Posted: June 23rd, 2015

Project Management Office

Overview …………………………………………………………………………………………….. 4
Project purpose ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 4
Pre- or co-requisite subjects ……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 4
Project outcomes ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 4
Phases and assessment ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 5
Textbook and other reading ……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 5
Other recommended reading ………………………………………………………………………………………………. 6
How to Choose a Project ………………………………………………………………………… 8
What should be the topic area of the Project? ………………………………………………………………………… 8
On what issue(s) should the Project focus? ……………………………………………………………………………. 8
Which methodology to use? ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 10
Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 10
How to Structure The Project Proposal……………………………………………………..11
Title/Topic page ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 11
1. Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 11
2. Focus for the study ………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 11
3. Project related literature summary …………………………………………………………………………………. 12
4. Planned methodology (data collection, data analysis) …………………………………………………………. 12
5. Schedule for completion ……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 13
References …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 13
Appendices ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 13
Project Proposal Evaluation Checklist………………………………………………………………………………….. 13
How to Structure the Project …………………………………………………………………..15
Title/Topic page ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 15
Executive summary …………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 16
1. Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 17
2. Orientation…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 18
3. Data collection and analysis …………………………………………………………………………………………… 20
4. Key findings ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 24
5. Key implications ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 25
6. Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 25
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APPENDIX A: Example Project Topics ……………………………………………………….27
APPENDIX B: Example Project Proposal …………………………………………………….29
APPENDIX C: Research Consent Forms ……………………………………………………..36
APPENDIX D: Project Proposal Evaluation Checklist ……………………………………39
APPENDIX E: Example Final Project with Assessor’s Comments …………………….40
APPENDIX F: Using Interviews to Collect Data ……………………………………………54
APPENDIX G: Referencing and Plagiarism ………………………………………………….59
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Overview
Project purpose
For this subject, you are required to undertake a research project which addresses an issue of strategic or functional importance to your organisation (or to another organisation of your choice or to a project relating to a newly forming organisation). You will use knowledge of a research method to implement that project, to report on the process and to identify the learning gained by the relevant organisation or by yourself.
The purpose is therefore explanatory – you need to provide not only an account of what occurred in terms of the sequence of the events but also the influencing factors, roles of key players, and the impact of decisions both intended and emergent. In this sense, it is a reflection on the past. But to achieve this, you may need to interview relevant individuals in a process of reflection and analysis. Thus, one of the core challenges of a project is finding the right balance between description and analysis.
Description without analysis will be insufficient for this Project.
Therefore, a business plan, marketing plan or anything similar is not appropriate for your Project as it will not easily lend itself to the required analysis.
Pre- or co-requisite subjects
Before beginning the Project, you must complete the core subjects. Additionally, if you are undertaking an MBA specialisation, you must first complete the subjects in that specialisation or undertake them at the same time as the Project.
Project outcomes
On completing the Project, you should be able to:
• Explain the underpinning concepts associated with the focus of the Project
• Discuss the focus of and justification for the Project, the nature of the research methodology chosen, the reasons for the choice of research methodology and the issues involved in using the chosen methodology
• Demonstrate high order of skills in observation and reflection, data collection, data analysis and synthesis of results
• Demonstrate creativity and flexibility in documenting the Project and its outcomes, your reflections as the researcher and the learning acquired by yourself as the researcher as well as the learning acquired by the participants in the Project and the organisation or yourself which is the focus of this Project.
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Phases and assessment
There are three phases in the Project:
Phase 1: Orientation and development of the Project Proposal
Phase 2: Data collection and analysis
Phase 3: Project
Phase 1 consists of:
• Identifying a suitable topic for the Project. Some of the possible topics that can be covered in your Project are shown in Appendix A. Please note that if you are undertaking a specialised MBA, you must undertake your Project in the area of specialisation. Failing that, you will be awarded a generic MBA, and your degree will not reflect any specialisation,
• Undertaking directed reading on case study research or action research relevant to the Project,
• Developing a Project Proposal and communicating with your Project Adviser to fine tune the Project Proposal to an acceptable standard. The structure of the Project Proposal is set out in the section of these materials entitled “How to Structure your Project Proposal”.
• As a guide, the Project Proposal could be between 1,000 to 2,000 words.
After your Project Proposal has been developed with your Project Advisor,
you must submit the Project Proposal to AIB and obtain AIB’s
approval before you may start work on your Project
Phase 2 comprises the systematic collection and analysis of the Project’s data and having regular consultations with your Project Adviser.
Phase 3 consists of:
• The writing of the draft Project,
• Submission to the Project Adviser for comment and feedback, and
• Final submission of the finished Project report to AIB with a total content of 4,500 to 6,000 words (excluding your cover page, the executive summary, table of contents, list of references and appendices).
The Project should satisfy the following criteria:
• Identify the critical need(s) or issue(s) confronting an existing organisation or a newly forming organisation
• Integrate the literature in the discipline area of the project
• Describe and justify the use of a research methodology
• Ensure ethical issues of informed consent are observed
• Describe the research process and analyse the data.
Textbook and other reading
The textbook is: Saunders, M, Lewis, P & Thornhill, A 2009, Research Methods for Business
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Students, Prentice Hall, London. Please use the most recent edition of the textbook available.
This textbook covers topics such as:
• Formulating and clarifying the research topic (including how to write a research proposal). Appendix A lists several project topics to provide inspiration for your Project Proposal.
• Critically reviewing the literature
• Deciding on the research approach and choosing the research strategy (this covers a wide range of possible methodologies like experiments, survey, case study, ethnography, action research, cross-sectional and longitudinal studies)
• Negotiating access and research ethics – you should use the AIB Research Consent Form with all your interviewees. This form is provided in Appendix C of these materials.
• Using secondary data (especially useful for students doing a finance Project)
• Collecting primary data using semi-structured and in-depth interviews
• Collecting primary data using questionnaires (for survey research)
• Analysing quantitative data (e.g. survey research data, financial reports etc.)
• Analysing qualitative data (like the interview data in case study research)
• Writing and presenting your Project
The textbook has numerous examples of Project research and writing.
Other recommended reading
You are encouraged to review one or two books from the list below that are appropriate for your chosen methodology, for example, action research or case study. Note that Carson et al. (2001) has an excellent treatment of case study, interview and focus group research that can be used in any business field.
Abraham, S, 1994, Exploratory Action Research for Manager Development, ALARPM.
Bouma, GD & Ling, R 2004, The Research Process, 5th edn, Oxford University Press.
Carson, D, Gilmore, A, Gronhaug, K & Perry, C 2001, Qualitative Research in Marketing, Sage, London.
Coghlan, D & Brannick, T 2004, Doing Action Research in Your Own Organization, 2nd edn, Sage Publications.
Gomm, R, Hammersley, M, & Foster, P (eds) 2000, Case Study Method, Sage Publications.
Greenwood, DJ & Levin, M 1998, Introduction to Action Research: Social Research for Social Change, Sage Publications.
Greenwood, Davydd (ed.) 1999, Action Research: from Practice to Writing in an International Action Research Development Program, Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
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Hart, C, 1999, Doing a Literature Review: Releasing the Social Science Research Imagination, Sage Publications.
Hart, C, 2001, Doing a Literature Search, Sage Publications.
Merriam, SB 1997, Qualitative Research and Case Study Applications in Education, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.
Moon, J 2000, Learning Journals: A Handbook for Academics, Students and Professional Development, Falmer/Kogan Page.
Preece, RA 1994, Starting Research: An introduction to Action Research & Dissertation Writing, St. Martins Press, New York.
Stringer, ET 2007, Action Research, 3rd edn, Sage Publications.
Yin, RK 2002, Case Study Research: Design and Methods, 3rd edn, Sage Publications.
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How to Choose a Project
What should be the topic area of the Project?
As indicated above, if you are undertaking a generic MBA (as opposed to a specialised MBA), you can choose to do a Project in any area relevant to any of your MBA subjects. However, if you are undertaking a specialised MBA, you must undertake your Project in the area of specialisation. Failing that, you will be awarded a generic MBA. That is, your degree will not reflect any specialisation.
The Project can be based on your organisation, another existing organisation of your choice or a project relating to a newly forming organisation, and can be either an extension of an assignment completed in a previous subject in that discipline area, or can focus on a different issue.
On what issue(s) should the Project focus?
Subject to the limitation stated above regarding Projects in a specialised MBA, once you have selected your topic area your focus within that area should be an issue that you want to learn more about. To help you make this choice, you must draw upon your personal interests and vision, your accumulated work experiences and the knowledge you have gained from the subjects you have studied. Most importantly, there are two questions that you must answer:
• What is an issue or area that I need to know more about if I am going to build my career or business?
• What types of organisational or entrepreneurial examples could provide the most learning for me?
A starting point for answering these questions is to think about the MBA subjects and the assignments and topics within those subjects that you received the best marks for and enjoyed the most. Appendix A has many examples of Project topics. Browsing through that list should provide you some insights to these two key questions.
Appendix A is provided for inspiration – please do not be limited by these topics
Also, you should consider the ‘Goldilocks test’ for project selection. The topic and research questions should not be “too big, too small or too hot – but should be just right”:
• Those that are too big demand too many resources (like interviewing the CFOs of the top 50 companies in Australia).
• Those that are too small are likely to be of insufficient substance (like a cost benefit analysis comparing leasing and purchase of new equipment).
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• Those that are too hot may be so because of sensitivities that can be aroused as a result of doing the research (often this is a matter that is commercially or politically sensitive and is unlikely to be approved by the organisation).
• Whereas, a project that is ‘just right’ will not have any of the above attributes and will typically be a case study (because action research takes so long to do) and will require the collection and analysis of primary and secondary data.
It is very important to identify your focus from the outset. Then, you can be more selective about what information you gather. So, it is a good idea to start with a general research idea and then focus on a related research question that your project will address. For example, (extracted from the textbook, p. 24):
• ‘Job recruitment through the Internet’ becomes focused on ‘How effective is recruiting for new staff through the Internet in comparison with traditional methods?’
• ‘Advertising and share prices’ becomes focused on ‘How does running a TV advertising campaign designed to boost the image of a company affect its share price?’
• ‘The use of aromas as a marketing tool’ becomes focused on ‘How does the use of specific aromas in supermarkets affect buyer behaviour?’
• ‘The future of trade unions’ becomes focused on ‘What strategies can trade unions adopt to assure their future viability?’
For an example of focus in a case study, see Thomas Davenport, “Teltech: The Business of Knowledge Management Case Study”. (Reference: http://www.mccombs.utexas.edu/kman/telcase.htm).
Another source of good examples of focused cases is Branding Asia.com which provides case studies of effective branding in Asia. (Source: http://www.brandingasia.com/cases/cases.htm).
Some other Internet sites that may be useful sources of focus ideas are:
• MIT Centre for Entrepreneurship: http://entrepreneurship.mit.edu/index.php
• CMO Consulting International: Innovations in Marketing Strategies http://www.webcmo.com/index.html
• Brint.com: The Premier Business Technology Knowledge Portal and Global Communication Centre http://www.brint.com/
If you are interested in the issues involved in entering an industry, you could obtain AIB’s agreement to a case study research Project that is industry focused. You might then explore one or two industries through discussing:
• What are the barriers to entry?
• What are the key success factors?
• What knowledge and skills are required to enter the industry?
• What have new entrants learnt about the industry?
• What organisational structure is most effective in the industry?
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Which methodology to use?
You can choose from a wide range of methodologies to collect data about your focus issue. Chapter 4 of the textbook is a good starting point to explore the available methodologies. As AIB is committed to work-applied methods, we advise the use of the case study research methodology or the action research methodology. However, if any of the following situations apply, it might be advisable not to undertake an action research project:
• You cannot get access to a change oriented project
• You are limited by time and your role commitments
• You do not have the knowledge, skills or access to engage in a major organisational intervention
• You lack the support of a sponsor
• Your own organisation is anxious about change oriented projects
It is important that you do not underestimate the time required to do a case study research project. It is a research project and has to be thorough in its methods and application.
One of the advantages of the case study research project is that you can undertake a study of any organisation. It does not have to be your own organisation. It can also be broader than just one organisation. You could, for example, study the development of a particular management approach in a number of organisations. One typical study would be research of the approach to new product development by two or three organisations in different industries or in the same industry.
Conclusion
The Project is designed to enable you to pursue an area of interest that is relevant to the development of your business. The main aim is to provide an avenue for learning for yourself and others who might be interested in the area. In the final analysis, you should be able to answer the three key questions:
• What did I learn from the Project?
• How does this learning relate to the literature, for example, to my textbooks?
• What learning would be valuable for others?
Please note as indicated above, a business plan, marketing plan or anything similar is not appropriate for your project.
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How to Structure The Project Proposal
Your Project Proposal must cover all the points explained within these materials. Please note that you must follow all the usual rules detailed in the AIB Style Guide including guidelines regarding citing and referencing.
Please read the example Project Proposal in Appendix B
as you read through this section of the materials
The key sections of the Project Proposal are as follows:
• Title/Topic page
• Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Focus for the study
3. Project related literature summary
4. Planned methodology
5. Schedule for completion
• References
• Appendices
Title/Topic page
State your proposed project research topic title. It should be descriptive of the focus and concise. Refer to Appendix A for many examples, which you should only use as inspiration.
1. Introduction
This section has 2 parts:
Background
Provide background information about the organisation that is the site of your research.
Project research problem (need for the study)
Establish the need for your study by describing the problem and related issues in the area that you intend to research.
2. Focus for the study
This section has 3 parts:
Purpose of research project
Provide a clear and succinct statement of the purpose of your research.
Research questions
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List your research questions. Your research questions (usually “what”, “how”, “why” or “what if”) should number about 4-6, so that the focus of your study is manageable. These research questions should not be so broad that they will demand too many resources, nor should they be so narrow as to be of insufficient substance. Also, they should not be too controversial because of sensitivities that may be aroused as a result of doing the research. Refer to the ‘Goldilocks Test’ referred to in the above section entitled ‘How to Choose a Project’. The purpose of your study is to discover the answers to these research questions. Consider carefully what research questions you will ask, as these research questions will drive your data collection and analysis.
Significance of the project
Indicate the outcomes you hope to achieve for policy and/or practice in your organisation from this research.
3. Project related literature summary
Because the Project should cover a subject area of your degree studies, the connection to the background of your degree studies must first be explained. For example, if you are researching advertising, explain how it is part of the promotion mix. If you are researching recruiting in a firm, explain how recruiting fits into the complete Human Resources Management (HRM) function. As indicated above, please note, if you undertaking your MBA in an area of specialisation, the Project must be on a topic within that specialisation.
Next, indicate your initial understanding of the Project topic based on a review of the literature. Your review does not have to be extensive for the proposal. However, you should have done an initial survey of the literature to establish your directions. List some of those references, which will usually include one or more of your textbooks and published articles relevant to your project. Your list must be relevant to your topic and correctly referenced (refer to your AIB Style Guide for examples of correct referencing).
4. Planned methodology (data collection, data analysis)
• Describe the research methodology you plan to use, and why it is the most suited for answering your particular research questions. This could, for example, be the case research method or an action research project.
• Describe the secondary data sources you will use. Are there specific published materials that can be used to provide some background and form the foundations of your research? There may be Government, Trade, Industry or workplace resources you can access.
• Explain the primary data you plan to obtain and the data collection methods you will employ such as observation, surveys, interviews and focus groups.
• What questions will you be asking and which people or organisations would you involve?
• Explain that you will be arranging for each interviewee or respondent to sign the Research Consent Forms as provided in Appendix C and that you will include those forms as an appendix to your Project.
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5. Schedule for completion
• Depict the tasks proposed and the stages/times for their completion.
• A schedule or Gantt chart would be appropriate to help with the planning of research activities and timelines. Label your timetable ‘Figure 1’ along with the title above the diagram. If you include charts, tables or figures in your Project, these would be similarly labelled and the source shown underneath (e.g. Source: Jones 2009, or Source: developed for this research).
References
List references you have consulted thus far and appear to be useful. Refer to your AIB Style Guide to ensure you have referenced correctly.
Appendices
Use appendices to display documents that are relevant to your Project Proposal, but would interrupt the flow of your proposal if they were included in the main text. You may include, for example, explanatory information about the background of your study, pilot study material, or questions for interviews.
Project Proposal Evaluation Checklist
It is very important for you to remember that your Project Proposal must be evaluated and approved by AIB before you can proceed to undertake the research required for the Project and write up your Project.
AIB assessors will use the Project Proposal Evaluation Checklist (which is reproduced in Appendix D) to determine whether your Project Proposal can be approved or not approved.
This Checklist covers the key sections of structure of the Project Proposal as detailed above. In addition, the Checklist highlights the importance of three additional things that you must take into account, namely:
• AIB Style Guide – ensure that you carefully review the AIB Style Guide and follow all the conventions (eg margin, fonts, line spacing etc) and in particular ensure that you use the correct quoting and referencing method otherwise you may be found guilty of plagiarism which carries strict penalties;
• Spelling and Grammar – ensure that you have used correct spelling and grammar in your Project Proposal by proof reading the document yourself, using the spell checker in Word and/or asking a friend to proofread the document for you;
• Structure – lastly, you should ensure that your Project Proposal has a sound structure with connections and a logical flow. There should be a logical sequence and connections between the sections so that the Project Proposal develops almost like a story.
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Therefore, please pay particular attention to the Checklist to ensure that your Project Proposal will meet the requirements for approval. If not, you will be required to correct and re-submit the Project Proposal for which an additional assessment fee will be charged by AIB.
O STRUCTURE THE PROJECT REPORT
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How to Structure the Project
This section of the materials describes the structure of the Project.
The broad structure and key sections of the Project are as follows:
• Title/Topic page
• Executive summary
• Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Orientation
3. Data collection and analysis
4. Key findings
5. Key implications
6. Conclusion
• References
• Appendices
The total length of the Project should be 4,500 to 6,000 words. Please observe the words limit because you will be penalised, as per the AIB Style Guide, if you go under or over this limit. This word count limit does not include your cover page, the executive summary, table of contents, list of references, or appendices. So, you may place any supporting material that exceeds this word limit into appendices. However, a reader should not have to look at an appendix to understand the main thrust of the points you are making in your Project. Make sure all your main points are in the body of your Project. You should refer to the appendices that will support the points you are making in the body of your Project, because the reader may not look at the appendices otherwise. (Note that relevant supporting material in these appendices that demonstrates thoughtful application of concepts could help your mark.)
The contents for each section of your Project are explained in detail next.
For each section of the Project, we have provided examples with comment annotations by an assessor on the right hand side to alert you to issues involved in the examples. A full example Project is provided in Appendix E with an assessor’s comments included.
Title/Topic page
The title of the project may be similar to the title of the Project Proposal but you may wish to modify it after feedback is provided from the assessor so that the title is a better explanation of what is intended by the research.
The title itself should capture the essence of the research, perhaps by drawing on parts of the research question(s) or the intended impact of the Project. The title should also not be too long and 10 words or less is usually quite sufficient.
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Executive summary
The executive summary is written after the first draft of the Project is completed. It is about 200 words long and should cover the following:
• a short theme sentence to orient the reader
• what was the purpose of the Project?
• why did you do it, why is it important?
• the research methodology (data collection and analysis) – what did you do and what happened?
• what were the results or findings (patterns or correlations in the data)?
• what are the implications, what is your work good for (for example, how does it confirm or disconfirm the literature, and what are the recommendations for management practice or government policy)?
For your Project, the final implications in the executive summary can often be summarised in one short sentence, for example, that managers in your local country or region can use your Project to improve their practices.
Here is an example executive summary. It is an appropriate 195 words long and correctly has no citations (but please note citations should be frequent in the rest of your Project). To save space in this and subsequent examples, the font and line spacing are reduced to 11 point and single line spacing, but the original complied with the requirements in the AIB Style Guide. The example is based on a former student’s Project.
EXAMPLE – Executive Summary
Performance management is central to gaining competitive advantage because performance management is the process through which managers ensure that employees’ activities and outputs are congruent with the organisation’s goals.
Thus the purpose of this research is to develop and implement a SME’s performance management system to ensure correct skills and competencies are developed. This was important because there has been little research about performance management in SMEs and because new Australian government regulations require this.
This research examined how one Australian SME training organisation introduced these concepts into the business. Three stages of data collection and analysis were carried out: a review of existing data, interviews and focus groups with 10 organisations and 15 individuals, and an online survey of 250 registered training organisations from around Australia. Ten organisations provided data for analysis and fifteen individuals were interviewed.
The major finding was that introduction of performance management has been difficult for many other SMEs but that the focal case had successfully gone through the transition using an action learning approach.
The case report will benefit managers in the training industry as well as other managers in other industries tasked with developing performance management systems.
Comment [CRP1]: a short theme sentence to orientate the reader
Comment [CRP2]: what was the purpose?
Comment [CRP3]: why did you do it, that is, why is it important?
Comment [CRP4]: what did you do and what happened (that is, the research method)?
Comment [CRP5]: what were the results or findings (patterns in the data)?
Comment [CRP6]: The implications can usually be summarized in one short sentence that says managers in your local country or region can use the report to improve their practices.
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1. Introduction
The Introduction should be no more than 1.5 pages of your Project (using the line spacing and font required by the AIB Style Guide) and should cover five core ideas that are different from what the executive summary was about:
1. establish the background field (the aspect of your degree studies that this Project will focus on), and assert its significant position in theory or practice;
2. summarise previous research (only one or two brief paragraphs at the most);
3. indicate gaps, inconsistencies or controversies, and why they are important;
4. state the purpose of the present research (to address point 3), state briefly the main aspects of how data was collected and analysed, and conclusions of the research (and advanced students may add a sentence about their contributions (related to point 3));
5. outline of the Project.
[
Firstly, state what the background field is – it is usually one of the topics in one of your degree subjects such as ecotourism, entrepreneurial characteristics or financial reports.
Secondly, very briefly summarise previous research about that established topic that was noted in the textbook and possibly referred to in some articles.
Then you point out that there is a gap, inconsistency or controversy about an issue within that established field. For your Project, the gap usually appears where there has been little research about how managers in your country or region actually apply the concepts. For example, the gap could be how ecotourism is done in Singapore or South Australia, the characteristics of entrepreneurs in a manufacturing industry in Ghana, or how financial statements are used in Vietnam. If you can, you might mention that this gap is an important one because the area is significant, with supporting statements such as ecotourism is growing in Singapore; entrepreneurship is critical for the development of Ghana; free enterprise is growing fast in Vietnam.
Then at about the third or fourth paragraph of the Introduction, start a new paragraph by stating your research purpose. For example, ‘The purpose of this research is to explore how one ecotourism operator in Singapore actually manages a small entrepreneurial business’, or ‘The purpose of this research is to find the four main characteristics of entrepreneurs in Ghana’. Then, briefly describe some key aspects of your research; and in one sentence, what your main findings were (to entice the reader to keep reading on).
The final paragraph of the Introduction then outlines the Project, starting with the sentence, ‘This report has five sections after this Introduction’. Then, in that paragraph you should give a brief summary of the sections – no more than one sentence per section.
Here is an example of an Introduction. It covers each of the five core ideas that need to be presented in an Introduction.
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EXAMPLE – 1. Introduction
Performance management is central to gaining competitive advantage because performance management is the process through which managers ensure that employees’ activities and outputs are congruent with the organisation’s goals (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart & Wright 2006). A foundation of performance management is a quality management system. To remain competitive, it is necessary for an organisation to develop a quality system that will ensure not only compliance with quality standards but also foster continuous improvement.
This importance of these quality management systems applies to small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) as well as to large organisations. Governments can enforce this coverage. For example, the government in Australia requires all registered training organisations (RTOs), large or small, to have a quality management system (The Training System 2008). In order to check this compliance, state and territory registering authorities may conduct regular audits of a registered training organisation’s systems, processes and practices. However, the SME registered training organisations could find it difficult to compete with the large training organisations because their resources are limited and the costs of compliance and change are high.
While some research about their quality management systems has been undertaken within large government-owned registered training organisations like Technical and Further Education (TAFE) bodies in Australian states, independent SME registered training organisations have been given little research attention even though they are expected to meet the same standards as larger ones. The lack of information about human resources in these SMEs is problematic for theory, research, and practice. Current theory is often developed and tested in large organisations. Little information exists on benchmarking by smaller organisations, including financial or non-financial performance data relative to competitors. As a result, little is known about the extent to which the theory extends to smaller entrepreneurial organisations (Wright & McMahan 1992).
Thus the purpose of this research is to develop and implement a SME’s performance management system to ensure correct skills and competencies are developed. This is achieved in a case of the successful management of a small registered training organisation within the Vocational Education and Training sector complying with Australian Quality Training Framework 2007’s (AQTF 2007) standards (DEEST 2007a). Electus established a system-wide approach to continuous improvement known as the registered training organisation Quality Framework™ (Chalkport, 2007). Electus reviewed AQTF 2007 (DEEST 2007a) requirements, researched the characteristics and behaviours of stakeholders through interviews, focus groups and a survey of managers of similar organisations within the nationally accredited training sector. The case report will benefit managers in the training industry as well as other managers in other industries tasked with developing performance management systems.
This report has five sections after this Introduction. First, a review of the literature is provided. Then data collection and analysis are described. Then key findings are discussed. Next, key implications are described. Finally, the report concludes.
2. Orientation
The second section of your Project will orient the reader by describing the background of the research Project. There are two parts of this section:
Comment [CRP7]: 1. This paragraph fulfils the requirement of the first paragraph to set the scene in the established fields of performance management and quality management.
Comment [CRP8]: This short sentence at the start of a paragraph is a theme sentence and nearly all your paragraphs should have one. The theme sentence summarises what the whole of the following parts of the paragraph will cover.
Comment [CRP9]: 2. This second paragraph summarises what has been done in the field identified in the first paragraph.
Comment [CRP10]: 3. Good point – the gap is noted in this sentence – no one has done any research into SMEs.
Comment [CRP11]: This advanced student makes the good point that the gap identified in the first sentence of this paragraph is important.
Comment [CRP12]: 4 Now the aim or objective is pointed out.
Comment [CRP13]: A brief summary of the research to make it interesting to make the reader want to keep reading on.
Comment [CRP14]: This advanced student points out why the research should be important.
Comment [CRP15]: A good short overview of the Project is provided here.
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• some more information from a review of the literature about the background field – to establish the concepts and issues underpinning this Project;
• some more information about the subject organisation(s) – to establish the research problem and related issues, the associated research questions and the significance of the Project outcomes to the organisation.
The first part provides some more of the literature about the background field like ecotourism, entrepreneurial characteristics or financial reports. You provided one or two paragraphs about this in the Introduction. But here you provide more evidence that you have read the literature (especially the textbook) and some journal articles and articles from the Internet. This discussion of the literature does not need to be very long – about half a page may be sufficient although advanced students might go up to about two pages. A definition of the core terms would be a minimum; and then a very brief description of some of the main themes in the literature about the field, usually starting at a very broad level and then narrowing it down. For example, if the field was ecotourism, start by defining the term and selecting the definition you prefer for your project from among the various alternatives. Then, start at a broad level by saying that the term of ecotourism covers a wide range of tourism from reef activities through bushwalking to nature-based attractions like zoos. Finally, describe the narrow aspect of ecotourism explored by your project, like reef activities, for example.
The second part of this section describes the subject organisation that is the target of the study. Discuss its origins, how it became involved with the business issues in question (the research problem), what it needs to address (the research questions), and why the focus of the study is important to this organisation (the significance of the Project). For example, this section may describe how a reef resort was established and how it has grown, how casinos are being developed in Singapore, how a small software company was established in Adelaide, or how a hotel is operating in Ho Chi Minh city.
This whole section will take about three or four pages. In the example Project about Electus noted above, there were two paragraphs explaining what performance management and quality management were and why they were important based on a review of the literature. Then the example section oriented the reader about the Electus case study, as shown below. In the example below, the first part that elaborated on performance management and quality management is skipped. It starts with the second part about the case study. Some other parts of the section are also skipped so that you are not overwhelmed by detail, and these excisions are shown with an ellipsis (…).
EXAMPLE – 2. Orientation
2.1 Literature review
…
2.2 Case study: Electus
…The Australian government recognised the need to ensure quality in the national training sector and released the Australian Quality Training Framework essential standards in 2005, revising it again in 2007 to include voluntary excellence criteria for continuous improvement. All registered training organisations are required to focus on quality outcomes rather than compliance with
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regulations; a big shift in thinking for some of them. Electus is one of the few SMEs able to make the shift. Furthermore, performance management measurements are the core of its required change in strategy.
…
Electus is a computer application and professional development training provider, located in Adelaide, South Australia. It has been operating for over twenty years and is dominant in its market. As an SME, Electus has been dedicated to designing customised information, communication and technology training solutions to meet skills development requirements for corporate and government personnel, and for many years has been recognised as a ‘best practice’ provider. Systems and procedures have been designed to ensure clients receive quality training. However, until 2007 when it made a strategic change, Electus was not a registered training organisation and therefore, while providing its clients with a good service in single topic technology training, it could not offer a training pathway for national accreditation. Also affected by other changes in the workforce because of a national skills shortage, Electus identified itself as being in an unsustainable position and had to craft a new strategy in order to compete in the vocational education and training sector.
Through a SWOT analysis, Electus saw an opportunity. Government incentives for increased training opportunities and the strength of existing best practice reputation for delivery of non-assessed courses required a change in strategy which would include the use of management systems that would ensure compliance. After reviewing its position, a new strategy was crafted (Thompson et al. 2006). Work was undertaken to align courseware with the national standards for accredited training and apply for registration as a registered training organisation… Electus also chose to move beyond compliance and aspire to the voluntary ‘excellence criteria’ that are based on a set of validated best practice management principles contained in the AQTF 2007 to provide a set of guidelines designed to accommodate diversity and innovation. The criteria define the ways that registered training organisations may operate to achieve high quality outcomes (DEEST 2007b).
Initially, Electus’ administrative, support and sales teams were confused about expectations and found it difficult to proactively take on new tasks. Trainers were afraid the added complexity of compliance records would create an additional workload for which they would not be remunerated. By engaging all stakeholders in group sessions to assist in gaining an understanding of the impact change will have on each role and gain organisation wide culture of ownership, Electus was able to defuse much of the angst and encourage a mindset ready for change.
In brief, performance management is key part of implementing a strategy. The challenge for Electus was to be able to continue offering a best practice service while also gaining ‘street-cred’ as a quality provider of nationally recognised training by building institutional status in a sector dominated by government-run Technical and Further Education bodies. New performance measurements congruent with strategic goals had to be set to align with the government mandated standards in the AQTF (2007)…
3. Data collection and analysis
This section describes your research methodology, that is, how you collected your information, for example, through interviews or case studies. You must provide precise details of this methodology, for example, how many interviews were done and who was involved; and you must describe the data collection methods used (such as how the interviews were done) with some references to the textbook and other sources to show that
Comment [CRP16]: A broad picture of the background fields of performance management and quality management have already been given in the first part of this section – a definition, various types and so on – but it is skipped in this example. This paragraph in the example is just the final part of that start of the section. There is mention of performance management in this paragraph because that is what the research is about. The paragraph leads from that discussion of the literature into the case.
Comment [CRP17]: A good amount of specific details here.
Comment [CRP18]: This is a good, short theme sentence at the start of a paragraph that summarises what the whole paragraph will be about. Excellent writing technique.
Comment [CRP19]: A citation to the text – good work.
Comment [CRP20]: Another good theme sentence. This paragraph will be about the initial steps taken by Electus.
Comment [CRP21]: This has been a long section so this summary paragraph at the end (starting with ‘In brief,’) is handy. The reader now has the background understanding required to read on.
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the methods were applied correctly. Explain how your interview or survey questions are related to the focus and objectives of the Project. You must include a copy of the interview questions or the survey questionnaire in an appendix.
As well, describe how your data was analysed. When reporting what the data showed, start with the overall picture first and then go into the details; that is, give the forest before describing the trees in the forest, as shown below. When describing information from interviews, first give the main finding in your own words and then occasionally give a quotation from an interviewee to prove to the reader that your interpretation is correct. Here is an example from the Electus Project of how the forest is described before the trees in the forest, and a quotation is added:
EXAMPLE
Discussions with managers of registered training organisations, in particular compliance managers, illuminated three significant issues of cost, change and benchmarking. The first issue concerns financial restraints on a small business. Implementing change in order to comply with government changes creates financial stress in the organisation. Many respondents said that finding the resources to train all staff in the new approach is impossible. In particular, trying to remunerate professional staff for their time to learn about AQTF requirements, when they are paid to train rather than for administration, is a problem. One manager participating in a focus group session talked about his situation said, “Time and money for inviting trainers to go to professional development is our biggest constraint”.
As well, ethics considerations should be covered, for example, explain that the AIB Research Consent Form (see Appendix C) was used for interviewees to give their informed consent, and that copies of these are included in an appendix.
If you use just one case, you should justify doing so. Having only one case is unusual but can be justified if it meets just one or more of these three criteria (Yin 1994):
• the case is a critical one for confirming, challenging or extending a theory because it is the only one that meets all of the conditions of the theory;
• the case is rare or extreme and finding other cases is so unlikely that research about the situation could never be done if the single case was not investigated (for example, a clinical psychology case sometimes fits in this category);
• the case provides unusual access for academic research, and unless the case is investigated, an opportunity to investigate a significant social science problem may be lost. An example may be the access to his or her own firm provided to a researcher to show how strategic marketing planning is actually done in the real world (with all its confidential information, power politics and human weaknesses that usually prevent academic researchers from finding out the real story about it).
Give citations for your research methodologies. Your textbook for the Project is the bare minimum reference:
Comment [CRP22]: Note how well organised everything is. This blocking of everything into three blocks is very easy to follow.
Comment [CRP23]: The overall picture of the finding is given at the start and then the details and proofs are given. That is, give the forest before describing the trees in the forest.
Comment [CRP24]: This insertion of quotations into the report helps to convince the reader that you have actually found what you are saying you found. This is an important point.
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• Saunders, M, Lewis, P and Thornhill, A 2009, Research Methods for Business Students, FT Prentice Hall, Harlow, England.
You should cite some other sources of information about how to collect data. These three sources are excellent references about case research.
• Carson, D., Gilmore, A., Perry, C. and Gronhaug, K. 2001, Qualitative Marketing Research, Sage, London. (The manuscript of the chapter in this book that covers interviewing to collect information about a case is in Appendix G)
• Perry, C 1998, ‘Processes of a case study methodology for postgraduate research in marketing’, European Journal of Marketing, vol.32, issue 9/10, pp. 785-802.
• Yin, R 2008, Case Study Research – Design and Methods, 4th edn, Sage, London. (Earlier editions are adequate, too).
Here is an example of the research method (data collection and analysis) section in the Electus Project. Note that some quotations are correctly included to verify and illustrate the findings from interview data. Again, some parts of the section are skipped so that you are not overwhelmed by details, and these excisions are shown with an ellipsis. By the way, do not refer to the literature from section 2 while you are analysing the data in this section above – the linkages back to literature and the findings are identified in the key implications section, not in this section.
EXAMPLE – 3. Data collection and analysis
The framework for an action learning implementation of a performance management system at Electus merged from three different but related processes. Stage one was a thorough understanding of the requirements for AQTF 2007 standards and voluntary excellence criteria. This stage used secondary data. The second stage involved the collection of primary data from interviews and focus group meetings with managers and staff of Electus and other registered training organisations (Saunders,Lewis & Thornhill 2003). Ten organisations provided data for analysis and fifteen individuals were interviewed. Each interviewee signed the AIB Individual Consent form. The third and final stage also collected primary data. It was an online survey presented in the form of an opportunity for all registered training organisations to benchmark their performance. Quantitative data collected was analysed and returned to each participating registered training organisation for in-house monitoring of the effectiveness of their management systems.
The research methodology was single case research (Perry 1998; Saunders,Lewis & Thornhill 2003; Stokes & Perry 2007; Yin 1994) involving Electus, a small registered training organisation. Having only one case was justified because, firstly, it provided unusual access for academic research, and unless the case was investigated, an opportunity to investigate a significant social science problem may be lost. The researcher was the managing director of Electus and access to her own firm provided information that academic researchers can miss from a real story about a situation (like commercial-in-confidence information, power politics and human weaknesses).
A second justification for the single case is that a small registered training organisation in Australia provides a rare chance to investigate a SME successfully using performance management for a strategic purpose. The Australian government recognised the need to ensure quality in the national training sector and released the Australian Quality Training Framework essential standards in 2005, revising it again in 2007 to include voluntary excellence criteria for
Comment [CRP25]: This section has a brief summary of the three stages and then it will go into some details of each stage in later parts of the section that have their own sub-heading.
Comment [CRP26]: This student really is quite advanced. A good student will justify the methodology and this is done in this and in the next paragraph.
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continuous improvement. All registered training organisations are required to focus on quality outcomes rather than compliance with regulations; a big shift in thinking for some of them. Electus is one of the few SMEs able to make the shift. Furthermore, performance management measurements are the core of its required change in strategy.
Stage one – initial reconnaissance
Secondary research from three sources was the first step of data collection. The National Centre for Vocational Education Research is Australia’s principal provider of vocational education and training research and statistics. It undertakes study of practitioners in order to determine levels of competence and identify skills gaps. It also provides guidelines and tools that can be used to develop managers and leaders to deliver higher quality training services nationally.
As well, the Australian Bureau of Statistics along with the Australian Government Department of Employment and Workplace Relations provided information on: labour market characteristics, skill shortages, vacancy trends, future directions of various occupations, and vocational education and training participation.
These sources helped Electus embed a quality system of continuous improvement as required by AQTF 2007 and take advantage of market trends and opportunities. But note that this research project about Electus is different from some of the research from those sources because most of The National Centre for Vocational Education Research’s target is large public providers such as Technical and Further Education bodies, universities and large private registered training organisations.
Stage two – interviews
The second stage of data collection was interviews. Each interview was conducted by the researcher who ensured all ethical issues of informed consent were observed. Approval was granted by those quoted within the report.
Data analysis of this stage. Discussions with managers of registered training organisations, in particular compliance managers, illuminated three significant issues of cost, change and benchmarking. The first issue concerns financial restraints on a small business. Implementing change in order to comply with government changes creates financial stress in the organisation. Many respondents said that finding the resources to train all staff in the new approach is impossible. In particular, trying to remunerate professional staff for their time to learn about AQTF requirements, when they are paid to train rather than for administration, is a problem. One manager participating in a focus group session talked about his situation as follows: “Time and money for inviting trainers to go to professional development is our biggest constraint”. Danny Harmer from Access Training Centre expressed his frustration at having to implement a new system in order to comply with the AQTF 2007 standards but not being given enough information about how to both fund and deploy such a system. He said, “The irony is training organisations do not train their people well enough because they are under-funded”.
The curriculum and compliance manager from one of the registered training organisations said that they were in the enviable position of successfully winning external funding from the government’s Reframing the Future program, which enabled them to provide remuneration for their professional staff to undergo training. Rose Vallen of the Australian Institute of Management South Australia went on:
It would otherwise be very difficult to include these people because they are contractors who are not happy to take time from paid work to engage in team building or organisational development sessions without compensation. The funding from Reframing the Future enabled them to be paid and provided a unique opportunity for all our staff to be involved in training sessions
Comment [CRP27]: As noted above, it would have been acceptable for this heading to have had 4.1 in front of it.
Comment [CRP28]: A good knowledge of secondary and primary data sources is given here.
Comment [CRP29]: It is helpful to use linker words in the first sentence of a paragraph like: As well,… Similarly,… In addition,… In contrast,… On the other hand,…
Comment [CRP30]: Note how well organised everything is. This blocking of everything into three blocks is very easy to follow.
Comment [CRP31]: The overall picture of the finding is given at the start and then the details and proofs are given. That is, talk about the forest before describing the trees in the forest.
Comment [CRP32]: This insertion of quotations into the report helps to convince the reader that you have actually found what you are saying you found. This is an important point.
Comment [CRP33]: This quotation is more than 30 words long and so is placed into an indented block of its own, and is not inserted into the text like the quotations above.
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The second significant issue was that it is necessary to provide correct channels for people to learn, accommodating their various styles, the culture of the organisation and demands on time. The majority cited these change management issues as their biggest challenge….
The third issue was benchmarking…
Stage three – survey
In the third stage, some of the tools developed by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research for identifying, building and sustaining the learning and development needs of managers and leaders were used to create an online survey was created and hosted by Chalkport (2006). The online survey was presented to participating registered training organisations as a benchmarking opportunity which would gather data to assist registered training organisations compare their performance. They were encouraged to participate to comply with the AQTF Users’ Guide, ‘Strategies to monitor the effectiveness of your management system could include benchmarking management systems and organisational performance with other registered training organisations’. A simple questionnaire contained five questions and took about 10 minutes to complete. One response per registered training organisation was permitted. In return for completing the survey, which was only open for three days, each responding registered training organisation was emailed a one page analysis of the quantitative data including their individual response for in-house discussion. Confidentiality was guaranteed with no registered training organisation being identified to anyone else at any time.
Fully 250 registered training organisations from around Australia provided insight into how registered training organisations could achieve the AQTF 2007- required outcomes and how difficult it is for them to do so.
Data analysis of this stage. Analysis of the survey results indicates that while the majority have a good understanding of the AQTF 2007 standards and their requirements they are struggling to deploy and implement them in an effective way. For example, responses to Question 4.1 showed 69.1 percent of respondents thought that a high level of management attention is required to keep a systematic approach in place…
4. Key findings
In this section, you take a step back and look at the data to try to identify the key findings, which are the activities, processes and events going on. Some students would have already done some of this step when they were doing their data analysis in the previous section and so may not have to write much in this section. But others might have been too close to their data in their earlier data analysis and so they do not step back and get an overall picture until they write this section. You might use an analysis of critical incidents to derive this overall picture.
In the Electus example Project, the data analysis had been quite thorough and so this fourth section had to merely identify the five or so main findings from all three batches of data collection and analysis in the third section, to give an overall picture about what had been found.
Comment [CRP34]: Good. Now we know where the questions in the survey came from – an important point.
Comment [CRP35]: A survey and an interview should explain to the respondents what are the benefits to them, of their being involved in your research.
Comment [CRP36]: All these details were good work, including the concerns about confidentiality.
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5. Key implications
What were the three or four main learning points or principles that you and the reader can take away and apply in other situations in the future? In this section, you look at the implications of your findings for three different targets:
• the literature, that is, ideas in your textbooks and articles
• managers in the case
• other managers in your country or region (the implications for these other managers may sometimes be much the same as for the managers in the case, and then they do not need to be listed twice).
First, take another step back and explain how your findings relate back to the literature, that is, to your textbook or some articles that you have cited earlier. Do they confirm or disconfirm what those references say? How and why?
Second, what do you recommend that managers in your case(s) do in the future?
Finally, what are the implications of all that you have done, for other managers and policy makers in your country or region? These implications for other managers may often be the same as for the managers in the case(s) you investigated, but if the case is in an unusual industry or has an unusual structure or strategy, you may be able to develop some additional recommendations. Remember that the assessor will look at the recommendations and their justification in your Project, so we strongly suggest that you clearly set out in this section what are the future actions you recommend should be done by managers and policy makers in your country or region.
In the Electus example Project, the following points were included in this section:
• that the research had investigated performance management in SMEs for the first time;
• details of how the findings made a contribution to the literature;
• one clear set of recommended actions about performance management for Electus and for other SME managers, based on the findings, together with justifications for each of them. These recommendations were set up around a management consultant’s software program that Electus had adopted as a result of the research project.
6. Conclusion
In this final section, you should cover challenges or issues that remain unresolved. Then you should give a summary statement about the organisation or entrepreneur and the contribution of their experience, and a final tying up of the whole package to show that the purpose as set out in the Introduction has been achieved.
Note that apart from the challenges or issues that remain unresolved, there should not be any new concepts or ideas suddenly introduced in the Conclusion. The Conclusion merely
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ties everything that has gone before into one short package. Thus, the Conclusion section is rarely longer than one page or so in length.
Here is the Conclusion from the Electus example Project:
EXAMPLE 6. Conclusion
In summary, performance management can be an important part of a strategy but its use in SMEs is under-researched. The single case of a small, Australian registered training organisation, Electus, provided an unusual opportunity to investigate this use of performance management. Three stages of data collection found that the government’s AQTF 2007 standards have been in place for almost twelve months but most registered training organisations have found it difficult to implement a quality system that consistently delivers the required outputs and outcomes. Most organisations found that financial constraints dominated their ability to engage the appropriate people within their organisations to make a transition from mere compliance to continuous improvement within a quality system. While most indicated little difficulty in understanding the requirements of AQTF 2007, they found it difficult to get their people to take ownership and embed the quality standards into their performance as a quality system. They did not understand the importance nor the implications of not doing so. As the Electus case showed, being able to produce evidence that the cycle of continuous improvement is embedded into the organisation will ensure that registration audit requirements are met.
In conclusion, this research project showed Electus how and why to develop performance management system within a strategic situation. Its RTO Quality Training Framework™ underpins all of the AQTF 2007 standards and allows Electus to put in place a balanced performance management system that ensures it attains best practice in the national training sector.
Finally, list your references using the AIB Style Guide and include your appendices.
Comment [CRP37]: This whole paragraph merely summarises the report and is based around the aim of performance management is an SME.
Comment [CRP38]: This final paragraph tries to tie everything together with its links back to the aim and its uplifting tone of completeness. Nice work.
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APPENDIX A: Example Project Topics
Note: these are extracted and sometimes adapted from the textbook’s Appendix 1.
• Accountability of accountants
• Competitor strategies in the mortgage market
• Do the direct methods of selling financial services pose a major threat to existing providers and what impact will this have in the future?
• Does activity-based costing give competitors a competitive edge?
• FRSI: are cash flow statements a useful vehicle for conveying relevant and clear information about a business’ liquidity and financial viability?
• Has the introduction of the self-regulatory organisation brought about better advice to the public?
• How do financial services market to the youth segment?
• How many building societies will exist in 20 years’ time?
• Insider dealing: the development of the criminal law and an evaluation of alternative approaches
• Is the demand for pension products increasing from the female sector, and if so how are life assurance companies reacting to this change?
• An assessment of the potential of a major domestic and industrial food manufacturer within the children’s confectionary market
• The acquisition of mortgage books – managing change
• The cashless society – imminent reality or impossible dream?
• The changing future of banks and building societies with regard to products and services
• The impact of developments of IT on financials services
• The impact of the financial management of hospitals
• The implications of introducing compulsory competitive tendering for services on local government
• What impact will ever-increasing improvements in IT have on a career in accounting and/or financial services?
• Global warming: what does it mean for financiers or tourism
• The relationship between tobacco advertising and sport on television – can it be justified?
• Why do business sponsor sport?
• Selling to China/Japan – a critical evaluation of current theories and practices for successful market entry
• Benchmarking: a critical evaluation
• A study of aspects of HRM and their effectiveness today
• An investigation of training in a tourism services program
• From job interview to promoting a business- how effective is marketing yourself?
• Internal communications – what role does it have within an organisation of the future?
• Honesty and integrity testing and the security industry
• Racial discrimination in recruitment and selection
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• Stress – the cost to employers
• The armed forces, equal opportunities and equality
• The changing roles of HRM
• A critical review of the prospects of interactive services to the home and the implications for marketing strategy
• Has modern technology destroyed customer services within the financial services sector?
• How can IT aid marketing communications?
• Women in management – the glass ceiling
• A comparative study of marketing techniques adopted by body-building supplement manufacturers/a football club/ a tourism facility/ a financial services comapan7
• A critical evaluation of strategic planning and marketing techniques used in public sector recreation provision
• Airline marketing –is there a difference between what business travellers want and what is promoted to them?
• An investigation of marketing activity aimed at children
• An investigation into the marketing techniques employed by the motor industry
• How effective is billboard marketing?
• Competition in the parcel delivery industry
• Is our film industry beyond recovery?
• The brewing industry – why did the investigation by the Monopolies Commission have such a big impact on the industry
• Strategy for shareholder value
• What are the consequences for the price war in the yellow fat market?
• Survival of the fittest; a comparison between local independent and national/international music outlets/t tourisms\ facilities
• How will globalization affect my industry?
• How will outsourcing affect my industry over the next ten years?
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APPENDIX B: Example Project Proposal
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A critical evaluation of the human resources strategies and policies
of the European Community Council in Vietnam.
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1. Introduction
Background
The European Community Council is Europe’s international organisation for developing the educational and cultural relationships between Europe and other countries, and has offices in 100 countries. The European Community Council first came and established an office in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, in 1983 and in Ho Chi Minh City in 1987. The European Community Council has been successful since its establishment in Vietnam, gaining the highest recognition and position in both its markets.
Project research problem
Both offices have developed with full departments comprising of: administration, finance, art and event, communication, European education information, exam services and teaching. However, even though the number of employees in each office is now almost 75 people, there is no Human Resources Management (HRM) department. The HRM functions are attached to the job descriptions of the Finance Manager and the Operations Manager, which has caused serious problems:
• HRM is not considered to be among the strategic resources of the organisation
• There are many problems in recruiting, re-training and retaining good people
• There is almost no cooperation among departments within the organisation. Each department functions independently causing a huge waste of time and resources, inconsistent messages to target customers and a lack of synergy.
2. Focus of the study
Purpose of research project
The purpose of this project is to evaluate the European Community Council’s current HRM strategies and policies, analysing its problems with the aim of developing appropriate HRM strategies and policies for the European Community Council in Hanoi and Ho Chi Min City.
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Key areas of investigation will be:
• The operations of the European Community Council in both offices in Vietnam
• The current HRM strategies and policies of European Community Council Vietnam
• The HRM functions in each office
• The effects of the current HRM strategies and policies
Research questions
The following questions will be addressed in this research:
• How is HRM management practiced in both offices in Vietnam?
• What are the similarities and differences in how HRM management is practiced in the two offices?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of the current HRM management practices in each office?
• What appropriate HRM strategies and policies could be introduced in the two offices?
• How do you plan to implement those strategies in the two offices?
Significance of the Project
The European Community Council offices in Hanoi and Ho Chi Min City will benefit from having more effective HRM strategies and policies. These strategies and policies may also benefit 98 other European Community Council Offices, as well as other non-profit community organisations in the world.
3. Project related literature summary
The project will cover HRM strategies and policies which is an aspect of the strategic human resources subject of my MBA studies.
My initial understanding of the project topic is based on the textbook, and a review of the literature. A list of published articles on how HRM strategies and policies are
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developed and implemented with specific emphasis on how non-profit organisations manage their HRM function is provided below. Further literature on how to introduce change in non-profit organisations was also reviewed, as this has relevance to this study, and this literature is also provided below.
Hunter, I, Saunders, J, Boroughs, A, & Constance, S 2005, HR Business Partner, Schwartz Bookshops, London.
Mesch, D.J. 2010, “Management of Human Resources in 2020: The Outlook for Nonprofit Organizations”, Public administration review, vol. 70, pp. S173-S174.
Patrick, P 2006, Contemporary HR Issues and Insights: from Rocket Science to Tsunamis, Singapore Human Resources Institute, Singapore.
Porter, K, Smith, P, Fagg, R 2005, Leadership and Management for HR Professionals, Butterworth Heinemann, London
Rutowski, K., Guiler, J. & Schimmel, K. 2009, “Benchmarking organizational commitment across non-profit human services organizations in Pennsylvania”, Benchmarking, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 135-150.
Schmid, H. 2002, “Relationships between organizational properties and organizational effectiveness in three types of non-profit human service organizations”, Public Personnel Management, vol. 31, no.3, pp. 377-395.
4. Planned methodology
This project is a case research report where the two offices of the European Community Council and its HRM strategies and policies will be studied. This methodology collects real information directly from the people that it affects (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill 2003). The literature review and my real world knowledge of the topic including my previous work experience at the European Community Council will be used to identify the problems and write the report.
In addition, data will be collected from two main sources:
• Secondary: internal documents including an annual staff survey of the two
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Vietnam offices as well as relevant Industry journals, magazines and newspapers will be reviewed.
• Primary: interviews with all current HRM managers in the two offices in Vietnam and selected employees with over five years working experience will provide information on current HRM practices. They will be asked questions about current work efficiency and effectiveness. The interviews will follow ethical procedures for this kind of research as outlined in the AIB Guidelines. All interviewees will sign the Research Consent Form provided by AIB that certifies they have given informed consent to the research.
5. Schedule for completion
The expected schedule of the project report is as:
Table 1: Timeline
(Source: developed for this research)
References
Hunter, I, Saunders, J, Boroughs, A, & Constance, S 2005, HR Business Partner, Schwartz Bookshops, London.
Mesch, D.J. 2010, “Management of Human Resources in 2020: The Outlook for Non-profit Organizations”, Public Administration Review, vol. 70, pp. S173-S174.
Patrick, P 2006, Contemporary HR Issues and Insights: from Rocket Science to Tsunamis, Singapore Human Resources Institute, Singapore.
Porter, K, Smith, P, Fagg, R 2005, Leadership and Management for HR Professionals, Butterworth Heinemann, London.
Project Proposal
First draft
Review
Project Literature Research
Data Collection
Final Submission
07/12/2007
10-17/12/2007
18-31/12/2007
01-07/01/2008
08-31/01/2008
03/02/2008
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Rutowski, K., Guiler, J. & Schimmel, K. 2009, “Benchmarking organizational commitment across non-profit human services organizations in Pennsylvania”, Benchmarking, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 135-150.
Saunders, M, Lewis, P and Thornhill, A 2003, Research Methods for Business Students, Prentice Hall, London.
Schmid, H. 2002, “Relationships between organizational properties and organizational effectiveness in three types of non-profit human service organizations”, Public Personnel Management, vol. 31, no.3, pp. 377-395.
Slack, N, Chambers, S, Johnston, R & Betts, A 2006, Operation and Process Management, Prentice Hall, London.
Thompson, A, Strickland, A & Gamble, J 2007, Crafting and Executing Strategy – The Quest for Competitive Advantage – Concepts and Cases, 16th edition, McGraw-Hill Irwin, New York.
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APPENDIX C: Research Consent Forms
There are two types of Consent Forms:
• Organisation Consent – this must be obtained when you intend to use an organisation as your site of research and to obtain information about that organisation. It may be your employer organisation or another organisation of your choice. The consent form must be completed and signed by a senior person in the organisation who has the authority to provide such consent on behalf of the organisation.
If your research involves obtaining information from more than one organisation, you must ensure that you obtain such consent forms for each organisation.
• Individual Consent – this must be obtained when you intend to interview or otherwise obtain information from individuals as part of your research. Each individual that you interview or otherwise obtain information from must complete and sign the form.
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ORGANISATION CONSENT
I,___________________________________________________________________
of___________________________________________________________________
understand that _______________________________________________________
is a student at Australian Institute of Business (AIB).
I further understand that the student has to complete a research project as part of the student’s studies with AIB and that the student wishes to base the research project on my organisation named below:
Name of organisation:
…………………………………………………………………………………………………….
My consent is subject to the following conditions, which I insert in my own handwriting:
I hereby my consent to the student basing their research project on my organisation and confirm that I am authorised to grant this consent on behalf of the organisation.
I understand that the information obtained by the student about my organisation will be kept strictly confidential and only viewed by the student, the project examiners and essential AIB staff, except where I have otherwise granted consent in writing.
Respondent’s signature: __________________________________________
Respondent’s job title: __________________________________________
Date of consent: __________________________________________
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INDIVIDUAL CONSENT
I,____________________________________________________________________________
of___________________________________________________________________________
understand that _______________________________________________________________
is a student at Australian Institute of Business (AIB). I further understand that the student has to complete a research project as part of the student’s studies with AIB and that the student wishes to use data from interviews with me and my organisation named below for the purposes of the research:
Name of organisation:
…………………………………………………………………………………………….
I hereby consent to the student using data from interviews with me and my organisation for the purposes of the research.
My consent is subject to the following conditions, which I insert in my own handwriting:
I understand that the information obtained by the student from me will be kept strictly confidential and only viewed by the student, the project examiners and essential AIB staff, except where I have otherwise granted consent in writing.
I accept that my participation in this research is voluntary and that I may withdraw my consent to participate at any time.
Respondent’s signature: __________________________________________
Respondent’s job title: __________________________________________
Date of consent: __________________________________________
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APPENDIX D: Project Proposal Evaluation Checklist
AIB student ID number:
Student name:
Course/Specialisation:
Introduction
Background information provided
Issue or problem identified
Focus for the study
Research purpose stated
Research questions identified
Significance identified
Project is feasible – topic & research qns not too big, too small or too hot
Project related literature summary
Connection to an aspect of MBA studies
Alignment with MBA specialisation (NB: not required for MBA generic)
Literature cited
Research methodology
Research method explained and justified
Secondary data
Primary data
Data collection methods explained
Research approvals obtained
Schedule for completion
Research schedule or Gantt chart
Style Guide
Margins, line spacing and fonts
Dates and numbers
Harvard referencing
Sourcing and quotations
Labelling of figures, diagrams, tables
List of references
English
Spelling
Grammar
Structure and flow
Title is on the first page
Table of Contents
Logical structure
Connections between sections
Easy to read
Outcome:
Approved
Not Approved
Comments
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APPENDIX E: Example Final Project with Assessor’s Comments
Now we look at a full example Final Project. There are some good and problematic components to this Project and they are noted in the assessor’s comments on the right hand side. The final comment at the Conclusion of the Project shows the assessor thoughts about the final mark. This example Project is based on an MBA Project but the Project has been changed in many ways to highlight and capture the issues.
Project (example)
Table of contents
[Table of contents is standard and has been deleted to save space for the purposes of this example]
Privacy statement
The participants of this research project have been afforded complete anonymity in the written paper. Each participant has agreed to participate without limitation beyond anonymity; therefore, gender, age, religion, role, characteristics, views and opinions are factual and those of the participants. Similarly, the sponsoring organisation has requested that it be identified by a pseudonym and agree to participate without limitation provided its identity is protected together with the geographical locations in which it operates. Thus figures about revenue, for example, are only approximate. Otherwise all research data gathered from the organisation is provided without limitation of use. To conform to this agreement the pseudonym of the organisation will be the ‘College’. Participants will remain ‘unnamed’.
Executive summary
The College has reached a critical milestone in its evolution and growth as a dominant vocational education and training provider. This growth dictates careful planning to ensure its ongoing success and sustainability through effective leadership. The research objective of this report is to identify the best approach for building and sustaining leadership capability in the College. That research objective was addressed using a combination of research tools and a number of participants including technical and administrative managers and subordinate staff. In terms of the required management and leadership capabilities the research found that the managers identified significant gaps in their required level of proficiency for leadership roles compared to that of their actual level of proficiency held at the time of research. In particular the study found that all managers rated their actual level of proficiency as ‘low’ under areas relating to the business acumen, where they considered the required level as high to very high.
1 Introduction
The research focuses on the processes of leadership combined with the characteristics of individual leaders and draws on literature from a selection of vocational education and training sector leadership studies and a range of academic texts. The purpose of the research is to gain insight into the conditions for, and characteristics of effective contemporary leadership in the College now and in future years. The College has identified that leadership competence of its management threatened the continued growth and sustainability of the organisation. This research presents an opportunity for the College to identify the motivators that attribute to the best approaches for building and sustaining leadership capability in the College.
Comment [CRP39]: This privacy statement was good work. Although this is not often included in a Project, it does show concern for privacy and had to be here in this Project.
Comment [CRP40]: Good orientation for the reader – the first of the five parts of an executive summary
Comment [CRP41]: Good aim of the research – it is the second part of an executive summary
Comment [CRP42]: More details about this methodology should have been added here.
Comment [CRP43]: The findings are summarised in this executive summary – good.
Comment [CRP44]: The five points of a good Introduction can be only glimpsed through this paragraph because the five parts of an Introduction are not clear, unfortunately. These five points in the Introduction should have been more obvious:
1 establish the background field, assert its significant position in theory and/or practice
1.summarise previous research (only one or two brief paragraphs at the most )
2.indicate gaps, inconsistencies and/or controversies, and why they are important
3.state purpose of present research (to address 3), state briefly the main aspects and conclusions of the research (and advanced students may add a sentence about their contributions (related to 3))
outline of the project
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Sections in this report detail the literature review and the College, and explains the methodology used to evaluate the research questions. It provides detailed results of the research and concludes with recommended strategies for building and sustaining leadership capability in the College.
2 Orientation: Contemporary analysis of leadership and the case
There are many definitions relating to leadership with claims of up to 350 documented variations (Daft 2002). Furthermore, leadership is believed to be one of the most researched yet least understood aspects of management. The varied definitions can help one appreciate the multitude of influences which impact on leadership as well as the many perspectives from which to understand it (Hughes, Ginnett & Curphy 2006). Leadership is understood when it is considered holistically and is relevant to the situation and those involved in the process. Leadership is the process of influencing an organised group towards accomplishing its goals and it requires the ability to rationalize and motivate through emotional influence (Roach & Behling 1984) . This section looks at these aspects of leadership in the literature and introduces the case where the investigation of leadership occurred.
2.1 Leadership defined
There is a history of debate about what is entailed in the concept of leadership. It is recognised that there is possibly more research and models dedicated to defining leadership than any other area of social science. Additionally, there are many definitions supporting these models which are now regarded as a mature field of study. Using the definition gathered from the literature review, for the purpose of defining leadership in the context of the College and the wider VET sector, this research relies on the definition provided by Callan et al. (2007):
The capacity at both the individual and institutional levels to: identify and define organisational goals and the desired outcomes; develop strategies and plans to achieve those goals and deliver those outcomes; guide the organisation and motivate people in reaching those goals and outcomes. To do this requires energy, commitment, persistence, integrity, intelligence and a capacity to inspire from the leader and the encouragement of these attributes from the organisation.
2.2 Leadership models
The leading school of thought regarding leadership is the transformational model. This model relies on the change and the leader’s direct influence on the individual employee’s motivation and performance. Transformational leadership has not yet been recognised as a complete theory of leadership, however, it is emerging as a preferred model on the basis of the role the leader plays in promoting both personal and organisational change, in particular the role they have in supporting staff to meet and exceed expectations about performance (Callan et al. 2007).
The research focus is the management and leadership capabilities of those in roles within the College who are required to lead and direct those who consider themselves a follower or subordinate. This research aligns closely with that documented in Callan et al. (2007). Their research supported claims that transformational leadership is comprised of at least four interrelated behaviours or sets of actions:
• Inspirational stimulation – articulating an appealing and evocative vision about what the organisation aims to achieve and how it wants to serve its customers and related stakeholders
• Intellectual stimulation – promoting opportunities and organisational cultures of creativity and innovation among staff.
Comment [CRP45]: The aim and the outline of the project that should be in the Introduction are here.
Comment [CRP46]: Correct citing. Good.
Comment [CRP47]: The student is defining a key term (that is, leadership) right at the beginning. Good work.
Comment [CRP48]: Where is it recognised? A citation is required to prove this claim of “It is recognised…’ here.
Comment [CRP49]: This definition for this research is good. But why is it a good definition?
Comment [CRP50]: This is a quotation, so there should be a page number in the citation. This is not good.
Comment [CRP51]: This heading is only two words. Often, a longer heading is more helpful to the reader
Comment [CRP52]: This discussion of the literature is good – it starts at a broad level of one of the leading schools of thought about leadership.
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• Idealized influence – providing a role model for staff at all levels
• Individualised consideration – engaging in coaching and mentoring roles that empower staff.
A common theme throughout the literature is the styles and characteristics of transformational leaders. Avolio (2005) summarized the following features relating to application of transformational leadership styles consistent with other findings:
• Transformational leaders are judged by their subordinates as more effective leaders.
• Transformational leaders exist at all levels of the organisation
The more transformational leadership exists at the higher levels in the organisation, the more it is seen in the lower levels, including in the teams.
As well, Falk and Smith (2003) found that effective transformational leaders build positive psychological states and emotional capital among their employees. Furthermore, emotionally intelligent leaders and managers who are transformational in their style are able to switch their leadership style to adapt to the needs of the particular environment, such as authoritative, democratic, and coaching through their higher levels of self-awareness, their ability to read a situation, and their adaptability. There is continued controversy about definitions of emotional intelligence (Goleman 1998, 2000). Emotionally intelligent leaders manage themselves and their relationships effectively. In particular, they display sets of transformational behaviours that demonstrate self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and social skills.
Throughout the literature review there was much support for this emotional intelligence approach to leadership. Leaders with higher emotionally intelligence are more able to switch styles at appropriate times. Transformational leaders are known to establish more intellectually stimulating workplaces, which in turn foster more openness, creativity and a willingness by their employees to challenge the status quo (Callan et al. 2007). Detailed research across educational and training institutions has made claim to not only the presence of transformational leadership, but rather the demand for it in this rapid pace of change.
2.3 Leadership development
How can the leadership above be developed? Developmental opportunities are learning opportunities that give managers the knowledge and skills to enable the organisation to achieve its strategic objective. They enhance capability and facilitate positive change and innovation. Capable managers are more confident and effective in dealing with their often complex and demanding jobs (Falk & Smith 2003). Furthermore they display higher levels of job satisfaction, commitment and engagement. Organisations with a strong commitment to management and leadership development find that the returns are positive and high, in terms of organisational productivity, organisational learning, continuous improvement and quality, and customer service (Callan et al. 2007). In addition, management and leadership development has benefits that extend beyond the organisation and into the broader community…
Dynamic environments in which organisational success is harder to achieve and resources are scarcer, mean that we must use approaches to the selection and development of managers which have a demonstrable link to organisational performance (Cockerill (1994, cited in Mulcahy 2003). Competency requirements for management development should be linked to performance requirements in the workplace (Turcato 1998). Similarly, management learning should be pragmatic and located within the organisational context and reality (Beckett 1998).
Comment [CRP53]: A good theme sentence at the start of this paragraph. It shows that the paragraph will look at some of the writers in the literature before actually summarising what the literature says.
Comment [CRP54]: Another good theme sentence at the start of a paragraph. This paragraph is summarising the writers above.
Comment [CRP55]: But where is the evidence for this claim? There should be a citation that supports this claim about ‘detailed research’.
Comment [CRP56]: A good short theme sentence that links the sections above to this one coming up. Good work.
Comment [CRP57]: Note that citations are correctly inside brackets. Writing a sentence with the author’s name outside brackets is usually not preferred, for example, the last sentence in this form is not preferred: ‘Beckett (1998) said management learning…’
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2.4 The case College’s background
The organisational l context and reality of the College will be the focus of this research. The College has become one of the largest private training provider in the Region. The business has a $5m annual turnover with a $1.5m net profit and an annual growth rate of 20 percent over the past year. The College has undergone major changes aimed at creating capacity to manage growth and provide a culture that promotes lifelong learning that values the contribution of its staff.
A recent SWOT analysis of the College identified that leadership competence of management was a threat to the continued growth and sustainability of the organisation. This research presents an opportunity for the College to identify the motivators that attribute to the best approaches for building and sustaining leadership capability in the College.
2.5 Research questions
In recent years there has been a significant focus on the VET sector with extensive research and development surrounding reform, contestability and leadership. Using the recent research and development of the VET sector together with the academic literature available on leadership development and sustainability, the research can be framed around the best approaches for building and sustaining leadership capability in the College. These research objective questions seek to identify the best approach for building and sustaining leadership capability in the College in order to achieve further competitive advantage and market sustainability.
That is, based on the concepts covered above, this report concentrates on two research questions in the focal case:
• What approaches to leadership and management development are being used in the College and across the broader vocational education and training sector?
• What types of management and leadership capabilities are required now and in the future to ensure the sustainability of the College?
3.0 Research methodology of data collection
A case study methodology was used to collect information about the research questions above relating to building and sustaining leadership capability in the College. The case study method offers a proven tool for achieving a profound understanding of a specific trend or experience. Numerous studies over the past twenty years have demonstrated that the case study method successfully probes beneath the surface of a situation. To achieve the breadth and depth of understanding of the research, both quantitative and qualitative research methods were used in the study about the case. Interviews together with surveys were used as the data collection methods for this research project which enabled an analysis of leadership capability within the College; an insight into the perceptions of leadership; and the variations of required leadership proficiency compared with actual leadership proficiency of managers.
3.1 First stage: Interviews
First, the research involved semi structured interviews of five managers form the College with representation from across the administrative and technical and support divisions consisting of
two females and three males. The sample contains two female administrative managers, two male technical managers and one male support manager. An example of the interviewer’s guide used for
Comment [CRP58]: Another good theme sentence. It links the previous paragraph about context to the discussion of the case organisation that is coming up now.
Comment [CRP59]: This description of the College is too brief. The privacy issue could be an explanation for this brevity but other projects normally provide a lot more information about their case.
Comment [CRP60]: Advanced students sometimes narrow the overall research objective introduced in the Introduction, down to some specific research questions at the end of the Orientation section. This student is doing that. Good work.
Comment [CRP61]: This conclusion to the orientation section is good – it identifies some core ideas from the literature that have to be investigated in the case. This was an excellent way of finishing this whole section. But it is a pity that the two questions were not referred back to in the key learnings or conclusions sections of the report below.
Comment [CRP62]: A good short theme sentence that links the sections above to what is coming up here.
Comment [CRP63]: There should have been at least two citations about the methodology here. One could have been the textbook, of course, and another could have been an article or book by Perry, for example.
Comment [CRP64]: A citation was necessary to prove that there were ‘numerous studies’.
Comment [CRP65]: A very good student would have tried to justify the methodologies and the use of just one case.
Comment [CRP66]: A good introductory sentence about what the whole of this section 3.0 is going to cover.
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the interviews is included at Appendix A.
3.2 Second stage: Surveys
In addition to the interviews, two surveys were used to gather research data. The managers volunteered to participate in a leadership proficiency evaluation using a management and leadership capability profile which analysed the variation between required level of proficiency and actual level needed to perform the role from their perspective. The survey was designed from a number of tools located on the NCVER website designed specifically to evaluate management and leadership development. A copy of the survey is included as Appendix B.
A copy of this survey’s questionnaire was also given to a group of ten subordinates for the purpose of gathering the views and opinions of the staff relating to their managers. This survey was conducted in one group session and was used as a cross checking forum against existing policy and the managers’ surveys. The survey was designed to evaluate the leadership proficiency of managers from the subordinate’s perspective using a selection of measures identifiable to junior staff and taken from the leadership proficiency survey.
3.3 Participant selection
The respondents in this research were reasonably representative. The College employs a total of eighty four staff (sixty seven males and seventeen females) ranging in age from 21 through to 56 years of age. The nationality is approximately ninety percent Australian and ten percent other nationalities. Less than fifteen percent hold tertiary qualifications, with sixty five percent holding at least one vocational qualification of certificate III or above which is normally a combination of technical trade qualifications and training and assessment qualification. The selection of managers was based on equilibrium of gender and areas of business across the College (that is, at least one manager from each department). The same five managers participated in both the management and leadership capability proficiency profile and the leadership development survey. Likewise, two subordinates from each department participated and where possible, they varied in age and gender. The total sample of managers was 60 percent whereas the sample of subordinates was limited to fifteen percent.
3.4 Procedures for the interviews and the survey
The interviews were conducted back to back over one day ranging from 30 to 50 minutes per interview. The surveys were issued to the managers to complete over a five day period to encourage maximum input. The subordinate cross check forum was done individually in one group sitting over one hour.
The reliability of the managers’ contribution is considered valid and high. The five managers were selected on their potential as recognised by the Managing Director of the College and each actively volunteered to participate. The reliability of the cross checking forum has some limitations as the selection was random beyond gender, age and work area and the group setting promoted consensus that may not have been evident if done in isolation.
4.0 Data analysis: Research findings of the interviews and the survey
Leadership and management issues facing the College are many and varied. The research produced the following findings about managing complexity, business acumen, capabilities required of managers, leadership capability profiles, staff development
4.1 Managing complexity
Comment [CRP67]: Good idea. Example of the interviewer’s guide in an appendix.
Comment [CRP68]: Another good short theme sentence that links the previous section about interviews with what is coming up in this next section. Good writing.
Comment [CRP69]: Good – now we know where the questions in the survey came from.
Comment [CRP70]:
Excellent procedure. It should be done in all projects.
Comment [CRP71]: Another good short them sentence that shows what the whole section and/or paragraph is about.
Comment [CRP72]: This number is less than 10 and so had to be written out in words rather as a number. If the number is 10 or more, it can be shown as a number and does not need to be written out in word form.
Comment [CRP73]: Note that the word ‘percent’ is used in the text, not the symbol ‘%’. The symbol % is used only in the top of columns in a table.
Comment [CRP74]: Good details here.
Comment [CRP75]: This comment about the reliability of the methodology is very advanced.
Comment [CRP76]: Often, information about findings is put into the previous section, especially if the data analysis of the findings is done after each stage of data collection and before the next stage. But positioning findings into their own section here is OK.
Comment [CRP77]: This heading is a slightly too short – a heading can be up to about ¾ of a line long
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The challenges listed by the respondents closely parallel those described in previous reports (Callan et al. 2007; Mitchell et al. 2003). A major obstacle is getting individuals to cope with change and the increasing complexity of their management responsibilities. Participants viewed the role of leaders to be about giving a sense of direction to the organisation and setting an appealing vision for the future. The demands associated with change or further change were difficult ones for managers, and often occurred in difficult circumstances. Two managers reported that the constant change of government funding models created frequent and detrimental business changes due to poor consultation with stakeholders. The subordinate responses suggested that change was implemented without consultation or reference to internal policy. Three respondents thought that the managers hid behind government policy when making decisions relating to change. One respondent claimed:
We were made to change the whole process for new enrolments because our manager came up with a process that was not well thought out and when she realised it was not as good as she thought, she told us the process was implemented to conform to the government’s policy.
A major factor driving the complexity is the wide range of stakeholders expecting more flexibility and customisation of their training product. Additionally managers are now required to not only manage their staff internally – they need to coordinate industry placements and vacancies created from these additional demands. Therefore, the challenge for managers is described by one of the technical managers:
We need to maintain closer links with our employers to find out what they need. The challenge I face is to persuade, and support teachers to deliver more flexibility and to support them to switch from their comfort style to a new style of learner-centred that is really more appropriate for these types of students. My leadership skills need to extend beyond the College, I need to be able to communicate and influence industry support.
4.2 Business acumen
The managers interviewed unanimously reported on their low levels of confidence about their business acumen. Among the five managers interviewed, not one identified themselves as having the competence for the responsibility and accountability of their division and still remains dependent on the CEO and CFO to initiate strategic business initiatives, particularly those that are external. Callan et al. (2007) have mentioned the scarcity of true entrepreneurs in the VET sector, the lack of support and rewards they often receive for their efforts and, ultimately, their sense of burnout. One manager failed to recognise the need for business acumen completely:
I am very comfortable that my skill contribution to the College is appropriate for the current operation and the future from where I see it today. The CEO is ultimately responsible for the business accountability and it is he who should remain business savvy. I would feel that my role would suffer if I focused on the commercial operation of the College.
The subordinates all reported that their managers did not manage the financial performance of the company and it was the CEO who reported the financial position to the Board. They view them as having a major responsibility albeit not holistic. One respondent claimed that:
My manager is a bit like my dad, he looks after parts of the house and other stuff at home, but in the end mum will decide what happens – I guess the CEO is mum here!
4.3 Capabilities required of managers
Those interviewed believed they need to focus more on strategic objectives and the needs of
Comment [CRP78]: It would have been good to provide some short quotations from the respondents to prove that the project is reporting their views correctly.
Comment [CRP79]: Fortunately, here is a quotation. Good.
Comment [CRP80]: Another quotation. Good. But shorter quotations than this large quotation are also useful.
It is good that the essence of the quotation is described in the text before the quotation is presented. Doing that confirms to the marker that the student has thought about the ideas in the quotation.
Comment [CRP81]: It would have been better if the student had not referred to the literature while he was detailing the findings. The linkages between the findings and the literature should be in the key learnings section and not in the data analysis section, as is done here, unfortunately.
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industry more than ever before. Operational issues remain important and the logistics of working with industry were also essential. Due to the size of the College, the managers are required to maintain focus on service and support. It was reported that managers need to be more aware that teaching and learning must be seen as the core business and the peripherals must insulate it so that it can generate business.
As one manager said:
It is not our business systems that are the most important in our organisation, but how our systems support our ‘core business’ of learning.
Another manager summarised his views in the following way:
Our teams need more time to absorb. There is a gap between the administrative and teaching managers. We need greater collaboration so that we can avoid duplication and share what I view as an imbalance in workloads. We don’t have the business acumen to run the commercial aspects of the company and frankly it takes us away from our core business – training.
During the interviews, the managers believed that the greatest factors impacting on their work in the coming years will be new technology, more competitive training environments, and further changes to funding. It was felt by subordinates that some managers found the concept of internal support difficult to comprehend and there were some suggestions that managers need to offer more support to the staff on the ‘road and floor’. This was seen as a major obstacle, by the subordinates, for the managers to resolve before their full leadership role could be appreciated. One respondent claimed:
Sometimes I feel that I have to hide the work that I am doing for the trainer from my manager so that he and I do not get into trouble – I really struggle with limiting what support I can give him – it’s like being at school again – I am not cheating I just want to help but the teacher doesn’t see it that way – so much for being an adult!!.
Throughout the interviews most managers agreed that they needed to be more business-focused, willing to engage at a more strategic level with their staff and the CEO. They felt that they needed to be more innovative in their application of leadership and management skills and felt that they are applying what they did five to ten years ago, but without having the same effect today. One manager claimed:
I have better facilities, more staff, ‘that may be the problem’ – I am as enthusiastic as I was five years ago. I want to do what is best for my staff and the College but it is becoming more difficult each day. I feel that they do not respond and see things as complex… a huge issue for the trainers I manage… especially those who have been around for a while.
4.4 Leadership capability profiles
The leadership capability profiles have shown great disparity for all managers between the required levels of proficiency to that of the level held by the managers. The research focused on the following nine capabilities:
• Corporate vision and direction
• Strategic focus
• Achieves outcomes
Comment [CRP82]: A good theme sentence again – it summarises what is coming up in this paragraph and/or section. It would have been better if there was some linking word or phrase that linked this section up with the previous ones. For example, the sentence could have begun, ‘The third issue raised in the interviews was the need to focus …..’
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• Develops and manages resources
• Change leadership
• Interpersonal relationships
• Personal development and mastery
• Business and entrepreneurial skills
• Develops and empowers.
From the nine capabilities the five managers rated their current proficiency level as having a variation of four levels below the required proficiency to do the job, whilst only two capabilities were rated equal in required and actual level of proficiencies, as shown in Table 1. These were interpersonal relations and achieves outcomes which were rated mid range level skills. The five critical findings were all related to the core business functions that were also evident in survey responses: business and entrepreneurial skills; change leadership; corporate vision and direction; develops and manages resources; and focuses strategically. These five capabilities were rated by all participants as requiring a very high to extremely high level of required proficiencies, whereas the average response for actual proficiency was ‘some’.
Table 1 Summary of managers’ proficiency ratings
Capability
Required
Actual
Proficient
Rating average
required for proficiency
Rating average for actual proficiency
Personal development and mastery
74
42
57%
Very high
Moderate
Business and entrepreneurial skills
22
12
55%
Very High
Some
Develops and empowers others
24
14
59%
High
Some+
Achieves outcomes
23
21
91%
Moderate
Some
Corporate vision and direction
42
22
52%
Very high+
Some
Focuses strategically
54
33
61%
Very high+
Moderate
Develops and manages resources
54
46
85%
Very high
High
Change leadership
54
31
58%
Very high+
Some+
Comment [CRP83]: That this part was based on the survey results should have been noted. We have been looking at interview data before now, and a link back to the survey would have helped the reader.
Comment [CRP84]: This explanation in the text about what is in the table is good – a reader should not have to look at a table to find the important ideas involved – doing that is the writer’s job, not the reader’s job. If there is anything important in a table or figure, make sure you write about it in the text. Do not assume the reader will look at every table or figure.
Comment [CRP85]: This is a good example of the title at the top of a table or figure. All tables and figures should have one.
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Interpersonal skills
26
18
70%
Very high
Moderate+
Source: Analysis of survey data.
A snapshot using the proficiency percentage rate and comments provided in the subordinate survey, the research noted a discrepancy between the manager’s satisfaction in proficiency and the subordinate’s observations. One respondent made the following comment:
One of the biggest issues is that our managers are not technically savvy – this limits their innovation and kind of prevents them from listening to what we might say…. It’s because they are not comfortable with the technology. Sometimes it is them that are the road block.
The proficiency profile identified a total deficit, in actual proficiencies of thirty five percent below the level considered necessary to perform their current role. Several subordinate respondents commented in favour of this finding, relating their observation to being ‘teachers’ acting as managers. One comment was:
I think they try their best, but really they are not trained business people and when I compare them to managers I have worked for in other roles… they are so different and more like my high school teacher than my manager.
4.5 Staff development
Some excellent examples of integrated approaches to staff development in the College emerged from the interviews. The limitation on these findings relate to the age of the policy being less than eighteen months old. Some managers are attempting to build leadership and management at various levels. The organisation has an excellent top down attitude to professional development; however the conversion from concept to action limits its full potential. Opportunities exist for formal learning (tertiary or vocational), mentoring and in house training. Three respondents from the subordinate group indicated that they were currently participating in diploma and advanced diploma business courses which were fully funded by the college and provision for study time was allocated on a weekly basis. This opportunity was considered a favourable benefit made available to them by the manager, which they did not think they would get the opportunity elsewhere. One comment was:
The best professional development opportunity I have been given is the time and financial support to get my Diploma in Business (HRM). I don’t think I could have done this without the support from the College and I have never had this opportunity in other jobs. I believe it is something that comes from being a training facility and people believe in learning.
Although the opportunity is available to managers, only one out of the five had participated in a formal professional development program sponsored by the college. The major obstacle listed by the managers, was the lack of perceived time to take on additional study.
The College policy describes a systematic approach to professional development, covering training needs and gap analysis, planning of strategies, implementation of strategies, evaluation and review. This policy details overarching priorities, professional development strategies and a number options available to staff. Such strategies include partial and full funding for attendance at formal courses, and time off to attend a course. The policy does not articulate a transformational leadership style nor does it provide any other recognisable framework to standardise the professional development pathways. The College maintains staff profiles which conform to the requirements of the Australian Quality Training Framework (AQTF), however, the research found that the professional development plans did not link to any position description or career progression pathway.
Comment [CRP86]: The source of every table and figure should be put at the bottom like this. Good work.
Comment [CRP87]: It is confusing whether this is an interview or not.
Comment [CRP88]: What is the link between this section coming up and what has gone before?
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5.0 Key implications
As a result of the findings from the interviews, surveys and the literature review, the following strategies are presented to achieve the best approach for building and sustaining leadership capability in the College:
• Conduct a training needs analysis on existing managers and develop a customised intensive leadership and management development program that aligns with a contemporary leadership framework suitable for a VET environment (transformational leadership style).
• Formalise a leadership and development program for all staff linked to career progression pathways. This will communicate a common language about what should be identified to effectively develop as leaders at various levels, and delivers a more strategic approach to designing professional development requirements and activities for staff at varying career points.
• Continue to promote efforts to seek funding for external development opportunities, and to support staff in terms of study time. These opportunities need to be considered earlier in the manager’s career to enable effective transition from teaching to managing. There must be a focus on business acumen and human resource management.
• Develop succession plans that include senior executive key leadership development programs that meet the specific need of the College. This may include individual qualifications (MBA) or customised cohorts to programs that promote collective and organisational learning objectives. In terms of staff retention, these opportunities should be recognised as career progression initiatives that aim to result in promotion and financial reward.
• The College should consider alliances that may result in partnerships with other VET organisations. This could involve different levels of management and provide a more strategic learning opportunity relating to the broader VET sector. Additionally it would benefit the College through professional networks and alliances between managers, and could be used to resolve complex management issues.
• Develop human capital procurement strategies that will import business acumen to the College. This strategy will potentially import external corporate knowledge.
This list of actions could apply to any other training organisation in Australia, I suggest, because the leadership situations of many of them are not that different from the College. Further research would be necessary to confirm this suggestion, of course.
6.0 Conclusion
In summary, although the research was limited in scope and time, the data gathered throughout the study indentified a critical gap in business acumen across the entire sample of the managers who participated. The primary contributor was linked to the lack of succession planning, in particular the transitions of teachers to managers, who traditionally supervised young adults. These managers did not receive adequate professional leadership and management development which has resulted in a discrepancy between their actual level of competence and the level required for their role.
The immediate priority should be to develop the existing management to the level of capability required to effectively lead and manage the business and its people. The succession plan for future
Comment [CRP89]: What about the key activities section after the data analysis section that the reader is expecting to see here? It is sometimes missed because the key findings have been covered in the data analysis section but it would have been reassuring for the student to have noted this somewhere.
Comment [CRP90]: The student has made some references to the literature while discussing the data analysis. Mixing up data analysis with the literature is not normal or preferred procedure. It would have been better if the student had made the connections between the literature and the findings in this section about key learnings.
Comment [CRP91]: This list of clearly set out recommendations to the managers of the case and their justifications is excellent.
Comment [CRP92]: This is a good small comment that relates the findings to other managers, too. Good work.
Comment [CRP93]: This Conclusion is a good short summary of the research without any new concepts added. But see the next Comment about the Conclusion, too.
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leaders will deliver the best approach for the College to build and sustain leadership capability.
References
Bennis, W. (2004). The Seven Ages of the Leader. Harvard Business Review , 46-53.
Callan, VJ 2001, What are the essential capabilities requested for those who manage training organisations?, NCVER, Adelaide.
Dickie, M, Eccles, C, Fitzgerald, L, McDonald, R, Cully, M, Blythe, A, Stanwick, J & Brooks, L 2004, Enhancing the capability of VET professionals project: Final report, ANTA, Brisbane.
Daft, R. L. (2002). The Leadership Experience. (2. Edition, Ed.) Ohio: Thomas Learning.
Finch-Lees, T, Mabey, C, & Liefooghe, A 2005, ‘In the name of capability: A critical discursive evaluation of competency-based management development’, Human Relations, no.58, pp.1185–223.
Foley, J & Canole, L 2003, A draft leadership capability framework to assist leadership development in the Victorian TAFE sector, Victorian Department of Education and Training, Melbourne.
Goffee, R & Jones, G 2006, Why should anyone be led by you?, Harvard Business School Press, Boston.
Goleman, D 1995, Emotional intelligence: Why it can matter more than IQ, Bloomsbury, London.
Goshal, S, Bartlett, CA & Moran, P 1999, ‘A new manifesto for management’, Sloan Management Review, no.40, pp.9–20.
Gosling, J., & Mintzberg, H. (2003). The Five Minds of a Manager. Harvard Business Review , 54-63.
Guthrie, H 2004, The vocational education and training workforce: New roles and ways of working, NCVER, Adelaide.
Hughes, R. L., Ginnett, R. C., & Curphy, G. J. (2006). Leadership Enhancing the Lessons of Experience (5th Edition ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin.
Hunt, JG 2004, ‘What is leadership?’, in The nature of leadership, eds J Antonakis, AT Cianciolo & R Sternberg, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA, pp.19–47.
Kouzes, J & Posner, B 2002, The leadership challenge, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.
Mabey, C & Ramirez, M 2004, Developing managers: A European perspective, Chartered Management Institute, London.
Mitchell, J 2002a, The never-ending quest: Effective strategy-making and change management for high-performing VET organisations, ANTA, Melbourne.
Mitchell, J, Clayton, B, Hedberg, J & Paine, N 2003, Emerging futures: Innovation in teaching and learning in VET, ANTA, Melbourne.
Mitchell, J, McKenna, S, Perry, W & Bald, C 2005, New ways of working in VET, ANTA, Melbourne.
Mulcahy, D 2003, Leadership and management in vocational education and training: Staying focused on strategy, volume 1, NCVER, Adelaide.
Sankar, Y. (2003). Character and Not Charisma is the Critical Measure of Leadership Excellence. The Journal of Leadership and Organisational Studies , 45-55.
Yukl, G. A. (2002). Leadership in Organisations (2nd Edition ed.). New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Appendix A: Manager Survey
Comment [CRP94]: One more short paragraph that tied the whole project together and linked it back to the research objectives/questions should have been put here.
Comment [CRP95]: There were some good and bad things about this Project. But it had enough good things relating to the first three heavily-weighted criteria to bring it up to a low distinction level like:
•the excellent literature review
•the detailed research design
•the inclusion of both interviews and a survey
•the excellent list of recommended actions.
The mark would be higher if these poor things related to the less heavily-weighted fourth and fifth criteria had not been present:
•the key learnings’ link to the literature had been handled better
•there had been more references to the methodology literature
•some of the sections of the Project had been written better and linked together better
•the references had been presented in one correct style.
Refer to the Final Project Cover Sheet to learn more about the 5 criteria
Comment [CRP96]: This is incorrect and inconsistent referencing as some references have brackets around the dates, and some do not. This student should have followed the AIB Style Guide.
Comment [CRP97]: A copy of the interview questions and/or the survey questions should always be in an appendix.
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This survey has been adapted from the tools used by the NCVER to meet the objectives of the research question. This research is examining: the leadership and management development efforts that are being used or that are planned to be used for building and sustaining the capabilities of College staff who engage in managing and leading people as part of their role.
Informed consent:
The researcher for this project is following the ethical guidelines issues by AIB as a criterion of the research project.
• No individuals will be identified in this report.
• Opinions will be incorporated under major themes
• The organisations will not be identified
• All interview notes will be summarized and destroyed at the end of the project
• The results of the research will be available to all participants early 2009.
Opening question
Q. As you look to the future in terms of the management and leadership talent required for the College to continue to be competitive and innovative in the VET sector, what are the three most pressing leadership and management issues that are facing:
1.___________________________________________________________________
2.___________________________________________________________________
3.___________________________________________________________________
Specific areas for management and leadership development
Q. In your opinion, for the teaching staff who engage in management and leadership roles, the College is most focused about developing their management and leadership capabilities in the three areas of:
1.___________________________________________________________________
2.___________________________________________________________________
3.___________________________________________________________________
Q. In your opinion, for the administration and learning support staff who engage in management and leadership roles, the College is most focused about developing their management and leadership capabilities in three areas of:
1.___________________________________________________________________
2.___________________________________________________________________
3.___________________________________________________________________
Current or planned management and leadership development strategies
Q. In terms of management and leadership development, what is occurring at present, or what is
Comment [CRP98]: The source of the questions should always be explained.
Comment [CRP99]: This sentence about the benefits of participating in the survey is good.
Comment [CRP100]: An excellent part of the introduction to the survey. People will want to participate with this kind of care about privacy.
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planned and what policy does the College have on professional development?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Major achievements to date in management and leadership development
Q. What are you proud of, and can point to as a major achievement in leadership and management development for either yourself, a colleague?
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Q. Are you facing a generational change of management in your division or another division that you are familiar with in the next five years?
Yes / No
If yes, how is the College (you and others) planning to respond to such changes – including succession planning for various types of staff.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Q. Do you apply/follow any of the following policies to your management role at the College: the human resource management plan, the strategic plan, or plans to use to sustain across the organisation its management and leadership capabilities?
Yes / No
Q. At present, what are the biggest constraints that you need to deal with in building the management and leadership capability of your staff?
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Q. What contemporary leadership and management practices or development do you or others in the College use that you would rate as effective or better?
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Appendix B: Management and Leadership Capability Profile
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Instructions: Listed in this survey are various management and leadership capabilities. For each management and leadership capability, you will be asked two questions. Firstly, please consider the level of proficiency you believe is required to perform your current leadership and management roles effectively. Insert a number from 1-6 in the box provided.
Commencement: Using the scale to the right, for each item listed below; please indicate the level of proficiency you believe is required to perform your current role effectively. Then indicate the actual level of proficiency you feel you now exhibit in doing your role.
Required Level of Proficiency Actual Level of Proficiency
1. Not Required 1. None
2. Low Level Required 2. Low
3. Some Level Required 3. Some
4. Moderate Level 4. Moderate
5. High Level Required 5. High
6. Very High Level Required 6. Very High
[Some parts of the questionnaire in the rest of this appendix below have been deleted]
Comment [CRP101]: Some of the survey questions from this example have been deleted
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APPENDIX F: Using Interviews to Collect Data
If you are basing your research Project on an organisation, please make sure you obtain signed consents from an authorised signatory of the organisation (use the Organisation Consent Form in Appendix C). Also, obtain signed consents from the people you interview (use the Individual Consent Form also in Appendix C).
Essentially, an interviewer should follow these rules that are described in more detail below:
• Describe the purpose of the meeting
• Don’t evaluate, for example, do not say ‘that is interesting’
• Don’t interrupt
• Don’t bias by introducing your own ideas
• Don’t worry about pauses – let the interviewee fill them
• Check your understanding, ie paraphrase, paraphrase, paraphrase = active listening
• Take notes
• Thank the respondent
Extracted from Carson, D., Gilmore, A., Gronhaug, K. and Perry, C. 2001, Qualitative Research in Marketing, Sage, London.
Introduction
Interview data is a major source of information for many qualitative researchers. Thus this section will introduce some general principles of interviewing that can be used in the interviews in case studies.
In depth interviewing
Whatever an interview’s form, its purpose is to get inside someone’s head and ‘enter into the other person’s perspective’ (Patton 1990, p. 278) to find out things like feelings, memories and interpretations that we cannot observe or discover in other ways. Thus, the researcher should always be careful of imposing his or her own perspective on to the person being interviewed.
Despite this single, overriding purpose, in-depth interviews range in form along a continuum. At one end, they can be almost like an informal conversation with a friend as in constructivist research that explores a person’s perceptions because they are interesting in themselves. These interviews have virtually no structure or a direction placed on them by the interviewer for they are a constructivist research where the main aim is to explore the internal reality of the interviewee. Interviews in an ethnographic study would be examples of this sort of interview. At the other end of the continuum, interviews can be more structured and directed, like a job interview for instance, and are a form of realism research where perceptions are interesting not for themselves but for the picture that they present of an external reality. Interviews in case study research would be examples of this form of interview. We will try to assemble some principles of in depth interviewing that can be used along most of this continuum of forms of interviews.
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Planning the interview
Most interviews are planned. Firstly, the overall objective of the interview should be sorted out within the context of the whole project. For example, it may be to explore perceptions about ‘the culture of beer consumption in Australia’ or ‘how international marketing relationships are established, maintained and terminated’.
Secondly, an interview guide or protocol is then written as a memory jogger during the interview for the researcher. This interview guide will be about some general, open-ended interview topics that address the overall objective, such as ‘what is the role of beer in Australian life?’ In constructivist research or in the early stages of a research project, there may be only one or two of these general topics. But in realism research or towards the end of a research project when more about the overall phenomenon is known by the researcher and he or she merely wants to have that knowledge confirmed by the interviewee, there may be ten or more of these general topics. During the interview, these topics do not have to be addressed in the order they are written on the interview guide and so there is no need for alarm if the discussion jumps about the topics.
Thirdly, within each of these general topics, there may be more particular probe questions that are raised only after the general topic has been raised and if the interviewee has not raised or discussed them in his or her answer to the more general question; for example, ‘how much beer have you drunk in the last month?’ where? when? with whom? and why?’
Note that these general topics and associated probe questions may not have to be explicitly raised in the interview. With skill and luck, a researcher may be able to get the interviewee involved in a conversation rather than an interview, and the conversation will cover the general topics and associated probe questions without the interviewee knowing they were planned to be raised. Techniques to facilitate this conversation are outlined below. In brief, in a good interview, the questions are often answered before they have to be directly asked.
Finally, the site for the interview must be selected. It should if possible be familiar to the interviewees to set them at ease, be quiet, and be able to be closed off from office traffic. To more easily build rapport, chairs should be the same height for the researcher and the interviewee. By the way, the researcher should dress appropriately to build rapport. For example, do not wear a suit to an interview in factory and do wear a suit to an interview in head office.
Starting the interview
After normal greetings and some chit chat about the weather or the journey to the interview, the researcher should begin the interview when he or she feels the interviewee is ready. Because the researcher expects the interviewee to be honest and open with them, the researcher should try to be the same with them. So the interview starts with a very brief outline of the purpose of the research to assure the interviewee that it is important and has some benefit for them (and then never raise that purpose again). Because informed consent to be interviewed is now a normal ethics requirement for research, confidentiality of the data and of the interviewee in the report should be mentioned, and agreement to be
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interviewed should be confirmed. Next, permission is asked to take notes and to use a tape recorder. If permission is granted, the tape recorder is brought out of the briefcase and the interviewee showed how he or she can push the ‘pause’ button whenever they like. The interviewee is asked if they would like a copy of a report of the study. Finally, the interviewee is asked if they have any questions or want anything clarified before the interview begins.
Note that some authors do not favour the use of tape recorders, usually because they distract both the interviewee and the researcher during the interview (for example, Wolcott 1990; Dick 1990; Lincoln and Guba 1985). Indeed, the ‘click’ when a side of tape is finished can be distracting and may suggest to the interviewee that the interview is about to end. (So if you do use a tape, use the longest playing one you can find.). Moreover, some interviewees do not like a tape recorder to be used. However, some authors strongly recommend their use and transcription of the tapes (for example, Patton 1990). Others are between these two extreme positions, thinking that it is merely ‘a matter of preference’ (Yin 1994, p. 86).
We ourselves usually prefer to try to tape interviews (but also take good notes in case background noise drowns out the interview or the tape recorder does not work – a tape recorder has appeared to be working by a check of its revolving cassette and still not work!). The tape of an interview is then played back within an hour of the interview in the summary making stage. We also usually make a transcription of the tapes of the first two or three interviews because they reveal how bad the notes or even the questions were, and so they improve the note taking and the questioning in later interviews. Transcription of these early interviews could almost be viewed as a necessity. However, for some researchers, the costs of transcription in time of later interviews, or in money for someone else to do the transcription (it usually takes about four to five hours of transcription per hour of interview), often means that transcription of them is a luxury they cannot afford. That is, the tapes are merely played back to check the handwritten notes of the interview.
Managing the interview
Now the interview proper can begin. The first question should be very broad and be in terms that the interviewee would use, for example, ‘How do you do international business?’ I often ask them to ‘please tell me the story of your experiences in [whatever the research is about]’ because they do not have to think about the answer or wonder if their answer is precisely what was behind the question – they can just start telling a story which anyone can do. After the opening question, the researcher asks about the general topics in the interview guide and their associated probe questions, always keeping the answers flowing in the ways described next.
Throughout the interview, the researcher follows the rules of good interviewing. He or she:
• Uses small encouragers like a murmur of understanding or ‘yes?’,
• Maintains eye contact and smiles expectantly during pauses as if expecting the interviewee to continue;
• Uses the active listening technique of feeding back answers in the researcher’s own words to check his or her own understanding and to remind the interviewee that what
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they are saying is very interesting, for example, ‘You mean that price is not as important as distribution?’, and
• Asks non-directive questions like ‘Could you please elaborate?’, ‘Can you give me an example?’ and “You mentioned that…?’
Moreover, the researcher:
• Uses the interviewee’s terms rather than academic ones, for example, ‘partnerships’ rather than ‘strategic alliances’;
• Allows the interviewee’s interests and concerns to decide the order in which the general topics and their associated probe questions are discussed, if the interviewee seems to want to talk about them before the researcher finds it in the interview guide;
• Goes from the general to the particular whenever possible to ensure the interviewee’s perspective is not overruled by the researchers’;
• Never interrupts an answer,
• Never asks leading questions that imply what answer is most acceptable to the researcher, for example, ‘There is a lot of beer drunk around here – do you drink much?’
• Never introduces his or her own ideas into the interview,
• Never evaluates an answer, not even by saying ‘That is interesting’ for example, because doing so will start pointing the interviewee away from his or her own perspective towards the researcher’s perspective; and
• Never worries about a ‘pregnant’ pause – the researcher lets the interviewee fill the pause by appearing to be writing some notes.
At the end, the researcher asks if there are any other points that could have been raised and remembers to thank the interviewee for their precious time. Soon afterwards and when he or she is some distance from the site of the interview, the researcher jots down some memory-joggers about the interview like its date and duration, the clothes the interviewee was wearing, how often they were interrupted, what the person’s desk was like, what awards were on the wall, and so on.
Analysing the data
So now we have masses of words in notes or typescripts. How do we analyse all this stuff? Most qualitative researchers use some form of content analysis to analyse their data, that is, they code groups of words in their transcripts into categories. These categories usually are determined from the research questions that were the starting point for the research. Examples of codes for research about marketing strategy would be: ‘cost leader’, ‘differentiator’ and ‘focus’, and the segments or ‘chunks’ of the transcript which are coded could be phrases, sentences or paragraphs. In effect, these codes are keys to organising the mass of data into patterns -‘Codes are used to retrieve and organise the chunks… The organising part will entail some system for categorising the various chunks, so that the researcher can quickly find, pull out, and cluster all the segments relating to a particular question, hypothesis, concept, or theme’ (Miles and Huberman 1994, p. 57).
Two steps are usually involved in content analysis:
• A first pass simply assigns codes to words or segments of words;
• A second pass makes comparisons and contrasts between the coded material.
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The first step is sometimes called ‘axial coding’ and the second called ‘selective coding’ (Neuman 1994, pp. 408-409). In very constructivist research like grounded theory or ethnography, another pass called the ‘open’ pass precedes these two passes; in the open pass, the initial codes are found within the data itself. But for many researchers with interview data, most of the codes are known before the data is looked at, for they are based on the general topics and their associated probe questions in the interview guide.
So let us assume that the first coding pass is the axial pass. In this axial coding pass through the data, the researcher writes the code against each paragraph or sentence, and possibly writes additional notes in the margin. New codes or new ideas may emerge during this pass, but the emphasis should be on the original list of codes.
Then in the second, selective coding pass through the data, the researcher tries to ‘select’ situations that illustrate themes and makes comparisons and contrasts after most or all data collection is complete. For example, a researcher studying life in an office might decide to make gender relations a major theme. In selective coding he goes through his field notes looking for differences in how men and women talk about dating, engagements, weddings, divorce, extramarital affairs, or husband-wife relations. The aim is to make generalisations about these topics that summarise the similarities and differences between what people are saying.
Summary
We do interviews to find the perspectives inside someone’s head. This is no easy task and each person we interview will be a bit different. But if we plan for the interview, start and flow it with skill, and analyse it with care, we will find out very interesting things for our research projects. To illustrate this, consider how the general principles above can be applied in the particular form of interviewing called convergent interviewing.
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APPENDIX G: Referencing and Plagiarism
Abstract. This document outlines, with examples, how to cite a source in the text of your work, and how to reference sources from articles, books and the internet at the end of your work. It also discusses plagiarism. More details about other sources are in the appendix or can be obtained from AIB.
Background. Consistently using a ‘house style’ like the Style Manual (2002) in your assignments and other reports will protect you from the criticisms of idiosyncratic and pedantic examiners. There are two or three style manuals to choose from but we recommend Style Manual because it is used in all communications with the Australian government, for example, in proposals for consulting projects, and is used by most publishers of books and journals in Australia.
If you are using Microsoft’s Endnote, you could perhaps use the Chicago Style Manual format of the prestigious Journal of Marketing until the Style Manual format is provided in Endnote. More inexpensive bibliographic software are:
• the free, very basic Biblioexpress software (the introductory version is downloadable at http://www.biblioscape.com/biblioexpress.htm – the full version called Biblioscope costs $US 139 or $US 99 with the education discount). I suggest you use its APA option for referencing.
• Scholar’s Aid 4 AE is another, similarly cheap and possibly better bibliographic software available from http://scholarsaid.com/index.html
• Or you can try the free shareware bibliographic software running on Firefox 2.0 called zotero – you can search for this using Google or yahoo search; or you can find other free software by searching for ‘free bibliographic software’ using Google or Yahoo search.
Citations. In the text of your work, the citations of authors are presented in the Harvard style. For example, if an idea came from Smith, you write the idea and then write in brackets the name and year of publication as in (Smith 1998). If you quote from Smith, you have to give the page number too, so give the quotation and then write in brackets (Smith 1998, p. 3). Note that there is no comma between the name and the year, but there is a comma after the date if a quotation necessitates the page number being added. Provide complete details of all your citations in the references at the end of your assignment, as shown in the examples below.
Consider these citing practices in more detail. You must acknowledge the sources of ideas in an assignment by referencing the author or organisation and the date, but without the page number; for example, you could refer to a textbook as (Sherman 1999). When using the name of the author in your sentence you write the name outside brackets as in ‘Smith (1999) found…’ These ideas are not copied word for word from your textbook or another source, but are expressed in your own words.
When you are copying word-for-word from your textbook or from another source, you must acknowledge where those sentences, paragraphs or extracts came from. To do this acknowledgment, you must do two things:
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• Put quotation marks around the quote from your source
• Cite in brackets what the source is and the page number; that is, after the quotation marks, cite a reference in the Harvard style, for example, (Smith 1998, p. 3) – note that there is no comma between the name and the year, but there is a comma after the year.
Consider this citing in more detail. You must acknowledge the sources of ideas in an assignment by referencing the author or organisation and the date, but without the page number; for example, you could refer to a textbook as (Sherman 1999). These ideas are not copied word for word from your textbook or another source; this is paraphrasing or the expression of ideas in your own words.
When you are copying word-for-word from your textbook or from another source, you must acknowledge where those sentences, paragraphs or extracts came from. To do this acknowledgment, you must do three things:
• Put quotation marks around the quote from your source (except for long quotes that exceed 30 words – these are shown as a separate paragraph with no quotation marks, are single spaced and indented 1.5 cm on the right and left hand side)
• Cite in brackets what the source is and the page number; after the quotation marks, cite a reference in the Harvard style, for example, (Smith 1998, p. 3) – note that there is no comma between the name and the year, but there is a comma after the year, and
• Provide complete details of the reference at the end of your assignment.
If there is no author to cite, cite the name of the sponsoring organisation or the title of the book or article, for example, Australian Government Publishing Service (1994) or Style Manual (1994) or (‘Here and there’ 2001). If there is no date, put n.d., for example, Smith (n.d.).
The above principles of referencing are also used for internet sources. That is, the author or the title of the article or the sponsoring organisation is cited in the text, for example, Smith (1996, p. 2) and (The World in Cyberspace 1999; ‘Hello and goodbye’ 2000; World Health Organisation 2000).
Referencing. You should provide a complete reference list at the end of your answers and assignments. The list is in alphabetical order and if you have more than one reference from one author, place them in chronological order. Examples are (Abel 1999; Baker 1990) and Smith (2000, 2001). For multiple citations in the same year use a, b, c… immediately following the year of publication, for example, (Fox 1997a, 1997b).
Examples of how to provide the details of a book, a journal article and an Internet source follow. Note that:
• A comma follows the family name but does not come before the date
• Book and journal titles are in italics
• Article names have single quotation marks around them
• The publisher and its location are in that order, and
• You have put the viewing date into internet references.
Books
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Bradley, F 1991, International Marketing Strategy, Prentice Hall, London.
Style Manual for Authors, Editors and Printers 2002, 6th edn, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra.
Thorelli, HB & Cavusgil, ST (eds) 1990, International Marketing Strategy, 4th edn, Pergamon Press, Oxford.
Articles
Minor, M, Wu, WY & Choi, MK 1991, ‘A proposition-based approach to international entry strategy contingencies’, Journal of Global Marketing, vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 69-87.
Internet references
Lee, MT 1996, Guidelines for Citing References and Electronic Sources of Information United Nations, Vienna, viewed 12 May 1999, <http://www.eliz.tased.edu.au/refs.htm>.
Guides to Citing Electronic Information n.d., viewed 6 May 2000, <http://www.uvm.edu/~ncrane/estyles/apa.html>.
Tables and figures. Note that an examiner should not have to look at tables and figures to be able follow your arguments. If there is an important point in a table or figure, you have to incorporate it into your text – the examiner should not have to do your work by ferreting for points in tables and figures (the same thing applies to appenduces). That is, an examiner should be able to pass your work without having to look at any of its tables or figures, if he or she is in a hurry. Similarly, tables and figures should be able to be read somewhat independently of the text, so ensure the titles of tables and figures are rather long and self-explanatory, and any symbols in a table are explained in a note to the table. That is, someone who has not read the text should understand a table. By the way, a table has rows and columns and a figure does not.
The title of a table or figure should be reasonably self-explanatory; that is, it should not be too short, and its source should be at the bottom. A table or figure should be referred to in the text of your work by its number, not as ‘above’ or ‘below’.
We have tried to develop some rules of thumb for writers using software like Microsoft Word that are as close as possible to Style Manual’s standards. Examples of Figure and Tables titles, notes and sources follow:
• Titles are shown at the top of a table or figure (with bold for the name but not for the number, and no full stop, in 12 point font), and
• Notes and sources are at the bottom of a table or figure (with a full stop at the end of them, and they are in that order, in 11 or 10 point font).
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Note: Figures are for civilians whose family status could not be determined. Source: Gibbs (1999). Source: developed for this research. Source: analysis of field data. Figure 1.2 Outline of this thesis, with chapter numbers and their interrelationships Note: Dashed line highlights the methodology chapters in two stages. Source: developed for this research based on (Perry 2002). Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 4 Stage two: case research Chapter 5 Case research data analysis Chapter 3 Stage one: focus groups and convergent interviews Chapter 2 Literature review Chapter 6 Conclusions and implications
Reference
Style Manual for Authors, Editors and Printers 2002, 6th edn, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra.
Some more points about style in Australia
• Use a capital letter only at the start of a heading or the title of a figure and table, and then use lower case for all the other words. More advice on presenting tables and figures is provided above.
• Use a capital for one particular unit but all lower case for many, generic units, for example, ‘my University’ and ‘many universities’.
• Write out numbers from one to nine in words, and larger numbers as numbers, for example, ‘nine’ and ‘10’. However, if you are comparing a number above 10 with a number below 10, present both of them as number, for example, ‘7 out of the 15 people were blind’.
• However, never use numbers at the start of a sentence. For example, do not start with ‘1998 was…’ or ’77 percent was…’; instead, start with something like ‘The year 1998 was…’ or ‘As much as 77 percent…’
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• Nevertheless, use numbers rather than words for parts of a document, and present them with a capital when referring to a particular part of the document, for example, ‘Chapter 2’ and ‘Figure 6.1’.
• Present a title of a book or journal in italics, for example, Tom Thumb.
• Do not place full stops between the letters in established abbreviations like ‘US’ or ‘ASEAN’.
• Use country names and abbreviations like this: ‘United States’ is a noun or an adjective and ‘US’ is only an adjective.
• There is a difference in the use of a full stop at the end of an abbreviation and a contraction. For example, ‘Dr’ and ‘Oct.’ are different because the ‘r’ in Dr is the last letter in the full word but ‘t’ is not the last letter in October.
• Use single quotation marks rather than double quotation marks, except when you have a quotation within a quotation when double quotation marks should be used. Here is an example: He said, ‘Bill shouted at me, “Go away!” I could not believe it.’
• However, if your quotation is more than 30 words, present it as an indented paragraph without quotation marks and with a one line space before and after the indented paragraph. As well, the font should be one point less than normal, that is, 11 point font in a thesis that follows the usual 12 point font. This font size difference does not apply for quotations less than 30 words. For example, he said:
I am going to speak more than 30 words. I am going to speak more than 30 words. I am going to speak more than 30 words. Look, I did speak more than 30 words.
Note that all quotations should be preceded by a precis in your own words of what is in the quotation – you cannot hide behind someone else’s words just because you do not have the brains to express the idea in your own words. It is your task to read the literature and synthesise its ideas into a pattern for your thesis. You should not force the examiner to do this by just plopping in a quotation for him or her to read. In brief, use short quotations that you have first expressed in your own words, and use them sparingly.
• If you use your own, unusual words or slang words, present them with quotation marks the first time you use them but not when you use the words after that; for example, ‘quasi-probabilistic’ and ‘confirmatory/disconfirmatory test’ have a quotation mark when first used but not afterwards.
• Occasionally use ‘I’ or ‘we’ when describing what you actually did, but do not use them to present your own value judgements in phrases like ‘I feel’ or ‘I consider’.
• Do not use slangy contractions like ‘don’t’ or ‘can’t’; instead, write ‘do not’ or ‘cannot’.
• Please do not use comparative or superlative adjectives and adverbs such as ‘all’ authors or he worked ‘harder’, because they are essentially just value judgements and if the examiner wanted to know about value judgments he or
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she would look at the letters to the Editor of a newspaper.
• Use italics for emphasis very sparingly – as a usual maximum, italicise only one or two words per one or two pages. Using italics too often will make them lose their impact. (This appendix is not an assignment or thesis and so I have used italics here more often than I would in one of these documents).
• A date is written as 12 May 2002, in that order and without a comma.
• The terms ‘pm’ and ‘am’ are written without full stops, for example, 12.15 am.
• For numbers, thousands do not need a comma but larger numbers should be presented with spaces instead of commas, for example, 5000 and 50 000 000