Practical Approaches to Attracting and Retaining Talented Staff in Organisations - Research Proposal Example

"Practical Approaches to Attracting and Retaining Talented Staff in Organisations: Study of Global Best Practices" This paper looks ata specific set of issues related to attracting and retaining human resources (HR) that is confronting most global corporations. Several interconnected factors - the increase in global competition amongst firms, the decrease in population growth rates in developed countries, and the ageing workforce - have resulted in tight employment markets. This is characterized by a fast-growing demand for but steadily-decreasing supply of talented workers, making it more difficult for even the best corporations to attract and retain the workers they need. These firms also realized that unless they address this issue, their business survival in the face of growing global competition. The research aims to address these sets of problems by studying the global best practices of multinational firms to attract and retain talented staff. Primary research data from interviews with HR managers and practitioners in Singapore are combined with secondary research from recent academic and industry literature on the topic to determine the most effective staff hiring and retention strategies and how these were successfully utilised and sustained. Key lessons and findings would be summarised and compiled to provide a useful reference that would be of benefit for any company of any size and in any part of the world in the task of facing this global challenge. Introduction and Relation to Previous Research The central question that this research study attempts to address is the following: what are the effective strategies adopted by multinational corporations (MNCs) to attract and retain talented staff In relation to this question, the study will address the following related issues: (1) Why is there a need for effective attraction and retention strategies (2) Why and how do these strategies work (3) What is the relationship between staff quality and organisational performance, competitiveness, and sustainability (4) How can organisations determine which approaches work best for them and how can they ensure conformity, sustainability, and dynamism in the future There are several reasons why this research study and its findings are of interest to practitioners of management and to academics. First, the characteristic of the workplace is constantly changing because of the increasing globalisation of firms, which has affected firms in several ways such as raising the level of competition, demanding better performance and productivity from employees, and requiring higher standards of innovativeness, work values, skills and attitudes. This increased competition amongst firms has been extended from the marketplace for products and services and into the market for talented employees who need to be attracted and retained with the use of increasingly innovative and effective strategies. Second, the characteristics of the workforce -current, long-term, and incoming - are changing due to several factors, such as demographics, academic and professional qualifications, and job-related expectations. As companies compete and grow, they are increasing the demand for workers in a world where the population of talented workers is not growing as fast as the rise in demand. To take an example, companies need to attract and retain the highly educated Generation Y and the highly mobile Generation X (post-baby boom) and aging baby boomers. The research study will consider these two issues using updated findings based on primary and secondary research data as explained in the next section. The basic foundational materials for the study will be four of the latest research sources on the topic of attraction and retention of staff in organisations. The first is the latest Human Resources Salary Survey 2006/2007 conducted by the Tokyo (Japan)-based global recruitment and consulting agency Michael Page International (Leithead 2007) based on their experiences in global hiring and retention with a special focus on the competitive manpower markets for white-collar staff in Japan, Hong Kong, and Singapore. The study outlined the key trends in employer and employee attitudes that are diverging and need to be addressed by proper strategies. The second study, by the London-based Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD, 2006), looks at the results of a survey of almost a thousand private and public organisations to determine their recruitment and retention practices, turnover trends, and emerging people resourcing practices. The survey focused in detail on age and recruitment and online recruiting. Amongst its key findings were the growing difficulties in recruitment and retention, the increasing labour turnover rates, the growing number of unqualified migrant workers and how to improve their competencies, and managing issues such as diversity, ageing, and the opportunities provided by the Internet. The third study looks at the employment markets in other parts of Asia and Africa and was conducted by ShoreCap Exchange (Cook and Jaggers 2005). The paper was the result of a CEO Forum that focused on issues relating to staff retention, with the participation of top executives from financial institutions from the two continents. Discussions include thoughtful creation, formulation, and execution of retention strategies in this era of lean organisations and how to assure business continuity in a period of change. Several illustrative case studies provide clear lessons on successful attraction and retention strategies in developing countries where talent is even scarcer and, at the same time, in great demand. A fourth study by IDS (2004) commissioned by MINTRAC of Australia to examine the causes of high labour turnover in a range of industries in Australia, New Zealand, and the U.S. The paper examined a wide range of factors that contribute to turnover such as employee characteristics, recruitment practices, wages and conditions, and career development opportunities. Of specific interest were the impact of target income workers, the role of training, industry seasonality, workforce mobility, and the consequences of workplace isolation. The study likewise presented strategies used by employers to increase staff retention and the different ways to measure the economic impact of staff turnover. In the course of the research for the dissertation, a number of sources would be explored to assist in developing new insights into the research question and in order to determine the more effective strategies used by organisations. Interviews with Singapore-based MNCs, specifically those in the shortlist for this year's HSBC (Singapore)-sponsored Talent2 Awards for Staff Retention (won by HP Singapore), would be included as sources to discover the approaches taken to attract and retain staff and talent and the measures taken to ensure sustainability in the approaches adopted. Proposed methods The exploratory research study is a valuable means of finding out what is happening; to seek new insights; to ask questions and to assess phenomena in a new light (Robson, cited in Saunders et al. 96). This would be particularly useful as the researcher wishes to clarify the understanding of a problem, namely to determine the most effective strategies for attracting and retaining staff in today's global organisations, what these organisations are doing, how these efforts are measured, and how these could be sustained. There are also three basic types of questions a research project could address: causal (to determine whether a variable causes or affects another), relational (to look at the relationships between two or more variables), or descriptive (to describe what is going on or what exists). This dissertation would be a descriptive exploratory study. Having provided a theoretical framework upon which this dissertation is to be conducted, two forms of research data would be gathered. Quantitative data would be in the form of industry surveys and statistics that show the different strategies, their frequency of usage in various firms, and the measures of their effectiveness. Included would be quantified measures based on studies of employer and employee trends as regards motivational factors, turnover, retention rates, and compensation or salary packages. Qualitative data would be in the form primary and secondary data, including position papers from different stakeholders affected by the research-related issues faced by firms. The quantitative and qualitative data collected would be analysed according to the researcher's best knowledge, as "whatever the nature of the data, the task of interpretation falls squarely on the shoulders of the researcher" (Moser et al., cited in Chisnall 421). These data sets would be subject to consistent forms of data analysis to assess the validity of the firm's reaction to external and internal forces that determine the strategies adopted. The data analysis aims to answer the research questions asked in this study. Two types of data sources would be used. Primary research data sources would be in the form of interviews of key managers in five selected companies and government ministries in Singapore, using a purposive (or judgemental) sampling technique to select interviewees based on their expertise in the field. The questionnaire would be developed based on the results of the secondary research, which would provide the data that would be presented during the interviews for verification or comment. The researcher would use the interviews to look at experiences from all angles and choose executives and workers with direct experience on the research issue. The purposive interview technique is best suited and "often used when working with a very small sample and when the researcher wishes to select cases that are particularly informative" (Neuman, cited in Saunders et al. 175). Compared to other primary sources such as case studies, biographies, diaries, short stories, and works of fiction that are not yet available, interviews would allow the researcher to acquire first-hand information from actual sources using a combination of correspondence and personal narrative techniques that are amongst the best forms of primary sources in research. The five companies being targeted for the interview are those that were recently nominated for the HSBC-Talent2 Staff Retention Awards that was won by HP Singapore. Secondary research data would be in the form of desk, library, and Internet research for quantitative and qualitative data sources such as journals, industry reports and surveys, white papers, newspaper reports, and various studies. Reflections Although the researcher does not foresee too many potential practical and empirical obstacles related to the topic, there are a number of possible difficulties that could present themselves in the course of the project. The first is access to and reliability of primary data sources. It is possible that the top executive or Director or manager in-charge of Human Resources Development/Management (HRD/M), the ideal interview resource, would not be available during the period when the interviews are to be conducted. In case this happens, the researcher would consider, in descending order of importance, any of the following interviewees: (1) Assistant of the highest placed HRD manager or director (2) Manager or assistant in-charge of compensation and benefits (3) Manager or assistant in-charge of staff recruitment (4) Manager or assistant in-charge of learning and development, and (5) HRD generalist. Any staff or manager below these positions would not provide reliable and usable data for the research project. The second potential problem is too much diversity in the strategies used that would make the task of summarising the findings too complex for this dissertation. Whilst the researcher would attempt to analyse and consolidate the research findings, the assistance of the research advisor would be requested if the need arises to simplify any unnecessary complexity arising from the study. The third potential problem is confidentiality of information. This is not a problem for secondary research that is publicly available information, but it could be a problem arising during the primary research data gathering phase. It is possible that the interviewees are willing to share information off-the-record, but would not be as willing if the information is shared in the dissertation. If this is the case, the researcher would attempt to request the data source if the innovative strategy could be shared without mentioning the source or company where it is practiced. Should the request be refused, the researcher is bound by the rules of ethical confidentiality to respect the wishes of the source. However, the researcher would request permission and advice for a general terminology, e.g., that "some companies use highly innovative techniques and strategies" to be included in the dissertation. Fourth, it is also possible that in the course of the interviews, the researcher would be in a position to share, through commentaries or leading questions, information that may not be confidential but would result in a breach of trust by way of unsolicited practical advice. An example would be a problem that exists in one company that has been solved in another company, with the knowledge being derived from the interviews. The researcher, no matter how kind or cooperative the interviewee may be, must guard against the tendency to talk freely about or to volunteer practices in another company without the information source company's consent. This may be avoided by ensuring that the researcher is well-prepared prior to the interview so as not to commit this blunder. Fifth, time and the personal desire of this researcher to write a perfect dissertation would be another potential problem. Perfectionism is the enemy of the good, and the researcher would have to guard against including irrelevant information in the dissertation, or to miss the time-bound benchmarks in such a manner as to miss the deadline. To guard against this, an hour would be provided each week during the dissertation writing period to match accomplishments against pending items, and to be conscious of the timeline for meeting deadlines. Close coordination with the thesis adviser would hopefully address this potential problem. Conclusion After the dissertation proposal is approved, any comments from the dissertation advisor would be included in the research plan, which would be finalized as soon as possible. Then, the secondary research phase would be concluded that would lead to the development of the interview questionnaire. The secondary data would provide the researcher with a more practical data set containing the most effective global practices for staff attraction and retention, which would be crafted into a (at most) two-page questionnaire addressing the central research question and each of the sub-questions. Whilst the questionnaire is being finalised, the interview schedules would be set. Execution of interviews would be followed by the analysis of the data and informal consultations with the advisor would be conducted to check on the robustness of the research data gathered. Once all data and inputs for analysis are tested and gathered, dissertation writing would begin, hopefully to end with some weeks before the final deadline so that the necessary revisions suggested by the advisor could be incorporated into the final dissertation. Timetable The proposed timetable would be as follows: Week 1 Dissertation proposal submission Week 3 Approval of dissertation proposal Weeks 4 Secondary research Weeks 5-6 Interviews/Primary Research Weeks 7-9 Writing of the dissertation Week 10 Submission of preliminary draft Weeks 11-12 Revision and finalisation of draft Weeks 13-14 Final draft submission References (Works Cited) Chisnall, Peter. Marketing Research (6th ed.). London: McGraw-Hill, 2001. CIPD. Recruitment, Retention, and Turnover: Annual Survey 2006. London: CIPD, 2006. Cook, Marian and Terry Jaggers. Strategies for Staff Retention. Exchanging Views Series No. 3. Chicago, IL: ShoreCap Exchange, November 2005. Incomes Data Services. Improving Staff Retention - IDS HR Study 765. January 2004. Leithead, Daniel J. Michael Page Human Resources Salary Survey 06/07. Tokyo: Michael Page International, 2007. Moser, Claus A. and Graham Kalton. Survey Methods in Social Investigation (2nd ed.). Aldershot: Gower, 1971. Neuman, William Lawrence. Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 2000. Robson, Colin. Real World Research: A Resource for Social Scientists and Practitioner-Researchers (2nd ed.). Oxford: Blackwell, 2002. Saunders, Mark N.K., Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill. Research Methods for Business Students (3rd ed.). Harlow: FT Prentice Hall, 2003. Appendices The actual dissertation would include tables and graphs that would help clarify concepts. Read More