objectives 3 Broader objective 3 Specific objectives 3 Research questions 4 Research hypothesis 4 Human resource terminologies 4 Human resource strategies 4 Human resource management information system (HRIS) 4 Human resource planning 5 Human resource management 5 Limitations of the study 5 Literature review 5 Brief overview of main theorists 6 Human resource theories 6 Work-life balance theory 7 Employee training and development theory 7 Relevance of human resource theories 8 Methodology/research design 8 Secondary research 9 Choice of research strategy 9 Data collection methods 10 Questionnaires 10 Interviews 10 Sampling 11 Presentation of Findings 12 Statistical Analyses 12 Ethical consideration 13 References 13 Appendices 16 Introduction Human resource management for over years has remained to be a very big challenge for many organizations. The concept is recognized globally and its one of the key issues that is extensively explained by the International Labour Organization (ILO). A report by (Arthur & Boyles 2007, pg 77) revealed that in the telecommunication industry, there are ‘marginal workers’. They include women, young and energetic employees, casual employees and students. The report by Bartel (2004), that was done to study the composition of the workforce in the hospitality industry in the United Kingdom, found that men who constituted about 68%. In order to understand the concept of human resource management, there is need to recognize that it entails the undertaking of professional processes such as rewarding, training, motivation, recruitment and selection in order to ensure that the personnel is fit internally to perform various functions (Berry, 2004 pp 34). The employees are the most important asset for an organization since they are the ones who determine its existence and performance. Therefore in general terms, human resource management is the act of mobilizing people as an important resource to work towards a certain objective. Research objectives Broader objective The broader objective of this research is to study and analyze the effect of practices of human resource management in the telecommunication industry. Specific objectives To explore different human resource management practices To investigate the relationship between different human resource management practices and organizational performance. To explore establish the effect of different human resource management practices to the company’s performance. Research questions What are the main human resource management practices that are used to manage the company employees? What is the relationship between different human resource management practices such as recruitment, training and appraisal and the company’s performance? To what level different human resource management styles influence organizational performance? Research hypothesis Good human resource management styles greatly determine the extent to which the employees are motivated to work and deliver good results. This is achieved by enhanced trust and development of skills through training. Human resource terminologies Human resource strategies Human resource strategies refer to those means that are used to predict and analyze employee supply and demand in the market. Human resource management information system (HRIS) This refers to an integrated system that is designed in such away by the company to provide information for decision making process. Human resource planning Human resource planning is a practice that is used by companies to identify the need for more employees so that it can be able to meet its goals and objectives. Human resource management Human resource management involves the process of bringing together all relevant disciplines that are concerned with the workforce in such away to create good employee relations, labor relations as well as organizational behavior. Limitations of the study The following are the limitations of the study: 1. The study will be limited by a sample of forms employees who worked for the company for more than 3 years. 2. The study will be limited to the Effects of different human resource management practices to the employee development and company performance. Literature review Human resource management involves the process of bringing together all relevant disciplines that are concerned with the workforce in such away to create good employee relations, labor relations as well as organizational behavior (Arthur 1994, pp 670). This part of the research proposal will critically discuss the contribution of various theorists to human resource management and the value for scholarly works. Brief overview of main theorists Human resource for long has a remained a big challenge for many personnel management teams who are always on the run to develop new strategies that an improve employee performance in various companies. Some of the contributors to these theories include: Paul Bernthal, Parsons and Chay Lee who have greatly contributed into recruitment and selection, work-life balance and employee training and development respectively. Refer to appendix 1, 2 and 3 attached. Human resource theories Employee Recruitment and Selection The need to attract and retain more employees is increasingly becoming a very important strategy for the human resource as companies have come to realize that the ability to retain employees is the only way of ensuring competitive advantage in a very saturated and competitive industry. The process of attracting best employees into the industry starts with the recognition of the best employee to fill any vacancy that arises in the company (Pulakos & Schmitt 1995, pp 289). The most important attribute employers are looking for in potential employees is the ability to accommodate all the clients irrespective of their demands. The recruitment process is used by the hoteliers in the country to ensure that all potential employees are given equal opportunity to apply for any vacancy. The recruitment and selection strategy as used in human resource management helps the employers to source for those employees who have the capability to take the business into the next level (Ashkanasy & Jackson 2001, pp 398). The strategy should always place more emphasis on value-based hiring rather than just employing in order to ensure that employees are flexible and firm when required. The employees are expected to adhere to the principle of ‘being the greatest good.’ The strategy is very critical in determining the outcome in terms of service delivery and customer satisfaction (Neal & Hammer 2006, pp 212). Work-life balance theory For a long time, work-life balance has been severally reviewed by different businesses in the industry with regard to ever changing work patterns. The introduction of the concept at workplace is aimed at enticing the employers to create and implement working programs that ensure that there is balance between the demands of the paid work as well as those that arise from personal life through work sharing, working flexibility and reduced working hours (Parsons & Bales, 1995). The concept is built on the idea that paid job and individual life should not be two competing priorities whereby the employee is always struggling to meet the both work and life responsibilities. According to Messersmith (2007), who is the main contributor to this theory, “the two elements are supposed to be two complementary factors that will enable the employer attain full life.” In order to successfully adopt the concept of work-life balance, the two elements have to be conceptualized in such away that a two way process is used in order to ensure that both employee and employer needs are met (Rahe et al, 2002, pp 278). However, this is only possible if the employees are made aware of the likely benefits that they will gain from the related policies and practices in achieving work-life balance and the strategy that has been put in place to ensure that possible negative effects are avoided (Phillips 2004, 345). Employee training and development theory Employee training and development, is a strategy that is used by employers to impart the required knowledge and skills to the employees. The strategy has been associated with high levels of psychological satisfaction among the employees and consequently low levels of employee turn-over. Traditionally, lack of employee satisfaction has been argued as the main cause of high employee turn-over in many companies (Dipboye 1992, pp 118). Career progression and development are some of the important expectations have alongside work life balance. The main challenge that many of the employers have been facing against the training strategy is that nature of work that is somehow involving and many employees work in shifts thus making enrolment in training programs to be difficult (Nigam et al 2003 pp 345). Relevance of human resource theories All human resource related theories have been founded on the past research. They are important especially in the contemporary management society because they are used a guideline by other researcher to do more studies about field. These theories are very vital in this research since they will provide background information about the concept and the areas that need to be researched on (Feldman 1996, pp 145). The theories also provide data that can be used for comparison with what the current managements have to do to improve human resource performance. Methodology/research design It is in this section that procedures and methods that researcher utilizes towards achieving the project’s goals are spelled out. This section clearly defines the study location, procedures of the research, and the analysis plan to be addressed in the report (Hoghuighi & Long, 2004). The research will begin with a clear understanding of research objectives and hypothesis. Project success is a factor of the provision of information satisfaction together with hypothesis and objectives in determining practices of human resource in telecommunication industry at Etisalat case. The research will primarily be based on primary sources of information that include questionnaires and interviews (Bedeian, 1991). Primary research This refers to collection of statistics which is non-existent. It will be considered to be attained through various forms that comprise telephone conversations, surveys, questionnaires among others. According to this project, students and parents will mainly be the primary sources. One of the major advantages of undertaking primary research is that it is more accurate (Delaney & Huselid, 1996, p. 145). Nevertheless, it takes a lot of time to undertake primary research. This is because it involves people who are wide spread and their information they give depends on their own will. Secondary research This involves collection of existing data as compared to primary research. It entails collecting data on a particular performance of a group. Unlike primary research, secondary research is not time consuming. However, some of the information to be retrieved may not be relevant. Choice of research strategy Research strategy is another aspect that will be of great significance in the research. The method that the researcher will adapt in answering objectives or questions will be determined by research strategy. This is in determining the relationship between organizational performance and human resource management at Etisalat. Interviews and questionnaires will form the crucial research strategies when undertaking research. Therefore, the researcher will have to interview and question particular groups of people to get large amounts of information significant to the research. This will be in respect to determining practices of human resource management in Etisalat. The data will be gotten from respondents either orally or through questionnaire. The main reason of study will be to establish as well analyze respondents’ views so as to find out what they think about effects of human resources management practices within telecommunication industry ( Etisalat). Data collection methods Questionnaires This research will mainly be undertaken using questionnaires. This is a quantitative method of getting data is suitable for collecting data from a lot of people hence providing a comparative analysis (Byham, 1992, p. 147). The questionnaires to be used will involve several number of data sources in finding out views and opinions concerning prevalence and predictors of effects of human resource practice at Etisalat. Design of good questionnaires requires a lot of skills and experience. The researcher will embark on the study by setting up survey questionnaires meant to address matters appropriate to undertaken interviews. Piloting of the questionnaire will be done before they are distributed to the respondents so as to find out mistakes that may be faced by respondents when filling them. Interviews Interviews will be undertaken to complement the questionnaires and they will form the excellent method of undertaking research. Interviews can be said to be verbal exchange of information between two or more people for the purpose of getting intended information or data. “A respondent is one where the interviewer directs the interview/questions and the interviewer responds to the questions of the researcher” (Berhthal & Wellins, 2001, p. 149). In addition, semi-structured interviews allows one to fix and even controls situations so as to collect suitable data while remaining flexible and responsive. Towards analyzing the behavioral and psychological reasons for decisions of the sources, the questionnaires will be used to collect primary data. Some of the types of interviews that researcher opts to use include unstructured, semi-structured, and structured interviews (Netemeyer et al, 1996). Structured interviews comprises of closed-ended questions whereby the structure of questions, responses and interviews are decided before the interview. The interviewer is usually expected to dominate over the responses and he leads the discussion to the direction he likes. Nevertheless, the received responses are limited. On the other hand, semi-structured interviews comprises of closed as well as open-ended questions. This is to enable the interviewer to have control over the interview and responses. Nevertheless, the open-ended questions enables the interviewees to express themselves as well as encourage them to present their views and opinions. Sampling After permission has been granted the authority in charge and in this case being Etisalat Management the researcher will embark in selecting his sample through random sampling where a few employees will be picked to represent the whole population. Random sampling in this case will enable the researcher to pick employees from all levels of employment. This will create a clear platform for the researcher, to analyze the various circumstances that contribute to the success of human resources in their endeavors. The researcher intends to use about 20% of the company’s employees as our respondents. Presentation of Findings The process of collecting and presenting data from the research will be our main objective. This is because this is the information that will be used to draw conclusions about the study and possibly develop recommendations that will be used by the management to improve its human resources. Data will be presented in table form as shown in appendix 4 below. The process will indicate how various human resource management styles negatively or positively relate to organizational performance. In addition to tables, graphs and charts will also be used. Statistical Analyses Since some socioeconomic-demographic elements are known to be related to human resource management type, they will be factored as control variables in the current study. Consideration will be given into the metric variables which will be used to determine whether it is the Pearson’s or Spearman’s correlations that will be performed for these variables (Bhuian and Shahidulislam, 1996). Control variables not significantly related to the three parenting style types or to children’s cognitive ability will not be included in the regression analyses of the current study. The first step of the regression analyses will be used to determine the impact of the control variables on the human resources’ capabilities while the second part of the regression analyses will be used to add human resource management practices as a factor of their abilities. In order to summarize numerical data, measures of central tendency such as average, mean and standard deviation will be used. Ethical consideration Some institutions require that any research involving interaction with human participants get approval from ethical advisory committees or boards. This ethical approval will be sought to ensure that the researcher conducts research in a manner that is respectful to the participants who in this case include: the employees, the employer and the other participants like the community that will be influenced by the research process (Aryee and Lau, 1990). The researcher may be forced to seek permission from one or more advisory groups like the management and the employee union depending on the company and disciplinary policy. Applications for ethical approval can be done directly to the people involved (Hemingway 2001). Under ethical approval, it is important to note that this research reserve rights of the respondents to participate or not to participate in the exercise. All the participants will be given their respective informed consent for the purpose of participation in the research. They will be informed prior to the research, the purposes, the potential benefits as well as the risks that might be associated with their participation. References Arthur, J 1994, ‘Effects of Human Resource System on Manufacturing Performance and Turnover’, Academy of Management Journal, 37: 670–87. Aryee, S and Lau, J 1990, ‘A Note on the Applicability of an Organizational Commitment Model’, Work And Occupations, 17: 229–39. Ashkanasy, N & Jackson, C 2001, Organizational culture and climate. Handbook of industrial, work, and organizational psychology (Vol. 2, pp. 398-415). London: Sage. Bedeian, A. et al 1991, ‘Career Commitment and Expected Utility of Present Job as Predictors of Turnover Intentions and Turnover Behavior’, Journal of Vocational Behavior, 39: 331–43. Bentler, P 1995, ‘On the Fit of Models to Covariances and Methodology to the Bulletin’, Psychological Bulletin, 112: 400. Bhuian, S. and Shahidulislam, M.1996, ‘Continuance Commitment and Extrinsic Job Satisfaction among a Novel Multicultural Expatriate Workforce’, The Mid-Atlantic Journal of Business, 32: 1–9. Bernthal, P & Wellins, R 2001, Retaining talent: A benchmarking study. Pittsburgh, PA: Development Dimensions International. Byham, W. 1992, The assessment centermethod and methodology: New applications and technologies (Monograph VII). Pittsburgh, PA: Development Dimensions International. Delaney, J and Huselid, M. 1996, ‘The Impact of Human Resource Management Practices on Perceptions of Organizational Performance’, Academy of Management Journal, 39: 949–69. Dipboye, R 1992, Selection Interviews: Process Perspectives, p. 118. As cited in R. D. Gatewood & H. S. Field, Human Resource Selection (3rd Ed.). Orlando, FL: The Dryden Press. Feldman, D 1996, ‘Managing Careers in Downsizing Firms’, Human Resource Management, 35(2): 145–61. Hemingway, M. 2001, Qualitative research in I-O psychology. The Industrial-Organizational Psychologist, 38(3), 45-51. Messersmith, J. 2007, Managing work–life conflict among information technology workers. Human Resource Management, 46(3), 429–451. Neal, M. & Hammer, L 2006, Working couples caring for children and aging parents: Effects on work and well-being. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Netemeyer, R. et al 1996, Development and validation of work-family and family-work conflict scales. Journal of Applied Psychology, 81(4), 400–410. Nigam, J., Murphy, L. R., & Swanson, N. G. 2003, Are stress management programs indicators of good places to work? Results of a national survey. International Journal of Stress Management, 10(4), 345–360 . Pulakos, E & Schmitt, N. 1995, Experiencebased and situational interview questions: Studies of validity. Personnel Psychology, 48, 289-30. Parsons, T., & Bales, R 1995, Family, socialization and interaction process. Glencoe, IL: The Free Press. Phillips, K 2004, Getting time off: Access to leave among working parents. The Urban Institute. Retrieved on Dec 11, 2011, from http://www.urban.org/publications/310977.html Rahe, R. et al 2002, A novel stress and coping workplace program reduces illness and healthcare utilization. Psychosomatic Medicine, 64, 278–286. Appendices Appendix 1. Article 1 Appendix 2. Article 2 Appendix 3. Article 3 All attached. Appendix 4. Sample table for data presentation Employees at Etisalat Telecommunication Department Number of employees Percentages (%) Human resource Finance Procurement Marketing Production Administration Public relations Management Total Read More