5T QNT - PLAGIARISM FREE - DUE TONIGHT AT 7 PM EST TODAY ( 8 HOURS FROM NOW)

Ballard Integrated Managed Services Inc. (BIMS) has a problem; morale, productivity, and quality of work are low. Additionally turnover and increased costs for training new employees is high. Finally, there has been an increase in complaints from hospital administration. Human Resources is currently involved suggesting an option of surveying the staff to gain insight on issues that need to be resolved to increase job satisfaction and lower turnover. The survey consists of ten questions to gauge how employees feel about working for BIMS. Included are four additional questions to assist HR in separating responses by division. The governing theory for use of this survey is to conclude what the issue is that is lowering morale and affecting productivity.

The instrument used for data collection by the by Ballard Integrated Managed Services Inc. was that of a survey. The survey was used to sample a portion of the population which in this case was the workforce. Surveys are a commonly used tool by management that allow for a cost effective way of collecting important information. The data collected through the survey allows managers to estimate or otherwise give their best guess as to how the population feels about certain issues as a whole. Inferential statistics are collected from a sample survey of the population (Lind, Marchal, & Wathen, 2011). Using surveys to sample a population is more cost effective in business due to time and financial restraints. Surveying only a sample of a larger population allows for the manager or survey taker to estimate or infer and idea about the population as a whole. Surveys as used by Ballard Integrated Managed Services Inc., rate survey participant’s answers on an ordinal level. This means that each number selected is superior to the preceding number. For example, individuals who answered the “You Enjoy Your Assigned Shift” question choose a number on a scale of one to five with one being the lowest level of enjoyment and five being the highest level of enjoyment. Determining how the survey participants answer this question will indicate to management the total percentage of individuals who are not pleased with their assigned shift as inferred by the survey. A survey used in this capacity is a useful way of gathering qualitative data that can be further analyzed to help determine workforce solutions.

The data from BIMS is collected through a survey, more specifically a sample survey because not every employee took part in the survey. A quantitative variable indicates how many or how much it is. The survey uses quantitative data for some of the questions: “How many times have you called in sick in the last month? How long have you worked for BIMS?” This survey primarily deals with qualitative data, which is usually involving how many of what percent of data falls in each category. In the survey, many of the questions deal with rating feelings from very negative to very positive. There are four questions regarding work divisions and gender.

Question 1 to 10 with the exception of 4 being a ratio measurement will represent the ordinal measurement. Ordinal data is a statistical data type that consists of numerical scores. In this questionnaire, 5 is the highest and best score where 1 is the lowest and the worst.

Question A, C, and D represents nominal level data. This data can be represented in any order, where question B is quantitative and will be classified as ratio level data.

Data coding begins with the collection of information. The coding of data collected from employees at BIMS is based on individual views about the company and management. The coding was based on responses numbered 1-5, ranked from very weak to very strong. The coded information was then recorded on the following spreadsheet. The spreadsheet helps in defining how each questionnaire should be coded for data entry. It gives specifications on every question provided in the questionnaire from which data is obtained, variable names, operational definition and coding options.

Data matrix worksheet entry involves entering variable information into rows and columns on a spreadsheet. The employee’s coded information was transferred to the matrix for analysis. Initially mistakes were made with the first pass of entering the information and the chart that follows has the corrected information.

Cleaning the data of the mistakes changed the averages minimally. Because of these minimal changes, the outcome in not affected either positively or negatively.

The survey indicates the average length of service for the employees participating in the survey at 4.5 years. In all categories there was no high score for what employees felt BIMS was doing very well. All average scores are below 3, the midpoint. The lowest average concerns fairness of pay for the work performed. The second lowest score concerns communication by the company. The two highest scores were in training and treatment by a supervisor. These results however, are 17.8% of the total workforce surveyed, less than a quarter of the possible workforce weighed in with his or her opinion. There is room for improvement in every area of this survey, but it begins with communicating with the staff more thoroughly to pin-point improvements that matter to the staff. In doing so, morale can be improved along with performance, decreasing turnover, and lessening complaints from hospital administration.