Objectives of the Study
As a person with knowledge of staff turnover and retention, the author has always brought up to his superiors the viability of strategy formation regarding staff turnover and retention management and at times fail to understand the reasons or logic behind certain strategic implementations imposed on it.
By delving into this project paper, the author intends to have better insights into how staff turnover and retention is thought up, formulated and then imparted down. The author hopes to have an in-depth understanding as to how the staff members reconcile the need to become more strategic with the demands of managers to carry out the traditional personnel roles.
In order to reinforce the learning objectives, two key focal issues were focused upon, i.e. innovation and diversity. Innovation was discussed with regards to staff turnover and retention where it was renowned for its developmental capabilities to constantly innovate. Diversity came under strategic thinking and formation as the author considered the diverse culture, political climate, economic surroundings, social environment, technological settings, government policies and legal systems in order to understand staff turnover and retention.
Statement of the Problem
It is said that there exists a high turnover rate in Hong Kong’s Fairwood fast food chains. Hence, the causes of this must be investigated and effective retention strategies must be done and implemented in order to better understand these circumstances.
Statement of Hypothesis
Fairwood fast food chains experience a high turnover rate because their employees are not happy with the conditions of employment .
Purpose of the Study
This study was conducted in order to determine the causes of high staff turnover among the Fairwood fast food chains in Hong Kong, and provide meaningful retention strategies to remedy this problem.
This study also aimed to increase the awareness and provide a better understanding of the issues and problems concerning retention strategies for employees in order to contribute an effective approach in addressing their problems.
Significance of the Study
If the causes of high staff turnover among the Fairwood fast food chains in Hong Kong will be determined, this study will be a benefit to various organizations handling similar problems. As the approach of this study is more on the technical rather than the personal aspect, the families of these employees will not be able to apply the same technique at home. Also, if effectiveness is supported, this study will be significant in developing underachieving employees as productive and effective professionals in the future.
Research Questions
Specifically this study will address the following questions:
1. What significant causes of high staff turnover among the Fairwood fast food chains in Hong Kong were determined?
2. What specific alternatives or retention strategies can be done to help lower the staff turnover in the organization?
Assumptions
The research was based on the following assumptions: (a) all participants were utilizing the correct procedures as outlined in the guidelines for the specific methodology employed, and (b) all participants will answer questions honestly to the best of their ability.
Limitations
Time was the greatest limitation to this research, which hindered long-term outcome objectives. Environmental factors, such as socioeconomic status and work attendance were not controlled, and that created many variables within the research. As this study utilized a small sample of employees, the results may not effectively represent the general population.
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
All companies and organizations are governed by their basic goals and objectives. These objectives are often regarded to as the “corporate vision” or “corporate philosophy” ( 2001). Thus, certain strategies are being implemented with the aim of achieving these goals and objectives, and this constitutes a key element in the characterization of a company or organization. Staff members are undoubtedly an important indicator in determining the characteristics of a company or organization.
It is a well known fact that staff members play a crucial role towards differentiation and a potent source of competitiveness for any organization or company. Therefore, any organization must constantly invest in human resource professional development even during periods of recession. However, the determination of the extent to which an organization can invest in terms of staff turnover and retention depends on the financial capabilities of the company or organization (2004). Finances will also be carefully considered in determining the target for training and development, because it should jive with the basic policies of an organization’s human resource development strategy.
Staff turnover and retention in most organizations and companies in the past decade has gradually transformed from low-level activities into high-profile contributors to organizational success (2002). However, budgets are also elevating at a faster rate than the gross national product. In the midst of this growth and increased influence, managers and executives of companies and organizations are left with a confusing question: Who among our staff members should be retained or not?
Goals / Objectives of Staff Turnover and Retention
Staff turnover and retention have four main objectives:
A) Retain the top professionals and let go of underperforming personnel. Being on top of the industry enables professionals and staff members to command the respect and confidence of the public, thereby getting retained in their respective positions. Thus, these professionals and staff members are able to expand their expertise aside from the traditional personnel roles through the acquisition of critical knowledge and skills (2001).
B) Gain more income than other companies and organizations. The services that are being laid down by excellent and hardworking staff members and professionals are able to meet high quality standards of their clients. As a result, the organizations employing these staff members are able to earn more income as against other companies in other industries.
C) Establish the best brand of quality HR services; and
D) Maintaining the quality of staff members. Having an office with quality professionals and staff members allows organizations and companies to continue their tradition of excellence in both its services by setting new trends and standards.
More often than not, staff members don’t really make an immediate impact upon performance of the traditional personnel roles. Instead, they engage in activities that gradually propel them towards the high level of importance, thereby greatly increasing their chances for retentions. However, the roles that staff members play are not limited to traditional personnel roles. Activities such as educating the public and other social responsibilities are often related with staff members. A great deal of emphasis lies on the efficiency and effectiveness of these roles. Therefore, understanding staff retention and turnover includes the analysis and management of their significant roles (2003).
Staff Retention and Turnover Criteria
Most companies and organizations’ criteria for staff turnover and retention can be summarized into five (5) main aspects. These are:
· Planning and Strategy Formation Capabilities
Planning and strategy formation nowadays has created the need for staff members to become aggressive especially in the area of marketing themselves. This is because the access to strong distribution channels is critical for their continued retention in any company or organization.
· Decision-making Capabilities
Upon arriving at the correct decision or choice, the staff member now gains confidence in his / her ability to make critical decisions or choices especially when his / her integrity and job retention is on the line. Thus, this staff member will now search for even more challenges and opportunities where he / she could further enhance his / her decision-making abilities regarding current human resource issues.
· Analytical Skills
Through the exposure to various puzzling human resource issues, the staff member along the process is able to develop a holistic mindset regarding the issues surrounding him / her. The staff member now becomes a keen observer of the truths and lies surrounding the issue being tackled, instead of relying on mere hearsays. The continuous pursuit of the truth behind the puzzling issues enables the staff member to consistently practice and enhance a healthy and holistic mindset which makes it difficult for detractors to give influence. Because of this holistic approach, the staff member is able to effectively select the right choice and continue to maximize this potential for future use, leaving their employers impressed and wanting them to stay in their company (2002).
· Mental Stability
Mental stability is crucial especially in the pursuit of the correct decision as well as the management and development of the processes accompanying it. It is important for staff members to remain updated with the latest developments to be able to stay aware and knowledgeable in all issues.
· Performance and Credibility
The production of their best human resource outputs comes as a result of well-funded research management and development activities. The strong performance of staff members and their outputs could also be linked to the effective strategic planning and human resource mobilization. Thus, the staff member’s retention status increases as his / her performance becomes better.
METHODOLOGY
Methods of Research to be Used
For this study, the descriptive method will be utilized. In this method, it is possible that the study would be cheap and quick. It could also suggest unanticipated hypotheses. Nonetheless, it would be very hard to rule out alternative explanations and especially infer causations. Thus, this study will use the descriptive approach. This descriptive type of research utilizes observations in the study. To illustrate the descriptive type of research, (1994) guided the researcher.
The purpose of employing this method is to describe the nature of a situation, as it exists at the time of the study and to explore the cause/s of particular phenomena. The researcher opted to use this kind of research considering the desire of the researcher to obtain first hand data from the respondents so as to formulate rational and sound conclusions and recommendations for the study.
To come up with pertinent findings and provide credible recommendations, this study will utilize two sources of research: primary and secondary. Primary research data will be obtained through this new research study. Questionnaire survey and in-depth interview will be conducted. On the other hand, the secondary research data will be obtained from previous studies on the same topic.
The Research Design
In order to come up with the most suitable research approaches and strategies for this study, the research process “onion” will be undertaken. This is because conducting a research is like peeling the back layers of an onion—in order to come to the central issue of how to collect the necessary data needed to answer the research questions and objectives, important layers should be first peeled away. With the said process, the researcher was able to create an outline on what measures are most appropriate to be applied in the study.
2003) said that while it is not unusual for a researcher to first think of his research undertaking by considering whether one should, for instance, administer a questionnaire or conduct interviews, thoughts on this question should belong to the centre of the research ‘onion’. That is, in order to come to the central issue of how to collect the data needed to answer one’s research questions, there are important layers of the onion that need to be peeled away: the first layer raises the question of the research philosophy to adopt, the second considers the subject of research approach that flows from the research philosophy, the third examines the research strategy most applicable, the fourth layer refers to the time horizon a researcher applies to his research, and the fifth layer is the data collection methods to be used.
Figure 1 shows how the researcher conceptualized the research approach to be applied in this study by (2003), in order to come up with the pertinent data needed to answer the research questions stated in the first chapter, as well as to arrive to the fulfillment of this research undertaking’s objectives. Then again, the research philosophy that is reflected in this study is positivism. With this research philosophy, a researcher prefers to work with an observable social reality in order to come up with law-like generalizations similar to those produced by the physical and natural scientists (1998), and in this tradition, the researcher becomes an objective analyst, coolly making detached interpretations about those data that have been collected in an apparently value-free manner (2003). In addition, the emphasis is on a highly structured methodology to facilitate replication (1997) and on quantifiable observations that lend themselves to statistical analysis (2003). In here, the assumption is that the researcher is independent of and neither affects nor is affected by the subject of the research ( 1998;1998).
Meanwhile, the second layer shows that this study has undertaken a deductive approach. Accordingly, this approach has five sequential stages: deducing a hypothesis; expressing the hypothesis in operational terms; testing this operational hypothesis; examining the specific outcome of the inquiry to either confirm the theory or indicate the need for its modification; and finally, modifying the theory in the light of the findings (if necessary) (1993). Further, the deductive approach has a number of important characteristics. First, this approach is a search to explain causal relationships between variables, which consequently leading to the development of a hypothesis. Second, it involves the collection of a quantitative data (although it can, as well, use qualitative data), and these data are important to test a hypothesis that has been previously developed. The third characteristic of a deductive approach is that it controls to allow the testing of hypothesis. However, one must remember that with this approach, it is important that the researcher is independent of what is being observed—that is, the researcher should be objective and not subjective—so that the principle of scientific strictness will be pursued, as this approach emphasizes scientific principles. (2003) Also, it is important that concepts are operationalized, which will enable facts to be measured quantitatively. Finally, the deductive approach is generalization (e.g., to be able to generalize about regularities in human social behavior, one must be able to select a sufficient numerical size of samples). (2003)
Instruments to be used
A self-administered questionnaire, or the type of questionnaire that is usually completed by respondents ( 2003), had been constructed by the researcher to gather the needed data. To further enhance the study on the customer satisfaction, the researcher prepared a survey-questionnaire wherein the respondents graded each statement. Every statement constituted of four levels of responses namely very satisfied, quite satisfied, quite dissatisfied and very dissatisfied. The equivalent weights for the answers were:
Range Interpretation
3.50 – 4.00 Very Satisfied
2.50 – 3.49 Quite Satisfied
1.50 – 2.49 Quite Dissatisfied
0.00 – 1.49 Very Dissatisfied
The decision was made to use a questionnaire for the data collection for this project due to the sensitivity of the information being obtained. It is important for the respondents to be open and honest in their responses. The use of the questionnaire provides the researcher with the ability to test the views and attitudes of the patients.
The survey-questionnaires also will use open-ended questions to obtain as much information as possible about how the interviewee feels about the research topic. Interviews will take between one and two hours. The questions that will be used during the interview will be based on the research questions for this project; they have been reviewed, refined and approved by the project supervisor. The researcher designed a semi-structured interview. Here, the researcher will encourage the interviewee to clarify vague statements and to further elaborate on brief comments. The interviewer did not share his/her own beliefs and opinions.
Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment