CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction
Two methods of data collection have been used in this study. These methods are explained in this chapter including the use of primary and secondary research and the type of semi-structured interview and self-completion questionnaire used. The study has made use of secondary sources such as journal articles, books and website articles, qualitative primary research in the form of three semi-structured interviews (regional managers and head of information technology) and a self completion questionnaire (frontline customer services staff) in the Islamic Bank of Britain were also used.
3.2 Purpose of study
The research topic knowledge management in the financial sector is under-researched therefore very little literature lies in secondary sources. To research the topic knowledge management in financial sector it was decided to follow the case study approach, therefore Islamic Bank of Britain was chosen for the purpose of this study. The primary research will assess the extent to which frontline customer service staff are capturing the knowledge within Islamic Bank of Britain, particularly tacit knowledge that resides in the experience of its staff. This research will also highlight how current initiatives are meeting to the objective of knowledge capture. To do so, important elements of knowledge management identified in the literature will be used to assess whether Islamic Bank of Britain is managing its knowledge in an effective way. The factors, which will be studied in more detailed, are benefits of and barriers to implementing a knowledge management system.
3.3 Methods of data collection
Information for the topic under investigation was acquired from primary and secondary research. Previous literature from secondary sources was considered, as it is essential to understand what previous studies and research have concluded. Primary research in the form of semi structured interviews and a self completion questionnaire, was essential to undertake to find any frequent themes from participants, themes that were already evident in the literature review, also primary research can give new insights from the perspectives of the participants ( 2003).
3.3.1 Secondary research
The secondary research in Chapter 2 highlights studies and research that were conducted by other authors that are relevant to this research. These studies made available background into the subject being considered and allowed the starting point for the questions to be formed and used in the semi structured interviews and self completion questionnaire for the primary research. Previous research studies on knowledge management in the banking sector have been attained from journal articles, books and Internet articles.
Secondary data has many advantages and disadvantages. Advantages include saving time and money, as the information has already been collected. Secondary data has a benefit such as being readily available therefore it can be obtained quickly. Secondary data can also be compared with own research findings. However, secondary data may not be relevant to ones research as it may have been collected for a purpose that does not match ones requirements ( 2003).
3.3.2 Primary research
The approach used in this research was a case study approach, where Islamic Bank of Britain was chosen as a case study organisation. Case studies may be qualitative in nature and aim to provide a detailed description of a smaller number of cases ( 2001). In addition, case studies involve intensive analysis of a specific subject rather than gathering data from a large sample and population. A variety of data collection methods are usually employed in case studies, such as questionnaires, interviews, observations and analysis of documents. Islamic Bank of Britain did not allow me to have any organisational documentation, so I have chosen to use two data collection methods. A survey within frontline services staff through a self completion questionnaire and some semi structured interviews with Regional Managers, Senior Manager Information Technology and Senior Manager Human Resource. Islamic Bank of Britain has nine braches in England including head office in Birmingham with approximately one hundred and fifty employees working in all nine branches. Distribution of employees is shown in the table below:
Branches
No. of Employees
Head office.
88
London
31
Manchester
7
Leicester
7
Birmingham
13
Total
150
Semi structured interviews
Semi structured interviews were chosen as the one of the primary research methods for this dissertation. It is a primary research method, which relies on interaction between the interviewer and interviewee through alteration between the researcher’s questions and the research participant responses ( 2003). The qualitative method of semi-structured interviews was selected to allow comprehensive analysis to understand knowledge management practices and procedures of Islamic Bank of Britain from the management’s viewpoints; this allowed participants to articulate their subjective opinion.
Semi structured interviews are a valuable tool when used as a self contained means of collecting data. This method also allowed a relevant list of themes and questions to be covered (2003). The semi-structured interviews included open-ended questions that ‘allow participants to characterize and describe a situation or event’ ( 2003). This method can attain viewpoints and experiences of participants, which could not be obtained from other methods such as questionnaires. Also the use of open-ended questions and semi-structured interviews allowed participants to talk freely about the selected topics and permits the interviewer to further the conversation into themes not previously discovered. Semi-structured interviews contain a certain degree of structure to cover a specific theme as well as to permit opportunity to ask additional questions to explore themes or issues arising during the interview. However, there were several drawbacks including that they required a lot of time to prepare, to conduct and to analyse the data gathered. Also, it was essential that certain gestures or comments were avoided so not to give an impression of bias and to avoid this having an adverse impact on the validity and reliability of the data gathered ( 2003).
Sampling
Purposive sampling were used to allow individual judgment to be used when selecting interview participants as it meant that those who were chosen were felt to be in the best position or have the right experiences to be able to answer the research questions ( 2003). (2003) also claimed that this type of sampling is often used when working with small samples and when it is necessary to select participants who are particularly informative.
Therefore, to provide a broad perspective to this research, Islamic bank of Britain was requested to provide access to the following:
- Senior Manager Human Resource for the people aspect and training policies
- Senior Manager Information Technology for the technology aspect
- Area Managers for the branch level strategies and implementation issues
Some of the participants on the list were eliminated, as they were not able to devote their time to the exercise due to work or personal commitments. This was the case of the Senior Manager Human Resource who would have been able to make a valuable contribution to this research but she was unable to participate.
Semi structured interview questionnaire structure
The interview questions were adopted from KPMG research report 2000.The type of question used were varied, incorporating a selection of both open and closed questions. Probing questions could then be used where it was necessary to explore a particular theme further. Leading questions, comments and negative non-verbal behavior were cautiously avoided so as not to lead the interviewee or indicate bias, therefore question were clearly phrased and asked in a neutral tone of voice.(2000: 256) clearly stated that ‘your approach to questioning should reduce the scope for bias during the interview and increase the reliability of the information obtained’. All the questions asked were directly linked to the research questions posed in the first chapter of this project. Interview questions are shown below in the following figure.
Interview questions
Who is responsible for the knowledge management activities in your organisation?
What are the knowledge management problems, do you think your organisation may have?
How significant is the role that effective knowledge management can play in achieving best result with respect to ….?
Least significant = 1, Extremely significant = 10
Improving competitive advantage
Marketing
Improving customer focus
Profit growth
Product innovation
Revenue growth
Reducing cost
Employee development
What are the benefits; that can be achieved from a good knowledge management system?
What techniques, are using to manage knowledge?
When, if at all, do you intend to do any of the following, or has your organisation done them already?
· Create KM strategy
· Benchmark / audit current situation
· Sharing best practice
· KM training / awareness
· Establish formal KM networks
· Incentives / reward knowledge working
· Create knowledge map
· Not demonstrate importance of knowledge vs. achievement of goals
· KM not uniform / pilot projects in place
· Utilized KM procedures / recognize benefits
· Integrated KM framework, some technical / cultural issues
· KM procedures integral, value of knowledge reported to shareholders
Recording data
The interviews arose on a one-to-one basis. Notes were taken although it is a time consuming task, because they did not allow me to record those interviews. Dealing with such a sensitive topic meant it was essential that interviewees were made to feel as comfortable and as at ease as possible and not anxious that their confidentiality would be jeopardized.
A blank template containing the questions was made so that note taking would be made easier during the interview. This made it a lot easier to refer back to specific question when analysing the data. Once data was presented, the results were then used to produce a summary of findings for each question. This was then used as a basis for discussion by relating back to the relevant sections of the literature before concluding the findings under each theme.
Self administered questionnaire
Self completion questionnaire was chosen as second method for the data collection for the purpose of this dissertation. This method was chosen as it allows many employees views to be obtained and standardized questions to be asked. Delivery and collection type of self completion questionnaire was chosen in this research. According to (2007), there are some advantages of this technique such as researcher has confidence that the right person has responded, response rate is normally higher than other techniques and it enhances the respondent’s participation. On the other hand, there are some disadvantages of this technique such as it being time consuming, high cost (travel, photocopying), loads of field work and data entry (2007)
Questionnaire design
The questionnaire for the purpose of this research in knowledge management was taken from Business in Community knowledge management survey in 2002 and the key points identified in the literature review were used to expand this questionnaire. It was intended to assess the current understanding of knowledge management, the state of communications, culture, barriers and benefits to knowledge management. There were some issues which cannot be assessed question such strategic issues. As a result, this study had to gather information about organisation culture and infrastructure through face-to face interviews, where these questions were allowed. The organization has approved the wording of questionnaire before it was given to the employees.
Sampling
The research chose to survey all staff. Islamic Bank of Britain has eight branches in England (four in London, one in Leicester, one in Manchester and two in Birmingham) and head office in Birmingham. The questionnaires were given to every employee in each branch. In head office they did not allow this to happen, however the Senior Manager Information Technology took responsibility for surveying a proportion of the head office staff. One hundred and two questionnaires were given out and seventy nine questionnaires came back. Response rate of the questionnaires is shown below in the following figure.
Branches
No. of Employees
Questionnaire given
Responses
Percentage
(%)
Head office.
88
40
22
27.85%
London
31
31
30
37.97%
Manchester
7
7
7
08.86%
Leicester
7
7
7
08.86%
Birmingham
13
13
13
16.46%
Total
150
102
79
100%
3.4 Data Analysis Methods
The primary research has been analyzed in Chapter five, where the significant background to the topic is taken into account. The finding of interviews and questionnaires were compiled through the theories and frameworks evident in Chapter two, as they provided the foundations for the research questions and themes used.
As a result, the qualitative and quantitative primary research has been analysed to identify relevant. This analysis was carried out firstly by combining the data from the questionnaires and by referring to the notes taken during each interview.
3.5 Ethical issues
Ethics issues are involved in any research and studies ( 2003). Ethical issues relating to this research existed mainly in the primary research. Ethical issues in relation to the interviews of respondents relate to the privacy, confidentiality and secrecy of respondents and data. The participants were informed of the nature, aims and objectives and also were aware of the purpose of the research and its uses. Permission was required from the participants to use the data collected towards the research. All participants were notified of these ethical issues before the interviews took place.
3.6 Gaining Access to Data
Access concerning the topic of knowledge management in Islamic Bank of Britain was firstly sought out by my own social relation with the Area Manager London, whom provided me the necessary data and support from the organisation for the purpose of my research. From which, personal meetings were arranged to collect data by using questionnaires and semi structured interviews based on specific question, which were essential for the purpose of my research. Establishing the nature of the research allowed the secondary data to be collected, however access to secondary data regarding knowledge management in the banking sector proved to be difficult to locate as a few source lies within literature.
Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com
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