CT098-3-2

Technology

Research Methods for Computing and

Research Methods for Computing and

Technology
(CT098-3-2-RMCT)

Individual Assignment:
UC2F1410SE

STUDENT NAME

: Wong Kah Chun

STUDENT TP NUMBER

: TP027850

LECTURERS NAME

: Mr. Leong Swee Kee

DUE DATE

: 9 July 2015

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CT098-3-2
Technology

Research Methods for Computing and

Table of Contents
Abstract..........................................................................................................................................4
1.0 Problem Definition...................................................................................................................5
1.1 Title Introduction....................................................................................................................5
1.2 Aim.........................................................................................................................................5
1.3 Objectives...............................................................................................................................5
1.4 Problem Statement.................................................................................................................6
2.0 Research Proposal....................................................................................................................6
2.1 Problem Background..............................................................................................................6
2.2 Literature Review...................................................................................................................7
2.3 Research Question................................................................................................................10
2.4 Research Design...................................................................................................................10
2.4.1 Gantt Chart....................................................................................................................12
2.5 Personal Reflection..............................................................................................................12
3.0 References................................................................................................................................14

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CT098-3-2
Technology

Research Methods for Computing and

Employee Performance Evaluation

System for Sales Department

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CT098-3-2
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Abstract
The purpose of this research is to identify the problem in performance evaluation system,
how it affects employee performance and propose a new system as solution. In the problem
definition, introductory of an evaluation system is described together with the aim and objectives
of the proposed performance evaluation system. Problem statement of the current performance
evaluation system is shown after that. In the research proposal, problem backgrounds relating to
the current performance evaluation system are listed. Literature review talks about performance
evaluation, employee motivation depending on rewards, mistakes done in performance
evaluation, importance of feedback towards organizations and a 360 degree feedback solution.
Research questions are listed as well as explanation of methods to undergo in research design.
Last but not least, personal reflection towards the research is defined.

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CT098-3-2
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Research Methods for Computing and

1.0 Problem Definition

1.1 Title Introduction
An evaluation is an assessment which determine a subjects worth and value. It proposes
a way of regulating whether if expected output is delivered by the subject or not. An employee
performance evaluation system is a process of reckoning the throughput of an employee in an
organization by undertaking a few standard of procedures. Evaluating an employee is essential as
performance development is dependent on outcome of evaluation. Furthermore, manager goes
through evaluation process on employee to hold an evidence for increment and other operations.
On top of that, employee can be motivated after being evaluated thus setting an objective to work
better.

1.2 Aim
To develop a computer model performance evaluation system for sales department that
prioritize the usage of feedback where company of any size can move on to a paperless
performance evaluation process while producing accurate results.

1.3 Objectives

To generate a statistical performance review of an employee based on raw data such as

sales, budget, wastage and etc.

To include different types of template to outline the performance review in a graphical

way such as graph, table, chart and etc.

To develop a private two-way assessment between superior and subordinate.
To provide a 360 degree feedback system where employee receives feedback from
different individuals such as peers, managers, head of department and etc.

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1.4 Problem Statement

Traditional performance evaluation for employee does not possess an effective output to
organizations as it is not aiding employees in improving performance and setting a clear goal due
to the inability of returning corrective and constructive feedback from the superior.

2.0 Research Proposal

2.1 Problem Background
The absence of a proper computer model evaluation system has led to a problem in
organizations. In a research from Shrestha (2006), it is shown that a total of 55.7% of companies
in Bangkok, Thai does not possess a computer model evaluation system. This proposes that more
than half of the companies in Bangkok, Thai undergo evaluation process with their employee
manually through paper form or Microsoft Excel sheet prepared by the company. The use of
improper model to evaluate employees has cause them a state of being unclear on the employers
expectation regarding objectives thus lead to miscommunication and de-motivation.
It is found that traditional performance evaluation does not produce effective output
anymore. Alexander (2006) explained that traditional reviews works well in the classification of
employee with good performance or bad performance but wasnt able to specify an employee
that belongs to the range between good and bad. Generally, rater is possible to face human error
which carelessly cause a mistake in rating an employee thus producing an inaccurate
performance review. On top of that, it turns to a difficult task when manager refers to employee
review that has average performance for organization operations such as salary increment or
promotion.
The seed of arising problem in any performance evaluation system is the inability to
return a corrective and constructive feedback back to the employee from the rater. According to
Bekele, Shigutu & Tensay (2014), the performance appraisal system has been significantly
affected from an employees perception thus they start to feel dissatisfaction towards the
enactment of practicing performance appraisal system in the organization all because of the lack
of continuous feedback from the rater. The implementation of performance evaluation system is
technically useless without feedback transmission as it causes low employee productivity.
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Farooq & Kahn (2011) reflected that it has turn out to be a norm that many firms fail to
provide a corrective feedback for their employee after going through the evaluation process.
Company that faces this problem is actually trailing a big disadvantage with them because
missing of feedback towards employee will cause them to lose their direction and tend to move
away from intended objective easily.
Based on a research done by Markus (2004), a survey of self-opinion about performance
evaluation system was conducted on the employees of United States and it is found out that 70%
of the employees has voted that the implementation of performance evaluation system does not
fulfill the companys goals because there are no development of performance after each
evaluation process. To add in more information, 60% of the employees has stated that one of the
reasons that causes this issue is the lack of creditability or response from the rater. Without an
honest feedback, employees has no idea on how to set a goal in the organization.

2.2 Literature Review

Performance evaluation has been a tool for the managers to refer as the quality of
progress of their employees in an organization. Gregory (2011) once said that performance
review distinguishes between subordinate that is making a vast contribution to the organizations
achievement and subordinate that requires more effort in order to achieve target. It is an effective
utensil to measure an employees performance. The researcher agrees this point as manager will
need to track down each of their employees progress and understand what their employees are
capable of. With an appropriate performance review, managers can build up employee
motivation by undertaking corrective action for employee with bad performance and reward
employee with good performance.
Employees feel motivated if they are given reward or incentive throughout their hard
work achievement for organization. According to Hameed, Ramzan, Zubair, Ali & Arslan (2014),
motivating an employee is an essential factor in organization context as it convert an employee to
high productive and significantly develop performance. The researcher reflects that offering
compensation as a tool to motivate employee is an effective way to expand their ability in
performing vigorously for the organization but managers need to be certain before making any
decision to reward an individual. Mangers judge an employee by referring to the output of
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performance review. Therefore, they need to be precise in the evaluation process in order to
produce a trustworthy performance review that they can refer as to motivate employee.
It is not just about going through a simple evaluation process in order to achieve an
effective performance evaluation. Manager with insufficient training on how to conduct an
evaluation will cause a high impact towards the outcome. According to Bekele, Shitgutu &
Tensay (2014), shortage of technical skills on how to conduct a proper evaluation towards
employee has caused failure in performance evaluation. A reflection is upheld which manager
with no proper skills in evaluating employee performance has no difference in employee
evaluating their own performance with themselves of which personal biasness takes place. Based
on a research done by Shrestha & Chalidabhongse (2006), it is reflected that the need of a
computer model performance evaluation system is required which transform the manual
evaluation method to an automated evaluation method that helps manager to train on technical
skills in evaluating employee. It is not only a benefit for employee but also for manager that
tends to conduct the evaluation. The researcher believes that employee can get a clearer image of
their progress through a computer model evaluation system rather than through paper form. On
the other hand, manager holds the opportunity to train on the skills to use the computer model
evaluation system to conduct a more objective-based evaluation method towards their
subordinates.
However, manager tends to perceive mistake while conducting performance evaluation
and cause the whole process to go wrong. According to Jackson (2012), there are managers that
abstain from giving a harsh and negative feedback to the employee after the evaluation process.
With this, the manager isnt providing an honest feedback thus ruining the purpose of a
performance evaluation. The researcher thinks that the employee needs to know the truth behind
his or her performance in an organization. Employees will not make any significant progress if
they think that they are doing just fine but in fact they are not.
Feedback has been one of the most essential part in any organization. In a research done
by Dignen (2014), a positive feedback is a gratitude to definite a job well done so the employee
will do better in future while a negative feedback is not a criticism instead it is a constructive
way to remind employee to develop further performance. Feedback is obtained from supporting

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evidence hence performance review is a seed for the manager to seek for information to return as
feedback to the employee.
Having a corrective feedback that determine the better part of the performance and the
required areas to be improved can enhances an employee performance. Based on a research done
by Yamoah (2014), organization that has a solid and clear goal can improve performance by 15%
- 25% but producing feedback which enhances employee performance can increase performance
more than that. While according to Farooq & Kahn (2011), collective feedback provide
sharpness in employee performance and aid in pinpointing the weaknesses that employees have
in them. The researcher believes that feedback is required in the field of working as it is not just
a mere verbal words from the manager but a suggestion on a way to enhance an individuals
quality of work. Rather than being persistent in their own thought, employees should accept
feedback from reviewers and start following the path to achieve expected objective.
In order to facilitate feedback in a performance evaluation system, a solution is
implemented as the 360 degree feedback system. According to Fleenor & Prince (1997), 360
degree feedback system does the task in acquiring input from various perspectives and generate a
complete picture of an employees performance as an output. It is also emphasized that relying
on a single source for evaluation may end up in a result that is bias. Moreover, feedback turns out
to be more accurate in a 360 degree feedback as it provides a complete capabilities and
performance of an individual from different perspectives. However, it is reflected by Alexander
(2006) which using 360 degree feedback for the purpose of increasing salary or pay of an
individual employee may turn to a harmful process. The reason behind this is peers and
colleague, who may see themselves as the competitors against the employee, are also eligible to
rate the employee and they may provide a negative feedback towards the individual to halt the
employee one step further from getting reward. The researcher thinks that 360 degree feedback
system is a revolution of the traditional one-to-one feedback system. After all, having multiple
feedback from different perspectives is always better than receiving a sole feedback from a
single person. However, judging from the 21 st century workplace environment, co-workers dont
often get along well and it might turn the whole 360 degree feedback process to another level of
failure. In a nutshell, 360 degree feedback system is overall a good adaption to move towards to

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and the researcher believes it can change the employees perception towards performance
evaluation system in organization.

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2.3 Research Question

Technical
1. What type of programming language is

Domain
1. What are the factors affecting an

used in developing the system?

2. What are the hardware that is used for

employees sales performance?

2. How performance evaluation is improving

developing a performance evaluation system?

3. What is the algorithm used in a

employees sales performance?

3. How is feedback required in performance

performance evaluation system?

evaluation?

2.4 Research Design

The chosen method for primary research is interview and questionnaire.
Interview will be used to collect qualitative data. It is chosen because the researcher can
explore the personal views, experiences and opinions from an individual on the specific research
topic. Therefore, the data collected by interview will provide a deeper understanding on the
research.
Relating to the research purpose, interview can be conducted to solve technical and
domain questions. Purposive sampling will be used in determining the sample size. It is chosen
as the sampling method because the researcher needs to choose specific people in a population
there fore it is suitable for concentrating on people that is fulfilling requirements of the research
design. For the technical research questions, the researcher will conduct an interview with
graduated Software Engineers with Degree qualification to acquire deeper understanding of
technical part of the research. Software engineers are the one who has vast knowledge on
developing a system. Therefore, the purpose of an interview with these professionals will get the
opinions from these professional on addressing the question in developing a system efficiently
yet effectively. For the domain research questions, the target audience for interview will be
employees and managers of sales department in different organizations. No one else will
understand what is at stake regarding the performance evaluation and feedback except for
themselves, therefore the purpose of interviewing them is to dig out information like how
effective is the current performance evaluation system and what is it lacking.

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Questionnaire is used to collect quantitative data. Quantitative data is needed in a large

amount from a large scale of people. It is suitable to acquire data that is required in large form.
The result obtained from a questionnaire can be easily compared and measured with other results
because it is done in Likert Scale.
Relating to the research purpose, a sample size calculator will be used to determine the
sample size. The population size, margin of error, confidence level and response distribution are
to be identified before the sample size can be calculated. Questionnaires regarding technical
questions will be distributed to Software Engineer graduates with Degree qualification while
questionnaires regarding domain questions will be distributed to employees in organization. The
questionnaires will be designed using Likert Scale to avoid the target audience to get off topic
and provide answer that are irrelevant to the question. The main purpose of questionnaire in the
research is to study the best way to develop a performance evaluation system and importance of
feedback in a performance evaluation. Therefore, the research can identify the scenarios and
acquire the answers required in the research questions.
The data and information collected from the research is analyzed before the research is
complete. For the qualitative data collected from interview, the approach to analyze the data is to
construct a theme that is fulfill the requirement of the research. The data will be placed in the
designated theme then research will start filtering data. The ones that is matching the theme will
be kept as the supporting findings for the research while the irrelevant ones will be filtered out
from the theme. For the quantitative data collected from questionnaire, the data will be divided
into different components of which the question is carrying. The results of one single component
will be analyzed by using chart or table. With this, the researcher is able to get a statistical
overview of each component. The researcher then can measure and optimize the data in the
research easily.

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2.4.1 Gantt Chart

No
.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7

Activity

1-2

3-4

Week
5-8
9-10

11-14

15-16

Prepare Technical Interview Questions and

Questionnaires
Prepare Domain Interview Questions and
Questionnaires
Interview Software Engineers on Technical
Questions
Distribute Questionnaires to Software
Engineers
Interview Employees and Managers on
Domain Questions
Distribute Questionnaires to Employees
Analyze Data Collected from the Research

2.5 Personal Reflection

In order to conduct primary research against the domain problems, the researcher is
required to travel to an organization and interview both the employee and manager. However, it
will be a difficult task to book a session from the manager to conduct the interview because the
manager may not be available or does not have any free time at the moment. Therefore, the
researcher faces limitation and may not be able to elicit information from the manager.
Besides, there is a potential limitation where organization may refuse in using the
proposed performance evaluation system because it is an optional system for them. The target
market may believe that the organization is doing fine in handling employee performance
therefore concluding that it is unnecessary to use such a system.
An alternate approach to develop the proposed system is to include artificial intelligence
integration. Since performance is judged on the achievements of employee, the system will not
only judge result but also learn the process of getting the result by using AI integration. The
result will also be more accurate because AI make decisions using an algorithm that standardize
everything. On top of that, time spent on completing a task will be reduced as AI will handle the
task and learn behavior each time it is completing a task.

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(2730 Words)

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3.0 References
Alexander, D., 2006. How Do 360 Degree Performance Reviews Affect Employee Attitudes,
Effectiveness and Performance?, University of Rhode Island: Schmidt Labor Research Center
Seminar Paper Series.
Bekele, A., Shigutu, A. & Tensay, A., 2014. The Effect of Employees' Perception of Performance
Apprasial on Their Work Outcomes. International Journal of Management and Commerce
Innovations, II(1), pp. 136-173.
Daoanis, L., 2012. Performance Appraisal System: It's Implication To Employee Performance.
International Journal of Economics and Management Sciences, II(3), pp. 55-62.
Dignen, B., 2014. Five Reasons Why Feedback may be the Most Important Skill. [Online]
Available at: http://www.cambridge.org/elt/blog/2014/03/five-reasons-feedback-may-importantskill/
[Accessed 29th June 2015].
Farooq, M. & Khan, M., 2011. Impact of Training and Feedback on Employee Performance. Far
East Journal of Psychology and Business, IV(1), pp. 23-33.
Fleenor, J. & Prince, J., 1997. Using 360-Degree Feedback in Organizations, Greensboro, North
Carolina: Center for Creative Leadership.
Gregory, K., 2011. The Importance of Employee Satisfaction. pp. 29-37.
Hameed, A. et al., 2014. Impact of Compensation on Employee Performance (Empirical
Evidence from Banking Sector of Pakistan). International Journal of Business and Social
Science, IV(2), pp. 302-209.
Jackson, E., 2012. Ten Biggest Mistakes Bosses Make In Performance Reviews. [Online]
Available at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericjackson/2012/01/09/ten-reasons-performancereviews-are-done-terribly/2/
[Accessed 29th June 2015].
Khan, M., 2013. Role of Performance Appraisal System on Employees Motivation. IOSR
Journal of Business and Management , VIII(4), pp. 66-83.
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Markus, L., 2004. Performance Management - Problems and Potential : 12 key steps to ensure
top performance from your staff. pp. 1-13.
Shrestha, S. & Chalidabhongse, J., 2006. Improving Employee Satisfaction on Performance
Apprasial: A Case Study on Thai Companies. Management of Innovation and Technology,
Volume I, pp. 106-110.
Yamoh, E., 2014. Monitoring Employee Performance at the Workplace. Developing Country
Studies, IV(14), pp. 109-110.

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