Bonys Proposal to Be Submitted

8/11/2019 Bonys Proposal to Be Submitted

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NATURE AND CAUSES OF LABOUR RETENTION AMONG

PUBLIC AND PRIVATE HOSPITALS

A Case Study of Muhimbili National Hospital in Dar es Salaam and

Selian Lutheran Hospital in Arusha

By

Bony

Supervisor:

Dissertation Proposal submitted for the Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

for the Degree of Master Public Administration of the University of Dar es

Salaam

University Of Dar Es Salaam

September, 2013


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2.5 Study Gaps ........................................................................................................... 27

2.6 Research Model/Conceptual Framework ............................................................. 28

CHAPTER THREE : RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ........................................... 30

3.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 30

3.2 Research Design ................................................................................................... 30

3.3 Population of study .............................................................................................. 32

3.4 Sample and Sampling Procedure ......................................................................... 33

3.5 Research Instruments ........................................................................................... 33

3.6 Data Collection Procedure data types .................................................................. 34

3.7 Data Analysis ....................................................................................................... 35

3.6 Unit of Analysis ................................................................................................... 36

3.7 Reliability and Validity of study .......................................................................... 36

3.7.1 Reliability .......................................................................................................... 36

3.7.2 Validity .............................................................................................................. 37

TIME SCHEDULE OF THIS PROPOSED STUDY ................................................ 38

PROPOSED BUDGET FOR THIS STUDY ............................................................. 38

REFERENCES ........................................................................................................... 39

APPENDICES .......................................................................................................... 44

Appendix I: Questionnaire ......................................................................................... 44

Appendix II: Interview Guide questions .................................................................... 48


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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

1.1 Introduction

This part provides the background to the research problem; statement to the research problem;

objectives of the study; research questions as well as significance of the research to policy,

academia, and increasing knowledge.

1.2 Background to the study

Organizations invest a lot on their employees in terms of induction and training, developing,

maintaining and retaining them in their organization. Therefore, managers at all costs must

minimize employees turnover. Although,there is no standard framework for understanding the

employees turnover process as whole, a wide range of factors have been found useful in

interpreting employeeturnover Kevin et al. (2004).

According to Abassi et al. (2000) Employee turnover is the rotation of workers around the labour

market; between firms, jobs and occupations; and between the states of employment and

unemployment. Also, Price (1977) defined turnover as the ratio of the number of organizational

members who have left during the period being considered divided by the average number of

people in that organization during the period. In a human resources context, employee turnover

or labour turnover is the rate at which an employer gains and losses employees. Simple ways to

describe it are "how long employees tend to stay" or "the rate of traffic through the revolving

door." Turnover is measured for individual companies and for their industry as a whole. If an

employer is said to have a high turnover relative to its competitors, it means that employees of


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that company have a shorter average tenure than those of other companies in the same industry.

High turnover may be harmful to a company's productivity if skilled workers are often leaving

and the worker population contains a high percentage of novice workers. Employee turnover can

be caused through an employee being dismissed from the organization, an employee resigning

from the organization or an employing retiring. Reasons for turnover can be due to both internal

and external factors and will vary between different groups of employees and the individual

employees themselves.

Employee turnover is affected by the organizations external and internal environmental factors.

Increase in demand and better working conditions for particular skilled labour in the industry, the

social and cultural factors of the environment within which the organization operates are all

external factors that influence employee turnover. Internal factors such as the organizations

structure, reward packages and policies also affect the employee turnover.

The retention of employees has been shown to be significant to the development and the

accomplishment of the organizations goals and objectives (Alkandari and Hammad, 2009).

Retention of employees can be a vital source of competitive advantage for any organization.

Today, changes in technology, global economics, trade agreements and the like are directly

affecting employee/employer relationships. Until recently, loyalty was the cornerstone of that

relationship (ibid, 2009). The loss of talented employees may be very detrimental to the

companys future success. Outstanding employees may leave an organization because they

become dissatisfied, under paid or unmotivated (Coff, 1996), and while trying to retain

employees within the organization they may present other challenges as well. They may demand

higher wages, not comply with organization practices, and not interact well with their coworkers

or comply with their managers directions. Besides these problems asymmetric information or


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lack of information about the employees performance may complicate an organizations

endeavor to retain productive employees. It is argued that without adequate information the

organization may not be able to distinguish productive workers from non-productive ones (Coff,

1996). Employees often may take credit for the successes and deflect failures to other employees

and this is known as a moral hazard problem. In many instances companies may reward or

punish employees for an organization outcome for which they had no impact (Kerr, 1975).

Insufficient information about employees performance may result in adverse selection by them

(Grossman and Hart, 1986). The better employees may move to other organizations for better

opportunities. The coworkers who cannot improve their positions are more likely to stay. This is

especially possible when due to inadequate in formation outstanding performance is not

rewarded. Non-productive and productive workers end up receiving the same or nearly the same

compensation and package of perks because of managements in ability to distinguish talented

employees from the rest of the labor force in the organization.

The problem of attempting to keep talented members of the work force is further complicated

because of bounded rationality (Simon, 1976). It is another result of asymmetric in formation

where both the manager does not know the information for which to ask from the employee and

the employee does not know what to provide. Therefore, productive workers cannot distinguish

themselves from nonproductive coworkers.

Even if an organization is fortunate enough to retain talented employees, the company may still

have to cope with agency costs resulting from them and their colleagues. When information

about an employees activities isdifficult to gather, the employee may be motivated to act in his

own interest which may diverge from the interest of the organization. This divergence of


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interests results in costs to the organization in the form of excessive perquisite consumption,

shirking of job responsibilities and poor investment decision making. Jensen and Meckling

(1976) explained that it is in an employees interest to over consume perks and shirk job

responsibilities of the firm if they are not sole owners of the organization. Employees may also

be enticed to make suboptimal investment decisions for the firm. Since most company

employees have their wealth tied up in the organization for which they work, employees may

attempt to make investment decisions which are less risky than the stock holders of the firm

would prefer. This is done to reduce the risk of failure by the company, which protects the no

diversified employee from loss of wealth. This investment strategy may also reduce the return on

investment that the diversified owners of the firm desire (Murphy, 1985). The employees or

agents of the organization may also use a short sighted approach in investment selection to

enhance their own career chances (Narayanan, 1985). The employee can signal the labor market

his superiority through the selection of a fast starting project, which may fizzle out later for the

firm. This strategy may cause the firm to miss profitable long-term projects or much needed

research and development. Employees may also attempt to increase the size of the firm through

acquisitions and project selection regard less of the effect on company profitability in order to

increase their own power base within the firm.

Another area contributing to decreased employee satisfaction is that of a companys motivational

style. For example Weinberg (1997) states that most companies relied in the past on two

traditional strategies for managing turnover. First, they raised wages until the situation stabilized.

If that did not work, they increased training budgets for new hires and first-level supervisors.

These solutions do not work anymore. Furthermore, skilled employees in many African countries

including Tanzania were migrating abroad on daily basis for better job conditions (Gillingham,


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2008). This phenomenon was having adverse effect on investment as emigrating employees

moved clients investments offshore.

Furthermore, evidence from the implementation of the Tanzania Selective Accelerated Salary

Enhancement (SASE) Scheme adopted in 2000 suggests that departments were better able to

attract and retain qualified professional, technical and managerial staff; and encourage staff to

undertake further training to aspire for progression and to move up the career ladder. However,

the partial implementation of the SASE scheme gave rise to unfulfilled expectations,

engendering greater animosity towards the scheme and creating the perception that it was unfair

and discriminatory. Lastly, research from Malawi, Uganda and Tanzania (Wang and Rakner,

2005) found that low levels of funding were the main constraint on the capacity of the three

countries SAIs. In particular, the Malawi and Tanzania SAIs had had problems retaining

employees over the years. Although the situation had improved in Tanzania, staff pointed out

that it was a problem that the SAI could not offer competitive terms of service.

1.3 Statement of the Problem

Retaining top talent remains a primary concern for many organizations today. Critical analysis of

workforce trends points to an impending shortage of highly-skilled employees who possess the

requisite knowledge and ability to perform at high levels, meaning that organizations failing to

retain high performers will be left with an understaffed, less qualified workforce that ultimately

hinders their ability to remain competitive (Rappaport, Bancroft and Okum, 2003). Despite the

vast literature on employee turnover, which is aimed at identifying factors that cause employees

to quit (Griffeth, Hom and Gaertner, 2000) much less is known about the factors that compel

employees to stay. Maertz and Campion (1998) noted relatively less turnover research has


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focused specifically on how an employee decides to remain with an organization and what

determines this attachment. Retention processes should be studied along with quitting processes.

Steel, Griffeth, and Hom (2002) added that the fact that is often overlooked, but the reasons

people stay are not always the same as the reasons people leave. Retention is a critical element

of an organizations more general approach to talent management, which is defined as the

implementation of integrated strategies or systems designed to increase workplace productivity

by developing improved processes for attracting, developing, retaining, and utilizing people with

the required skills and aptitude to meet current and future business needs (Lockwood, 2006).

Employee turnover occurs when employees leave their jobs and must be replaced. Replacing

exiting employees is costly to organizations and destructive to service delivery. It is therefore

imperative for management to reduce, to the minimum, the frequency at which employees,

particularly those that are crucial to its operations leave. Employee retention is a vital issue and

challenge to all the organizations now days. There are numbers of factors which promote the

employees to stay or leave the organization. It may be external factors, internal factors and the

combined effect of both. Human resource practices counts a lot in this regard (Hassan et al,

2010). Despite the fact that many studies have been done to establish factors leading to employee

staying or leaving the organizations, employee retention remain one of the greatest challenges

that many work organization including those in Tanzania faces. However, there are no published

or documented evidences which indicate that the same study was done in establishing factors

leading to labour retention in Tanzania work organizations. Therefore, this study aims to

investigate main factors for the retention in Tanzania work organizations.


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1.4 Objectives of the Study

The objectives of this study are divided into two main categories namely the general objective

and specific objectives as follows.

1.4.1 General objective

The general objective of this study is to assess the nature and causes of labour retention among

public and private hospitals in Tanzania with a case study of Muhimbili National Hospital in Dar

es Salaam and Selian Lutheran Hospital in Arusha.

1.4.2 Specific objectives

i. To assess the factors perceived by employees as influences their retention in each

organization;

ii. To assess employer psychological factors influencing retention in each organization

iii. To investigate different methods used by the organizations in retaining their best

employees in each sector;

iv. To identify constraints facing selected organizations in retaining their best employees.

1.5 Research Questions

i. What are the factors perceived by employees as influences their retention in each

organization?

ii. What are the employers psychological factors influencing retention in each sector?

iii. What are the methods used by the organizations in retaining their best employees in

each sector?


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iv. What are the main constraints facing selected organizations in retaining their best

employees?

1.6 Significance of the Study

The study is expected to make contributions to the expanding literature on issues related to the

influence of motivation on employees performance in Tanzania work organizations. Results

from the study will have significance to academia, extension of knowledge frontier as well as to

policy makers. The study will fulfill researchers academic need of acquiring Masters Degree of

Business Administration (MBA). The dissertation will also be used as an important reference

material to other academicians who will use the research document for further reference. The

future researchers will identify the gaps available for further studies. Furthermore, the study is

expected to provide knowledge on the influence of motivation on employees performance in

Tanzania work organizations. The research findings are also expected to raise some motivation

pitfalls which should be addressed by the selected companies in Tanzania. Similarly, the study

will also benefit policy makers, non-governmental organizations, civil society organizations and

community based organizations in policy making process and advocacy for the benefits of all

stakeholders in the brewing industry.

1.7 Structure of the Dissertation

This work has been organized as follows: - The first chapter focused on the introduction,

research background, and statement of the problem, general objectives, specific objectives, and

research questions as well as significance of the study. Chapter two dealt with definition of key

concepts, theoretical studies, empirical literatures, provides gaps as well as suggest model guided

the study. The third chapter forms the Methodology of the study. This chapter gives details of


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how the research was conducted; the tools and the research design used the sampling procedure,

data collection and procedures adopted. Chapter four gave details of the presentation of analysis

and the discussion of data collected. Chapter five also dealt with the summary, conclusion,

recommendation of what came out of the study as well as further areas for research


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CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction

This part covers the following areas of the study: - The first part makes some theoretical

reflection of the study. The second part explores the empirical literature review of the study. The

third part provides a literature gaps to be covered by the study. The fourth part provides

conceptual framework which guide this study.

2.2 Definition of the key Terms

2.2.1 Employee retention

There is no single definition of employee retention. Employee retention means keeping right

people on right jobs for every organization. Employee retention is all about keeping good people.

It is much to do with our culture and how we treat people. Retention is a voluntary move by an

organization to create an environment which engages employees for long term (Chaminade,

2007).

2.2.2 Employee

There is no specific statutory definition of the term employee (Albright, 2003). Labour Relations

Code defines an employee as a person employed by an employer, and includes a dependent

contractor, but does not include a person who, in the boards opinion, performs functions of a

manager or superintendent or is employed in confidential capacity in matters relating to labour

relations of personnel (Albright, 2003). ELRA (2004) defined employee as an individual who


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has entered into a contract of employment; or has entered into any other contract under which the

individual undertakes to work personally for the other party to the contract.

2.3 Theoretical studies

Reiche (2008) studied on the configuration of employee retention practices in multinational

corporations foreign subsidiaries by deriving a typology of retention practices and investigating

their applicability in multinational corporations (MNCs) foreign subsidiaries in the light of

home- and host-country effects. Linking institutional and strategic HRM perspectives, he

proposed a conceptual framework examining how MNCs can maximize their retention capacity.

Specifically, MNCs needed to align their transferable home-country retention practices with

overall strategy and complement them with flexible context-specific practices to allow for

adaptability across different subsidiaries. He is further argued that characteristics of the

headquarters-subsidiary relationship influences the relative importance of context-generalizable

versus context-specific retention practices and that the relevant set of practices for each

subsidiary then needs to be configured individually.

Ali (2008) debated of employee turnover, its predictors and antecedents and model building and

testing in Western work settings has been very old, however, there have been repeated calls for

its cross cultural implications. Developing countries especially Pakistan with its unique socio-

economic and religious culture faced dearth of research studies on the subject. Present study

aimed to extend the understanding of specific role of organizational cultural values and the

attitudes of supervisor/immediate boss on employee turnover and retention. Further, the

proposed study assessed the moderating role of individual differences, specifically, personality

dimensions on employees intentions to stay or quit. This study used descriptive quantitative


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approach to answer the research questions. Study proposed that positive and implemented HR

practices, conducive organizational culture and friendly attitudes of supervisor separately and

collectively left strong impact on personality dimensions of individual at workplace. Such

positive and integrated organizational climate directly generated overall satisfaction,

organizational commitment and OCB which virtually forced employees stay in the organization

and vice versa.

Kerner (2008) conducted a study on retention in small hospitals. He argues that organizations

that fail to maintain aggressive and effective employee retention program will allow their talent

to walk out of their doors taking with them training and job experience that will benefit the

gaining organization. Literature has showed that there are identifiable factors that cause

employees to leave their employers and seek opportunity elsewhere. Once managers are aware of

these factors, a set of initiatives can be implemented to avoid this loss of human capital. The

purpose of this his study was to explore what a small business entity experienced regarding

employee retention issues and identifying those intrinsic factors that affected employee turnover,

especially in small firms.

Mitchell et al(2001) wrote on the competition to retain key employees is intense by arguing that

top-level executives and human resource departments spend large amounts of time, effort, and

money trying to figure out how to keep their people from leaving. Their study describes some

new research and its implications for managing turnover and retention. These ideas challenge the

conventional wisdom that dissatisfied people leave and money makes them stay. People often

leave for reasons unrelated to their jobs. In many cases, unexpected events or shocks are the

cause. Employees also often stay because of attachments and their sense of fit, both on the job


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and in their community. We discuss these ideas and make recommendations for integrating them

into a comprehensive retention plan.

Pritchard (2009) carried out study on competition among employers is increasing for productive

Information Technology (IT) employees. By understanding organizational culture, managers can

identify why employees leave an organization and ways to retain employees. Money and

financial incentives should not be the primary source for motivating employees. Use of intrinsic

motivators will have a greater effect on employee satisfaction and retention. Technical

employees want a balanced mix of salary and an organizational culture that promotes

challenging and meaningful work.

Hassan et al (2010) conducted a study on employee retention as the vital challenge in all

organizations. Their study focused on one industry that was the leather industry of Pakistan

which was facing the same problem of retention of employees due to many reasons. As leather

industry were the third largest exports earning sector in Pakistan, the turnover rate in Leather

Industry of Pakistan is around 25 30% annually. It was observed that mostly second line

managers changed their jobs for high salaries offer, recognition, authority and also to seek for

more knowledge and to get more competitive edge in terms of processing; In tanneries it was

critical and alarming because of the process and article secrecy. In order to achieve competitive

advantage, maximum utilization of resources and to get organizational efficiency employees

were required to be retained in a true spirit in order to cope with all these conditions.

Vanderberg and Nelson (1999) suggested that most turnovers in organizations emanated from a

lack of satisfaction. Dissatisfaction could be due to a lack of psychological fulfillment in the job,

perceptions and realities of non-commensurate remuneration, and an unwelcoming climate


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Carney (1998) believed that the key to employee retention was quite simple: communicate,

communicate, and communicate. Communication with the employees must begin early on in the

relationship. He believed that the imprinting period of a new employee was probably less than

two weeks. He argued that employers must engage the employee early on by sharing how

important the job they do is. Lynn (1997) followed this up by stating that early on an atmosphere

of fairness and openness must be created by clearly laying out company policies.

Munga and Mbilinyi (2008) examined a range of non-financial incentives, including training;

leave; promotion; housing; and a safe and supportive working environment. They also examined

the systems for managing personnel and the implementation of incentives as a factor in retention,

including the participatory personnel appraisal system; worker participation in discussing their

job requirements and welfare; supervision; recognition and respect. Examining health worker

retention and migration issues called for a broader and a more comprehensive perspective, not

only considering push and pull factors, but also macro factors, such as the growing global

economy and labour market. During this study, three approaches were used, including literature

review, and the collection of primary qualitative data and quantitative data in a field study.

2.4 Empirical Literature Review

Glen (2006) examined effective, practical and holistic people strategies that addressed key skills

retention, employee engagement, and employee motivation and attendance gaps, with a view to

positively impacting on organization costs, productivity and business performance. He also

thought to examine the value of assessment and feedback in talent engagement and retention, and

look at developing employees via experience-based development initiatives. The study assessed

the matrix of the hot buttons or predictors, which needed to be consciously managed with


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significant potential returns, where managed well. It examined a holistic matrix of nine employee

engagement predictors: process; role challenge; values; work-life balance; information;

stake/leverage/ reward/recognition; management; work environment; and product. Reference

was made to a case study in which this matrix formed the basis of the organizations people

management strategy. The study revealed that, a holistic view of the key elements of the business

most were likely to impact team engagement, motivation, attendance and retention, linking

individual assessment directly to the key drivers of the business, and recognized that key talent

was likely to thrive on experience-based career leverage opportunities.

Memon et al(2009) conducted research by investigating the mediating role of human resources

policies in employee retention. The research strategy for this study was based on case study

method supported with self-administered questionnaire based survey. Habib Bank Limited

(HBL) was taken as a case to identify various push factors and role of HR policies in employee

retention. In an environment of economic growth, globalization and increasingly competitive

markets most fundamental challenge is the attraction and retention of an ample supply of labor

and appropriate skill in order to sustain growth. HR policies play its crucial role in responding

employee complex and erratic workplace issue and to minimize employee high turnover rates.

Since, Pakistan banking sector is frequently in front of high turnover rate and skill drainage

therefore, compelling urge of research was felt to investigate the role of HR policies to mitigate

the effect of Push factors in employee retention. Survey findings revealed that, performance

appraisal was the leading factor containing highest mean value whereas; employee recognition

perceived to be a resulting factor showing lowest mean value. The result entails that employees

at HBL trust the appraisal process and it is based on goals set in advance whereas, employees


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which entails the use of quantitative research techniques in the form of structured questionnaires

based on the Gallup Workplace Audit (GWA). The study utilized a descriptive design in order to

ascertain the extent of employee engagement in the case of SA. The study sampled a number of

managers and employees at SA to ascertain the extent to which these samples agree that talent

management was practiced in this organization. The main finding was that despite CSAs

commitment to retaining talent, the study found that these employee engagement strategies in a

few important instances might only be partially realized.

Lumley et al(2010) explored the job satisfaction and organizational commitment of employees

in the information technology environment. The objective of the study was to explore the

relationship between employees job satisfaction (as measured by the job satisfaction survey) and

organizational commitment (as measured on the organizational commitment scale). A cross-

sectional survey was conducted on a convenience sample of 86 employees at four information

technology companies in South Africa. Correlation and stepwise regression analyses revealed a

number of significant relationships between the two variables. The findings add new knowledge

that could be used to improve organizational practices for the retention of valuable staff members

in the information technology environment.

Chiboiwa et al (2009) conducted a research by examining employee retention strategy in a

private organization in Zimbabwe. Worldwide, a number of factors have been attributed to the

increase in the level of employee turnover. The way people are paid, recognized and achieve

salary advancement are critical factors in attracting, retaining, and motivating employees. The

challenge for most organizations today is the formulation of an effective employee retention

strategy that will help in retaining employees that are considered critical in attaining

organizational goals. The prevailing hostile economic environment in Zimbabwe has made the


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relationship between the software developers turnover intentions and nine facets of job

satisfaction. Also they found that there was a significant negative relationship between

satisfaction with the nature of work and turnover intentions when controlling for the effects of

the other independent variables.

Taylor et al (2004) investigated the reasons for employees leaving or staying. They said that

Over 12,000 academic and practitioner studies have been performed relating job satisfactionwith

voluntary turnover. However, researchers had been frustrated in explaining more than 20 percent

of the variance in turnover. Their study presented the notion that traditional measures of job

satisfaction might not fully capture the reason for staying or quitting. A new construct was

presented that examined the congruence of fit between the job and the person's quality of life

goals. They used a PLS structural equation model on a sample of 135 information systems

workers. This construct was empirically shown to be a better predictor of various measures of

turnover decision (thatis thoughts of quitting, expectation of quitting, and intention to quit) with

an average explained variance of 0.50.

Pop et al (2010) wrote on the relationship between skills training and retention of graduate

interns in a South Africa Information, Communication and Technology Company. They argued

that substantial costs are associated with attrition of key talent in South African organizations. As

a result, organizations invest in graduate internship programmes to attract and retain high caliber

graduate interns. The main objective of the research was to determine whether soft skills and

technical skills training, as part of a graduate internship programme, contributed to the retention

of graduate interns in a South African Information, Communication and Technology (ICT)

company. An exploratory, ex post facto research design was followed. A soft skills, technical

skills and retention survey were administered among a purposive selected sample of graduate


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interns (N=79) and mentors (N=39) in a South African ICT company. Both groups of

participants indicated that the soft skills presented in the training were important. Combined, the

respondents identified verbal communication, self-motivation, and teamwork and goal

directedness as the most important soft skills for graduate employability. Results further showed

that the technical skills training contributed to a large extent to the employability of the graduate

intern.

Technical skills training were also significantly related to the graduate interns intention to quit

the internship programme. In conclusion, they said that current graduate internship programme

focuses on the majority of employability soft skills required for the acquisition and retention of a

job. Practical training is therefore important for the application of knowledge and to enhance

graduate employability.

Nelson and McCann (2007) reviewed significant relationships between three major knowledge

management (KM), design dimensions and the perceived ability of 150 organizations to retain

their knowledge workers. Knowledge worker retention is a critical challenge for todays

organizations as they face increasing global competition with its demands for even more such

workers, while dramatically shifting workforce demographics hasten their exit. KM design

initiatives that accelerate knowledge creation, acquisition, and particularly knowledge capture,

sharing and retention, are receiving unprecedented levels of investment as a result. While many

factors impact organization financial performance, their research indicates that successful

knowledge worker retention is significantly related with higher reported financial performance.

Cawe (2006) assessed the factors contributing to employee engagement in South Africa. He

argued that employee engagement was a critical business issue for South Africa if they are to


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take country to the next competitive landscape. He noticed that South African business has been

mired by negative perception of underperformance and un-competitiveness from the

international community for years in the past, with an over-reliance on the mining sector. From

1994, this perception has progressively improved and going forward more urgency from business

was required in order to progress even further. Whilst employee engagement represented only

one factor amongst a number of macro and micro issues, it was central to this countrys

economy, business productivity and sustainability. In attempting to assist business in this regard,

studies of factors that promote employee engagement were investigated. The research was

qualitative and quantitative in nature. A number of respondents from across the length and

breadth of South Africa participated in the study. Analysis was done on the results and

correlation done to the propositions and the literature. The findings identified employee

engagement strategy, the culture of engagement, leadership and management, talent mindset,

communication and knowledge sharing, and organizations reputation and branding as prominent

factors in business in South Africa. Resulting from the research, an employee engagement model

was proposed which attempts to integrate key lessons for business.

Lyons et al(2009) noted that employee engagement as ones willingness and ability to contribute

to organizational success represented an innovative concept that may support retention objectives

for the Department of Defense (DoD). Participants (N = 163) from a large Air Force organization

participated in a web-based organizational assessment targeting junior government employees.

The assessment contained questions about participants intentions to remain with the Air Force,

items that indicated how much certain retention factors impacted their desire to stay with their

current organization, as well as a few open-ended items for those who indicated intentions to

leave the Air Force. Results indicated that turnover intentions for this military sample


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approximate those of industry. Several elements of employee engagement were identified by

those who reported intentions to leave as possible ways to improve their work situation and

facilitate their retention within the government. Engagement factors were also highly touted as

factors that influence individuals desire to stay with their current organization. While simply a

descriptive study using qualitative techniques, the implications of this research could have broad

applicability to government organizations. Results of this effort suggested that the younger

generation of government workers sought to be engaged in meaningful work.

2.5 Study Gaps

There are a number of gaps left by different reviewed literature ranging from geographical,

methodologies used to time as well as the nature of organization studied. Hassan et al (2010)

conducted a study on employee retention as the vital challenge in all organizations. Their study

focused on one industry that was the leather industry of Pakistan which was facing the same

problem of retention of employees due to many reasons. Despite their study relevance, the study

were conducted in Pakistan where geographical attributes, political inclination and socio-

cultural values differs from Tanzania. Hong and Kaur (2008) researched on a relationship

between organizational climate, employee personality and intention to leave. Their study aimed

to examine the relationship between organizational climate, employee personality and their

intention to leave an organization in the Malaysian context. These researchers left a gap of

geographical location of study as well as time. Ngozwana and Rugimbana (2010) assessed the

talent retention strategies by using a case of large South African company (CSA) .South African

companies operates in an advanced working environment compared to those found in Tanzania.

Therefore their findings cannot be generalized to the Tanzania environment. Despite the fact

that, many studies were conducted to explore factors for the retention in work organizations,


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most of them were carried out in other countries particularly those found in Asia. Few studies

were carried out to investigate the factors for retention in African organizations including

Tanzania. This study aims to fill gap left by the previous researches specifically the investigating

the factors influencing employee retention in Tanzania organizations.

2.6 Research Model/Conceptual Framework

The study will be guided by the researchers conceptual model (See figure 2.1) as designed

because it took into account many factors for the employees retention including those related to

organization itself, employees as well as critical psychological states of the employees in work

organizations. Organizational factors/strategies/conditions include among other issues: - The

levels and competitiveness of the remuneration schemes. The assumption is that, the

organizations which have an attractive remuneration package are likely to retain its employees

while organizations with weak remuneration package are likely to lose their employees.

The model will assume that, the organizations which have opportunities for personal

development and advancement have also an advantage in retaining its employees. Likewise,

organizations which provide opportunities for personal development and advancement are likely

to retain their best employees. Similarly, organizations which have supportive working

environment as well as organizational justice and prestige have ability of retaining their best

employees. On other hand, employees retention can be determined by the psychological states

of the employees.

These include: - meaningfulness of the work itself to the employees; experienced responsibility

for outcomes of the work as well as knowledge of the actual results of the work. Also the

employees retention can be determined by the employees themselves. For the employees to be


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CHAPTER THREE

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHOLOGY

3.1 Introduction

This chapter discusses the method used in collection of data. It specifically takes a critical look at

the research design, population, sample and sampling procedure, research instrument, and data

collection procedure and data analysis plan.

3.2 Research Design

The researcher will use mixed methodology in the design of the study. Mixed method is a

philosophical assumption that integrates qualitative and quantitative research approaches within

a simple subject. Its central premise is that the use of quantitative and qualitative approaches in

combination provides a better understanding of research problems than either approach alone.

Furthermore, this decision is supported by the rationale of availing the merits and overcoming

the demerits of both approaches as discussed by Creswell (2003), the use of multiple data sets

can inform the research, by yielding insight and methodological changes that improve the study

and strengthen findings as well as collecting diverse data which best provide an understanding of

a research problem.

This study therefore will use exploration and descriptive design. Descriptive research is planned

in this study because of its relevance in the field of education. Ary, Jacobs & Razavieh (1985)

have explained that descriptive research helps in studying the present problems of students,


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teachers, administration, curriculum, teaching learning process, and the like, and to suggest some

solutions to these problems. The use of this method in this study helped in describing and

exploring as much as possible what occurred in the organization as a whole and also describing

how employees (causal and permanent) cope with the work they do and the nature of

employment contract.

Fraenkel and Wallen (2000) also pronounces that in using descriptive research which is a survey

research, obtaining answers to a set of carefully designed and administered questions to a large

group of people lies at the heart of a survey research. The researcher used a descriptive survey

method for the collection and analysis of the information in order to answer the questions which

were posed. According to Polit and Hungler (1995), descriptive survey aims at describing,

observing and documenting aspects of a situation as it occurs rather than explaining them. This

design has advantage of producing a good amount of responses from a wide range of people.

Descriptive survey involves asking the same set of questions of a large number of individuals

either by telephone, mail or in person. This design provides an accurate picture of events and it

also seeks to explain peoples perceptions and behaviour on the basis of data gathered at a point

in time. It is also important to note that this design is appropriate when a researcher attempts to

describe some aspects of a population by selecting unbiased sample of individuals who are asked

to complete questionnaires, interview or tests.

Fraenkel and Wallen (2000) added that, a significant advantage of a descriptive survey is that it

has the potential to provide a lot of information obtained from quite a large sample of

individuals. In using descriptive survey one must be critical about the questions in that they

should be clear and not misleading. This is because descriptive survey results can vary

significantly depending on the exact wording of questions. The results produced by this design


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can however be unreliable because the questions which are normally asked seek to delve into

private matters of the respondents and respondents may not be completely truthful about the

response (Fraenkel and Wallen 2000).

Fraenkel and Wallen (2000) further stated that questionnaires require subjects who can articulate

their thought well and sometimes put such thoughts in writing. It is again very difficult to get all

the questionnaires completed for meaningful analysis to be made on them. Though this

difficulties and disadvantages exist, the descriptive survey design will be considered the most

appropriate for analyzing the nature and causes of employee retention in Muhimbili National

Hospital and Selian Lutheran Hospital.

3.3 Population of study

Population means all the individuals or objects that meet certain requirements for membership in

the overall group (Churchill and Brown, 2007). The target population of the study consists of all

junior and senior staff employees (present and past that is, from 2002 - 2012) personnel of

Muhimbili National Hospital and Selian Lutheran hospital. Muhimbili National Hospital and

Selian Lutheran hospital will be chosen for this study because the researcher expecting to have

easy access to data. The accessible population will be all senior staff employee and junior

personnel in Muhimbili National Hospital and Selian Lutheran hospital who will be willing to

participate in the study. Management and senior staff employees will be selected because they

serve as key informants who could be of tremendous help in providing very vital information and

other preference materials necessary for the study.


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3.4 Sample and Sampling Procedure

The major aim of this step is to determine the specific population that will be surveyed, to decide

on an appropriate sample, and to determine the criteria that will be used to select the sample

(Marczyk, et al, 2005). A sample of 65 employees will be used for the study comprising 30

senior and 35 junior staff respectively from the each hospital. A purposive sampling technique

will be used to include all employees because of the nature of the research problem which called

for the non-rejection of any of the respondents because they are privy to the information that the

researcher is seeking. The 65 respondents will be selected through stratified random sampling.

Two strata of present and past employees will be carved. From each stratum a proportionate

number of employees will be drawn to make the total sample. Stratified random sampling will be

used because each of the present and past group of employees from 2002 to 2012, of which

employees will need to be drawn and studied to help achieve the objectives of the study.

3.5 Research Instruments

Data will be collected from the management and employees. The instruments that will be used

by the researcher are interview and a questionnaire. The researcher therefore will develop and

use a questionnaire to survey the views of the respondents. The use of questionnaire will enable a

large number of respondents to be surveyed within a shorter period of time. Again the

questionnaire is preferred to other instruments because it is judged as the fastest mode of

collecting data from the sample. The questionnaire is also believed to guarantee confidentiality

and anonymity of respondents since it is generally self- reporting. Thereby, it elicited more

honest responses as it is also less expensive compared to the other data collection techniques.


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assistance may involve the explanation of instructions or terminologies (Including some

translation) so as to get the most valid data for inclusion in the analysis. Respondents will be

given three weeks to complete the instrument. To ensure an effective return rate, follow up

telephone calls as well as personal visits will be made to encourage the respondents to complete

the questionnaires. This led to a situation where most of the questionnaires were retrieved giving

a return rate of 100 percent. Primary data will directly be obtained from the surveyed

organizations in these procedures. Secondary data for this study will be collected from books,

journals, reports and newspapers, both published and unpublished, as well as from online

sources. Secondary data will be used to support and complement the primary data in the study

findings.

3.7 Data Analysis

The data collected will be edited and eliminate any incomplete questionnaire. The valid

questionnaires will be coded to reflect their corresponding categories in accordance with the

following scoring key: Strongly agree-1, Agreed-2, Disagree-3; and Strongly agree -4; Afterward

the scored questionnaires will be analyzed using Statistical Product for Service Solutions (SPSS)

into the desired descriptive statistics. Since a descriptive sample survey will be used in gathering

data, it will be prudent for the researcher to use the same descriptive method in analyzing the

data that will be obtained. Descriptive surveys do not typically require complex statistical

analysis. However, descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviations, frequencies and

percentages) will be used in analyzing the data that will be gathered.


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3.6 Unit of Analysis

The unit of analysis is the major entity that is being analyzed in the study. It is the 'what' or

'whom' that is being studied. In social science research, typical units of analysis include

individuals (most common), groups, social organizations and social artifacts (www.

en.wikipedia.org/.../Unit_of_analysis visited on 20.06.2013). Under this study the unit of

analysis will be individuals who filled questionnaires, formed the Focus Group Discussion

(FGDs) as well as those who will be key informants.

3.7 Reliability and Validity of study

Data qualities will be explored through validity and reliability of the information to be collected

from the field.

3.7.1 Reliability

Golafshani (2003) defined reliability as the extent to which results are consistent overtime.

Kothari (2007) defined reliability as the extent to which data collection process yields consistent

results. In addition, Saunders et al (2007) argued that the term reliability meant to what extent

does the repeated measurement of the same object, using the same instrument, yields the same or

very similar results. This study will adopt the construct validity to validate data and Cronbach

Alpha () scale to measure internal reliability. Miller et al (2002) confirmed that Cronbachs

alpha () should be at least 0.70 or higher to retain variables in adequatescale. The reliability test

will be performed using SPSS and the results will give an alpha () value which will determine

the reliability of the data. (if 0.7, data is reliable)


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3.7.2 Validity

Validity is the extent to which an empirical measurement adequately reflects the real meaning of

the concept under study (Trochim, 2005). Reliability relates to whether it is measuring what we

intend to measure and represents the overarching quality of the measure. Also, Churchill (2007)

defined validity as the extent to which the instrument accurately measures what was intended and

supposed to measure. The questionnaires for this research will be pilot- tested to 20 employees

including management and non-management cadres of Muhimbili National Hospital through

FGDs and results will be used to modify the questionnaires so as to be able to capture the

required information.


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APPENDICES

Appendix I: Questionnaire

Introduction

Dear Sir/Madam

This survey is part of research project to explore the factors for the employees retention in

public versus private sector work organization in Tanzania. We would like to be informed on

certain issues the factors for the employees retention in public versus private sector work

organization in Tanzania. You have been selected as one of the respondents in this survey. Your

answers will make great contributions in my data collection. All information provided will be

used only for academic purposes and will be treated confidentially.

Personal information

1. Your age (please tick the appropriate answer)

a. 20-30 years ( )

b. 31-40 years ( )

c. 41-50 years ( )

d.

51-60 years ( )e. 60 + ( )

2. Gender (please circle whichever is relevant)

a. Male ( )

b. Female ( )

3. Marital Status

a. Single b. Married c. Divorced/Divorcee d. Widow/widower

4.

Academic qualifications (circle the relevant answer)

a. Certificate ( )

b. Diploma ( )

c. University degree ( )

d. Masters degree ( )

e. Any other (specify)..

5. How long have been working at this organization? (circle the relevant answer)


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a. Less than 4 years ( )

b. 5-10 years ( )

c. 11- 14 years ( )

d. Above 14 years ( )

6. How many employees left the organization within the past ten years

a.

Less than 5 employees ( )

b. Between 5 and 10 employees ( )

c. Between 11 and 15 employees ( )

d. Between 16 and 20 employees ( )

e. Above 20 employees ( )

7. What do you believe to be primary reason for employees leaving employment?

a. Insufficient salary ( )

b. Insufficient retirement ( )

c.

Pursue other career goals ( )d. Physical working conditions ( )

e. High stress working conditions ( )

f. Work hours/shift work ( )

g. Other:

Comments_______________________________________________

Please rate the following issues as they relate to your job satisfaction and performance in the

organization

Issues

Excellent(1)

Very

Good (2)

Good

(3)

Fair

(4)

Poor

(5)

8 Salary

9 Benefits

10 Retirement plans

11 Physical working conditions

12 Work hours/ shift work

13 Training and support

14 Employee involvement

15 Peer relations

16. Have you ever considered leaving position in the current organization?

a. Yes ( )

b. No ( )


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b. No ( )

27. If Yes in the question 13 above, what do you think are its uniqueness?

i. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ii. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

iii. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

iv.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

v. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

28. If your organization is a public or private, what do you think are their main differences in

employees retention strategies?

i. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ii. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

iii. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

iv. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

v. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

29.

What are the serious challenges facing your organization in retaining the bestemployees?

i. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ii. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

iii. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

iv. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

30.

How does the organization deal with the above challenge in making sure that the best

employees are retained?

i. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ii. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

iii.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------iv. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------------------------------

v. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

31. Do the organization strategies in retaining the best employees achieve the desired goals?

a. Yes ( )

b. No ( )

32. If No, what should be added to supplement the current strategies in retaining the best

employees in your organization?

i. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ii.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

iii. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

iv. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


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Appendix II: Interview Guide questions

1.

Explain how your organization practice succession planning

2. What do you think are the methods used by the organization in retaining the employees?

3. What are the serious challenges facing your organization in retaining the best employees?

4. Kindly provide other information you think can improve human resources succession

planning.

Documents

Bonys Proposal to Be Submitted