This report is based on an imaginary company called Globalbridge Connect PVT. LTD. It services two mainly aspects: call center operations and research & development, meanwhile, call center operations includes inbound campaigns and outbound campaigns. The headquarter of it is in Newyork, USA and the sub office is in Lahore, Pakistan. Globalbridge Connect PVT. brings together the expanding capabilities of telecommunications and Internet technologies and employs over 4000 people. The functions are as follows:
Production
Management Information Systems (Centralized)
Outbound Campaigns (Centralized)
Inbound Campaigns (Centralized)
Operations
Finance (Centralized)
Expat Relations Management (Decentralized)
Facilities & Administration (Centralized)
Project Management (Centralized)
Information Technology (Decentralized)
Marketing (Decentralized)
Sales (Decentralized)
Employee Development
Training & Development (Centralized)
Human Resource Management (Decentralized)
Above all, for call-center, to improve employee motivation is a common issue, while to involve employees and to create initiatives to inspire people to participate are a serious issue as well. Therefore, to investigate what approach this call-center organization should take towards employee participation to discover whether the approach would improve employees' motivation will be significance.
First of all, this report states the literature review in order to put forward the questions area. Those are how should the authority of organization work and how to improve internal communication, also to establish making-decision process. Second, it is methodology part and explains and justifies the methodology which would be adopted and the reason of being chosen as well. The third part describes the methods of data collection, types of data to be used which includes qualitative and quantitative data, an explanation of methods of data analysis. The last part is the ethical issues to be observed and the potential limitations of the research and last but not the least is conclusion.
Literature Review
Regarding motivation boosting up the individual employee performance various authors have written a number of articles and researches Kennish in this part of his article says that motivations leads to a more productive environment .It says that: "Motivation can be induced by the employer or reside within the employee. Employees have higher levels of motivation when they perceive that management cares about their welfare, when they are involved in the management process, and when the management labor environment is positive. Control stifles motivation while involvement creates a more productive environment. If the workers feel they are being treated fairly and with respect, this attitude will develop and guide their behavior in a positive direction. To be motivated, they must be excited about and interested in their jobs. Activities that can gain interest on the part of workers include employee participation committees, task force efforts, training programs, opportunities for outside education, newsletters, contests, and congratulatory messages from management" (Kennish, 1998)
Human Resource Management should work or linking the incentives given to the employees with the goals and objectives assigned to them so that the performance of the individual employee may be increased resulting in improved overall organizational performance. "Incentive programs to foster and reward employees performance makes sense in theory and carry an intrinsic appeal. Most people agree that the programs work in varying degrees if the criteria are objective, the employees can influence the factors on which the rewards are based, the evaluation is objective beyond reproach, and there is certainly that the incentives will come as promised. Although these programs have been common elements of compensation in private enterprise for a long time, they still must be established and operated with great care. In transit, where incentive programs remain a relatively minor part of the total human resource management scheme, their development is even more complex" (Elaine, Elizabeth k.Moser and M.Kurtz 1994)
The key to motivating employees is remembering that not all employees are the same. Something different makes each employee tick. In order to achieve motivation, managers must know each employee. Managers must have a wide range of motivational techniques available. Each employee has a different set of values and personal experiences that brought them to where they are today. Employees are motivated by learning and should likewise be motivated to learn. Workers should be offered regular opportunities to attend conferences in their respective fields, seminars, or in house training programs" (Buhler, 1998)
In order to be effective, management should be concerned with the motivating individuals on the job. Therefore, managers should seek different methods of designing motivating jobs. Job design should incorporate environmental dynamics, the organization's resources, and the job characteristics model are three methods that can be used in the process of designing motivating jobs (Robbins & Coulter, 1996).
To improve the performance of the organization the organizations have to work on their employees that how well are they performing in their individual task and goals because it effects the organization directly and to do so the organizations take in to account various factors including motivating their workforce as well. "Recent studies have expanded the concept of employee motivation beyond job design and identified issues such as motivating a diverse work force, pay for performance programs, and employee stock ownership programs. (Robbins & Coulter, 1996). Researchers suggest that management exercise flexibility when confronting a diverse workforce. For example, different groups of workers have different needs. A single mother may need day care or a second job and therefore requires specific motivators. Research also suggests that tailoring rewards to the individual workers can be a highly motivational tool. A few such tailored rewards In use today include compressed work weeks, flextime set number of hours, with flexible scheduling, job sharing, and telecommuting" (Robbins & Coulter, 1996).
Individual employee performance is so much important to any organization that they take into account each and every single factor by the help of which they can improve their employees performance by the help of which the overall organizational success can be ensured. "Employee motivation through empowerment and vision are thought to be essential ingredients of learning organizations. Peter Senge 1990, who popularized the concept of learning organizations says, "One cannot have a learning organization without shared vision. Without a pull toward some goal which people truly want to achieve, the forces in support of the status quo can be overwhelming vision establishes an overarching goal. The loftiness of the target compels new ways of thinking and acting. A shared vision also provides a rudder to keep the learning process on course when stresses develop; shared vision fosters risk taking and experimentation".
Motivation and performance and turnover relation
Several theories of motivation have been proposed including Needs Theories, Goal Setting, Equity Theory, Expectancy Theory and the Jobs Characteristics Model. Needs theories of motivation began with Abraham Maslow who first posited a hierarchical theory of needs which begin with physiological needs, then move to safety needs. Once these needs were satisfied individuals are motivated by social needs. Finally, needs for self-esteem and self-actualization are triggered when social needs are met. Later researchers simplified Maslow's hierarchy into existence needs, relatedness needs and growth needs. There is a tremendous amount of research that shows the motivating effects of goal setting. Briefly, the theory of goal setting says that once a goal is set motivation begins with the recognition of the challenge of a higher goal level. The individual must accept the goal as his or her own which leads to goal commitment. Goal commitment is also related to the desire to attain the goal and the perceived chance of attaining the goal. Burrhus Frederic Skinner (1953) believes that behaviours of employees leading to positive outcomes are repeated and those resulting in negative outcomes are not repeated. Managers should take a lesson from it and reinforce behaviours that result in positive outcomes. Victor Vroom (1964) states that employee motivation is directly proportional to rewards, i.e. positive rewards motivate employees and negative actions de-motivate them.
Methodology
Is defined as a highly intellectual human activity based in the investigation of nature and matter and deals specifically with the manner in which date is collected, analyzed and interpreted
Researchers have used the case study research method for many years across a variety of disciplines. Social scientists, in particular, have made wide use of this qualitative research method to examine contemporary real-life situations and provide the basis for the application of ideas and extension of methods. Researcher Robert K. Yin defines the case study research method as an empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context; when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident; and in which multiple sources of evidence are used (Yin, 1984, p. 23).
Deduction: Testing Theory
Deduction research approach is based on the literature, and is used to test the theories. It focuses on how the model appropriates the organization. Deductive philosophy involves the development of a theory that is subjected to a rigorous test (Saunders, 2007). Robson (2002) proposed five sequential stages to define the deductive philosophy:
deductive a hypothesis from the theory
expressing the hypothesis in operational terms
testing this operational hypothesis
examining the specific outcome of the inquiry
if necessary, modifying the theory in the light of the findings
Hence, according to the five stages, this research will suppose the organization intensified the authority, communication and established the decision - making process could be the initiatives for improving employees' motivation. After that, by using the feedback from the appraisal system and the questionnaire will get the result or conclusion for whether these three approaches will work in improving employees' performance. If they don't work, the theory will be modified to suit this organization's own instance.
Induction: Building Theory
Inductive philosophy is a different way of doing research. In inductive approach, it always uses the qualitative data collection methods. The inductive philosophy is used to building the theories and explaining the data for the recommendation (Seddighi, 2006). First, it enables to take a more informed decision about the research design. Second, it will help you to think about those research approaches that will work for you and, crucially, those that will not. Thirdly, knowledge of the different research traditions enables you to adapt the research design to cater for constraints (Easterby-Smith et al., 2002.).
Mixed methods for Research
Mixed methods research is the processes and procedures for collecting, analyzing and inferring both quantitative and qualitative data in a single study or in sequential studies, based on priority and sequence of information (Green, Caracelli, & Graham, 1989, Tashakkori & Teddlie, 1998; Creswell & Plano Clark, 2006; Creswell, Plano Clark, Guttman, & Hanson, 2003). Teddlie and Tashakkori (2003) define truly mixed approach methodology as a methodology that incorporates multiple approaches in all stages of research from problem identification to research questions, data collection, data analysis, and final inference; and includes a transformation of the data and their analyses through the other approach (i.e. quantification and qualitization of data). Tashakkori and Teddlie (2003) argue that "mixed methods designs evolved from the notion of 'triangulating' the
Information from different data sources" (p. x). However, mixed methodology evolved as a "third methodological movement" originated from the "paradigm wars," in which each camp was criticizing the other's methods of study, rigor of its procedures and the validity of its outcomes. There are some essential theoretical assumptions that should be taken into consideration and adhered to when conducting a mixed methods study. These are the pragmatist philosophy, compatibility thesis and fundamental principle of mixed methods research (Teddlie & Tashakkori, 2003; Creswell & Plano Clark, 2006). The pragmatist philosophy keeps the researchers away from pointless philosophical arguments and enables them to mix the research components in the way they believe to work for the given research problem and context. This is also consistent with the fundamental principle of mixed methods research, since this principle expresses that the "methods should be mixed in a way that has complementary strengths and non overlapping weaknesses" (Johnson & Turner, 2003, p. 299; Creswell & Plano Clark, 2006). Lastly, as for the compatibility thesis which refers to the assumption that quantitative and qualitative methods are compatible and can be mixed (Teddlie & Tashakkori, 2003; Creswell & Plano Clark, 2006). It would be impossible for any researcher to even propose such a study, if this thesis were not assumed.
Table 1 The differences and similarities between Design-Based Research and Mixed Methods
Methods for data collection
The term Quantitative and Qualitative are used widely in business and management research to differentiate both data collection techniques and data analysis procedures. The one way of distinguishing between the two is the focus on numeric or non numeric data. Quantitative is predominantly used as a synonym for any data collection technique (Such as Questionnaire) or data analysis procedure (such as graphs or statistics) that generates or uses numerical data. There is another term used multi-methods which is increasingly advocated within business and management and qualitative techniques and procedures in combination as well as uses of primary and secondary data. The term multi-method refers to those combinations techniques where more than one data collection technique is used with associated analysis techniques, but this is restricted within either qualitative or quantitative world view, (Tashakkor and Teddlie, 2003).
Ethical issues
Blumberg (2005) defines ethics as the "moral principles, norms or standards of behavior that guide moral choices about our behaviour and our relationships with others". There are two dominant philosophical points: one is deontology, and the other one is teleology. The deontological view argues that the ends served by the research should not be used by unethical research. It means the deception cannot be used in research data even it is necessary to make the data valid and reliable. The teleological view argues that ends served by research justify the means. It is also need to consider whether the benefits of the research are morally just. Therefore, many key ethical issues arise across the research project. These relate to the following points:
Privacy of possible and actual participants
Voluntary nature of participation and the right to withdraw partially or completely from the process
Consent and possible deception of participants
Maintenance of the confidentiality of data provided by individuals or identifiable participants and their anonymity
Reactions of participants to the way in which the researcher seek to collect data, including embarrassment, stress, discomfort, pain and harm
Effects on participants of the way in which researcher use, analyze and report your data, in particular the avoidance of embarrassment, stress, discomfort, pain and harm
Behaviour and objectivity of the researcher
Limitations
Because this research is based on the secondary data, so probably, these data only can show before situation, and it is not updated. Thus, whether it is reliable, there is a question mark.
The lack of comprehensive data
The lack of a sufficient conclusion
Some ethical issues may affect getting a reliable result of the investigation
On the purpose of overcoming the limitations, appropriate and effective data collecting analyzing method will be carried out strictly and as far as to get a latest news or data from Internet or magazines and these ways are reliable as well.
Conclusion
This report supposes to investigate to improve the Employee motivation and how it is related to performance. The investigation adopts the methodology of the combination of both deductive and inductive approaches; as a consequence, the data that will be used in this investigation is mostly secondary data, both quantitative data and qualitative data. By doing questionnaire among the employees and interview with the managers, the data will be collected through appropriate methods and then analyzed appropriately.
By using the former improved theories and the research result of the practical investigation, the aim of finding the ways organisation should take towards employee participation and will improve employees' motivation in order to be achieved by critical and serious attitude.
However, inevitable, there will be some limitations and shortcomings existing during or after the investigation. Appropriate countermeasure and methods will be induced in process of dealing with those negative issues.
