ARM Lecture 2

8/14/2019 ARM Lecture 2

1/58

Company Logo

Scientific Method and

Overview of Research inManagement

Lecture - 2

Advanced Research Methods (ARM)


2/58

Objectives of Research

Make contribution to scientific knowledge bygaining a better understanding and explanationof organizations (basic / fundamental research)

To make a contribution to a real-world situationby solving problems (practical or appliedresearch)


3/58

Research Steps

1. Statement of Problem

2. Design Research Study

3. Measurement

4. Data Analysis

5. Conclusions

Rep

lica

te


4/58

Journey from Fundamental toApplied research

Fundamental research (FR) is based on theories andabstract concepts

Going from fundamental to applied research (AR),

concepts and their interrelationships must beoperationalized

Both researches have different starting points: In FR, research questions arise from theory or scientific

literature In AR, research questions often stem from a particular

client


5/58

Both researches have different end points. ARpays more attention to questions like: What is the use of this study?

For whom is this study interesting?

AR is just as scientific as FR


6/58

Methodological Requirements

FR must meet a number of requirements Researchers must have a good knowledge of what

already has been found out wrt the research topic

A researcher cannot therefore, just come up with aresearch question, but has to take into account all thefindings from previous research

Researchers must stick to a number of methodological

rules, reflect on them explicitly and answer for theiruse

Requirements of objectivity, preciseness, replicability,publicity, ethics, simplicity, and generalizability


7/58

Research Process

Orientation to the

problem: social and

scientific

AimResearch Question /

sub questions

Literature Review

Design and

planning

research model

and variables

Hypotheses

OperationalizationResearch

strategies

Data

collection

Data

Analysis

Report and

Presentation


8/58

Company Logo

Problem Orientation

Orientation to the

problem: social and

scientific

AimResearch Question /

sub questions

Literature Review


9/58

Overview of Problem Orientation

First step to take when conducting scientificresearch is to establish the aim of the researchand formulate main research question But how? Through literature review. You should

determine what is already known about the topic bystudying the published literature

Then determine what type of research youshould conduct in order to formulate yourresearch question and answer it

www.themegallery.com Company Logo


10/58

How to establish aim of theresearch?

You must make clear: Why you are doing the research?

What you want to achieve and for whom you want to

achieve this? What is the desired final product?


11/58

Theoretical vs practical aim

Theoretical aim usually involves a contributionto scientific knowledge: Developing or testing a specific theory about

absenteeism

Practical aim usually involves a solution to anyproblem:

Helping to solve a problem from the daily practice ofcontrolling absenteeism

Developing an instrument to measure the tendency ofemployees to be absent


12/58


13/58

Formulating the research questions

Research question is the central, briefly wordedquestion that you are going to answer in yourresearch: what exactly are you going to do?

You must define the domain: The set of all objects to be studies (e.g. individual

employees of an organization)

Attributes of the objects (e.g. tendency to be absent orjob satisfaction)

Expected relationships b/w attributes of the objects(e.g. low satisfaction is related to high tendency towardsabsenteeism)


14/58

It is not the objects themselves that vary, but theattributes of these objects

Attributes of the objects that you are interested inare defined as variables in the research

In the research question, you relate the variablesfrom a specific domain (the set of research units

or objects) to each other Dissatisfaction leads to more absenteeism

Sometimes, research question is called asproblem statement


15/58

Example:Historical analysis of performancemeasurement and management in operations management

Purpose This paper seeks to take a historicperspective on performance measurement andmanagement (PMM) within operations

management (OM) across all sectors(manufacturing, service and public) in order toreflect on and undercover relevant lessons andissues about PMM in OM.


16/58

RQ1. How has PMM within operationsmanagement evolved and developed?

RQ2. How have the measures and themanagement of them changed?

RQ3. How can PMM be defined withinoperations management?

RQ4. Finally, considering an historical analysiscan any conclusions be drawn about the futureand, importantly, the challenges of PMM in OM?


17/58

Other examples

What are the effects of management developmentprogramme on organizational performance?

Does management development programme have

an effect on organizational performance?

Is maximum organizational performanceachieved after 40 hours of management

development programme?


18/58

Relationship b/w Research Questions &Research Methods

If you are exclusively interested in theoccurrence of objects (or characteristics /attributes thereof), then this would be defined as

a descriptive research What is ()?

What does () look like?

Which () are present?


19/58

If you suspect that there are possible causes orinfluencing factors for attributes of objects, thisis defined as exploratory research This is concerned with the tentative formulation of

relationship between phenomena and explanations ofthem

There is still no theory and / or hypothesis present:

the aim is to develop these. E.g. What is the link / relationship between () and

()? Why is ()? How is it possible that ()?


20/58

If you want to explicitly evaluate a relation or adifference based on a number of criteria, this isdefined as empirical testing research You statistically test whether certain explicitly

formulated relationships or correlations betweenphenomena exist and whether specific explanationindeed apply

Is there a significant positive correlation between()? Is it true that ()?


21/58

Advisory and prescriptive research questions canoccur specifically with applied organizationalresearch Is the implementation () desirable? If yes, how can

this best be done?


22/58

Feasibility

Check to see whether it is theoretically possibleto research the question which is underconsideration. Is it possible to collect the

empirical data? Example: as part of a study of absenteeism:

Is the frequency and degree of absenteeism properlyrecorded?

Is it possible to measure the variables like tendencytowards absenteeism, and work satisfaction?


23/58

Example

Should people be allowed to call in sick ifthey are dissatisfied with their work?

It is difficult to answer in empiricalresearch.

Solution: Focused group discussions

among the stakeholders like trade unions,employers, the government and experts inlabour laws and etics


24/58

Sub Questions

Researchers can develop a number of subquestions from a research question?

Answers to sub questions should contribute to the

solution of the main research question. The sub-questions are independent i.e. one sub

question can be answered w/o knowing the answerto another sub-question.

They often concern the distinct attributes of themain research question


25/58

Sub-questions should not enlarge the domain ofthe research topic but should make it morespecific

Sub-questions often define the structure of thereport


26/58

Example

Research Question: What factors cause thehigh rate of return?

Sub-questions: Is there a high rate of absenteeism?

What exactly is absenteeism?

How do I determine whether the rate of absenteeism

is high?


27/58

Example

The purpose of this paper is to identify the main problemsthat can be encountered during the implementation and useof a performance management system (PMS).

Research Question: What are problems organizations can expect when implementing aPMS?

Sub-research questions: How often has a particular problem been encountered during PMS

implementation and use? What is the impact of this problem on the implementation and use of

the PMS?

Can the problem easily be solved or not?


28/58

Example

Title: Performance measurement: a remedy forincreasing the efficiency of public services?

Purpose Promoters of performance measurement areconvinced that performance measurement can greatlycontribute to an efficiency boost in the field of publicservices. The purpose of this article is to treat this as ahypothesis and examine this hypothesis from varioustheoretical perspectives.

Research Question: Is performance measurement adriver for making public service delivery more efficient?


29/58

Company Logo

Hypothesis


30/58

Hypothesis

A tentative theory that has not yet been tested.

Hypotheses are propositions which areempirically testable. They are usually concerned

with the relationships between variables Example: Increasing salary by 10% will double the

production

If basic needs are not met, then motivation level among

the employees will be low


31/58

The Role of the Hypothesis

Guides the direction of the study

Identifies facts that are relevant

Suggests which form of research design isappropriate

Provides a framework for organizing theconclusions that result


32/58

What is a Good Hypothesis?

A good hypothesis should fulfill three conditions: Must be adequate for its purpose

Must be testable

Must be better than its rivals


33/58

Types of Hypotheses

Descriptive Hypotheses: These describe properties

Example:Current turnover in Pakistan telecom

industry is greater than 15 per cent perannum


34/58

Relational Hypotheses: These describe relationship between two variables

Example:

CEOs with higher education spend more ontraining and development of their employees

The greater the employees welfare measuresprovided by the management of a company, the

smaller the labour turnover of skilled workers


35/58

Explanatory Hypotheses: These indicate a cause-effect relationship

Direction of the relationship is important and should

be interpreted properly Example:

When the salaries of government employeesincrease, their families spend more on their

clothing.

E l A i li ti ti f


36/58

Example: A universalistic perspective forexplaining the relationship between HRM practices and

firm performance at different points in time

According to the universalistic perspective,organizations from different sectors, across

industries, and through different time periodsshould use a series of select human resourcemanagement practices (HRMP).

The main purpose of this paper is to investigates

whether there is any difference in therelationship between HRMPs and organizationalperformance across time (stable or not).


37/58

H1. Training and perceived organizationalperformance are related to each other and arenot time-specific.

H2. Employee participation and perceivedorganizational performance are related to eachother and are not time-specific.

H3. Compensation and perceived organizationalperformance are related to each other and arenot time-specific.


38/58

H4. Internal labor market and perceivedorganizational performance are related to eachother and are not time-specific.

H5. Selection and perceived organizationalperformance are related to each other and arenot time-specific.


39/58

Your site here Company Logo


40/58


41/58


42/58

Company Logo

Should we kill the performanceappraisal process?
http://bp3.blogger.com/_gmYbm11a-F0/RpUMSkuW_EI/AAAAAAAAACs/O9bQFy5vb3I/s1600-h/gorilla.gifhttp://bp3.blogger.com/_gmYbm11a-F0/RpUMSkuW_EI/AAAAAAAAACs/O9bQFy5vb3I/s1600-h/gorilla.gif


43/58


44/58
http://workhelp.org/images/stories/falling.jpg


45/58

www.themegallery.com Company Logo


46/58


47/58

Company Logo

A Survey of ResearchMethods


48/58

Research Methods

Exercises1. Available data still suggest that on average, women receivelower pay than men. A professor decided to design a

program to train college women to negotiate higher salaries.

To assess the effectiveness of the program, 30 college

women were randomly assigned to attend either a 12-hour

salary negotiation skill training course or to be on a waiting

list for the course. After the first group attended the training,

both groups were tested on their negotiation skills by a

trained individual(a grad student) role-playing as anemployer making a job offer. The individuals that had salary

negotiation training negotiated a higher salary in the role-

playing exercise.


49/58

Exercise 1. Research method?

Answer: Lab experiment

Independent variable? Answer: Training

Dependent variable? Answer: Salary negotiated

Confounds (To cause to become confused or perplexed)? Answer: Did negotiator know intent of study?

Exercises


50/58

2. A researcher wants to understand to what extentvariables such as financial difficulties, employmentcommitment (how much work means to a person), socialsupport, and an individuals ability to structure his or her

time and keep busy have an impact on mental andphysical health during unemployment. In order toanswer this question, 100 unemployed executives areasked to complete a questionnaire that asks questionsabout financial difficulties, employment commitment,

social support, time structure, mental health, andphysical health. Forty of the 100 questionnaires givenout are returned.

Exercises


51/58


Answer: Survey

Independent variable(s)?

Answer: Financial difficulties, employmentcommitment, social support, and time structure

Dependent variable? Answer: Mental and physical health

Confounds? Answer: Are the 40% who returned the surveys

representative of that population?

Exercises


52/58

3. The Scandinavian Sweets Factory recently implemented

shift work. The factory is now open 24 hours a day, and

employees either work an early shift, a late shift, or a

night shift. The manager plans to compare each shift in

six months to assess whether there are differences in

the groups on productivity and turnover.

Exercises


53/58


Answer: Field experiment

Independent variable(s)? Answer: Shift worked

Dependent variable? Answer: Productivity and turnover

Confounds? Answer: How were shifts assigned?

Exercises


54/58

4. A researcher wanted to examine whether anew machinewould lead to increased productivity on an assembly lineat Sams Office Supply Factory. He randomly assignedten workers to the new machine and ten workers to the

old machine. The workers in the two groups werecarefully matched in terms of their ability and experience.The researcher monitored the total number of productsproduced and the amount of product rejects on the twomachines over a period of two weeks. Results showed

the workers on the new machine had higher levels ofproductivity.

Exercises


55/58

Exercises


Answer: Field experiment

Independent variable(s)? Answer: Machine

Dependent variable? Answer: Products produced and rejects

Confounds? Answer: Hawthorne Effect?


56/58

5. In a study of bias in work performance ratings, black

and white undergraduate psychology students were

assigned the task of providing work performance

ratings for videotaped employees (really grad

students pretending to be employees) who differed interms of their race (black or white). Level of

performance was held constant on the videotape.

Results showed that white raters tended to give slightly

higher work performance ratings to the whiteemployees on the videotape. Black raters, on the other

hand, tended to give slightly higher work performance

ratings to the black employees on the videotape.

Exercises


57/58


Answer: Laboratory experiment

Independent variable(s)? Answer: Race of rater and ratee

Dependent variable? Answer: Work performance ratings

Confounds? Answer: Was gender a factor or experience of

raters?

Exercises


58/58

Company Logo

Thank you for your

kind attention

Go forth and research..but be careful out there.

Documents

ARM Lecture 2