Submit the final draft of your qualitative Doctoral Study Prospectus

Draft: Doctoral Study Prospectus

Qualitative and Quantitative Methodology for Applied Business Research

2/24/2019

Draft: Doctoral Study Prospectus

Employee retention is the dream of human resource managers, and this is especially if these individuals are also self-motivated and competent. Replacement and retraining of a new workforce are always expensive and destabilizing, and the organization might lose opportunities as it concentrates on remaining adequately staffed (De Clercq, Mohammad Rahman, & Belausteguigoitia, 2017). James (2016) has identified unresolved disputes as one of the main reasons why the turnover rate is still significantly high among US-based organizations. The proposed study is the ‘influence of dispute resolution on employee retention,' and it will have a positive impact not just on the business community but also the society in general.

Problem Statement

The average employee turnover rate in the US is over 15%, and it is over 20% in Canada. At least 63% of these leave upon resignation, and another 30% get fired. Such drastic measures are direct consequences of unresolved disputes. According to Santos, Uitdewilligen, & Passos (2015), there is yet another significant number of workers who are demoralized to the extent of being underproductive. Therefore, the organization is still losing as a result of escalated disputes even if the employees choose to stay. The proposed study is geared towards enabling organizations to half their turnover rate every quarter until it is less than 5%. Effective dispute resolution mechanisms would not only motivate but also dissuade the workers from opting to resign (Santos et al., 2015; Torchia, Calabrò, & Morner, 2015). The proposed study is geared towards establishing the steps which the management would take to ensure that a positive work environment is maintained.

Purpose Statement

Disputes are expensive, time-consuming, and damaging. They need to either be prevented or resolved as early as possible. The study seeks to establish the correction between such follower characteristics as agreeableness, competence, openness, and focus of control; leader characteristics like agreeableness, extraversion, contingent reward behavior, and transformational leadership; as well as interpersonal relationship factors like self-promotion, assertiveness, perceived similarity, leader’s trust with the consequences (Tong et al., 2018). The, in this case, is role conflict, role ambiguity, affective commitment, and turnover intentions. This is a quantitative study of UnitedHealth Group Inc. which is a Minnetonka-based firm with over 270,000 employees spread across thousands of locations in the country (James, 2016; Torchia et al., 2015). The findings will reveal how firms can save resources, time, and focus on the issues which matter as far as sustainability is concerned. To achieve the kind of goals desired, there has to be a settlement rate of at least 85%.

Nature of the Study

The mixed method of research facilitates a much broader understanding of the issue at hand. Business research will certainly make conclusions recommending focus of attention and investment towards a particular direction. Therefore, it will be in-depth, and mixed methods provide this. Besides, there is enhanced the involvement of stakeholders as opposed to merely treating them as statistics. The study is correlational, and it is hoped to reveal strong relationships. Since the pattern of behavior will be uncovered, it will be possible to make predictions (Presbitero, Roxas, & Chadee, 2016).

There is also the chance to show how one kind of behavior could happen in the presence of another. For instance, Oleksiiovych (2018) notes that once an employee has resolved to leave, they will still go in a few months, even if their grievances are addressed. This is because threating to resign is the mark of severe desperation. The goal is to resolve complaints way before such kind of desperation has emerged. Papenhausen & Parayitam (2015) opines that most employees will turn a blind eye during the first few instances of disagreements, and only get concerned if it becomes a persistent pattern. The study is meant to come up with a framework which would help solve problems before it escalates and cause bitter separation either through firing or resignation.

Central Research Question and Hypotheses

The research questions are about the three categories of factors with the most significant influence on employee retention. The hypotheses are based on the research question. The hypotheses state the relationship between variables precisely.

The Research Questions

a. In what ways do the follower characteristics increase employee retention?

b. To what extent do the leader characteristics solidify employee rate of retention?

c. How do interpersonal relationships facilitate employee retention?

The Research Hypothesis

i. If the follower characteristics are improved, then the rate of employee retention would rise.

ii. If the leader embraces the right characteristics, then employee retention would be increased.

iii. If certain interpersonal relationships are put in place, then the rate of employee retention could improve.

Conceptual/ Theoretical Framework

Conflict management refers to the practice of identifying and handling conflicts in a fair, sensible, and efficient manner. An organization has to have people who understand and know how to deal with disputes. According to K.W. Thomas and R.H. Kilmann, there are five main styles of responding to and resolving conflicts. The management must start with a situational analysis to understand the most appropriate one in regards to ascertaining the employees’ success (Papenhausen & Parayitam, 2015). In essence, the leaders and followers' characteristics, as well as the interpersonal relationships, would inform if accommodating, competing, avoiding, collaboration, and compromising is the best approach. The envisioned framework will help understand how stakeholders can engage while focusing on events and behaviors, identify the areas of disagreement and agreement, and prioritize on the regions of the conflict. It is a development of the plan to work on every aspect of the conflict (Camelo-Ordaz, García-Cruz, & Sousa-Ginel, 2015).

The significance of the Study

The choice to either remain with the organization or quit is based on how satisfied one is with their place of work. This happiness is significantly influenced by how disagreements and are handled; and, indeed, a significant number of employees would be loyal to their employers in spite a couple of hiccups, as long as they can preserve a brighter future (Matitz & Chaerki, 2018).

Contribution to Business Practice

Organizations stand to gain if their workforces stabilize. Frequent turnover means that the cost of retraining goes up, and there is also the challenge of orientation and keeping the new employees motivated. Any employee who joins an organization which is infamous for a high employee turnover would be worried. They would not optimize their potential since they would always be searching for much better opportunities than the ones they possess. Such organizations cannot attain and maintain their leverage (Knights & McCabe, 2016). Therefore, finding an effective way of keeping these employees with their employer would be invaluable to the business community. This is the goal of the proposed study.

The implication for Social Change

If the employees have a comfortable working environment, they would be satisfied. They would go home having the joy of having accomplished their responsibilities in the best manner possible and also feeling supported. Such happy employees would become happy fathers, relatives, members of their community, and the citizens. As a consequence, a lot of conflicts at home and with friends would be mitigated (Matitz & Chaerki, 2018). Therefore, the proposed research has the advantage of influencing social change positively.

Review of Literature

According to Matitz & Chaerki (2018), conflicts are always expensive. This is because instead of concentrating on work, the employees participate, try to avoid, and seek to manage pointless disagreements with their peers. Papenhausen & Parayitam (2015) opines that Americans are spending 2.1 hours per week (or a day in a month) dealing with conflicts. This translated to over 385 million workdays or a loss of about $359 billion annually.

Torchia et al. (2015) note that conflicts in the workplace are to blame for over 25% of the reported cases of absenteeism and sickness. Also, 9% of project failures are attributed to conflicts, and Presbitero et al. (2016) argue that 33% of the employees are quitting or getting fired as a consequence of unresolved disputes. According to Tong et al. (2018), other costs include disorienting the clients who witness the conflicts. These clients can decide to source their goods and services elsewhere.

In regards to the turnover rate Presbitero et al. (2016) highlight, it is imperative to recognize that the cost of replacement is high. It disorients the organization significantly, and the sales lost during such instances of turbulence are irreplaceable. Consequently, it is imperative to recognize not only the conflict but also the need to have it addressed. De Clercq et al. (2017) insists that management must find the ways and means of rallying the workers behind a common objective. As they do so, they also need to convince these workers of the need to consider the views of one another (De Clercq et al., 2017; Presbitero et al., 2016).

Camelo-Ordaz et al., (2015) argue that some conflicts are caused by incompetence, and hence the need to consider making enhanced hiring decisions. For instance, an organization can engage the services of a consultant who conducts personality together with competency tests. It is also essential to consider calling the references indicated (Oleksiiovych, 2018). Valuable information could be revealed if such decisions are made. According to Knights & McCabe (2016), a culture of training is also motivating. It makes the employees feel that the organization is planning for a long term relationship with them. The training must include the strategies towards handing conflicts.

Conclusion

Once the appropriate framework is established, it must become a central pillar of the organization’s handbook. The handbook might need to highlight the unacceptable behaviors; and these include bullying, respect, privacy, and gossip. In essence, the system for dealing with the conflict must be clearly outlined, and the stakeholders must embrace a proactive approach in handling disagreements when they arise (De Clercq et al., 2017; Knights & McCabe, 2016).

References

Camelo-Ordaz, C., García-Cruz, J., & Sousa-Ginel, E. (2015). The influence of top management team conflict on firm innovativeness. Group Decision & Negotiation, 24(6), 957–980. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10726-014-9424-4

De Clercq, D., Mohammad Rahman, Z., & Belausteguigoitia, I. (2017). Task conflict and employee creativity: the critical roles of learning orientation and goal congruence. Human Resource Management, 56(1), 93–109. https://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.21761

James, A.R. (2016). Because arbitration can be beneficial, it should never have to be mandatory: Making a case against compelled arbitration based upon pre-dispute agreements to arbitrate in consumer and employee adhesion contracts. Loyola Law Review, 62(2), 531–576

Knights, D., & McCabe, D. (2016). The “missing masses” of resistance: An ethnographic understanding of a workplace dispute. British Journal of Management, 27(3), 534–549. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.12170

Matitz, Q.R.S., & Chaerki, K.F. (2018). Process philosophy’s potential contributions to innovation process research within organization studies. Revista de Administração e Inovação - RAI, 15(4), 386–393. https://doi.org/10.1108/INMR-08-2018-0062

Oleksiiovych, L.Y. (2018). Modeling of socio-economic relations in scientific research processes. Economy of AIC, (2), 5–13

Papenhausen, C., & Parayitam, S. (2015). Conflict management strategies as moderators in the antecedents to affective conflict and its influence on team effectiveness. Journal of Business & Management, 21(1), 101–119

Presbitero, A., Roxas, B., & Chadee, D. (2016). Looking beyond HRM practices in enhancing employee retention in BPOs: Focus on employee–organization value fit. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 27(6), 635–652. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2015.1035306

Santos, C.M., Uitdewilligen, S., & Passos, A.M. (2015). Why is your team more creative than mine? The influence of shared mental models on intra-group conflict, team creativity and effectiveness. Creativity & Innovation Management, 24(4), 645–658. https://doi.org/10.1111/caim.12129

Tong, S.F., Ng, C.J., Lee, V.K.M., Lee, P.Y., Ismail, I.Z., Khoo, E.M., … Abdullah, A. (2018). Decision-making process and factors contributing to research participation among general practitioners: A grounded theory study. PLoS ONE, 13(4), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0196379

Torchia, M., Calabrò, A., & Morner, M. (2015). Board of directors’ diversity, creativity, and cognitive conflict. International Studies of Management & Organization, 45(1), 6–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/00208825.2015.1005992