Influence of Employee Retention Strategies on the Performance of Spotless Group

Introduction

In this third chapter the research method will be described, and it justifies how ultimately the research question will be answered. There are different subjects that all together form the research method. These subjects entail the data collection methods, justification for the choice of methods, the application of the methods, and lastly, the ethical requirements.

The research method is an essential process in the research project, because it will show the research that is required to receive an answer to the question. Next to this, it gives the author a good opportunity to create a clear overview of what the project will look like and how the project will continue in the further steps of the research project.

The choice of the research design

There are different methods when choosing the research design. According to Verhoeven (2019) which are the following, (1) exploratory research, which is used to define, refine, and/or test measurement tools and procedures, (2) descriptive research, which attempts to describe systematically a situation, problem or service, (3) explanatory research, which is used to clarify why and how there is a relationship between two aspects of a situation, and (4), correlation research is to discover the existence the relationship between two or more aspects of a situation.

There for, in this particular research the aim of the author is to research the possible positive and negative influences on the employee job retention procedures in the Spotless Group. This results in the fact that the author is going to focus on experimental/factorial research. Experimental research entails that this approach needs a scientific approach, and it is used to compare and contrast the data. This usually means that the data collection method is quantitative (Kumar, 2014). Quantitative and qualitative approaches differ a lot, and with quantitative approaches the focus is a structured approach and to quantify the variation and diversity. In this particular case the author is looking at a relationship determined between different variables which influence the employee retention procedures followed by the company the Spotless Group.

To conclude, because the employees are all working for the same company in the same branch, this can be seen as a within-subject design. An advantage of this type of design is that the subjects can be treated in the same way, which makes the choice of research design faster and more efficient.

Instrument / Independent Variables

In this part of the research the explanation and substantiate of the research is applied. The author will focus on surveys/questionnaires filled out by the different employees in the Spotless Group, thus this means that the subject in the experimental research are the employees working at the Spotless Group. The questions that will be covered in the survey will include all the different aspects that are seen as positive and negative impacts on the employee retention program. The dependent variable in the research is the employee retention. The reason for this type of instrument is to enhance the possibility of answering the question “How does the employee retention procedure influence the Spotless Group?”

This will show the cause and effect outcome to the research question. The research question will look for a relationship between the different independent variables, such as salary, work/life balance, communication, management, performance, work load, job satisfaction and work ethics, and how this influences the employee retention. All these different independent variables will be seen as a cell in the total picture of the research project. These cells will be combined with the different results of the surveys, and this will be presented in a Likert scale, which can actually show the comparisons, effects, and interactions of the research.

The results of the research, in this case the surveys filled out by the employees, most likely will be presented in a Likert Scale. This is a scale that is showing the answers to a level of agreement in a 5- point scale. The statement may be either agreeing or disagreeing (Tullis and Albert, 2008). When looking at the different extraneous variables which can effect on internal validity, there are six different types. In the case of this particular research the author will look into the instrumentation effect, which is about changes in procedures could cause a change in the dependant variable (in this research this would mean the employee retention procedures).

Population/ Subjects

The population chosen for this research will be the employees of the Spotless Group. This does not include all the employees of the company, but only the employees that are workingat the branch in Rhodes where the author is employed. There are different groups in the population sample that will be included in the research. When looking at the overall number of employees working for the Spotless Group branch in Rhodes, the amount entails around 300 people. There are different departments that the Spotless Group is looking after. These departments include the Department of Education, Department of Housing, Coca Cola, Defence, Healthcare/Hospitals, Universities, and Hospitality. To combine all these departments, the helpdesk employees are working to transfer the right customers to the right departments. In all the departments there are senior managers working, middle managers and lower level employees, in administrative jobs and the helpdesk. The control variables that will be blocked in this experiment are the top- management employees of the company. The author has chosen to block these employees from the experiment because the answers provided by them might give an insignificant outcome to the research. The reason for this is that the top-management employees might actually be involved or responsible for the employee retention strategy applied in the company. And therefore, their answers to the survey might be biased.

This influences the number of the participants included in the research. The number of surveys handed out will be 100. This means that the participants will be a mixture of middle level managers, administrative employees, and the employees working at the helpdesk. The main effect of an independent variable on a dependant variable is to experiment with all the different variables, and to see how they influence each other. An example could be the following question: “How does job flexibility influence the employee retention?” A different outcome of the research can show that there might not be certain correlations between different independent variables, and thus that there is no relation to the employee retention procedures in the company the Spotless Group.

Sampling Method / Test Unit Selection

The sample and the sampling method refer to the way that, in this case, the employees are chosen as subjects. According to Thompson (2012), sampling consists of selecting a part of the population to observe if one part of the population can actually explain something significant regarding the whole population. There are different types of sampling methods depending on the aim of the research. In this case, the author will focus on a combination of the systematic sampling method and the probability sampling method. The systematic sampling method means that the population entails one sample size unit, which in this case are the employees of the Spotless Group Rhodes branch.

The probability sampling method entails the random sampling method, which means that the population in the sample unit is selected in a random way. In this research the sampling method will be a combination of the two sampling methods, due to the fact that the random unit sampling group is all the employees working at the Spotless Group in Rhodes. The systematic unit sampling group is these same employees from different departments working in a different hierarchical level.

Moreover, it is important to mention that the statistics ‘confound variable’ might appear in the results of the research. A confound variable actually means that the dependent variable and the independent variable are both influenced. To explain this in clear words and in order to relate this to the research company, this could mean that the company culture is the confound variable. The company culture could be a dependent variable, or in other words, the main topic in a research project, or it could be the independent variable, which means that it could be a factor that influences the research question in a research project. The confound variable can be eliminated by identifying controls in the company. In the case of this particular research the controls are (1) the company culture, and (2) the senior management level who can influence the outcome of the surveys conducted in the research. Lastly, it is important to avoid negative or confusing statements in the surveys, because this could show the control impacted by the author.

Procedure and Data Collection / Experimental designing

The next part of the research includes the data collection and procedures. This entails the procedure of gathering and measuring information on manipulated variables. In this research the author will use the Post-test Only control group. This means that the research does not have observations or benchmarks before the experiment completed. The outcome of this control group will be codified in different symbols with different meanings.

In this particular research this means that the surveys will be handed out randomly to all the different employees in the company. There will be explained to the employees that participating in the research will remain strictly confidential. Next to this, it will be explained to the employees that participating in the research is not mandatory. Furthermore, the distribution of the surveys will be carried out on different moments in order to measure the dependant variable. This could mean at the start or at the end of the day, depending on the shifts worked or day of the week. Also, the difference in hierarchy could mean that the division of the surveys need to be handled in a distinct way when comparing to the regular employees. Finally, all the employees involved in the research know that the author is working at the company and what the results in the research will be used for.

Data Analysis

In the data analysis there will be explained how the collected data will be analysed and how the results will be used. For the analysis of data there are two ways in how this can be conducted. These are quantitative and qualitative data. Quantitative data is described as fixed amounts and countable data. This includes data that can be calculated, and are visible to the eye. Qualitative data is the other side of the quantitative data process. Qualitative data entails opinions, feelings, interviews, and thoughts. This means that the data is personal, and not easily calculable. For this research the author will use the quantitative data analysis, due to the fact that the author will hand out surveys to the employees. Therefore, the results of these surveys can be seen as quantitative data, because it can be calculated and the results can be compared to each other. The results of the data are presented with the use of the software program called SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) which is used for interactive or statistical analysis.

Ethical considerations

Ethical considerations are seen of great consequence of the methodology in a thesis. Without this part written in a thesis the whole research project might be doomed. The reason why it is so important is the fact that the author can actually secure certain rules and regulations in the research project. Firstly it is important to secure that the safety of the participants is provided. Next to this, it is important that the participants know that it is not mandatory to engage in the research project. Following up on this, when conducting a questionnaire/survey it is important that offensive or otherwise unacceptable language is being avoided in the project. Correspondingly, the nomination of participants’ anonymity is extremely important in any research project.

To conclude, it is crucial that when conducting test-marketing in a research, not to harm the competitors or to interfere with the competitor’s test-marketing environment. In this particular research those two statements are not applicable. By stating all these different rules and regulations for the setup of the research, it creates a safe environment and good start for the rest of the research project. Lastly, it is important that all the communication about the research project is clear and honest.