Research Proposal: Performance Management

By Student's Name

Course Code+ Name

Professor's Name

University Name

City, State

Date
 Abstract

The research paper outlines a proposal for a study on the causes of employees'

absenteeism from duties at international conglomerates company, especially employees in the

Sales department in the three branches of India, Brazil, and France over the last five years. The

absenteeism rate has been higher than the industry rate hence becoming a serious cause for alarm

for the company. The paper begins with an introduction which outlines the research statement,

the goals, and objectives of the study. There is an emphasis on the literature review on

performance management more so about the sales department. The research proposal paper

examines effective research designs and methodologies which include paradigm of inquiry,

research methodology, data collection methods, data analysis techniques and ethical issues in

research. Finally, the paper provides a proposal research timeline that can be used to conduct the

study in investigating the causes of the high rates of employee absence from work at

international conglomerates company.

 Table of Contents

Introduction4

Literature Review...5

Research Designs and Methodology..8

Paradigm of Enquiry..8

Research Methodologies9

Data Collection Methods..11

Data Analysis Techniques12

Ethical Issues12

Research Rationale...13

Conclusion14

Reference List...16
 Performance Management

Introduction

Performance management refers to the way through which employees and the

management of an organization work together in planning, monitoring, and review of the

staff contribution and participation in the organization as well as their work objectives.

The success of any business or activity depends on the effectiveness of the performance

management of the team. The conduct of employees, dedication to their duties and

motivation in the workplace results in the progress of the organization. The management

also plays a significant role in enhancing good management performance on how they

relate to the employees, appreciating the efforts of the employees motivates them to

exploit their full potential in whatever they do. Absence from work affects the

productivity of an organization because it implies a lack of maximum contribution of the

employees to the running of the team.

Research Statement

The purpose of the paper is to investigate likely causes of rising absenteeism in the sales

department over the past five years in the International Conglomerates Company.

Research Questions

The central question for this research proposal is the causes of the continued rising cases of

absenteeism of employees of the sales department at International Conglomerates Company.

Other research questions for the study include:

1). what are the underlying factor as to why the employees have continued to be absent from

their duties for the last five years?

2). has the management of the company contributed in any way to the problem in all the three

branches?

3). what action has the company undertake concerning the cases which are above the industry

rates?
Research Objectives

1). to investigate reasons why employees have continued to be absent from their duties in the last

five years.

2). to find out if the management of the company contributed in any way to the problem in all the

three branches.

3). to determine the action undertaken by the company concerning the cases which are above the

industry rates.

Literature Review

Absenteeism is an employee's habit or deliberate absence from the job, employees may

miss reporting to work for some days in a fiscal year but the rising cases of absenteeism for

International Conglomerates in the past five years in all the three branches France, Brazil, and

India affects the productivity of the sales department. Considering that this will be the first study

on the issue, the research model to be used will be an exploratory approach which will not be

based on previous research. The rising cases of employees' absenteeism from the workplaces

have become a major concern among researcher. The aim of the researchers is to investigate the

cause of the increasing cases and also determine the relationship of the reasons with the

organizational productivity. According to Madhani, (2015, p 95) lack of job satisfaction is a

primary cause of the alarming absence cases from workplaces in India, workers with complaints

about their workplace environment or management are more likely to come out with excuses any

time just to keep off the environment. Workers job satisfaction is reflected in the performance of

work. Data collection and analysis will be subjective to qualitative approach to get information

which provides fine details which are in line with objectives of the study. The primary data

collection methods will be observations, focus groups, direct contact with the employees.

Published work about employees' absenteeism from work, questionnaires to the customers will

also be adopted especially for customer evaluation, and these should be used as secondary

sources of data.
 An employee who is satisfied with the conditions around their workplace is likely

to give his/ her activities maximum attention and exploit their full potential in their work.

Job satisfaction is classified under various aspects such as the nature of the job itself,

autonomy o the job and personal feelings towards the environment. If the employee is not

comfortable with any of the above aspects, then they are likely to quit or fail to report to

the workplace which in turn affects the productivity of the organization. Bullying and

harassment of employees at work are one of the leading causes of absenteeism from

work, employees who are likely to call the office or excuse themselves from attending

their duties for a period just to avoid the harassment (Schwepker, 2015, p.300). The

bullying comes from colleagues or people in senior organizational offices, and most

employees suffer in silence as they fear to open up and therefore the only option is to

avoid it through absence from work.

Heavy workloads, lack appreciation of employees' efforts by the management and

demoralizing presentations and meetings are likely causes of employees' avoidance to go to

work. The employees may be going through tough economic times, emotional and psychological

breakdown outside the workplace can lead to staff absenteeism at work. Employers should give

their employees motivation to continuing to work through rewarding them for extraordinary

commitment to their duties, sacrifices they make for the success of the organization (Rafi,

Iftikhar, Saleem, Iqbal, & Nawaz 2013). A motivated employee will give the best attention to the

customers, have good customer relations and can market the organization to potential customers

which would result to increase in productivity of the team (Liozu, SM 2015, p.34). A sales

department whose members are dedicated and committed to the success of the team is likely to

create a strong customer relations foundation, come up with effective marketing strategies which

will increase the organization's sales and profit margin.

The employee will be able to appreciate the results of their efforts and feel the

motivation even to do it better which will significantly reduce cases of absenteeism from
work. Employees who are not satisfied with their place of work may fail to report to their

work stations, and they go out looking for better jobs and working conditions. The

employees may call in sick or decide to prolong their breaks for job hunting which may

be as a result of inconveniences' such as little pay, less motivation, unconducive working

environment among others. Knowledge of international marketing and sales strategies

among employees can cause poaching by potential competitors, and the employees may

decide not to quit their previous employment but rather take the next offer on a part time

basis which will result in partial shifts from their duties (Williams, Colovic & Zhu, 2016,

p.1). The partial tasks are likely to cost the performance management and productivity of

the organization.

Performance management in the sales division can be enhanced through training

of the employees on the current marketing and sales trends in the business world,

developing the sense of competition among the employees through motivation to the

employees who demonstrate exemplary performance (Shannahan, Bush & Shannahan. R

2013, p.45). According to Madhani, 2015, p.180 the organizational leadership can also

contribute to employees' commitment to their work or cause cases of absenteeism, an

organization with transformative leaders especially in the sales department motivates

employees to give their duties full responsibility which boosts sales and overall

management performance. The sales department is a complex division of any

organization since together with the marketing department they are the backbone of the

business, the conduct and management of this department are sensitive to the body. The

current sales situations in the respective countries can be complex which sometimes

discourages the workers. An effective performance management is one which fully takes

into consideration the feeling of the employees and their experiences at the place of work

(Virtanen, Parvinen, & Rollins, 2015, p.54). Performance should intervene in finding
solutions to the challenges that the sales employees are undergoing in meeting their

duties and responsibilities as well as the running of the sales performance.

Research Design and Methodology

Paradigm of Enquiry

A paradigm is a process or theory which inform how we carry out activities, and

it establishes a set of practices for an organization. Investigating the cause of the rising

cases of absenteeism from the employees of the sales department in the International

Conglomerates company set of practices has to be established as a guideline of a practical

research. Management of organizations is affected by the changes and advancements in

the business industry. The factor includes social-economic pressures, changes and

evolution of business ways and processes, restructuring of organization designs and

declining presence of top talent employees among others. A paradigm of inquiry for the

research is a shift of mindset. The change would entail an entirely new model whereby

the Human Resource professionals appreciate the changes that come with time. Creation

and adoption of a solution which is founded on an assessment of goals of the needs of the

market, considering how customers and employees feel and think about decisions and

products from the company.

The paradigm can also project future possibilities (Shepherd and Challenger,

2013, p.240).The inquiry will seek to determine how the traditional models relate to

employees absenteeism from their workplace probably the employees feel the set of

practices is not considerate of their feelings and those of the consumers hence the

discouragement from working. Another paradigm inquiry would be in the conventional

method which would challenge the Human Resource Department to makes changes with

an objective of making performance management more efficient (Crick, Haigney, Huang,

Coburn and Goldspink, C., 2013, p.260). Evaluation of whether or not the employees are

comfortable with the model in use by the company, in case they are dissatisfied then that
would probably be a cause for the continual rising cases of absenteeism by the

employees. Another relevant inquiry would be of leadership and the consequences of

excessive absenteeism from work by the employees. An organization with no strict and

well spelled out rules are likely to feel the impacts of employees not reporting to work as

required.

Research Methodology

Performance management systems outline how the managers and staff in an organization

in collaboration plan, monitor and review the contribution of the employee to the organization

and also in meeting their work objectives. Performance management outlines the employees'

contribution and tracks their progress in the place of work. The sales department has a regional

sales manager who is entitled with the responsibility of overseeing the employees in a particular

branch and report directly to the head of sales in every country (Karlsson, 2016). The research

methodology to use in this case will be based on employee work performance, employee

evaluation and absenteeism from work. The research methods to be used include:

Correlating Data

Collecting data about previous employee firing and a warning will shed some

light on the dissatisfaction of employees in their workstations. Keeping track of the

members who have negative comments about the management, from the comments it is

possible to evaluate the cause of the problems. Employers who have a tendency of firing

their employees on slight mistakes tend to discourage the existing employees as they also

feel they will be fired at the end of the day (Schmidt, and Hunter, 2014). Therefore, they

can comfortably fail to report to work maybe with the aim of provoking their employers

to sack them. Negative comments are a reflection of employees' attitude towards the

management and an eye opener for the managements to put in place necessary

adjustments so as to avoid future repetitions of the challenges.

Direct observations.
 Hiring an independent research organization to visit the company on a regular

basis and interact with the employees in the sales department can also be used to

investigate the cause of the rising absenteeism cases. The visits can be either formal or

informal to provide feedback to the regional sales manager. Friendly interaction can be

done by acting like customers for them to evaluate the employee-customer relations, this

will enhance understanding of how the employees relate with the company customers

(George, Haas and Pentland, 2014, p.325). Direct observation provides first-hand

feedback for the organization, and the dissatisfaction of the workers can be seen clearly.

Supervisor assessment and self-evaluations

The cause of the rising cases of employees in the sales department can be

obtained through providing a platform for employees' self-evaluation tools and also be

checking the management assessment of what is likely to be the cause. Both self and

supervisor assessment are necessary as they provide honest opinions from the two sides.

The employee and the supervisory team are equally important in achieving success in the

sales department of the company.

Customer Evaluations

Setting up a research study which involves the company customers to find out on

possible causes of employees inconsistency in reporting to work. The research

methodology can be in the form of written forms, online questionnaires or telephone calls

to the customers or clients of the sales department (Shields, Brown, Kaine, Dolle-Samuel,

North-Samardzic., McLean, Johns, Robinson, O'Leary and Plimmer, 2015). The

questionnaire results will be grouped according to age and gender of the customers. The

employees deal directly with the customers, and the feedback from the customers would

provide objective information about the reasons why employees have habits of not

reporting to work.

Data Collection Methods

 The research proposal will rely on qualitative data hence the data collection

methods will being line with qualitative data. The method involves direct communication

and contact with the employees on face to face basis, and qualitative data collection also

includes direct links with the employees in small group setups. The requirements of

qualitative data collections make the research method time consuming and as a result data

has to be collected using small samples, unlike quantitative research approach. The use of

small groups of employees or individual interaction makes the procedure more expensive

(Taylor, Bogdan, and DeVault, 2015). However, though the approach will be time-

consuming and more expensive in comparison to the quantitative approach, information

collected through this method provides fine details of the causes of the absenteeism and

is likely to produce better results and resolutions.

Gathering information about the reasons for the rising cases of absence from work

using the qualitative approach uses methods such as: Individual employee interviews-

direct communication with the employees on a one on one basis will be useful in

determining the cause of the issue and the reasons as to why the cases have been on a

constant increase over the past five years. The individual interviews will involve

employees who have been working for the organization for the five years as well as new

recruits who are also failing to report to their jobs place (Smith, 2015). The data

collection will also use potential focus groups which involve a group of the employees

who share the problem of absenteeism from work. The information from the groups will

provide an insight of the causes and possible solutions to the problem to save the

organization from collapsing (Ritchie, Lewis, Nicholls and Ormston, 2013). The research

data will also be obtained by use of direct observation of the employees while at work,

their relationship with both the customers and clients to determine whether or not the

employees are comfortable in the place of work.

Data Analysis Procedures

 Data analysis procedure is processes of modeling, changing, cleaning and

inspecting information with an objective of obtaining significant information and

suggesting resolutions. Data analysis encompasses various approaches and different

techniques. Ta analysis has different subdivisions which are descriptive statistics,

confirmatory data analysis, and exploratory data analysis. Researching on the causes of

the rise in the cases of employees' absence from work several techniques can be

employed in analyzing the data collected. Data mining method can be used to model and

discover information from the organization which can predict the cause of the problem

rather that obtaining entirely predictive information. Business intelligence analysis

technique will rely fully on accumulation and concentration on business relate

information concerning the likely reasons for the absenteeism of employees from the

sales department in the three countries where the company has operational branches

(Dey, Meyer, Bellis, Williams, Adhikari, Adikaram, Aghasyan, Amaryan, Anderson,

Pereira and Ball, 2014). Predictive analysis depends on the use of statistical

representations to predict classification of data, and texts analysis technique would use

scientific, numerical, organizational approaches to obtain information from sources that

are not structured.

Ethical Issues

Conduction of any form of research has to adhere to certain set of ethical issues

concerning the human relation of the researcher and the people providing information.

These issues include informed consent. An investigator should ensure that the individual

providing information regarding the research gives his/ her consent willingly and

voluntarily. It is unethical for a researcher to coerce a person or use primitive techniques

to obtain information from individuals (Mele, Pels, and Storbacka, 2015). Respect for

anonymity and confidentiality. People providing information about the possible causes of

the rising cases of absenteeism may request to remain anonymous after the research
finding, information about these people should be kept confidential as it can put their

employment positions at risk in case the management finds out their identity. Respect for

privacy is also an ethical issue in research which just translates to the fact that an

individual has the sole authority on when and how much personal information a

researcher can release or withhold (Claycomb, and Martin, 2013). Employees or

customers who voluntarily agree to participate in the research need an assurance of

respect to their privacy and anonymity.

Research Timeline

Rationale and Schedule

Research is a time-consuming activity which has to be carried out alongside other

academic activities. Therefore it is important to have a plan and schedule as a guide of

how to conduct the research. The program for this particular research will be in phases.

PHASE 1: DEVELOPMENT OF PURPOSE AND STRATEGY (2-3 months)

Form a research question

Adequate research is guided by a proper formulation of the research question and read literature

concerning the topic of interest.

Decide on where to carry out the study

The research question determines where to perform the research, in this case, the question is

about the causes of increased rates of absenteeism of employees in the sales department. The

best research location would be an urban setting, especially near the company branches.

Decision on how to carry out the research

Carrying out research involves figuring out how to conduct research methodology, data

collection techniques among others.

PHASE 2: OBTAINING CLEARANCE FROM FACULTY ADVISORS (plan on 4-6 weeks)

PHASE 3: CONDUCTING THE RESEARCH (plan on weeks to 10 months)

The step outlines the essential elements of conducting the study. Formation of a paradigm of

inquiry for the research question and appropriate research methodologies. Data collection after

which the data has to undergo analysis and ensuring that the study is within the acceptable

ethical issues of research.

PHASE 4: MAKING SENSE OF THE DATA (plan on 2-8 months)

After collection of data from the field, the next step involves trying to bring out sense out of the

data. The phase may require some time because it's an involving task. All the information

obtained from employees, customers and supervisors have to make sense before the presentation

of the findings.

PHASE 5: WRITING THE RESEARCH REPORT (Plan on 1-12months)

Report writing will also take some time because it revolves around report writing and data

analysis. The short notes taken during the conduction of the student come in handy in this phase.

Data analysis during report writing helps identify the main points and findings to capture in the

final report showing the possible cause of absenteeism of International conglomerates employees

especially those in the sales department.

Conclusion

Employees' absenteeism from work has a significant negative impact on the

productivity and profit margin of the organization. The possible causes of the excessive

absenteeism include job dissatisfaction, harassment at work, depression and lack of job

motivation from the employers. The continuous rise in cases of employees' absence from

work at international of Conglomerates Company is a cause for alarm for the regional

sales manager, the head of sales in the three countries and the overall human resource

manager. Excessive absenteeism of employees not only affects the productivity of the

organization but also kills the morale of other employees who are overburdened with

workloads of their colleagues who fail to report to work on several occasions. The

research paper gives suggestions on ways to carry out a research study which may
provide insight into the causes of the issue. There is a proposal for the paradigm inquiry,

suitable research methodologies, and practical data collection methods, especially on

qualitative data. Data analysis techniques to ensure that the research findings make sense.

The research schedule provides a proposal for the timetable within which to finish every

phase of the study.

Reference List

Claycomb, C. and Martin, C.L., 2013. Building customer relationships: an inventory of service

providers' objectives and practices. Journal of Services Marketing.

Crick, R.D., Haigney, D., Huang, S., Coburn, T. and Goldspink, C., 2013. Learning power in the

workplace: the effective lifelong learning inventory and its reliability and validity and

implications for learning and development. The International Journal of Human Resource

Management, vol. 24, no. 11, pp.2255-2272.

Dey, B., Meyer, C.A., Bellis, M., Williams, M., Adhikari, K.P., Adikaram, D., Aghasyan, M.,

Amaryan, M.J., Anderson, M.D., Pereira, S.A. and Ball, J., 2014. Data analysis techniques,

differential cross sections, and spin density matrix elements for the reaction p p. Physical

Review C, vol. 89, no. 5, p.055208.

George, G., Haas, M.R. and Pentland, A., 2014. Big data and management. Academy of

Management Journal, vol. 57, 2, pp.321-326.

Karlsson, C. ed., 2016. Research Methods for Operations Management. Routledge.

Liozu, SM 2015, 'Pricing superheroes: How a confident sales team can influence firm

performance', Industrial Marketing Management, vol. 47, pp. 26-38. Available from:

10.1016/j.indmarman.2015.02.003. [23 April 2017].

Madhani, PM 2015, 'Sales Organization Culture, Compensation Strategy and Firm Valuation',

Compensation & Benefits Review, vol. 47, no. 4, pp. 173-183. Available from:

10.1177/0886368716635793. [23 April 2017].

Madhani, PM 2015, 'Salesforce Control System, Performance Measures and the Business Cycle',

Compensation & Benefits Review, vol. 47, no. 2, pp. 91-100. Available from:

10.1177/0886368715589020. [23 April 2017].

Mele, C., Pels, J. and Storbacka, K., 2015. A holistic market conceptualization. Journal of the

Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 43, no. 1, pp.100-114.

Rafi, A, Iftikhar, A, Saleem, Y, Iqbal, J, & Nawaz, M 2013, 'Collaboration between sales and

Marketing increases the business performance: Evidence from Pakistani export industry', Clear

International Journal of Research in Commerce & Management, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 46-50.

Ritchie, J., Lewis, J., Nicholls, C.M. and Ormston, R. eds., 2013. Qualitative research practice:

A guide for social science students and researchers. Sage.

Schmidt, F.L. and Hunter, J.E., 2014. Methods of meta-analysis: Correcting error and bias in

research findings. Sage publications.

Schwepker, CH 2015, 'Influencing the salesforce through perceived ethical leadership: the role

of salesforce socialization and personorganization fit on salesperson ethics and performance',

Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, vol. 35, no. 4, pp. 292-313. Available from:

10.1080/08853134.2015.1106769. [23 April 2017].

Shannahan, K, Bush, A, & Shannahan, R 2013, 'Are your salespeople coachable? How

salesperson coachability, trait competitiveness, and transformational leadership enhance sales

performance', Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 41, no. 1, pp. 40-54. Available

from: 10.1007/s11747-012-0302-9. [23 April 2017].

Shepherd, C. and Challenger, R., 2013. Revisiting paradigm (s) in management research: A

rhetorical analysis of the paradigm wars. International Journal of Management Reviews, vol. 15,

no. 2, pp.225-244.

Shields, J., Brown, M., Kaine, S., Dolle-Samuel, C., North-Samardzic, A., McLean, P., Johns,

R., Robinson, J., O'Leary, P. and Plimmer, G., 2015. Managing Employee Performance &

Reward: Concepts, Practices, Strategies. Cambridge University Press.

Smith, J.A. ed., 2015. Qualitative psychology: A practical guide to research methods. Sage.

Taylor, S.J., Bogdan, R. and DeVault, M., 2015. Introduction to qualitative research methods: A

guidebook and resource. John Wiley & Sons.

Virtanen, T, Parvinen, P, & Rollins, M 2015, 'Complexity of sales situation and sales lead

performance: An empirical study in business-to-business company', Industrial Marketing

Management, vol. 45, pp. 49-58. Available from: 10.1016/j.indmarman.2015.02.024. [23 April

2017].

Williams, C, Colovic, A, & Zhu, J 2016, 'Foreign marketing knowledge, country sales breadth

and innovative performance of emerging economy firms', International Journal of Innovation

Management, vol. 20, no. 6, p. -1. Available from: 10.1142/S1363919616500596. [23 April

2017].