Management Research Proposal

Introduction and Background

In every organization, the management team plays a very critical role in ensuring that the organization attains its set goals and targets. To start with, the management teams are responsible for setting the organization’s goals that match with the resources so that they remain attainable. They are then directly involved in the actual process of goal realization. They plan, control, staff and regulate all the activities that happen in the organization. It is the duty of the management to create positive working environments, which is achieved by creating a conducive working environment that is inspiring and motivating. When workers of any firm are motivated, they are more likely to be engaged in their activities which in turn makes them more productive in their activities in terms of quality and quantity (Bakker, Arnold & Evangelia 2008). On the other hand, workers who are not motivated often less engaged which still reflects in their final output which is often of low quality and quantity. 

The primary aim of this research proposal is to identify the ways through which the management teams of any organization can use to motivate and inspire their employees, therefore creating a positive working environment that is required to ensure that the goals and targets of the organization are realized.  The main research questions that will answer by this proposal are, why is a positive working environment so critical in the realization of an organization’s objectives, what are the ways that management can employ so as to build a positive working environment and motivate their employees, and lastly what the benefits of motivated workers to an organization are. 

Literature Review

According to management theories by a number of scholars, the management teams of any business setting have some defined roles that they are supposed to play. Managers who are efficiently equipped with necessary management skills often lead their organizations to success (Kudchedkar, 1977). They plan effectively and allocate the scarce available business’ resources to the business needs in the order of priority, which is determined by the necessity of such needs accompanied by their urgency. In addition, they control the activities taking place in the firm, encouraging the positive activities while discouraging the negative ones that could hinder the achievement of the firm’s objectives and targets (Kirchner, et al. 2012). They have the authority to maintain order and ensure that the rules are adhered to and that all the workers observe the code of ethics as laid down by the organization. 

Apart from appealing remunerations, a positive, cohesive and creative work environment makes the workers of any organization to be more productive. When there is a positive work environment, there is effective communication and the workers and managers of the organization interact freely with each other (Staw, Barry, Robert & Lisa 1994). The managers are able to directly motivate the workers by exploring their activities and giving positive comments about their results. They are also able to freely communicate with the workers in case there are areas that require some significant improvement. The workers, on the other hand, are able to talk out their grievances to their managers and highlight any issues that may be hindering their performance. When there is effective communication in any organization, the achievement of goals becomes much easier to accomplish (Hendry & Chris 2012). 

In addition, positive work environment facilitates teamwork and cooperation in the firm. Teamwork improves the level of productivity because the goals of the organization are drawn together and everyone in the firm works towards the same common goals. This creates a strong sense of belonging builds the morale of the workers. Teamwork makes the workforce to feel more appreciated since each member’s efforts are recognized and appreciated (Govindarajulu, Nalini & Bonnie 2004). The overall performance of the organization is boosted in terms of quality and quantity of output, as well as the profitability of the organization. The efficient cooperation and consultation make the performance of complex and technical tasks easier (Griffin, Ricky & Gregory 2011). The profitability of every organization relies on the economies of scale that the organization makes. Higher economies of scale are achieved when a larger quantity of quality output is maintained. 

Creation of a positive environment is the primary step of motivating employees. This is because a positive environment is more concerned with the psychological satisfaction of the employees, making them work together to achieve common goals for the benefit of the organization (Bal, et al. 2012). As a result, a positive environment works to the benefit of both the organization and the employees. While the productivity of the organization is improved making the organization more profitable, the employees also benefit from the positive appreciation they get when they work in such an environment (Meraviglia, et al. 2009). Additionally, they benefit from the quality skills and abilities that they learn from their fellow colleagues as they interact freely and consult each other, enhancing each other with those essential skills that they require for their own personal benefits. 

When an organization’s management team is able to create that conducive environment that effectively motivates their employees, the willingness of the employees to work in the organization is improved. They become more committed and engaged in their performance of activities. They carry out the activities and handle the tasks allocated to them with responsibility and competency. As a result, a higher quantity amount of quality output is derived. This makes the organization to benefit from the economies of scale (Harter, James, Frank, Schmidt & Corey 2003). Additionally, when the workers become responsible in their activities, there is less wastage of organization’s resources. The reduced rate of employee turn over makes the organization remain productive for a longer time. Costs and time that could have been used in the training of newly recruited workers are saved. All these work to the benefit of the organization (Abbasi, Sami & Kenneth 2000). 

Methodology

The literature review proves that a positive environment is very important to every organization that seeks to achieve its goals and objectives. The managers who are more concerned with the success of their organizations should, therefore, devote their energy in looking for better ways that will effectively match their organizations perfectly. Motivating the workforce is advantageous to both the organization and the workers and therefore, it would be a nice venture to invest in the workers who are directly involved in the actual processes of production. In my research, I will evaluate and find out the various ways through which creating the positive working environment can be easily achieved. 

I will use secondary data such as books and journals that relate to management and explore them exclusively to find any ways that have been found to motivate workers in their places of work. I will select three organizations that will serve as my case organizations from where major explorations will take place. In my case study, I will use oral interviews to discuss with the employees and workers in those organizations about the level of satisfaction they get when working in their organizations. Additionally, I will consult the management teams of my case organizations about the actual ways and methods that they have employed over time to ensure that their workers remain motivated and inspired when they are working and performing their allocated tasks and roles. The managers will also describe to me the results, benefits they have encountered while motivating their employees. 

A number of well-structured questions will be used as the research questionnaires. These questionnaires will be open-ended and they will give their respondents the chance to add their comments as answers. The questionnaires will be sent to a number of other firms, apart from my case organizations, and they will be addressed to the managers. They will inquire about the ways that they have been using over time to facilitate the employee motivation in their organizations. They will also enquire such managers about the benefits that they have reaped over the whole period of motivating their workers. The reason for sending these questionnaires will be that they will provide additional information that is required to come with a well-sampled comprehensive report of findings. 

In addition, I will conduct online surveys with the aims of exploring the structures and cultures of some prominent organizations and try to keenly identify the techniques that such organizations have put into work as motivational enhancers in those firms. In case the need to explore more about the organizations arise, the email addresses issued by them in their official websites will be used to contact the management teams of such organizations and inquire about the complex issues. However, such interactions will only be effected over the internet so as to save both time and expenses that could be incurred in case a physical case study was to be conducted in those organizations. 

I have chosen these defined methods of data collection because they are easily applicable and appealing to use (Veal, Anthony 2005). There are a variety of management books that can be easily accessed through the school library database. In addition, more other management books, articles, and journals can be readily and easily over the internet. Therefore, it is easy to get and compile the data from the internet. The case study will help to get first-hand information from both the managers and workers of the certainly predetermined organizations. The direct oral interviews with the managers will help me to ask any questions that I would require clarifications for. the use of questionnaires is a more economical way to get answers to questions from viable respondents without incurring those expenses that are associated with the oral interviewing. Additionally, the online surveys will provide any other additional data that will complement the already obtained data. This will help me to come up with a comprehensive compilation of findings. 

Limitations and Data Resource

The research employs the use of oral interviews as a method of data collection, which is often accompanied by a number of challenges and barriers. It involves the incurrence of many expenses and costs such a traveling costs since I will be required to present myself physically before the managers and workers of the organizations. In addition, this method is easily affected by human feelings, which often keep changing drastically. An uninterested interviewee may give a false or an arrogant response just to get out of the interview. This highly affects the accuracy of the results obtained (Johnson, Burke & Lisa 2003). There might barriers in the communication process as it might be posed by such barriers as language difference and misunderstandings. This may make the interviewer to record the wrong data or even fail to capture important data to his inability to comprehend the language of the interviewee. 

The use of questionnaires may be limited and their effectiveness reduced when uninterested respondent gives out false information. Additionally, some expected respondents may fail to answer the questionnaire, making it hard to obtain an inclusive and well-composed sample of respondents. Networks failures may negatively affect the collection of data from online sources and databases. Lastly, the collection of data may be faced with some ethical complexities which could make the data access more complicated. Some managers believe that their methods and principles are their competitive tools and may therefore not unveil them to the public, lest their competitors adopt them and get sharper competitive edges (Eysenbach, Gunther & James 2001). 

Conclusion

The management of any organization highly determines whether they will succeed and achieve their set goals and objectives or not. Quality management involves the incorporation of employees through the creation of positive work environment which offers motivation and inspiration to the workers, making them be more engaged in their activities at the places of work (Ulrich, et al.,1995). My research will find out the many ways through which managers can effectively provide motivation to their employees, making them be more productive and hence improving the profitability of their organizations. 

Works Cited

Abbasi, Sami M., and Kenneth W. Hollman. “Turnover: The real bottom line.” public Personnel management 29.3 (2000): 333-342.

Bakker, Arnold B., and Evangelia Demerouti. “Towards a model of work engagement.” Career development international 13.3 (2008): 209-223.

Bal, P. Matthijs, et al. “Motivating employees to work beyond retirement: A multi‐level study of the role of I‐deals and unit climate.” Journal of Management Studies 49.2 (2012): 306-331.

Eysenbach, Gunther, and James E. Till. “Ethical issues in qualitative research on internet communities.” Bmj 323.7321 (2001): 1103-1105.

Govindarajulu, Nalini, and Bonnie F. Daily. “Motivating employees for environmental improvement.” Industrial management & data systems 104.4 (2004): 364-372.

Griffin, Ricky W., and Gregory Moorhead. Organizational behavior. Cengage Learning, 2011.

Harter, James K., Frank L. Schmidt, and Corey LM Keyes. “Well-being in the workplace and its relationship to business outcomes: A review of the Gallup studies.” Flourishing: Positive psychology and the life well-lived 2 (2003): 205-224.

Hendry, Chris. Human resource management. Routledge, 2012.

Johnson, Burke, and Lisa A. Turner. “Data collection strategies in mixed methods research.” Handbook of mixed methods in social and behavioral research (2003): 297-319.

Kirchner, JoAnn E., et al. “Roles of managers, frontline staff and local champions, in implementing quality improvement: stakeholders’ perspectives.” Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice 18.1 (2012): 63-69.

Kudchedkar, ls. “management-theories, principles and practices-rao, sb.” (1977): 302-303.

Meraviglia, Martha, et al. “Creating a positive work environment: implementation of the nurse-friendly hospital criteria.” Journal of Nursing Administration 39.2 (2009): 64-70.

Staw, Barry M., Robert I. Sutton, and Lisa H. Pelled. “Employee positive emotion and favorable outcomes at the workplace.” Organization Science 5.1 (1994): 51-71.

Ulrich, Dave, et al. “Human resource competencies: An empirical assessment.” Human resource management 34.4 (1995): 473-495.

Veal, Anthony James. Business research methods: A managerial approach. Pearson Education Australia/Addison Wesley, 2005.