Management and Employees at Hilton Park Lane - Research Paper Example

RESEARCH PROJECT PART ONE Research Project Part One Middle-level management makes decisions that affect the performance of junior level employees. Almost all researchers have verified the theory whereas a few numbers of the interested scholars have vehemently denied the concept. Nzuve and Njeru (2013) suggest that it has become a common trend for the management of most organizations to invest their resources in activities that are likely to enhance the productivity of the organization. It can not be determined with certainty whether the venture could contribute the overall performance for a very long time. They cited investing in the skills and knowledge of employees could significantly contribute to the improvement of the performance. It is the responsibility of middle-level managers to identify some of the skills and knowledge that the organization lacks so that the human resource manager could plan for an appropriate program for the employees. The skills and knowledge of employees determine whether the organization can achieve its strategic goals. In a study conducted by the Harvard University, it was established that middle-level managers no longer as powerful as they were before. Most middle-level managers do not have ample time to address some of the issues that being faced by employees. Part of the reason they lacked sufficient time was because they have a higher chance of being considered for senior roles hence ignore some of the issues related to the welfare of employees. Furthermore, due to the dynamic business environment, managers have been put under a lot of pressure to report favourable outcomes using the least possible amount of resources. Consequently, middle-level managers have been forced to come up with ways of accommodating a few numbers of employees and having shifts so as to improve productivity. Most organizations have introduced performance contracts with the intention of ensuring that employees contribute their full potential towards achieving the goals and vision of the organization. Those who fail to meet the required level of performance are laid off or demoted from their positions. With the introduction of the performance contracts and performance appraisal systems, issue related to the amount of work an employee performs has changed. In addition, performance contracts have brought into focus the matters related to the quality of work (McKinney et al, 2013). Unlike in the previous years where the role of the middle-level manager was limited to giving orders to junior level employees, the role of the middle-level manager has changed. Middle-level managers receive reports that they evaluate and pass to senior managers whenever they deem it is necessary. It has been established that for departmental managers to become successful in their areas, they have to be influential and be ready to use the resources at their disposal appropriately. The role of middle-level managers in achieving the strategic plans of an organization is very imperative. The departmental managers find themselves between a rock and hard place where they have to utilize the scarce resources that have been allocated to them towards achieving the overall goals of the organization. Therefore, they have to ensure they prepare their employees adequately on how they can utilize the resources accordingly so that they can achieve their intended purpose. Therefore, departmental managers carry the full responsibility for the success or failure of a project since they are in charge of employees. They influence their employees and equip them with the tactics that they can employee to achieve the desired goals. However, constant conflicts between employees may derail the work process in the organization as precious time will be in trying to resolve the issues (Kuratko et al, 2005). Reflective essay on learning Learning refers to the process of gaining new knowledge that is fundamental to an area of specialization. Once the knowledge has been acquired, a person can carry out a task in a better way without reporting wastages. In work setting, employees learn new skills on a daily basis. Learning takes places when the management organizes frequent training programs where employees can acquire knowledge. During the training programs, business gurus and industry experts are invited to share their stories and experiences on how they have managed to succeed in an industry. Serious discussions are on how some of the challenges employees face can be overcome. Some of the presenters become mentors to employees who end up following their footsteps. Such training programs improve the learning curve of workers who later translate it to better outputs and quality products. In addition, some employees learn when they are on the job (Patrick et al, 2006). Employee learning is a very paramount idea. Learning equips employees with the skills and knowledge required to undertake a particular task. Once new skills are, employees can produce better products and services. In addition, one of the challenges that face most organizations is the high cost of materials needed in production processes. In most cases, managers are faced with a dilemma on how they can allocate the limited resources appropriately without ignoring other crucial departments. Once they allocate the resources, they must be utilized accordingly otherwise the processes may stall. Newly recruited employees have a tendency of wasting materials used in production processes since they lack the necessary skills needed or sometimes they are unsure of the proper approaches used to report fewer wastages. However, most managers understand newly hired employees have such problem. Consequently, nearly all organizations have training programs that target new employees in their organization. Learning provides employees with an opportunity to master some of the concepts that they do not understand in an organization. With continuous practicing, they can learn the techniques required to perform complicated tasks while using the resources available sparingly. Although training programs are for fresh employees, veteran workers also need to undergo training to learn new skills. In as much as they have attained all the knowledge and skills required, changes may render them irrelevant in the organization. Given that the external business environment is very dicey, veteran employees must be ready to acquire new skills for them to remain competitive in the job market. Skill and knowledge are some of the factors that employers use to consider the abilities of an employee. With technology rapidly growing, it has become necessary for most of the employees to undergo refresher courses in a bid to ensure they remain relevant in the job market. Those who have been adamant to adopt the new changes have been rendered jobless given that manual systems have been replaced with electronic systems (Neelankavil et al, 2000). Research proposal The research paper seeks to investigate the correlation between the middle level management and junior level employees at Hilton Park Lane. Middle-level managers are as departmental managers. Corporate managers are mandated with numerous responsibilities that they have to undertake. In discharging their duties, they must ensure that they work towards achieving the goals and objectives of the organization. Middle-level manager’s wok together with the top management, supervisors, and junior employees to ensure and the group is towards the right direction. Conversely, they are in charge of making decisions that affect their departments. The decisions made by the departmental managers may directly or indirectly affect the performance of an employee. The decisions made may affect the level of employee satisfaction something that reduce productivity in the workplace (Decoene and Bruggeman, 2006). A research on the topic has been necessitated by the desire of trying to understand how the leaders of a department can contribute to the downfall or prosperity of an organization. The study seeks to highlight previous findings that have been presented by those who have conducted research in the area. Some of the researchers have convergent views whereas others have divergent views. Whereas other came with findings that supported the existence of a positive correlation between the middle management and employees performance. Others dispute the findings by claiming employee performance had nothing to do with the type manager’s organization have (Berg et al,2004). Also, a study in the area is important because an organization could use the results of the research in making significant changes in the style of leadership used. Leaders play an important role in propelling an organization towards attaining certain goals. The make decisions that are at making an organization move forward. The study is not only relevant for academic purposes but also for the professional purpose. It is also paramount for practical application in the real business world where issues related to employees and managers are real and surfaces on a daily basis. The findings of the report and the recommendations may be helpful in assisting organizations change areas that have shortfalls so as to encourage partnership between them and junior employees. Once some of the recommendations have been adopted, the output levels are likely to be enhanced. Additionally, the study will be able to provide stakeholders of an organization with a clue on how the performance of employees is affected by managerial decisions that are seen to be strict. Further, Hilton may also implement some of the recommendations that may be if the proposal will be managed to reach the status of a project. Lastly, the project will verify some of the theories that have been forward by a number of scholars regarding the matter (Bordens and Abbott, 2002). Literature Review Although the role of middle-level managers has become paramount currently, there has been some unease regarding the position in most organizations (McKinney et al., 2013).They perform the duty of pushing the organization towards the right direction albeit the growing cases of job insecurity. After the recent global financial crisis, many businesses were forced to search for strategies that could be in reducing the high cost of overheads. Consequently, a decision was made to retrench some of the employees in order to control the wage bill. The main casualties of the radical changes were departmental managers who were retrenched or deployed to other areas as most organization reinvented their business models. The fear of losing a job made some of the managers to be unproductive since they knew their fate had been sealed (Cooper et al., 2006). Demoralized managers are very likely to develop negative perceptions towards work because of the fear of losing their job anytime. Consequently, it is important for the senior management team to provide them with the necessary support so that they can accomplish their mission. Having an unstable middle-level management is likely to undermine the overall performance of the organization given that employees sometimes need to be so that they can work (Creswell, 2012). Interestingly, middle-level managers find themselves in a unique position in the current world. Given that the scope of their work is colossal, they do not have sufficient time to attend to training programs to enhance their skills. Furthermore, the matter is always complicated when fewer resources are allocated to them denying them an opportunity to undertake viable ventures. The unique position middle managers find themselves in, demoralize them from working passionately towards the success of a firm. Once morale goes down they become less concerned with the performance of the organization (Decoene and Bruggeman, 2006). Middle-level managers act as a link between the senior level of management and the junior employees. They communicate to them important decisions that affect the organization. It is that the middle-level managers will miss a place in the future in most organizations. The loss will be as a result of the nature of their jobs that is considered to be redundant. Unless there is an immediate response, the role of middle-level managers will remain to be a daunting task. The pressure that is with such position is intense and unbearable. Consequently, departmental managers end up passing their frustrations to junior employees who are in the production process (Delbert et al,2002). The study sort to investigate the leadership style of middle-class management and employees at the Hilton Lane. Current journal materials will be for the purpose of trying to unearth the correlation that exists between the two variables (Yin, 2013).Furthermore, the research also seeks to fill the gaps that have remained unfilled regarding the research question (Hornsby et al.,2002). Methodology The principal participants in the research will be workers and departmental managers at Hilton Park Lane. The process will be open to all genders, and there will be no restriction based on the age of the participant. In particular, those employees who have been working with the business entity for a period of more than five years will be allowed to be part of the research team to provide the information required. Newly recruited employees and those who have stayed with the company for less than five years will be. Additionally, to get a fair representation of all employees those who will participate will be for a trip to a nearby museum. Those who fall under the category will be randomly picked o be part of the team that will be required to fill questionnaires. A random sample will be appropriate for the study since all the members will be equal opportunity to be part of the study. In addition, the method will save on time since it is faster than other methodologies (Huy,2002). Design There two variables in the research namely the independent and the dependent variables. The leadership style of middle management at Hilton Park Lane is the independent variable. An independent variable is a factor that cannot be. It is almost impossible for one to determine the type of leadership the middle-level managers given that the managers are at free will to do so. The dependent variable in the case is the productivity of the employees. The performance of the employees is the dependent variable because it is a factor that is determined by the type of leadership that exists in an organization (Neelankavil et al.,2000). The purpose of the research being to investigate the correlation between the leadership style of middle-level management and employee’s performance at Hilton, the data will be generated using questionnaires. The main barriers that may arise from the research may include lack of cooperation from the staff. Organizations do not like revealing such messages because they fear it might be availed to their competitors. However, it is imperative for the research team to assure the stakeholders that information collected will be kept confidential (Kuehl and Kuehl,2000). Instrument Participants of the research will be structured questionnaires where they will be expected to provide information that will be used to come up findings. Each participant will be debriefed about the objective of the study and given an opportunity to make a decision to take part or decline. Those will agree to participate will be given the questionnaire and guided to a private section to avoid any form of external interference. The research question will be part of the questions that the respondents are expected to answer. There many benefits of using questionnaires to collect information touching on certain issues. A questionnaire is very beneficial in gathering information from a large population within a short period. Additionally, the validity and reliability of a research is not easily affected when a questionnaire is. Some of the questionnaires that will be in the study will be serialized to avoid any cases of misplacement and to ensure there is accountability (Yin, 2003).Furthermore, the data collected from the questionnaire can be fed into software programs for the purpose analyzing. The analysis is within short period making information readily for consumption. Lastly, surveys are used to quantify data that can be later used to make comparisons and contrasts (Kuratko et al.,2005). Procedure The team that will be assisting in carrying out the research will be different responsibilities. Consent will be obtained from the management of the business to avoid and conflicts with the stakeholders of the company. Once a green light has been given, all potential participants who include middle-level managers and workers will be about the study being undertaken so as to receive cooperation and ample time. After the session, each participant will be required to pick a questionnaire from the reception of the hotel and then guided to a private place where they respond to them. Each member will be given an average of twenty minutes to respond to the question and after that the questionnaire will be collected. Each participant will be for participating in the research (Sirkin,2005). Data analysis Data analysis merely entails how the data collected will be summarized into meaningful information for the purpose of interpretation. Given that the study will be quantitative in nature, a number of tools will be used to analyze the data collected. Moreover, data is often analyzed to establish if there are any existing patterns in the current theories. There are many tools used to analyze data. An analysis of data also gives an overview of the relationship that exists between two variables that are being investigated. Data that has been analyzed is usually presented using histograms, graphs ,and bar charts among other tools used to present data (Lawrence et al,2006). Anticipated Results According to evidence that has been provided in most scholarly articles it is anticipated that the results will prove that there is a positive correlation between middle-level management and the performance of employees. Departmental managers are influential leaders who make major decisions. The decisions they make are intended to guide the organization towards achieving its objectives (McNichols, 2001).When corporate managers fail to discharge their mandate, the trickledown effect is always felt. Employees become lazy and fail to accomplish the tasks that they have been assigned. The results for the case of Hilton may never be indifferent. There is a high likelihood that the results will be similar to that carried out by other researchers. However, given that there is a research proposal it is yet to be fully developed in a full research paper. The theory can only be taken to be a matter of hypothesizing the results that may be (Marczyk et al, 2005). The results that may be obtained if a full research is going to be completed will demonstrate the importance of having middle-level managers who are mindful of the employees. Middle-level managers do not have to be harsh to employees so that tasks may be. They have to know better methods of relating to them given that employees are the most valuable assets organizations have. On the other hand, workers also respect their departmental managers so that everything can run as it is (Maxwell, 2012). Bibliography Berg, B. L., Lune, H., and Lune, H. (2004). Qualitative research methods for the social sciences (Vol. 5). Boston, MA: Pearson. Bordens, K. S., and Abbott, B. B. (2002). Research design and methods: A process approach. McGraw-Hill. Cooper, D. R., Schindler, P. S., and Sun, J. (2006). Business research methods (Vol. 9). New York: McGraw-hill. Creswell, J. W. (2012). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches. Sage. Decoene, V., and Bruggeman, W. (2006). Strategic alignment and middle-level managers motivation in a balanced scorecard setting. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 26(4), 429-448. Decoene, V., and Bruggeman, W. (2006). Strategic alignment and middle-level managers motivation in a balanced scorecard setting. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 26(4), 429-448. Delbert C. Miller, and Neil J. Salkind (Eds.). (2002). Handbook of research design and social measurement. Sage. Hornsby, J. S., Kuratko, D. F., and Zahra, S. A. (2002). Middle managers perception of the internal environment for corporate entrepreneurship: assessing a measurement scale. Journal of business Venturing, 17(3), 253-273. Huy, Q. N. (2002). Emotional balancing of organizational continuity and radical change: The contribution of middle managers. Administrative science quarterly, 47(1), 31-69. Huy, Q. N. (2002). Emotional balancing of organizational continuity and radical change: The contribution of middle managers. Administrative science quarterly, 47(1), 31-69. Kuehl, R. O., and Kuehl, R. O. (2000). Design of experiments: statistical principles of research design and analysis (pp. 469-72). Pacific Grove, CA:: Duxbury/Thomson Learning. Kuratko, D. F., Ireland, R. D., Covin, J. G., and Hornsby, J. S. (2005). A Model of Middle‐Level Managers’ Entrepreneurial Behaviour. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 29(6), 699-716. Kuratko, D. F., Ireland, R. D., Covin, J. G., and Hornsby, J. S. (2005). A Model of Middle‐Level Managers’ Entrepreneurial Behaviour. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 29(6), 699-716. Lawrence ,M., Glenn, G., and Guarino,A. (2006). Applied multivariate research: Design and interpretation. Sage. Marczyk, G., DeMatteo, D., and Festinger, D. (2005). Essentials of research design and methodology. John Wiley & Sons Inc. Maxwell, J. A. (2012). Qualitative research design: An interactive approach: An interactive approach (Vol. 41). Sage. McKinney,R.,McManon,M.and Walsh(2013).Danger In the Midlevel Managers Aren’t Ready to Lead. Harvard Business Publishing. McNichols, M. F. (2001). Research design issues in earnings management studies. Journal of accounting and public policy, 19(4), 313-345. Neelankavil, J. P., Mathur, A., and Zhang, Y. (2000). Determinants of managerial performance: A cross-cultural comparison of the perceptions of middle-level managers in four countries. Journal of International Business Studies, 121-140. Neelankavil, J. P., Mathur, A., and Zhang, Y. (2000). Determinants of managerial performance: A cross-cultural comparison of the perceptions of middle-level managers in four countries. Journal of International Business Studies, 121-140. Njeru,L.and Nzuve,S.Perceived Factors affecting Performance Management among Authorities in Kenya: A case of the City Council of Nairobi.DBA Africa Management Review,Vol3(2).Pp.59-69. Patrick, A., and Laschinger, H. K. S. (2006). The effect of structural empowerment and perceived organizational support on middle level nurse managers’ role satisfaction. Journal of nursing management, 14(1), 13-22. Sirkin, H. L., Keenan, P., and Jackson, A. (2005). The hard side of change management. Harvard Business review, 83(10), 108. Yin, R. K. (2003). Case study research design and methods third edition. Applied social research methods series, 5. Yin, R. K. (2013). Case study research: Design and methods. Sage publications. Appendix I: Questionnaire (Please tick where appropriate) 1. What is your gender? Male [ ] Female [ ] 2. How long have you been working with Hilton Park Lane? 5 years [ ] 5-10 years [ ] More than 10 years [ ] 3. How can you rate the support of middle level management in the workplace? Very supportive [ ] Moderate [ ] Unsupportive [ ] 4. What is the leadership style that middle level managers use in Hilton Park Lane? Democratic [ ] Laissez-Faire [ ] Autocratic [ ] Bureaucratic [ ] 5. Does the relationship between middle level managers and junior employees affect the overall performance of the organization? Yes [ ] No [ ] 6. How is the relationship between middle level managers? Very strong [ ] Moderate [ ] Weak [ ] Very weak [ ] Thank you very much for participating Appendix II: Gannt Chart Month J F M A M J J A S O Literature review Research design Data collection Follow up Consulting supervisor Review issues Final presentation Approval Read More