Employee Performance at British Airways - Essay Example

CHAPTER 5: INTERPRETATION AND DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS 5 Introduction This research has focused to understand the perception and beliefs of the employees of the British Airways relating to Control Management in their organization. The Control Management being an important tool for Employee Performance measurement and enhancement is seen from different perspectives by the employees themselves, thus requiring a model research to evaluate the employees’ response towards it. Toward this end, this study posed 14 questions to British Airways employees asking that the employees participating in this study state an agreement or disagreement with each statement. The research study has focused on the sampling out of the employee groups and categorization of them into Best Performing, Average Performing and Low Performing. This has been done realizing the fact that the employee’s perception about the control management system itself may be strongly affected by the employees his or her own experience about the system and the outcomes of the system in the form of their job enrichment, promotions, responsibilities’ enrichment or any other job enhancement. It is also important here to analyze whether the employees themselves have realized that which control management system or controlling strategy from an HR perspective really matters for them and if they seem it to be the part of the contributing factors that have led them in realizing to their strong performance capabilities. All these points are also important to analyze as which performance group has what direction of thinking. It may be possible that there is no clear trend or demarcation of thoughts among the sample groups. 5.2 Interpretation, Discussion and Analysis of Findings This study involves a survey questionnaire where the employees were asked to answer a few questions. Employees were categorized into three basic groups - “Best Performing”, “Average Performing” and “Low Performing” employees, considering the fact that there is an influence, whether clear or blurred, between the performances of the employee himself/herself and the perception about the system in which he/she has made up to the mark where he/she stands currently. The responses were taken as SD = Strongly Disagree, D = Disagree, N = Neither agree nor disagree, A = Agree and SA = Strongly Agree. Despite the fact that this study involved the diversified group of employees, following are the findings: Although the perceptions and the responses do not clearly demarcate any trend or conclusion, however, statistics covered in earlier chapters may support in the analysis of any particular aspect of the research. (1) Control management is a desired component within the organization by the majority of participants although those in the lowest performing employee groups tend to be somewhat negative in their view of control management; and this may be perceived as common in any group of data. (2) Those in the highest performing employee groups were those less likely to view control management negatively; this also reflects the fact that the high flyers do often credit more approach based systems to contribute to their success. (3) Control management is viewed by the majority of those in the highest performing employee groups to have a positive impact on employees of the British Airways; as evident from the questionnaire results itself. (4) 12 participants in the highest performing employee group felt that control management affected their performance while only five participants in the lowest performing group felt that their performances were affected by the control management. (5) When asked if the word coordination could replace the term control management, approximately 50% of those in the highest and the lowest performing employee groups agreed with that statement while the other 50% of participants in both groups either did not agree to disagree or state that they disagree with this statement. Control management improving employee performance primarily was agreed upon by the majority of those questioned however; employees who performed poorly did not perceive the value of control management over organizational practices. 5.3 Question by Question Analyses It is very evident that any type of control over human beings is not freely desirable by that person. The thinking that someone is always looking or monitoring one’s activities though the purpose may be beneficial for him may trigger a perception of being “invaded”. Thus, in conjunction to this fact, the literature review in this study reveals that it is human nature to resent any type of control. Although control management was not viewed as a necessity by p=0.800 (i.e. 80% of the sample), this study has found that the British Airways Management is not properly implementing said control management or alternatively that the control management features utilized by British Airways are not well designed. When asked the question of whether control management affected the morale of employees, the responses given were approximately 50% in agreement and 50% stating disagreement with this question. As stated earlier P=1,000, employees at British Airways do not seem to perceive any reliable effects of the control management practices on their morale. Question 4 in this study asked whether the employees have felt control management impacting their performances. Findings show that in the strongest performance group, 8 employees strongly agreed with the statement. In the same group, one employee strongly disagreed that the control management influenced his (her) performance, and 2 employees did not perceive any effects of control management on their workplace performance in the average performance group, Analysis conducted in this study relates that twelve employees in the highest performing employee group agreed that they perceive the effects of control management on their performances, and none of the average group performance employees strongly agreed with the statement. Ultimately, only 5 employees from the worst performing group agreed that control management affected their performances; 12 employees strongly disagreed or disagreed with the statement, and 8 employees did not feel any effects at all. Control management was found to significantly affect the performance of employees. This is in fact, quite straightforward as well since the employees who have realized themselves being the best performer must credit the system that has brought them up. They are more likely to be the part of the on-going system and would be very much reluctant to incorporate any major changes in the existing one. The fifth question in this study states that coordination is a better term that can replace control management and findings show that control management is not a term that employees are necessarily excited about when it comes to policy or strategic decisions. In the present study, 11 employees in the strongest performance group agreed with the statement and expressed their willingness to replace the word control with the word cooperation. Also, in the performance group that was average 9 of the employees did not express a willingness or unwillingness to make changes in the terms of current control management. They were of a perception that the core of the system should be addressed rather than just the perception. Their approach towards current system of control management was quite diversified as being termed as satisfied or unsatisfied. Of the employees in the lowest performance group, 10 employees did not either agree or disagree with the statement. Findings in the statistical analysis indicate that there is not a need to replace the term control management with the term coordination. This appears to be confirmed by the fact that employees in all three groups expressed no particular beliefs or attitudes towards the term ‘control management’ stating that they neither agreed nor disagreed with the question of changing this term. Although it is again a debatable discussion that how closely the word control can replace cooperation as the approach to both the terminologies may be different and it may not only affect the perception of employee being controlled or monitored, but also the perception of the management itself to approach one’s performance measures and decision making. Question 6 is about the employees that whether they would like to work in an organization with no control management. As noted in the literature review of this study, it has been found out that control is a tool, like a hammer or computer in the effective performance within an organization because when there is no control, decision making is threatened by the subjective judgment of the decision makers in the organization. As well without control, each function of operating in the organization will be menaced as well, but it lacks. The system’s purpose is to control functions and operations of the organization. In this case, it was assumed that employees of the corporation have a specific sensitivity to the idea of ‘control. Of those participating in the study, ten employees radically disagreed with the statement in number 6 and one employee expressed strongly desiring to be employed by an organization that possesses no type or forms of control within the organization. Those who state that they are not willing to work in an organization without ‘control management’ was only slightly lower (8 employees) and 2 employees in the low performance group said that they desired to work in an organization that had no control management. Only four employees in the lowest performing group strongly wished to work in an organization without control management. The majority of employees of British Airways do not wish to work in an organization with no controls. Question number 7 in this study states that an organization without control is viable and in answer to this statement posed to the 75 participants in this study only 13 from all three research groups stated that they “strongly disagreed with the statement”. Other participants in the study lacked any specific reply or expressed having a belief that an organization without control could be viable. Statistical analysis in this study confirms the hypothesis that employees of British Airways cannot envision a company lacking any form of control management. However, the statistical findings in this study show that employees do not fully believe that an organization lacking control management could not possibly exist and statistical analysis additionally shows that low performance employees are more willing to operate in the organizational context that is lacking in control management policies. Question 8 states that the control management is antagonistic to the freedom of employees. The responses of employees in this study include that of 15 employees in the strongest performing group responding by stating disagreement with this statement. Eleven individuals participating in this study stated that they disagree and six individuals in the lowest performing group stated that they disagree with this statement. There were eleven individuals in the lowest performing group stating that they strongly agreed that control management was against employee freedom in the workplace. In two other groups, not a signal employee strongly agreed with that statement. The findings in the statistical analysis on this question indicate that the employees of the British Airways do not hold an assumption that controls management is adverse or antagonistic to the freedom of the employee in the workplace because those in the lowest performing group state feeling a negative impact from the control management assumes that employee performance influences the perception of the control management practices at the British Airways on the part of the employees. When employees at British Airways were asked to disagree or agree with the statement in question nine of this study that they would ‘like to be less control-managed when I am promoted to a higher post eight employees from the highest performing group strongly disagreed with the statement while seven employees per each group in the lowest performance group and nine employees expressed a strong desire to be less controlled when promoted to the higher position. Employees of the British Airways appear to be willing to be less controlled upon promotion to the higher post. These findings indicate that the employees who acknowledged the critical nature of control management in the organization still have an inherent desire to be less under the thumb of the control management. The level of significance in the present study is stated at 0.1 for employees that agree that workers at the lower job hierarchy should be under more control management although the reasons for this are less clear. Control may be viewed as a way to control functions within the organization rather than a way to control human behavior. Control may also be that, which is traditionally and socially acceptable in the organization or a form of coordination of organizational functions within instead of controlling behavior. Control is also viewed as an effective model of ‘organic control’ or something that differs greatly from a bureaucratic type of control and something that has been accredited having relied on social values, traditions, share beliefs, flexible authority, looser job descriptions and trust. Question 11 states the concept of control management is in need of a basic concept change. Analysis in this study indicates that the employees of British Airways do not believe that there is a change needed in the conception of control management in their organization. Question 12 of our survey states the sensitivity to the feelings of employees is a factor that affects control management. Employees at British Airways do not believe that sensitivity toward their feelings has an effect on the control management in the company and those disagreeing with this statement were noted as being the highest among the lowest group of performers and specifically analysis in this study reveals that 13 of 25 employees did not believe that their feelings had any relevance to control management. Question 13 states that proper feedback is a factor that affects control management. Findings in this study indicate that the employees do not view feedback as an important factor of effective control management. It is not clear whether British Airways uses an effective feedback system or if employees are aware of what feedback actually is and what impacts feedback makes on their performance. This issue begs to be under further analysis in future research studies. Question 14 states that acceptance of the varying methods of control management by employees is a factor that affects control management. Findings show that employees do not believe that their level of acceptance of different methods of control management have the potential to influence their perceptions of the organizational control management practices however, it is the assumption of this study that it is possible that without knowledge of alternative control management that employees do not have the capacity to conduct full evaluation of their perceptions of varying types of control management solutions that might be viable in their workplace. Control management is also a type of corrective action insuring the organization against specific problems and is such that serves to assist management for self-controlling or indeed self-correcting, which is a process that builds upon organizational strengths and improves existing functional system processes. Literature Review of this study reveals that British Airways has been re-educating their employees and applying more attention to the new corporate philosophy that contains elements of employee performance appraisal along with an improvement and implementation plan. This informs employees that their performance will be appraised and that it is nothing personal or concerned with the feelings of employees, but rather is concerned with performance of functional organizational processes. This corporate philosophy attempts to instill the employees of the British Airways organizational-wide held beliefs and standards in the employee’s perception of performance and control management of the employee’s performance. CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS 6.1 Introduction The study focuses to evaluate that whether there is an impact of control management on the employees of the British Airways and how they perceive it as being applied on them. There may be different aspects of the perception and the fact that being continuously monitored is considered “being controlled” always by the employees include several directions in the study itself. 6.2 Findings from the Study This study has indicated that even in the event that employees are not in possession of the full expanse of knowledge concerning control management and how it affects their performances. This is also an important aspect that the employees themselves are aware or not of the actual essence of what “Control Management” is all about. It reflects the fact whether they interpret it as a tool for monitoring and controlling them more particularly or whether they perceive it to be an opportunity wand that helps them develop themselves in their areas and straighten the pat for improvement giving them better job prospects. 6.3 Relationship between Performance and Perception It can be interpreted from the study that has been conducted that there exists a direct relationship between the performance of an employee and the perception about the system he/she is working with. Although there is no straightforward relationship as less number from the best performing employees (11) compared to more number from the average performing (12) group agree about the basic question of having control management as a desirable component in their company in their view that enhances their performance. However, with the move towards low performing employee group it is evident that their perception of control management in their current company is not really encouraged. Also, as reflective from Question 8, where the employees were asked if they think that the control management system is perceived to be antagonist towards them clearly shows that no one or a very few from good and average performing employees think that this system is actually the rival or the maneuvering system upon them, while low performing employees very strongly see the system as an adversary system that is imposed on them just for the sake of dictating them. However, it is very clear that the understanding of the employees about the need of “some” controlling mechanism that can actually drive the employees along with the system towards improvement is very necessary. As it can be inferred from Question number 7, where the employees were asked if they think that any system without any controlling mechanism is viable or not, most of them regardless of the fact that whether they belong to high performing, average performing or low performing employees group, they perceive “some” control is essential in order to drive the system and make it feasible. 6.4 Direction of the Study Although findings indicate that the assumption is made that employees not only notice and believe that the control management at British Airways inherently possesses inconsistencies and gaps in the implementation of control management and that these issues must necessarily be addressed in order to improve the attitudes of employees in their view of control management at all levels within the organization, but it may be cautiously stated that the employees have different perception regarding the control management itself. Or it may be said that the real essence of what control management is all about is still unclear among the employees and in the implementing management as well. In cases, employees from the sample study agree that control management can be termed significant in the improvement of their performance through the course of their employment; however there is still a strong feeling that gaps are present in the system of control management that is being implemented at that place. Also, the perception of the term “control” itself is strongly debatable in the company. Many from the samples of strongest performance group agree that the word “control” should be replaced with the word “cooperation” as it can be inferred from the study that employee perception about “control management” covered through their policies implies that they are being watched or monitored continuously to judge if they are working “right or wrong”. It should not be the perception, however, from the literature point of view as the positivity of the term should be emphasized more on the employees rather that the focus on the “imperative” part of this term. 6.5 Recommendations It may be inferred that the employees have strong feeling that the current system of control management has some gaps that can be addressed despite the fact that there is a diverse grouping in understanding control management itself an essential part of the system effecting towards employees performance. Therefore, improvements in the system may be sought that may include training to the employees and making them aware about the real essence of the control management system. The idea from the literature suggests that the control management is a strong tool to be used in order to enhance the performance of the employees in a company. Since control management refers to the fact that the employer actually sets the standards for the level of activities that are most desirable with the leverage of practicability. However, the perception of the employees towards this fact may be not what actually management aims to be perceived. 6.6 Final Words In this research, it is also evident that there is an impact of employee performance while making a perception about the controlling system of the company and being monitored on the performance level every time they perform any task or activity. This study has found that self-control management is required across the entire organization and on varying levels in order to effectively implement control management organizational-wide. Recommendations arising from this study include recommendations that research in the future deliver further into the reasons behind the views of employees for the control management within the organization specifically, as that view relates to various members of the lowest, mid and the highest performing employee groups of the British Airways. 7. ABSTRACT This study has been conducted on the British Airways in order to determine the impact of Control management that is an organizational term to control its resources, more particularly, human resources for the focusing and enhancement of performance of the employees. Since the term itself has a variety of interpretations as viewed by employees from different performance groups and perceptions, the study has been conducted through categorization and sampling of employees into high performing group, average performing group and low performing group. The study utilizes a well specified questionnaire of 15 questions that tries to absorb the thinking and perception of the employees of the British Airways. The study has utilized the hypothesis to infer the sampling results and generalize for some fruitful evaluation. The study has been conducted through a simple questionnaire however; the design of the questions aims to focus the perception of employees from various directions. The viewpoints of employees have also been taken about the system itself being implemented in their organization currently as the understanding of the real essence of the system actually impacts on the thinking of the employee towards Control Management. The results show that there is a direct relationship of the positive perception of employee towards the control management and its high performance in the organization. It implies that employees, having low performance in the company, do not see control management system as an effective tool for the enhancement of their performance. While most of the employees also think that the system itself is not implemented in their organization in its real essence. Read More