Week 5 - Assignment

Research Paper

Tanelle Peppers

Ashford University

BUS642

10/13/2014

Research Paper

Introduction

In any organization, the composition of management is amongst the factors that play vital roles in determining the organization’s success. Management comprises the senior most staff to the junior employees who play particular roles in ensuring the objectives of the business are achieved. It’s therefore important for an organization to strictly hire the most competent management more so at the top. This is aimed at ensuring it realizes its goals to the economy. Today globalization is taking all over the world and it requires managers to have skills that guarantee success in all their expatriate duties. This paper aims at tabling the factors that determine the success of a particular manager.

The research question will therefore be 'Do use of local staff internationally yields significant output for the company? If yes, we will determine by the end of the research. The hypothesis formulated is that when a company uses local staff, it is able to adapt better to the requirements of the local country.

It’s important to note that research has revealed three important staffing policies in the international business. These include the geocentric approach that aims at employing the best individuals in the key sectors of the company regardless of their nationality, ethnocentric approach where all key positions are reserved for parent country nationals and the polycentric approach that hire the host country citizens for subsidiary duties while the parent country nationals occupy the key positions in the headquarter.

These approaches are useful for hiring managers. Upon reviewing each policy, I will recommend the strategy that is best fit to be pursued by the firm. By what they stand for, geocentric approach is the best even though it has its obstacles when adopting it.

	Staffing Approach	Strategic Appropriateness	Advantages	Disadvantages
	Ethnocentric	International	Employs qualified managers a times Transfers competent functionaries	Possibility of resentment in host country Culminates to cultural myopia
	Polycentric	Multidomestic	Easily implemented Alleviates cultural myopia	Does not give room for adequate career mobility Isolates headquarters from foreign subsidiaries
	Geocentric	Global and transnational	Efficient use of human resources Builds strong business networking	Costly to implement

Research Background

Outsourcing labour has been practiced for quite long. Over the past years, organizations selected expatriates depending on their leadership skills, domestic track record and technical proficiency. This criterion for picking employees to work abroad was halted in 1990s upon introduction of evaluation of expatriates in terms of their capacity to control emotions. It was established that inability to adjust to new environment made employees unproductive. This also resulted to low returns for the company. Despite all these, most companies find it easy to use staff from home country. This is aimed at protecting the cradle land culture (Caligiuri, 2009). This exercise has ensured standard goods are produced and services offered are quality.

Sampling Approach

Sampling by definition is amassing data from a smaller group that forms part of a larger population (Saunders, 2009). This definition aims at effective data collection by strictly avoiding time and resource wastage. It makes work easier for the researcher since he or she can easily control the population of interest and get quality data. Sampling follows various steps. The first stage is identifying the population that is to be sampled (Burns, 2000). For instance, in this study, the population comprises multinationals. Saunders, 2009 says there are many sampling techniques useful for research. They are categorised into probability and non-probability sampling. Probability sampling is where all events are counted in the sample and picked statistically.

Non-probability sampling is where cases arrived at cannot be generalized on statistical grounds. This kind of sampling is based on subjective judgments. The non-probability sampling techniques to be used for this research paper are purposive and self-selection sampling. Purposive technique employs clear choice of cases that best allow us to provide an answer to the research question. Noted from the beginning, is my focus on multinational companies (Baldwin, 2000). This forms the basis of my research. In this paper, I will prepare a list of appropriate companies with their information necessary for this work. This is to enable me get the desired sample. Thereafter I will select different viewers from different organizations in order to acquire a range of viewpoints. As noted by Saunders, 2009; gathering data from fewer cases can lead to more detailed outcomes.

Research methods:

The research process shall mainly be conducted on the human resource department since it is the department that deals with hiring and employee management. The research shall also be conducted on three different international companies in order to compare the results from these surveys.

Observation:

Observation is among the data collection methods that I shall use. I shall closely monitor the activities of the management team in all the organization (Baldwin, 2000). From this form of data collection, I shall be able to collect data relating to the effectiveness of the management and the ability of the management team to deliver efficiently on the organization’s needs. Observation shall also enable me to gather information on the management abilities of the management individuals.

Interviews:

The interview process shall be conducted on the management team and the human resource management team. The human resource department deals with the hiring process and other processes involving employee relations (Baldwin, 2000). Conducting interviews on the human resource department and the management level individual shall help in gathering information of the effectiveness of different hiring methods and the best individuals to hire on foreign assignments or organizations.

Questionnaires:

To further improve on the interview process, I shall also gather information and data through the use of questionnaires (Caligiuril, 2009). The questionnaires shall be distributed to the individuals within the human resource department and the management level. The information collected shall then be analysed to come to the intended conclusions and to understand the best employment method, based on the information collected, to use in case of international assignments.

Surveys:

I shall conduct surveys together with the observation process. The survey and observation processes shall be used in the collection of observed data and conclusions reached through observation. For example, through surveys, one may reach to a conclusion about time management in an organization. Such information may be used in concluding of the effectiveness of the management level team, which is greatly influence by the hiring process in the international levels.

Sample of questionnaire and questions to be used in the research process:

1. Which hiring method to your organization use?

· Ethnocentric

· Polycentric

· Geocentric

2. Which if the three hiring processes do you find effective?

· Ethnocentric

· Polycentric

· Geocentric

3. How do you measure the effectiveness of a hiring style?

4. How do you measure the effectiveness of management, especially newly employed management level staff?

5. Some of the advantages of hiring local people to work in an organization

6. Some of the advantages of hiring foreign employees to work in an organization

7. Strategies that may enable a hiring process remain successful at all times

Secondary data:

To further complement the information gathered, I shall gather more information from other forms of research. For example, I shall use the library and the internet to collect more information of how to effectively hire a workforce in an international setting. This will help me in reaching a conclusion on the research.

Ethical Issues

While conducting this research, I noted that ethical issues are involved and must not be ignored. These issues involve matters affecting participants, researchers, the nature of participants and confidentiality issues. Also important are matters involving recruitment of the participants. Ethical issues must be observed keenly in order for the research to meet the expected standards. Ethics demands that children or vulnerable people should not be part of the research. This is because this group of individuals can easily be manipulated and the resulting research content becomes inaccurate. Participants are expected to clearly comprehend the verbal explanations and written materials for effective interview and responses. Researchers must at all times try and avoid conflicting interests. Participants’ recruitment should follow a laid down procedure. There should be no coercion or enticement to participate. A good research should meet the set standards for affectivity.

Conclusion

It’s prudent to note that research requires primary data that is collected directly through observation from the field. This data is very useful as it equips the researcher with the necessary knowledge on the ground and how to improve on it. Secondary data is also important; it can be retrieved from journals, publications, magazines among others. This kind of data is useful for reference and can direct the researcher on what is best for effective research outcome. When applying the measurement scales, ensure to employ the most appropriate for good outcome. For instance, apply nominal scale where no order is required for the data. Apply ordinal when the data is to be ranked. Also important is interval and ratio scale. Apply them when the research demands their usage.

References

Baldwin, D. A., Wilkinson, F. C., & Barkley, D. (2000). Effective management of student employment: Organizing for student employment in academic libraries. Englewood, Colo: Libraries Unlimited.

Caligiuri, P, Tarique, I, and Jacobs, R. (2009). Selection for International Assignments.

Falcone, P. (2002). The hiring and firing question and answer book. New York: AMACOM.

Hauser, P.M (1942). Proposed Annual Census of population.

Ramsay, R. T. (2008). Management's guide to effective employment interviewing: Fair, valid methods for hiring qualified personnel. Chicago: Dartnell Corp.