Applied research methods - Essay Example

?Table of Contents Introduction Aims and Objectives For our research, we have identified the following criteria as aims and objectives in order to determine the effectiveness of how business leaders keep their workforce motivated and inspire them to perform at their best levels. To analyze how the leaders in the organization motivate new and old employees To determine the perception the employees have about their leaders. To determine how the culture of the organization is instilled into the employees’ everyday work routine To determine the extent of dependency the staff shows towards the direction of the leaders To analyze the clarity of the vision in the minds of the leaders. To distinguish whether employees perform for self-gain or for the benefit of the organization Respondent Profile for Survey Questionnaire For the survey questionnaire we shall need a sample of employees from the company. We will profile them according to the criteria mentioned below. Respondent profile includes employees from all levels of the company hierarchy. The reason for choosing employees from all levels is that we want to obtain a 360 degree feedback regarding how the leaders are able to motivate the employees at all levels. There would be no discrimination in choosing the sample of employees. We would like to give all employees old and new, young and old to give their point of view so that we get a well-rounded opinion as to how the employees feel about their leaders in the work environment. Above that, we shall also be including the leaders themselves as part of the survey and try to obtain responses from them so as to better understand their approach to leadership. The survey questionnaire shall be different for leaders. Use of academic sources The academic sources to be used for the business research process shall come from secondary sources of information such as scholarly articles and peer-reviewed journals. In order to understand the tools and techniques used by managers of successful organizations to keep their employees motivated to perform at the highest levels. Through these sources, we can obtain information on factors such as the importance of a leader’s perception in the mid of the employee, the role played by an organization’s culture and how it affects performance and the importance of having a vision that is clearly defined and well-understood by the leader himself so as to be able to communicate it to the employees and generate maximum commitment out of them. Secondary sources of information will therefore be very important to us for this research as it shall be the guiding light on which all our research methodology is based on will be the basis of developing the survey tools and criteria. Whilst using secondary sources of information might prove useful, we do realize it might present us with some challenges and affect the credibility of our report if proper care is not taken while researching. The information provided prove to be biased and might have been controlled to some extent by the marketer of the research. There is also the possibility that the information available through these sources might not fully adhere to our needs or might be incomplete. Our aim shall be to minimize the biases that may occur due to these problems and we aim to use a number of different articles and publications in order to verify the integrity of the information available and make this research as consistent as possible. We have also chosen to go with secondary academic sources because these sources tend to be very comprehensive in nature and will provide us with all the information we need to fulfill the objectives of the research. Secondly, the sources also happen to be peer reviewed and evaluated, have been written by academics and certified by the best institutions, which is what adds to their credibility and ensures that the integrity of our own research will not be affected if our work includes such sources. Review of academic sources Leadership and Motivation and having these qualities in one’s arsenal can reap them with huge rewards personally as well as professionally. While leading might be the ability to influence others in a group, motivating these people to adhere to your advice and follow instructions consistently is what makes the difference between a good leader and a great one. “In order to be a leader, it is important to understand what motivates the employees around you. It is necessary to discover the fundamental needs that employees, coworkers, and bosses have.” (Freeman and Stoner) While all employees might have the basic financial needs and necessities, it is important to be able to see beyond that and identify what factors motivate each individual. Some might be motivated by challenging assignments; others might be motivated by social interaction and friendships. The leader should be able to recognize these different motivators and be able to provide these to his charges in order to keep them motivated. Leaders should be able to formulate the correct balance in the workplace in order to keep everyone motivated. This can be a daunting task but it is not impossible and can have potentially great rewards. Providing the perfect blend of work-life balance helps leaders to keep their workforce motivated day in day out. Another quality that a leader must possess is confidence in his own self and in what he does. Confidence is a quality that tends to have a trickle-down effect and a confident leader tends to convey messages more clearly and pass his confidence down to his charges more easily than a leader who is unsure of what is expected of him and hides from uncertainty. Most importantly, a leader should be able to channel an employee’s motivation to practical use A leader should also realize that there is no one style to leadership. Different situations and circumstances call for different measures and a leader needs to be versatile in his ability to handle his role. There is no perfect formula to leadership in the sense that not all situations can be handled using transactional styles or participative styles of leadership for instance. Being able to adapt to situations and adjusting your style to handle each situation is a quality all leaders should strive to possess. Research Methodology The main method of conducting primary research for this project shall be through conducting surveys through interviews with the participants of the study. We shall be conducting interviews with the lower-level employees as well as with their supervisors and organizational leaders to be able to better understand how the organization works and how its people rate the effectiveness of its leaders. Our main reasons for using surveys to gather data is that surveys are a quick, accurate and inexpensive means. We have chosen interviews as a means for conducting the surveys. Interviews help researchers to obtain complete and precise information. Interviews allow for immediate feedback. For example, if the respondent feels uncomfortable in answering a question, the researcher can reassure the respondent that the responses will not be disclosed. Another reason why it has been chosen as a preferred method is because it allows the researcher to explain any difficult questions so that the correct response is recorded. This will also ensure that the questionnaires are completely filled and interviews also ensure high participation. To select the respondents, the main factor that will determine the sampling approach to be used is the size of the organization. It will be difficult to use the probability sampling approach in an organization that is spread across the country or the globe. Non-probability sampling approach will be suitable for this research. Respondents will be asked to fill out questionnaires which focus on several aspects that depict the effectiveness of its leaders and will help us gain insight into the reasons that keep the employees motivated and whether those reasons are based on employees’ personal beliefs and intrinsic motivation or whether they work because their leaders motivate them to do so. Since the survey questionnaire will be targeted at both employees as well as leaders, it should be noted that we will need to formulate and design separate questionnaires for each group. Apart from using surveys, we believe that it is vital to adopt an alternate source of collecting primary data as well so as to add further credibility to the research report and double check whether the responses achieved in the surveys actually hold true and are reflected in the day-to-day working of the organization. For this purpose we shall adopt a method of direct observation and notice the events that occur in the work setting and how the leaders react to these events. We will also use this observation opportunity to determine whether the leaders adopt a more proactive approach to their tasks or whether they are more reactive in nature. The oratory skills of the leader can also be observed and how they keep their employees motivated can be judged once the observation period is complete. The observation technique is particularly useful because it allows us to note every detail about the daily goings on at the workplace in its natural setting and observe whether employees show any shared practices or characteristics that might enable us to form better judgments about their behavior as well as in determining the causes of employee motivation. Events such as slacking in work, adopting a casual, non-serious approach to work, leaders’ behavior towards subordinates and procrastination are more easily noted in observations than determined through surveys and these reasons make the observation method extremely valuable to our research. Some of the aspects that our research techniques will focus on in order to determine the inspirational value of the leaders and how they communicate the vision will be to find out about the following factors: To find the gaps between the understanding of the employees and leaders. Look for any gaps in the understanding of the vision among the leaders. Ask lower level employees how often their superiors interact with them. Ask lower level employees whether their superiors’ interaction with them increases when good or bad events occur Ask whether the employees will leave their current jobs if they find a job paying better but with a boss who does not interact with them or whether they would do it even if they are offered a job paying more but a boss who does interact with them. Observe and note the characteristics and practices that are shared by all the employees Observe behavior of leaders towards their employees. To identify the expert power that the leaders hold over their subordinates in terms of academic qualifications and professional achievements and correlate this expert power with employee motivation and inspiration. Methods of Data Analysis The process of data analysis begins after the data has been collected. The first step in the process of data analysis is that of editing. Editing is defined as “the process of making data ready for coding and transfer to data storage”. The purpose of editing is to make the data more complete, consistent or readable. The editor will check all the questionnaires for any errors and then will adjust it. The second step is that of coding. Coding is defined as “the process of identifying and classifying each answer with a numerical score or other character symbol.” The purpose of classifying answers with a numerical score is that it allows the data to be transferred to the computer. The next step is that of data entry. In this step the data is entered from the questionnaires to the computer. During the process error checking and verification of the data takes place simultaneously. Once this has been done, we start the process of calculating the statistics. We start with the calculation of descriptive statistics. Descriptive statistics provide descriptive information regarding the data collected through questionnaires such as means, percentages, frequency, etc. Since we have used a sample to calculate the descriptive statistics, we will be using inferential statistics to make inferences about the population. For that we will conduct hypothesis testing to check the validity of our preconceived notions regarding the variables we have calculated from the sample. It is planned that correlations will be established between two variables, for example, the correlation between the amount of interaction between the leaders and the employees and the completion of goals to achieve strategic objectives. Ethical Issues The most important ethical issue involved is that of the respondents’ privacy. In this research, the questionnaire presents no threat to the privacy of the respondent as no information such as the name, telephone number, etc. is required. Some concerns can arise from the use of the direct observation technique. But in this research the researcher will not be recording the behavior of the people using hidden cameras or any other recording source for that matter. The right of confidentiality will not be violated in this research. As mentioned before, the questionnaire does not require details on personal information. So, the respondent’s responses will be anonymous. Hence, the confidentiality of the respondent will be maintained. To remove any misconceptions about this whole practice, the researcher will inform the respondent about all aspects of the research which will include the purpose of the research and the entity that is sponsoring this research. Another instance that might occur is that the respondents might be fearful of providing answers that might expose them to the threat of negative consequences if their responses were ever to be revealed to their supervisors. In order to avoid such fears and ensure that we obtain the most honest responses, the responses to our survey shall remain strictly confidential under all circumstances and shall never be revealed to anyone. Respondents can participate in the survey safe in the knowledge that their personal as well as professional privacy shall remain fully intact. The role of honesty of responses, integrity of information and carefulness in compiling the data can also present ethical challenges as it is quite possible that mistakes might have been made during the data compilation process or some facts might have been accidentally overlooked causing wrong research conclusions to be reached. In this study, we shall ensure that all data has been thoroughly checked and re-checked, all sources verified for their integrity and given due credit and all respondents are taken into complete confidence in order to obtain the most honest of all responses thereby ensuring that our research does not becomes cause for any ethical issues. Another ethical factor that can arise in research is the discrimination in participant profiling on the basis of gender or race. Our research will thus be conducted in as unbiased a manner as possible and we shall strive to maintain diversity in respondents so as to obtain a more holistic view of the daily activities in the workplace. Limitations of the research We realize that our research process will not be perfect. This might be due to many factors, the most notable of which we have listed below. The secondary research might be that the quality of the research is not up to the mark. It is important to critically evaluate the validity and reliability of the information provided by the primary researcher; hence it is important to closely look at the origins of the research as it may come from a questionable source. In our research we have tried our level best to include only those sources which have been peer-reviewed and evaluated in order to present the most credible information however we realize that there may be a possibility of the original research to have been biased and this might affect our own facts. Nevertheless all effort has been made to verify the information and make sure it holds the highest levels of integrity. Another limitation of secondary research is that many a times the information is incomplete or missing crucial analysis or point of view. Many researchers charge expensive fees for full reports which can become a problem while going through secondary data. One of the crucial limitations of primary research we might face is that the responses given by the employees might be biased. Some employees like to remain in the good books of their managers so they may give positive responses to the survey questions and portray the manager as highly regarded and in a positive light. Some employees also feel threatened that if they answer what they really think about the employer or the manager then it may not go down to well with the manager or the employer and they may face negative consequences as a result. A limitation with conducting questionnaires is that like many other evaluation techniques and practices occur after the event. In this case, the employees may forget how their managers communicated the organizations goals and motivated them. This is likely to occur with the older employees who are working for the organization for many years. Open ended questionnaires can also be a cause for concern for the researchers as it takes a long time to process and analyze large amount of data. This limitation though can be tackled by limiting the space to write. This will allow the participants to write concise answers. Conclusion Bibliography Freeman, R. Edward and James A Stoner. Management 5th Edition. 5th. Englewood Cliffs; Prentice Hall, 1992. Zikmund, William G. Business Research Methods. South-Western Cengage Learning, 2010. Read More