Investigation of Company Compensation and Benefits Policy in Coway - Assignment Example

?An Investigation of Company Compensation and Benefits Policy in Coway (Singapore) Contents 3. Research Methodology 3 3 Research Design 3 3.2 The Overall Research 4 3.3 How to conduct the literature research 4 3.4 Research approach 7 3.5 Sampling 8 3.6 Data Access and Collection 10 3.7 Methods of analysis 10 3.8 Research limitation 11 4. Conclusion 11 4.1 Conclusion summary 11 4.2 Further research opportunities 12 4.3 References 13 Bibliography 15 3. Research Methodology 3.1 Research Design A research design is a blueprint for carrying on an investigation with maximum control over the variables that might influence the validity of the outcome of the study (unisa.ac.za, n.d.). It is the plan that defines how, when and where from the information is to be collected and how it should be analyzed. Research design is different from the concept of Research data collection (nyu.edu, n.d.). Research Design mainly discusses which sources have been used in conducting the study. Various Research designs are- 1. Historical Research Design - It uses primary and secondary sources. Lots of qualitative data sources are required in this case. 2. Case and Field Research Design – It is useful when limited information is available for a study. Observation is a great tool for such studies. 3. Descriptive or Survey Research Design - It attempts to explain and describe the circumstances by applying many questionnaires and subjects to fully portray a phenomenon (dissertation-statistics.com, n.d.). 4. Causal Comparative Research Design - This research design attempts to investigate the cause and effect relationship where causes already exist and cannot be controlled. 5. Experimental Research Design - This design is most suitable in controlled settings such as laboratories. Here causes can be manipulated to arrive at desired effect. For our research we have decided to employ the survey research design. It is considered that a questionnaire will be extremely useful in drawing information from a large number of people as well as from limited number of participants. Also the data obtained will be highly reliable. 3.2 The Overall Research It can be said that for the purpose of successful completion of the research based assignment, conduction of significant research is very important. The reason behind the significance can be associated with the fact that the market research provides some of the highly relevant data, which can be processed and analyzed using various tools and techniques, so that it empowers the researcher to find out the required information that is available in the form of hidden and highly complicated data (Kolb, 2008, p. 12) While discussing on the same note, it can also be brought into attention that the conduction of the market research exercise helps to bring into focus the insights, views and opinions that are provided by a wide range of sources, which essentially comprises of collaborators, customers, employees, as well as associated and related stakeholders (McDaniel and Gates, 1995, p. 5). It can be said that while proceeding with the concept of market research, a proper format is expected to be followed by the researcher. The most important part of the market research exercise is to maintain relevance with the main research question. The reason behind it is the fact that it will help in the process of framing the entire structure and nature of the market research exercise and will also increase the effectiveness of its results in a great way. 3.3 How to conduct the literature research The literature review deals with three main issues which are- 1. Study of compensation and benefits- This study can be best carried out with the help of sources like books, internet, business journals, newspapers and research papers. This issue will develop our understanding about the compensation framework of a company. 2. Significance of compensation and benefits in the overall performance management of a company- The researcher can learn the significance of compensation and benefits from the feedback of the employees and employer of various companies. This issue will help us to learn about the importance of compensation and its influence on employee behavior. 3. Creating a compensation policy- A suitable compensation policy can be formed with the combination of books, internet as well as feedbacks from employers and employees. In this issue we will get a scope to reflect our understanding and perception regarding the compensation and benefits. We shall conduct our research on the basis of these issues that will help us to finally arrive at our research question which is, “How can the Compensation and Benefits policy influence the employee’s performance and attitude in the Coway Company (Singapore)?” This issue can be addressed from both the employer’s and employee’s viewpoint. For gathering the employer’s viewpoint we need to design a qualitative questionnaire with open-ended questions. We will conduct a one-to-one interview session with the managers as this will provide us with accurate and reliable data. A focus-group interview is not suitable in this case as there are chances for the discussions to get diverted into some other topic. The following table exhibits the questionnaire that will help us to gather information about the main issues and about our proposed research question- 1. The employees in your organization are mostly experienced. Why so? As our products are diverse in nature so we require professionals who have experience in various sectors and who will be readily used in any department whenever required. 2. Describe the work culture of Coway. Coway believes in the philosophy that there should be love and harmony among the employees. Having positive thoughts and appreciating someone’s work are the key features seen within the Coway employees. 3. Which factor do you think contributes the most in making Coway a leading company of Singapore? The only factor that helps us to proceed successfully is the employee’s love for work. All our employees are hard working and all of them are efficient which improves their performance on a constant basis. 4. Do you consider performance management system is an effective tool for helping employees to achieve the organizational objectives? Yes it is. A PMS helps the managers to keep track of the employee’s performance and the employees also get a detailed knowledge about the outcomes of the work done by them. Any excellence is always appreciated while any flaw is sorted out with continuous discussions and meetings. 5. The compensation and benefits of your organization are directly linked to the performance of an employee. Why is it so? It is very simple. The more you work the better you are paid. Compensation is basically considered as a means of motivating the employees. However, there is always some basic pay which is fixed depending on the experience level of each employee. 6. Do the Performance Management System in your organization forms a participative environment? More than a participative environment, the PMS create a competitive environment within the organization. But that is healthy competition. Employees work as a team and help each other in case of difficulty but everyone concentrates on fulfilling their own target first. 7.  Do you think that the employee’s leadership and interpersonal skills are developed as a result of the implementation of the Performance Management System? Yes the leadership and interpersonal skills are always developed when the employees are exposed to an efficient PMS. Employees learn to work in teams and lead their teams in an efficient manner. The leaders here are very much co-operative and extremely friendly. This factor also contributes towards the improvement of interpersonal skills. This system also improves communication within the departments which is necessary for the teams to work as a family. 8. Is promotion in your organization based on performance? Promotion at Coway is based on basically two factors- target achievement and reputation within the organization. So it is to some extent, performance based. 9. Do you have an excellent performance appraisal system? If yes, then what is the duration of the performance appraisal conducted in your organization? Generally the length of an appraisal period is one year; however it might be changed depending on the requirements of the company. 10. Which are the benefits offered by your company? The benefits of our organization include, retirement benefits, disability income protection, tuition reimbursement, daycare, sick leave, maternity leave, paternity leave, tuition reimbursement , funding of education, vacation (paid and non-paid), and flexible work arrangements. (hrcouncil.ca, n.d.) 3.4 Research approach In this case we have decided to take the survey approach for the employees and interview approach for the managers. A survey is a means of collecting information that is expected to represent the perception of the whole population or group on which it will be conducted. Surveys are generally conducted through written form of questions that are distributed among the target population through mails, fax, internet or even the questions can be asked over phone or in person. We have opted for the survey approach because it would help us to collect information about the needs, behaviors and opinions of the participants. Surveys can be used to find out reactions and attitudes, to gauge opinions about various issues, to add credibility to the research and to measure client satisfaction. Survey is the primary source of information which means that questions are directly asked to someone rather than gathering information from any secondary sources like archives and documents. Surveys can also be used to measure opinions or ideas about the various issues that are associated with the society and other fields of study. For finding the answers to the main issues discussed previously, especially for the 1st and 2nd issue, a survey is considered to be an appropriate tool. A face to face interview is set up to get feedback concerning the participant’s behaviors, opinions, and to clarify their expectations from the proposed policy or intervention. In simple terms it can be said that interview is a form of qualitative survey which is fast and provides almost appropriate data. Here our objective is to create a compensation policy and therefore interview method has been considered as a suitable tool for this purpose. (ec.europa.eu, n.d.) 3.5 Sampling It is the procedure used in statistical study in which a prearranged number of finding is drawn from a larger population. In simple terms, sampling is the method of selecting a group of people from the entire population to conduct research. This process saves time and prevents complications as it is not feasible to conduct survey on the whole population. Sampling provides us with both quantitative and qualitative information (fns.usda.gov, n.d.). Quantitative research is based on hypotheses testing with the data derived from the findings. Participants may be indiscriminately assigned to various treatments depending on the research question. Usually this type of research includes a large number of respondents and includes measurement of particular data. This study takes the help of various statistical tools (Ad age data works, 2013). However, Qualitative research mainly deals with human behavior and attitude towards a particular scenario. Therefore in this type of research the questions asked are mostly open-ended in nature that is option or rating scale is not provided in this case (Silverman, 2011, pp. 3-5). This research aims at finding ways to solve particular problems. These are often used to measure the validity of the quantitative study. Here the results obtained cannot be generalized and often arriving at a particular conclusion becomes difficult. The various sampling methods can be categorized as Probability sampling or Non-probability sampling. In probability sampling we have thorough knowledge of the population which helps in extracting more accurate data and these data are rightly interpreted with the help of statistical tools. This type of sampling will be used in the survey process conducted on the employees. The probability sampling approach includes- 1. Simple Random- In this method a group of people are chosen at random from an entire population. 2. Stratified- This method deals with situation when the population is divided into several subgroups depending on certain characteristics (Lohr , 2010, p.196). 3. Systematic- Here a group of participants are selected in a systematically random way from a complete list of a specified population. 4. Cluster- Here clusters are randomly chosen and the individuals in particular clusters are questioned (The Statistics Glossary, n.d.). The non-probability approach is just the reverse of probability sampling which means the population is totally unknown to the researcher and statistical tools are not used in this case. However this approach is quite easy to administer. The focus group interview of the managers falls under this approach. The various methods under this approach includes- 5. Convenience- A convenience sample, also known as opportunity sample, is drawn without any basic probability-based selection technique.  Fundamentally a convenience sample is any information that is neither a complete listing of all the probable data nor a carefully drawn scientific sample. Convenience samples are hardly convenient to draw, but they are referred to this manner to differentiate them from random samples (Price, 2013). 6. Snowball- In this method at first a particular contact is chosen and interviewed and then he or she is asked to suggest other interviewees and the process goes on essentially creating a “Snowball” effect (Oliver, 2006). 7. Quota- Quota sampling is one of the most accurate non-probability sampling approach, which tries to make sure the representativeness by sampling people from identified groups in the population. Basically for this type of sampling the researcher needs to know which groups to approach and how many people exist in each group (Research Observatory, n.d.). 8. Judgment- This approach is similar to quota sampling but here participants within each quota are selected to represent diversity. This category of sample is selected on the basis of knowledge of the subject matter specialist with the information of the process being conducted (Rocco and Lloyd, 2012). Here we have applied the systematic probability sampling method. The sample size refers to the number of participants chosen from the target population on whom the survey is to be conducted. Here we can see that the total population includes all the employees, employers, customers, suppliers and other stakeholders of the company which is a pretty huge number and conducting research on the whole population would be a difficult task. Hence we chose 500 employees out of 2000 and 8 managers out of 50. We have introduced a questionnaire for the purpose of collecting data from the managers through an interview technique. This questionnaire includes 10 questions which will extract qualitative data. 3.6 Data Access and Collection Questionnaires are used for reaching a large number of respondents. The questions included for quantitative survey mostly consists of close ended questions with some preset options. Questionnaires which are devised for quantitative research are often based on rating scales. Interviews are also regarded as an effective tool for gathering data but those are preferred for small scale surveys. In the present survey, we will conduct the study with the help of questionnaires, which will be employed in extracting both quantitative as well as qualitative data. For entering the company a prior appointment is necessary and it must be ensured that the data collected from individuals are kept confidential without disclosing the identity of the respondent. 3.7 Methods of analysis The data gathered through the quantitative questionnaire require to be interpreted through various statistical tools like pie charts and histograms.  Pie charts are used for illustrating how something is broken down into its components (GCSE Bitesize, n.d.) while histograms are used for the visual interpretation of the gathered data. However the qualitative data needs to be interpreted with the help of further assistance from various books, journals and secondary surveys. These data requires further interpretation. 3.8 Research limitation There was as such no limitation faced throughout the research and the managers were very co-operative. However since it was an interview technique therefore it was not possible to take notes of every comment and remarks of the participant. All the managers provided important information about the organization’s performance management system and employee’s compensation and benefits schemes. But due to the lack of sufficient audio or audio-visual tool we have missed certain vital points. 4. Conclusion 4.1 Conclusion summary 1. MAIN POINTS INTRODUCTION The study was set out to explore the Compensation and Benefits Policy in Coway. The research goes through the history of the entire organization and finds out that there are several flaws within the functioning of the organization. It is believed that the employees are the real assets of an organization. It is the employees who are mostly responsible for the well-being or downfall of an organization. Therefore it is necessary to maintain the employee’s satisfaction level so that they can perform their best and the organization could utilize those efforts with an ultimate result of increased revenue and profits. For this purpose the essential step is to ensure appropriate compensation package to the employees. The compensation package should not only include the salary but also it should cover the various fringe benefits. This study is directed towards learning about the suitable compensation policy of companies and its influence on the performance of the employees. The focus here is entirely on the management of Coway. LITERATURE REVIEW MAIN ISSUES The main issues which have been discussed here include- What is the concept of compensation and benefits especially in the context of the functioning of Coway and how it is used for influencing employees? Why is it important for the organization? Creating a balanced Compensation and Benefits policy for Coway where all the employees will be paid as per their contributions. RESEARCH METHOD The research design chosen for this study is survey approach. The survey has been divided into two parts. One part consists of quantitative questionnaire which is exclusively meant for the employees. These questions are mostly close-ended that is each question has got some prefixed options from which the employees will be asked to choose the most suitable preference for them. The other part includes a qualitative questionnaire where the questions are open-ended and are intended for the employers. These questions don’t come with options. 2. HOW TO IMPROVE THE RESEARCH The research can be improved in future if some recording tools are implemented. A audio or audio-visual medium would help the researcher to record every important comment of the participant. 4.2 Further research opportunities For future studies we will always consider the online survey method which is preferred by most of the participants. Through this method it will be easier to reach a large number of respondents and the answers will be more reliable and accurate. Also when approaching the managers, we can mail them the questionnaire and they can fill it up at their own convenience. This will be a more time saving and cost saving approach. 4.3 References unisa.ac.za, n.d. Research Design and Methodology. Available at http://uir.unisa.ac.za[Accessed on 15th July 2013] nyu.edu, n.d. WHAT IS RESEARCH DESIGN? Available at http://www.nyu.edu [Accessed on 15th July 2013] dissertation-statistics.com, n.d. Types of research designs you can use for your dissertation. Available at http://www.dissertation-statistics.com[Accessed on 15th July 2013] Kolb, B., 2008. Marketing Research: A Practical Approach. California: Sage Publications Inc. McDaniel, C.D and Gates, R.H., 1998. Marketing Research Essentials. USA: South – Western College Publishing. ec.europa.eu, n.d. Focus Group. Available at: http://ec.europa.eu [Accessed on 15th July 2013] fns.usda.gov, n.d. An Overview of Sampling. Available at http://www.fns.usda.gov [Accessed on 15th July 2013] Ad age data works, 2013. What's Quantitative Data? Available at http://adage.com [Accessed on 15th July 2013] Silverman, D. 2011. Interpreting Qualitative Data. Great Britain: SAGE. Price, M. 2013. Convenience Samples: What they are, and what they should (and should not) be used for. Available at https://hrdag.org [Accessed on 15th July 2013] Oliver, P. 2006. SNOWBALL SAMPLING. Available at http://srmo.sagepub.com [Accessed on 15th July 2013] Research Observatory, n.d. Non-probability sampling: quota sampling. Available at http://ro.uwe.ac.uk [Accessed on 15th July 2013] Rocco, J.P. and Lloyd, P.P. 2012. Judgment Sampling: A Health Care Improvement Perspective. Available at http://www.aacn.nche.edu [Accessed on 15th July 2013] GCSE Bitesize, n.d. Graphs 2: pie charts. Available at http://www.bbc.co.uk [Accessed on 15th July 2013] hrcouncil.ca. n.d. Compensation and Benefits. Available http://hrcouncil.ca [Accessed 17th July 2013] Lohr ,S.L. 2010. Sampling: Design and Analysis. USA: Cengage Learning The Statistics Glossary, n.d. Cluster Sampling. Available at http://www.stats.gla.ac.uk [Accessed 17th July 2013] Bibliography Beri, G.C., 2010. Business Statistics. Third Edition. New Delhi: Tata McGraw Hill McBurney, D.H. and White, T.L., 2009. Research Methods. Eighth Edition. USA: Cengage Learning. Goddard, W. & Melville, S. 2004. Research Methodology: An Introduction. Juta and Company Ltd. Lapan, S. D., and et.al, 2011. Qualitative Research: An Introduction to Methods and Designs. 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