The General Subject of Employee Performance Evaluation - Research Proposal Example

RESEARCH PROPOSAL Proposed of dissertation: THE IMPACT OF NETWORKING ON THE INCIDENCE OF INEQUALITY IN THE EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT ACROSS THE UK LABOUR MARKET By Your Name Submitted to: Professor’s Name A Thesis Proposal Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the (Insert the appropriate degree). Department of (insert appropriate department) Name of University Date I. INTRODUCTION The employee performance measurement is an approach by which organizations assess employees for several important objectives, such as in further developing employee competencies, performance and the distribution of rewards and career advancement. It is, hence, a very important element of the overall organizational performance management system, which impacts the employees and the way they are valued within the organization. This aspect in human resource becomes controversial when issues about race and discrimination persist especially with the increasing number of immigrant workers in the UK. In the United Kingdom, immigrant workers constitute almost 4 percent of the entire national labour force. (Cornelius 2004, p324) The statistics is highlighted in the case of London, wherein half of migrant workers work and about one in nine regular workers are foreign born. (Messina 2007, p32) This variable is important because the immigrant and native workers have differing capacities and cultural background, affecting their behavior and capacity to deal with a performance evaluation. Statement of the Problem Taking from sound human resource management principles, multicultural issues affect the efficacy of a standard evaluation mechanism, the evaluation tools, the interpretation of results of such measurement, among other related variables. According to Weiner and Craighead (2010), an evaluation process is only effective when the measurement design was based on an understanding of the context of individual examinees. (p1038) It is, hence, imperative to identify existing employee performance mechanisms in UK in order to determine the degree of inequality and discrimination in the workplace being evaluated. Objective of the Study This study will investigate whether there is an inequality among the native and immigrant employees in UK companies in terms of performance measurement. This objective will focus on addressing performance assessment according to the role of networking between local employees and managers in the context of today’s highly globalized labour market. For this purposes, the following secondary objectives will be pursued: 1. Identify standard or popular employee performance mechanism in the UK; 2. Determine whether such organizational apparatus in appraising performance are just, fair and sensitive to the unique needs of immigrant workers; 3. Identify cases of discrimination and inequality and explain how the networking of employees and managers affect their incidence; 4. Provide alternatives and suggestions to address problematic areas; and, 5. Outline the future trends and developments in immigrant employee appraisal in the UK. Coverage and Limitations This study will be undertaken in the UK setting, involving a survey of both immigrant workers and British human resource managers. The classification of “immigrant workers” is irrespective of ethnicity. This study will also have a small sample size that is why some estimates will have large confidence intervals. The employment appraisal apparatus/mechanism will be determined based on its usage and popularity and this could mean that more than one will be used. Another limitation of the study is the emphasis given on the issue of networking in the globalized labour market. Other variables will not be given due emphasis. II. LITERATURE REVIEW The existing body of literature on the general subject of employee performance evaluation is quite extensive. They provide valuable insights as to what works for employees. Some of these studies have explored the case of multicultural workplace, typified by both native and immigrant workers. For example, there is the case of the work done by Davila, who investigated numerous employee performance appraisal mechanisms and identified processes that address the issues entailed in a multicultural workplace. A study that specifically investigated one evaluation apparatus was the one undertaken by Chan (2004). He explored the balanced scorecard tool, which was found to be effective especially in achieving management objectives. Several other studies such as those by Atkinson, Waterhouse and Wells (1997), Sturman et al. (2005), and Bourne et al. (2000), collectively explained a host of other mechanisms and they provide sufficient background for this study. An excellent resource on the impact of networking on organizational management and employee performance measurement models is that study conducted by Weston and Lucio (1997) on the European Works Council, which serves as a venue by which players in the labour market could interact and network. This is a comprehensive study that included discourse on important variables such as policy environment that could encourage or inhibit networking among employees and managers, among other issues. In the UK context, there are few relevant studies especially in the area where this research is interested about. But there is one excellent research that investigated several important elements that are useful for this study. This is the Language Proficiency and Labour Market Performance of Immigrants in the UK published by Dustmann and Fabrii back in the year 2000. The study used two surveys in the UK to examine the performance of immigrant workers and found that employment probabilities differ widely within this labor segment and is especially pronounced among the non-white immigrant workers. There are related research on immigrant workers and their performance in the labour market but most of these depict other countries’ experiences such as those of the United States and Canada. Out of the review of existing literature, hence, the contribution of this research is clear: there is a need for a study that investigates the existence of inequality and discrimination in employee performance appraisals in the UK. This is underscored by the specified nature of the research due to its focus on the effect of networking landscape in the labour market. III. METHODOLOGY A combination of qualitative and quantitative methodologies will be used by this research. In order to be as comprehensive as possible, each of these methods is expected to complement each other since the other, would effectively address the weakness of the other. The flow of the research, according to the proposed methodology (see fig. 1), would commence by doing the interviews, which could be augmented by the use of the focus group technique. This researcher will, then, design a structured interview that would involve three to five industry resource persons. The purpose of this exercise is to gain a sufficient knowledge and first-hand data on specific issues that would allow the researcher to develop an effective questionnaire and research techniques. Here, participants would be asked questions; they will be asked to respond and allowed to respond to each other as well. The conversation and the data that will be derived out of it will also be used as part of the primary data to be qualitatively analysed and discussed later on. Then, a survey will be conducted. For this purpose, a questionnaire will be drafted. The target respondents are immigrant workers and human resource managers. The survey population can range from 10 to 50 respondents, evenly divided between these two survey participants. The low number of respondents is attributed to the fact that the study is confined to the UK setting only and, more importantly, qualitative methods are also being employed. For the survey, a simple probability sampling method will be employed. Hall’s model is particularly helpful in this area. A respondent, for example, will be treated as a sampling frame in order to select a sample of volunteers from among the list taken from a predetermined list. According to Hall, “the random sample may be chosen by reference to a table of random numbers or generated by a computer using a random number generator.” (p189) Finally, the assessment and evaluation of the research data and results would be undertaken within the qualitative model. Fig. 1: Research Design To sum the methodology up, this research will follow a linear progression that characterize the academic and scientific research model, wherein a problem is first identified before a research is undertaken in order to finally be the basis of the actual study and analyses. Finally, this research aims to go beyond this method since there is an attempt to assume a real-world, applied research. Using traditional research methodologies, this study attempts to distinguish itself from academic research by trying to address problem than just merely gain knowledge. References Atkinson, A, Waterhouse, J and Wells, R 1997, "A Stakeholder Approach to Strategic Performance Measurement." Sloan Management Review, vol. 38, no. 3, pp. 25-37. Bourne, M, Mills, J, Wilcox, M, Neely, A and Platts, K 2000, "Designing, implementing and updating performance measurement systems", International Journal of Operations & Production Management, vol. 20, no. 7, pp.754 – 771 Chan, YL 2004, "Performance measurement and adoption of balanced scorecards: A survey of municipal governments in the USA and Canada", International Journal of Public Sector Management, vol. 17, no. 3, pp.204 - 221. Cornelius, W 2004, Controlling immigration: a global perspective. Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA. Davila, A 2009, Best human resource management practices in Latin America. Routledge, New York. Dustmann, C and Fabbri, F 2000, "Language Proficiency and Labour Market Performance of Immigrants in the UK." IZA Discussion Paper No. 156. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=233909 Hall R 2008, Applied social research: planning, designing and conducting real-world research. Palgrave Macmillan Australia. Messina, A 2007, The logics and politics of post-WWII migration to Western Europe. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Sturman, M, Cheramie, R and Cashen, L 2005, "The Impact of Job Complexity and Performance Measurement on the Temporal Consistency, Stability, and Test-Retest Reliability of Employee Job Performance Ratings." Journal of Applied Psychology, vol 90, no. 2, 269-283. Weiner, I and Craighead, E 2010, The Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology, Volume 3. John Wiley and Sons, Hoboken, NJ. Weston, S and Lucio, M 1997, "Trade unions, management and European works councils: Opening Pandoras box?" The International Journal of Human Resource Management, vol. 8, no. 6, p. 764-779. Read More