Part B. Essay Type Questions
1.1 Choose a research design to use. Briefly describe the research design.
In order to analyze the problem of employees’ job dissatisfaction, it will be reasonable to choose the mixed methodological research design, as in this way it will be possible to thoroughly understand the issue and find an effective solution to it. So, it will be optimal to apply the survey method from quantitative design and semi-structured interview from qualitative.
At first the survey should be conducted, as quantitative research is the best way to view and analyze specific tendencies. In this type of research design, measurement process occupies the central role, as it helps to establish fundamental connection between mathematical expression of some reality and empirical observation of quantitative relationships. The process begins with data collection, and it is perfect when a large data sample is collected. In order to get reliable and accurate results, it is necessary to keep to certain rules while holding it. First of all, it is essential to plan it adequately, state objectives and define issues that have to be addresses. Then, it is necessary to design sampling procedure and develop a questionnaire that will be distributed among the survey participants. This questionnaire has to be pre-tested and only then the survey can be effectively conducted.
The qualitative research, in particular semi-structured interview, was chosen so as to get in-depth understanding of the problem under consideration. In this way it will be possible to clarify the questions that will be left unanswered after the survey. What is even more important, it will be possible to find out the actual reasons of the trends and tendencies revealed in the questionnaire. Semi-structured interview was chosen, as it allows to vary the structure of the conversation, adding clarifying questions, which eventually will ensure that all the nuances of the problem are properly described. In order to conduct this interview, it will be necessary to draw up an ‘interview guide’ with the initial set of questions and to choose several people, with whom it will be conducted. As the survey results will already be available, it will be possible to choose people from the categories that are most interesting for the research design purposes.
1.2 List your research objectives for the study.
In order to understand the main reasons of employees’ job dissatisfaction, it is necessary to meet the following objectives:
1. Define overall working conditions of employees in the organization.
2. Identify the level of skills and abilities recognition of employees by their management.
3. Define whether there are problems with recognition and appreciation of people’s achievements in rendering of the organization’s services.
4. Identify the most appropriate motivators for employees’ work, as well as the way they are applied as of today.
5. Define whether employees feel they are excluded from the decision-making process in the organization.
6. Identify and analyze job dissatisfaction factors defined in the course of the research.
1.3 Discuss the ethical issues that must be addressed in the research.
Among the ethical issues that have to be addressed in the research there are certain ones that are related to the peculiarities of research conducting. When working on the qualitative research, it is necessary to use appropriate questions and not to select tools or ways of analysis that mislead people on purpose. Besides, the results should be interpreted in the right way. Only practices that may not harm, humiliate or mislead the survey participants must be used and confidentiality of responses should be maintained. When conducting interviews it is also necessary to respect the confidentiality of people and ask only such questions that allow to meet the study objectives. In the actual study on job dissatisfaction there can be different ethical issues that may arise in the course, as the nature of the study presupposes that people can face job dissatisfaction issues due to some problems in the ethical sphere of their work. Such arising issues should be properly addressed and analyzed, but in such cases the respondents’ confidentiality should be paid maximum attention.
Part C. Case Study
Question 1. Background Variables.
Among the background variables that will be analyzed there are age, gender and work experience. There were defined five age groups: 15-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54 and 55+. The category with the smallest number of respondents is the first one – there are only four people of this age employed in the company. It means that the management is more eager to employ people with longer work and life experience. Still, a considerable number of people of 25-34 years of age (20) signifies that young people are valued in the company and are welcomed. It is usually good for the ideas inflow to the company. The next two categories have the largest numbers of employees – 32 and 27 respectively. It can be interpreted in the way that management values experience very much. There are also 13 people who are above 55 years, which also proves the above stated tendency.
In the company there is a prevailing number of females – 81%. It must be related to the company specialization. Distribution by the work experience proves that this quality is one of the most valued ones in the company. There are only four people who have less than 5 years of professional experience. The majority of employees have 11-15 years of professional practice (32) and about the same number (27) have more than 16 years of experience.
Question 2. Relationships between variables.
I. Gender and recognition for performance
The null hypothesis in comparing these two groups of answers is that gender doesn’t influence the level of recognition for performance. The alternative hypothesis will be that women are more recognized for performance than men.
According to the results of the survey, the level of recognition is influenced by the gender of respondents. The percentage of women are absolutely satisfied with their recognition is 16.67 against 10% among men. More representative figure is the number of people who answered that they are absolutely dissatisfied with the recognition they get in the company.
Among men the majority (35.71%) chose this answer, while among women only 16.67%. Thus, the general tendency in the firm shows that the majority of women have chosen positive answer (that they are satisfied with the level of recognition to a moderate or large extent) to this question – 51.86%, while men chose negative answers (that they are satisfied to no or small extent) in the majority of cases – 69.23%. The results show that the null hypothesis should be rejected.
In the context of this study the results can be not absolutely representative, as the number of responses missed 29, and the number of men was significantly shorter than that of women. Still, it shows a general tendency in the company and should be taken into account when looking for solution to the company’s problems.
II. Feedback from supervisor and job security.
The null hypothesis is that feedback from supervisor doesn’t influence the job security level. The alternative hypothesis is that employees who are more satisfied with feedback from supervisors feel more secure at work.
According to the survey results, among people who answered that they are not satisfied with the feedback (13.51% from all respondents) the majority – 55.56% are satisfied with the job security level to a moderate extent. At the same time, 33.33% answered that they are absolutely not satisfied in this relation and no one was completely satisfied. People who were satisfied with feedback to a small extent (32.43%) answered in a way that the majority was satisfied with job security to a moderate extent (59.09%). Among people who were satisfied with feedback (28.38%) the majority was satisfied to a moderate extent (88.24%) and there were no people who were dissatisfied with their job security level. Among people who are satisfied to a large extent with feedback (25.68%) the majority also answered they were moderately satisfied with job security (75%) and there were no negative answers.
So, the null hypothesis should be rejected, as it is evident that the level of feedback influences the job security of employees.
In the context of this study it is possible to state that the majority of people are moderately satisfied with the level of job security, which means that it is necessary to pay more attention to this issue, as well as increase the level of people’s satisfaction with supervisors’ feedback of people’s work. Evidently, it will bring about positive results for job security level as well.
III. Appreciation from supervisor and job security.
The null hypothesis is that appreciation from supervisor doesn’t influence the job security level. The alternative hypothesis is that employees who are more satisfied with appreciation from their supervisors feel more secure at work.
The survey results revealed that among people who are not satisfied with appreciation they get from their supervisors (17.33%) the majority is either not satisfied with job security level at all (33.33%), or moderately satisfied with it (41.67%). Among people who are satisfied with their appreciation to a small extent (32%) the majority (65%) is moderately satisfied with job security, while there is still 10% of people who are absolutely not satisfied with job security. In the category of people who are moderately satisfied with appreciation (32%) the majority is moderately satisfied with job security as well (83.33%). There are no people in this category who are not satisfied with job security. The same goes for the last group, where people are satisfied with the appreciation from supervisors (18.67%). In it the majority of people are moderately satisfied (85.71%) and there are no one who is dissatisfied. Thus, the null hypothesis should be rejected, as it is evident that among people who are more satisfied with appreciation from supervisors there are more those who are more satisfied with job security as well.
In the context of this research it is evident that it is necessary to work on the level of supervisors’ appreciation of their employees, as it will improve the job security level and the overall satisfaction from work as well.
Question 3. Methodology
In my point of view, methodology used for the study is completely appropriate for the research purposes, as it reveals important tendencies, which first of all should be used to improve the situation in the company. It becomes evident that the gender peculiarities should be addressed and that supervisors should be more attentive to the questions of recognition and appreciation of their workers. In this way, employees have better incentives for effective and productive work and they feel more secure at work as well. If I were to offer additional strategies, I would also pay attention to the analysis of factors in relation to the work experience, as people who have longer experience would certainly reveal additional problems in supervisors’ behavior in relation to their workers, as they have the necessary experience to evaluate their work.
Question 4. Relation between work experience and pay
Work experience is usually one of the determining factors in definition of the pay rate for each particular employee. Usually it is reasonable, as workers with long experience are better prepared for jobs, can learn better and adjust to different situations. They can also take effective decision, as usually within the work experience they have to deal with multiple situations, which allows them to see the possible outcomes in all of them and understand, on what factors it is better to base their decisions.
Question 5. Recommendations to the company
1. The company management should consider young people as candidates for their job positions, as often they can perfectly cope with the necessary responsibilities, although having a little experience.
2. The way of supervisors’ communication with their subordinates should be critically assessed and improved so as to increase the level of job satisfaction of employees and provide more incentives for productive work.
3. The other factors of job security should be defined and analyzed to decrease problems in this field.
4. The necessary actions should also be taken to make employees more satisfied with the level of their work recognition.
