Research Proposal Example: Importance of Different Forms of Commissions in Relation to Employees' Satisfaction

Research Plan and Methodology

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The aim of this study is to determine the importance of different forms of commissions in relation to employees satisfaction levels. One of the critical questions is whether there is a specific form of commission that employees prefer. Therefore, this chapter presents research approach that will be used to provide the much-needed evidence to achieve the research objective. In brief, the researcher will employ a mixed method, which will include qualitative and quantitative aspects. Other scholars have also employed mixed research method as a way of achieving the benefits associated with both approaches (Bassous, 2015; Gberevbie, 2008). According to Bassous (2015), the thought is to gain insights from different angles regarding the most appropriate form of commission as far as the rewarding employee is concerned.

Regarding the qualitative approach, the researcher recognizes the role of the role of managers, especially the human resource manager in influencing compensation that employees get. Creswell, Shope, Plano Clark, and Green (2006) examined how researchers can use interpretive qualitative research to extend mixed method research. With a qualitative approach, it will be possible gain crucial insight on how the management team is dealing with employees commission. In particular, an interview will be used engage the senior and middle-level managers within the human resource department. Open-ended questions will be used to give the interviewees the much-needed freedom they need to provide their views regarding the specific issues surrounding employees commission. The open-ended questions will also give room for useful suggestions since the interviewees are the experts as far as human resource management is concerned (Johnson & Onwuegbuzie, 2004).

Concerning the quantitative approach, the objective will be to generate statistical data that can be used to test the hypothesis of the study and provided statistical evidence to support the outcome. In particular, a survey will be used to collect the sentiments of employees regarding the kind of commissions they prefer. In this case, the employees are the most appropriate participants for this study since they are the recipient of the commissions and the study focuses on examining their level of satisfaction concerning the commissions. In brief, a cross-sectional research design will be used to collect data from different departs within the company. With a cross-sectional research design, it will be possible to collect useful data that also represents employees in different hierarchical positions.

Population, Scope, and Sampling

As mentioned above, the study will focus on employees working for HILTI, Canada. Therefore, the scope of the study, the sampling frame, the sample size, and other factors will focus on the company as well as Canada. The scope reflects the criteria that will be used when selecting participants for the study.

The Sampling Frame

While conducting a study, it is critical to choose a sampling frame, which represents the specific members of a population that will be studied. In this case, not all employees working for HILTI Corporation will be required to participate in the survey. As mentioned earlier, the objective of this study is to examine the sentiments of employees who are recipients of commissions. In that regard, the best sampling frame will be focusing on junior employees. Therefore, junior employees and supervisors will qualify while middle-level and senior managers will not qualify to participate. Instead, the middle level and senior managers will be involved in the interview to collect qualitative data. On the same note, it is worth noting that HILTI Corporation operates in different parts of the globe with a total of 24,000 employees worldwide. Since this study explores the country-specific outcome, it will be critical to narrow down the sampling frame to ensure that only Canadian employees qualify and the sample size is calculated in such a way that only the population of the Canadian employees is considered.

Sampling Technique

Since a cross-sectional research design will be used, it will be important to choose a compatible sampling technique (Sogunro, 2002). In this case, a randomly stratified sampling technique will be used to collect data from different departments. The idea is to ensure the representation of employees from all the departments of the company. In doing so, it will be possible to examine the department as one of the independent variables in a bid to determine how the sentiment of employees regarding commissions differ from one department to the other. With a random stratified sampling, it will be possible draw conclusion regarding differences between departments since all the departments will be sufficiently represented.

Sampling and Data Collection Plan

The data will be collected by following a plan that incorporates the much-needed research procedure and a code of ethics. As mentioned above, the employees working for HILTI Corporation will be involved in the study; therefore, it will be necessary to seek the permission of the management, as the first step. Once granted, the researcher will need to use the prepared questionnaire to conduct a pilot study. The pilot study, which will involve 12 volunteers, will assist in the assessment of the applicability of the questionnaire. In particular, the participants will give their views regarding the clarity of the questions, the length of questions and the questionnaire. The feedback will be critical for making the necessary improvement to ensure that the questionnaire serves its purpose of collecting accurate and reliable data that reflect the sentiments of the employees. For instance, boring questions will be improved to encourage participation while unclear questions will be adjusted to improve the accuracy of the responses.

During the actual data collection, the researcher will target every third employee and request him or her to participate. As part of the permission-seeking, the researcher will explain the intent of the study and request the employees to sign questionnaire to confirm that they agree to the terms and conditions of the study. As mentioned earlier, a random stratified sampling method will be used; therefore, each department will be targeted at a time. The idea is to achieve a specific target for each department and move to the next department. Once all the departments are covered, the collected data will be compiled and entered into the SPSS data sheet for analysis step. Regarding the qualitative data, it is necessary to appreciate the critical position and work schedule that middle level and senior managers usually have. Therefore, it will be important to follow a formal procedure of requesting for an appointment, seeking permission, and making arrangements the interviews. The process will apply for each of the interviewees to ensure that the interview is done at their convenience. As part of achieving convenience, the researcher will either visit the interviewees in their office or send them the survey via mail depending on their preferences.

Data Collection Tools Examples

The collection of quantitative will be done using questionnaire questions. In particular, close-ended questions will be used to gather the much-needed quantifiable data. The questionnaire will be divided into two sections. In the first section one, the questionnaire will collect categorical data that will be used as the independent variable. For instance, demographic information such as gender, job position, age, and the department of the employees will be collected. In the second section, the questionnaire will focus on questions that will collect data on the dependent variables. The thought is to design question that addresses each of the specific depended variables, as defined by the sentiments of the employees regarding commissions as a source of motivation. In this section, close-ended questions are critical in ensuring that all the responses can be easily categorized and analyzed statistically without worrying about the number of participants and the large data associated with a large sample size (Johnson & Onwuegbuzie, 2004). With close-ended questions, the participants will need to choose the options provided. In so doing, it will be possible to classify the responses depending on the level of agreement or disagreement with the statements provided or questions asked. Specifically, a Likert scale will be used to allow the participants to select the option that reflects the degree of agreement or disagreement.

For the senior and middle-level managers, the interview questions shall be used. In particular, based on this the employee on the managerial positions will be interviewed pertaining commission issue within the company. The interview will be the structured type. This type will be closely related to the questionnaire used in the lower hierarchical positions. The interview will involve the closed-ended items. The respondents will be limited to choose from specific answers provided in advance. The research will focus purely on the commission issue drawing the sentimental feeling and understanding of the management. Furthermore, the interview will focus on giving a clear understanding of the topic through the creation of clearly structured guidelines thus providing the respondents with relevant response categories that are meaningful and appropriate to choose from. This form will be appropriate following the fact that the topic is well structured as well as uses observational aspects. This interview will be conducted through paper-based and self-report techniques. This as beneficial since it will be easy for one to follow the instructions on the interview guides.

Statistically, the information collected from the research using the questionnaire as well; as the interview techniques will be tabulated on the categorical basis. This grouping will include, gender, job position, age, and the department of the employees. The data the will be analyzed using the SPSS software to draw statistical meaning. With the SPSS, it will be possible to conduct different statistical procedures. For instance, the calculations of means will assist in determining how the sentiments of the consumers differ depending on the specific demographic factors such as gender, experience, and age. This case the analysis will focus on the use of the multi regression analysis technique. It will focus on predicting the value of the interest on commission issue amidst all the variables. This will facilitate the knowledge of the relationship between the several categories studies in relation to the commissioning issue. The analysis will also focus on testing the hypothesis regarding the forms of commissions that employee prefer.

Implementation and Communication Plan

This research proposal is aimed at meeting the objective of the study. The research is aimed at ascertaining the clear measures that can be enacted to aid in the determination of the type of commission that motivates employee in the company, thus making them satisfied with the company they are working in. Basing the argument on the structure of the questionnaires used in this study, the questions are divided into categories; one section provides independent variables while the other section provides for the dependable variables. These two aspects are aimed at capturing information that statistically represents the true general feel of members at the company on the issue of commissioning. The research further proposes the aspect of having independent valuables that will facilitate representation of opinion of each party within the company. As well the study categorically focuses on the use of interview that streamlines its focus to the leaders at the managerial positions givi...