Management Systems at the New York Fire Department - Research Proposal Example

Name: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx RegistrationNumber: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Institution: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Course Title: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Tutor: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ©2010 Introduction Human Resource Management, HRM, refers to the functions in the organizations whose principal focus is on issues of recruitment, management, performance management, employee motivation, employee training, safety, administration, and directing people to ensure the smooth progress of work. Managers have a duty of expressing the goals of the organization in a manner that they are understood by the employees so that they can be implemented (Kramer, 2010). Motivation by definition is perceived as the activation or the process of instilling energy among individuals who are originally oriented to the goals they are meant to per take within a given organization. Motivation was initially used in the management of humans but the knowledge has now been extended to animals as well. Motivation can be categorized as either extrinsic or intrinsic. The role and the responsibility of a manager are to find the best way possible through which things can be done (Reiss, 2000). As stated by Maslow in his theory of the hierarchy of needs the manager is fully entrusted with the responsibility of knowing the levels in which each of his employees fit so that he can find the best way possible.”This is easier than done”. Having said all these, it is important to note that the subject of motivation is not yet clearly understood by humans. In order to understand motivation, one needs to understand the human subject in relation to his needs. Human nature can be very complex on one side and very simple on the other side depending with the amount of effort and the interest the manager has put in place to understand his employees. Research Aims General objective: To determine the structure of the management systems at the New York Fire Department Specific Objectives: i. To determine the level of employee satisfaction in relation to management structure of the organization at the Pennine Fire & Safety Limited. ii. To determine the various fire response rate at the Pennine Fire & Safety Limited. Research Hypotheses The null Hypothesis: The employees at the Fire services at the Pennine Fire & Safety Limited are properly motivated The alternative Hypothesis The employees at the Fire services at the Pennine Fire & Safety Limited are NOT well motivated. Problem Statement Fire fighting is one of the activities that need to be properly managed to enable the organization meet its sole purpose of ensuring that the citizens of that particular nation are properly served. One of the major problems that may hinder the progress and the management of the fire services given other factors are held constant is when the employees are not properly motivated. The management is entrusted with the full responsibility of ensuring that the employees within the Pennine Fire & Safety Limited are properly motivated (Kramer, 2010). There are different ways of motivating employees as different employees are motivated by different things following the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. It is the aspects of motivation that this paper seeks to determine. The information that will be generated by this research will be essential in the planning and management of fire services in the United Kingdom. Background The Pennine Fire & Safety Limited is mandated to “protect the general public in addition to their possessions from possible fires as well as fire hazards, with the provision of the disaster therapeutic services, technical salvage plus providing immediate reaction to the biological, chemical along with radioactive hazards” (Kramer, 2010). Exposure to the different company activities and working in different units and groups is one of the company norm that would enable an employee continue working successfully at Pennine Fire & Safety Limited. It is through units and groups that an employee comes to understand the values that are embraced at the company enabling them to achieve a forward progress with fellow coworkers as w ell as their superiors. Pennine Fire & Safety LimitedCompany embraces a cordial relationship among its employees. This will enable an employee to stay for long at Pennine Fire & Safety Limited Company (Kramer, 2010). Good working relationship within the organization is achieved through the adoption of the task oriented style of leadership. This is more similar to the autocratic style in that the people are made to get the work moving through an active definition of the work in addition to the roles that are required of the people. The structure of the work is also reflected and a more active role is taken in planning, organizing as well as monitoring. One defect of this style is that lack of the consideration of the welfare of the workers that may result to a high extent of flaws that are evident in the autocratic style of leadership as a result of the difficulty that is associated with the motivation as well as the retention of the staff (Reiss, 2000). Research Design & Methods The research is supposed to start with the clear understanding of the research objectives as well as the hypothesis. Success of the project will depend on the provision of satisfying information in line with the objectives and hypothesis (Deci &, Ryan, 2001). Primary and Secondary Data collection tools Primary research deals with statistics gathering collection that does not exist. This can be through numerous forms: including questionnaires, telephone conversations, surveys, etc. The major merit with conducting primary research is that it accurate. However, the disadvantage of primary research is that it may be time consuming Secondary research on the other hand is the collection of existing data, that is, in contrast to primary research. For example: research on experiments or specific subjects. The merit of secondary research is that it’s not time consuming however a disadvantage is that the information retrieved may not be relevant (Fisher, 2000). Quantitative and qualitative data There are two main ways in implementing the activity of the research, ‘Quantitative research’ and ‘Qualitative research’. The Qualitative data are data which are based on meanings spoken through words or personal expressions from the respondents. Qualitative analysis of data is one of the major methods for data compilation, interpersonal interviews. Questionnaires Use of a questionnaire as a quantitative method for collecting data from the sources is the most appropriate method of collecting mass responses and as such, providing a good method of comparative analysis. Designing good questionnaires requires significant skills and experience. The researcher embarks on the study by setting up survey questionnaires that address issues relevant to the interviews conducted. It is important to pilot or test the questionnaire as fully as possible before distributing them to the interviewees to fill them ( Morris,& Feldman, 1997). Interviews In order to achieve the purpose of the investigation, the key focus lies on finding out which techniques should be applied. He (Naslund) also elaborates by describing interviews as the verbal exchange of information between two or more people for the principal purpose of one person or group gathering information from the other. And that Semi structured interviews enable one to fix and control circumstances in order to collect appropriate data while remaining flexible and responsive. Quality Assurance Every research shall be performed with principles and ethical issues in consideration in order to be accepted. Research must be focused on elements stated below in order to reduce the chance of obtaining wrong data: reliability, validity and feasibility. The following general standards will be adhered to in this study: All participants will be informed about aspects of the study that could influence their participation; whether to consent to the study or not. Requirements of the Institution’s ethical research policies, Institutional Review Board will be followed. The prior permission of the participants will be sought for access to study participants involved in the interviews. To respect privacy, pseudonyms will be applied for participants in addition to the communities. Data Analysis and Presentation The data collected will then be double entered, edited and then input into SPSS V-10 statistical package for analysis. The results will be categorized as categorical, continuous or discreet or count data. The analyzed data will presented in form of histograms for continuous data and bar graphs descript data. Inferences will be made from the triangulation of the qualitative and quantitative data. Ethical consideration All the people taking part in this study shall be informed about the rationale of the research and the intentions of the researcher by means of an introductory letter that shall be sent to them. If the participants may chose not to answer any part of the question/s, their right to not answer shall be acknowledged and it will be ensured that the privacy of any person shall not compromised upon. BIBLIOGRAPHY Kramer, M. 2010. Organizational Socialization. NY: Praeger, Deci, L, Ryan, M .2001. Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior, N Y: Plenum, Reiss, S., 2000. Basic desires that motivate actions and define personalities. N Y: Tarcher/Putnam, Morris,& Feldman,1997. Managing emotions in the workplace. Journal of Managerial Issues, 9,257–274 Fisher D., 2000: Mood & emotions at work. Journal of Organizational Behavior 21, 185±202 Read More