assignment 5

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MethoDS EXPLORATION 8

Examining the Effectiveness of Performance Management in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises - A Peer Review

Angela Wiedenhoeft

DOC690 Doctoral Study Proposal

Trident University International

Introduction

In academic research, peer review is a process used to evaluate the scholarly work written by another author with the intention to improve the quality of the manuscript (Kelly et al., 2014). This paper seeks to conduct a peer review of the DSP prospectus written by David Reese on the topic of “Examining the Effectiveness of Performance Management in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises” (Reese, 2021). Primary focus of the review will target the following five key areas: conceptual significance, practical significance, conduct of research, logical presentation of research and clarity of writing.

Conceptual Significance

In Chapter 1, Reese (2021) was successful in stating the importance and contributions of his study in that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the economy backbones of this country and have a compelling need to investigate effectiveness of performance management. With the support of literature review, he claimed that unlike large enterprises which have bigger capital resource, performance management is imperative for SMEs so they can properly align their resources to business strategy. In other words, effective performance management is a matter of growth and survival for SMEs. Reese (2021) went on to explain that performance management covers multiple aspect of the business operations, and that it is controlled by seven variables: firm performance, entrepreneurial traits, innovative performance, innovative capacity, organizational search, marketing orientation, and entrepreneurial orientation. These constructs were presented as the conceptual framework and helped build the background needed to support his research study.

The confusion for Reese’s paper (2021) however, comes in Chapter 2. It would be the expectation of this reviewer that these same constructs would be covered as part of the literature review as they relate to relevant work done by other scholars, but there was no mentioning of them anywhere in the chapter. This resulted in a disconnect for this reviewer. Understandably, both chapters were draft written in two different timelines so it is plausible that Reese (2021) made new discoveries since he wrote Chapter 2. This is evident in the framework section of the literature review where Reese (2021) proposed the Deming’s cycle as a model for this study which makes sense but similarly the Deming model was not brought up anywhere in Chapter 1. Once these discrepancies are reconciled, the conceptual significance of Reese (2021)’s study should be pretty solid as the foundations are already well laid out.

Practical Significance

From a practical standpoint, Reese’s (2021) built a good case on how the study findings can benefit the research firm, Filtrine Manufacturing in connection to the development and implementation of a performance management system. Unfortunately, given that Reese (2021) did not use the latest version of the template (Linski, 2021), the organizational analysis and benchmarking for research firm were not present in the version of the prospectus being reviewed. It is therefore, unclear to this reviewer whether the type of challenges, if any, faced by Filtrine Manufacturing, can be fully addressed by the study. However, looking at the Research Questions and two of data collection instruments that Reese (2021) has prepared, one can assume that his research is equipped to address the practical significance whether it is for a single firm or all SMEs. As for the secondary data source, there were insufficient details on the contents of these documents or how it would be obtained. To completely understand how this instrument can be triangulated, Reese (2021) will need to elaborate it with more details in his revision of Chapter 3.

Conduct of Research

In terms of method, it is obvious that Reese (2021) has chosen a qualitative approach for his study but there is a discrepancy on his study design. For instance, in Chapter 3, Reese (2021) mentioned that case study design will be used but at the same chapter under the Introduction section, action research was also mentioned as the design method and then again in Chapter 1. Perhaps action research design was selected based on the original framework, Deming’s process improvement cycle, which is similar to the Lewin’s (1946) repetitive cycle of plan, action, observe and evaluate. Again, it may be the result of new discovery that Reese (2021) has yet to incorporate in his revision. Nonetheless, it makes it challenging for this reviewer to assess whether his chosen design is adequate.

Based on this reviewer’s understanding of the topic and its background, either design can work. While both design methods have been successfully used by researchers to investigate business challenges, action research is best suited to address gap between theory and practice by providing practical evidence to the study (West, 2011). Another point to mention is case study requires evidence be collected from difference sources and triangulated to generate a robust view of the phenomenon (Yin, 2003). Meanwhile, action research takes an action-oriented approach to solving the problems and it promotes a collaborative culture which Reese (2021) did call out his paper so it appears that he is mindful of the pros and cons of either design method. This simply means revisiting and reaffirming the design that is most feasible for his study.

Logical Presentation of Research

Within the chapter itself, the explanation of ideas in Reese’s paper (2021) flows quite logically. For example, the literature review performed in Chapter 2 thoroughly explained the definition of performance management in the context of applied research. Additionally, adequate historical background was also provided enabling the reviewer to follow the phenomenon as it evolves with the business environment to improve operation efficiency multifocally. Having said that there were some inconsistencies between chapters specifically in the conceptual framework and research design. None of which are difficult to fix through some rewriting. As mentioned in the previous section, this can be attributed to the chapters being written in different timelines and new discoveries have been made since then that were not incorporated into the previous chapters. Regardless, it is imperative that Reese makes sure constructs and themes introduced in the literature review can be tied back the conceptual framework so the flow of idea is coherent. Similarly, the choice of research design must be consistent between the chapters so the link between results and method are clear.

Clarity of the Writing

For the most part, the paper was professionally well written. The ideas were well developed and made sense to the reviewer. There were some formatting issues in the headings that need to be addressed before Reese (2021) submits his final draft. Other items that need to be fixed are the titles and legends in the figures so they adhere to the format as prescribed by the new DSP template (Linski, 2021). Some in-text citations do not conform to the new APA 7 standard, for example, using the word “and” between the authors within the text instead of ampersand (Purdue Online Writing Lab, n.d.). Finally, there were some minor grammatical errors that were probably overlooked during revisions.

Conclusion

It is obvious that Reese put a lot of effort into this version of the prospectus as the length requirements for all chapters are met (Reese, 2021). Overall, Reese presented a strong case for the potential contribution of his DSP study to the field of business. Despite some revision needed including migrating his contents to the new version 4 DSP template (Linsk, 2021), he raised some intriguing constructs that warrant more in-depth research in the area of performance management. The foundation of the prospectus is well-grounded, all that is needed is some re-reading and rewriting so the chapter tells a coherent story which should not be an issue considering the support that will be provided by the professors in the upcoming course for the DBA program.

References Reese, D. (2021). Examining the Effectiveness of Performance Management in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Trident University International. Kelly, J., Sadeghieh, T. & Adeli, K. (2014). Peer Review in Scientific Publications: Benefits, Critiques, & A Survival Guide. Journal of the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, 25(3), 227-243. Lewin, K. (1946). Action research and minority problems. Journal of Social Issues, 2(1), 34-46. Linski, C. (2021, April 13). Updated DBA Handbook and DSP Templates [Online post]. Trident University International. https://tlc.trident.edu/d2l/le/news/166684/213796/view?ou=166684 Purdue Online Writing Lab. (n.d.). In-Text Citations: Author/Authors. Purdue University. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/in_text_citations_author_authors.html West, C. (2011). Action research as a professional development activity. Arts Education Policy Review, 112(2), 89-94. Yin, R. K. (2003). Case study research: Design and methods. Sage Publications.

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