Definition of terms
Positivism: is a system in which the research can be approached. The basic philosophy behind this approach is that all the positive facts are based on factual knowledge or the positive facts which are gathered scientifically using observable experience. Remenyi (2007). On the other hand, interpretivism is a view which asserts that the world and reality are not objective and external as many may think. The view is classified as qualitative approach which is based on inductive procedures. Greener (2012).
Research topic
Managing workforce diversity is a crucial topic which can form a basis for a business related project especially for an individual who is aspiring to be a manager. The topic is crucial because work place diversity is the basis for success of the company. This implies that the manager has to poses special quality which he/she can employ to manage workforce diversity. In addition, managing workforce diversity helps in creating a productive and healthy work environment which promotes productivity and enables the company to have a higher competitive advantage.
Application of research philosophies
Research philosophy is a belief on how data about a particular phenomenon should be gathered, analysed and then eventually used. The two research philosophies that can be employed for this research include positivism and interpretivism.
Positivism
This school of thought as described above have a strong believe that reality is stable and therefore can be observed and described from an objective point of view. Positivism can be made on the basis of the previously observed and interpreted realities and their interrelationships. Arthur and Waring (2012). In the case of this topic, positivism research philosophy can be applied to empirically observe the relationship between productivity and work force diversity. For instance, a researcher may take his/her good time and study two companies. One which allows workforce diversity and one which is against workforce diversity. The two companies should be dealing with the same goods and services.
A researcher will then observe their previous performance in terms of productivity and then compare which company recorded a higher productivity. By observing and using empirical or objective means to arrive at a conclusion entails the application of positivism philosophy. Positivism can also be applied in this research by formulating hypothesis related to work diversity and then test them. For instance, a researcher may formulate a hypothesis such as workforce diversity increases productivity in the workplace after which he/she goes ahead and test the hypothesis.
Interpretivism
This school of thought believes that only through the subjective interpretation of and intervention in reality can that reality be fully understood. They admit that despite the fact that there are many interpretation of reality however, such interpretations are part of the scientific knowledge individual may be perusing since the approach employ the use of qualitative techniques to collect data. Bryman (2007)
The person researching on this topic may employ the use of qualitative research methods such as interviews, questionnaires and case studies.
Questionnaires (open ended)
The researcher may distribute questionnaires to various participants and allow them to answer some questions related to work force diversity within the organization.
Interviews
Researcher may decide to carry out a short interview related to the topic of study whereby participants will be expected to answer various questions. The researcher will then collect the data and records the somewhere for interpretation later.
Researcher can also decide to carry out a case study in a given company and find out some answers related to the hypothesis of his/her topic of study.
Bibliography
Decrop, A 2006. Vacation Decision Making. Library of Congress: CABI, P. 46.
Remenyi, D. 2007. Proceedings of the 6th European Conference on Research Methodology for Business and Management Studies. U.S.A: Academic Conferences Limited, P. 173.
Arthur, J Waring, M. 2012. Research Methods and Methodologies in Education. Library of Congress:SAGE, P.404.
Greener, S. 2012. Business Research Methods. Library of Congress: Bookboon, p.16.
Bryman, A Bell, E. 2007. Business Research Methods. U.S.A: Oxford University Press, P.35.
