Dissertation Objectives
The working title of the proposed study is ‘Management-Employee Misalignment & Performance implications: An Empirical Study of the U.S. Steel Production Industry.’
The general aim of the proposed study will be to critically evaluate how the U.S. steel manufacturing industries can benefit, productively, by aligning their overall management and business strategies to the needs and expectations of employees working in the sector, hence maintain competitive advantage. The following will form the specific objectives:
- Critically evaluate the sources of management-employee misalignment within the industry;
- Critically evaluate the performance implications occasioned by management-employee misalignment within the industry;
- Critically evaluate the industry’s best practices in encouraging and maintaining management-employee alignment to boost performance and profitability; and
- Analyze and report on probable alternatives that could by used in the U.S. steel production industry to effectively link management strategies to employee needs and expectations from a human resource perspective.
The proposed study will be guided by the following research questions:
- What organizational methodologies can stakeholders in the U.S. steel production industry use to effectively align management strategies to the current needs and expectations of employees?
- What are the broad implications of using organizational frameworks that contribute to management-employment misalignment in the U.S. steel production industry?
- What are the perceived and real benefits of introducing a framework that will enhance management-employee alignment in the U.S. steel production industry?
Methodology
The proposed study will employ a quantitative research design to critically evaluate the performance implications of management-employee misalignment in the U.S. steel production industry. As Hopkins (2000) observes, most quantitative studies are principally concerned with evaluating the correlation between independent and dependent variables, and are either descriptive or experimental.
In this regard, a quantitative study will best serve the interests of the proposed study by offering a workable framework through which management-employee misalignment can be correlated to performance implications.
The proposed study will be descriptive in nature because subjects earmarked for the study will be measured once (Sekaran, 2006). Primary data will be collected using self-administered questionnaires in a survey approach since the researcher is primarily interested in descriptive assessment of the relationship between management-employee misalignments on the one hand and performance implications on the other.
In this perspective, a pilot study will be carried out before the commencement of the research to validate the items included in the questionnaire schedule as well as ensure that they will effectively answer the key research questions. It is imperative to note that the questionnaires will be administered using online protocols.
Secondary data for the proposed study will be gathered by means of undertaking a critical review of related literature on the underlying theories and concepts of organizational alignment, the role of human resource departments in ensuring employees needs and demands are positively aligned to management and organizational outcomes, and performance implications triggered by management-employee misalignment.
The data collected will then be used to compare the research findings with other previous studies in the field with a view to developing plausible alternatives and recommendations that could be used in the 21st century to form a value-added linkage between management strategies and employee concerns.
Patzer (2005) observes that secondary data by way of undertaking a review of current literature does not only avail to the researcher a re-established degree of validity and reliability to the issues under investigation, but it also provides a framework through which the gathered primary data can be objectively ascertained and recommendations made.
The population for the proposed study will comprise employees and managers from five steel production companies that will be selected during the piloting stage. The sample, however, will comprise five management-level professionals and 20 employees in each of the five companies, implying that the total sample for the study will comprise 25 management-level professionals and 100 employees.
It is imperative to note that management professionals will be sampled using purposive sampling technique, while the researcher intends to use the human resource departments in each of the selected companies to sample employees using convenience sampling approach.
According to Sekaran, participants in a purposive sample are selected based on their deeper understanding of the phenomena under study (in this case, management strategies and how the relate to employee concerns), while subjects in a convenient sample are included in the research framework by virtue of being in the right position at the right time.
Quantitative data intended to answer the key research objectives and questions will be collected from the selected companies using two sets of online self-administered questionnaires – one for managers and the other for employees.
Lewis-Beck & Bryman (2004) observes that administering questionnaires online does not only ensure anonymity and respondent acceptability, but also saves costs and affords the researcher the opportunity to collect huge volumes of data using a flexible design.
Questionnaires, on their part, are cost-effective and can be administered with ease, not mentioning that they are effective when the researcher wants to gather confidential data from the subjects (Sekaran, 2006).
Feasibility
To execute the proposed study, academic resources intended to complete the review of literature will be sourced from scholarly databases, including Academic Search Premier, MasterFILE Premier, and Business Source Premier Databases, among others.
The subjects earmarked for this particular study are reasonably likely to be willing to take part in the process since the researcher will take ample time to explain to them the nature and purpose of the study, not mentioning that the researcher will discuss with them their rights, especially the right to informed consent, right to disengage from the research process, right to withhold confidential information, and the right to privacy.
These disclosures will most definitely reinforce the subjects’ willingness to participate in the study. In addition, the proposed study will employ an expanded, all-inclusive time-scale (3 months after commencement) to ensure that all elements within the research framework are sufficiently covered.
Relation with Existing Published Work
The concept of alignment has in recent decades gained an important position in the broad field of strategic management. Venkatraman et al (1989) cited in Schniederjans & Cao (2009) had implicitly underlined the significance of aligning business and management preferences with the broader strategies of the organization.
Available strategic management literature denotes the importance of aligning business and management strategies with the strengths found within the organization as well as the opportunities and threats prevalent in the external environment (Dubrovski, 2009; Anisomova, 2010; Schniederjans & Cao, 2009).
Indeed, alignment of strategies from a holistic perspective is assumed to be a positive contributor to organizational and business performance, and many studies as demonstrated by Schniederjans & Cao (2009) have been conducted to reveal the association between alignment and business performance.
To offer a brief contextual background, the proposed study will limit itself to evaluating management-employee misalignment within the U.S. steel production industry.
The steel production industry operates under the manufacturing sector, and employment opportunities within the industry continue to diminish despite expanding steel production, in part, due to widespread adoption of more efficient and cost-effective technologies (WorldSteel, 2008).
However, the proposed study aims to go past the technical aspects attributed to the diminishing workforce within the industry to evaluate if management concerns, specifically management-employee misalignment, have a role to play and the performance implications of such a possibility.
The steel manufacturing industry, as is the case in other industries, is affected by a multiplicity of internal and external vagrancies, including management-employee misalignment (Tarigan, 2005). The proposed study will therefore seek to assess to what extent this particular variable affects performance within the U.S. steel production industry.
According to Schniederjans & Cao (2009), “…research on alignment in the operations strategy literature can be classified under two categories: internal fit and external fit” (p. 2536).
While citing Skinner’s (1974) definition, the authors’ postulates that internal fit refers to the consistency among organizations tasks, strategies, policies and practices, while external fit focuses on the need for aligning organization-wide strategy with business and corporate stratagems.
A manufacturing strategy, for instance, must be consistently aligned with an organization’s business strategy for such an organization to make headway in the ever competitive business environment witnessed in the 21st century.
But while the study of alignment of business priorities and organizational strategy in the manufacturing sector and its relationship with performance has currently become the focus of much scholarly attention (Tarigan, 2005), few studies have attempted to look at the alignment between business priorities and other functional areas such as human resources, hence the need to undertake the proposed study.
An ever increasing number of researchers and practitioners postulate that optimal benefit will accumulate if there is a fit between environmental factors and strategy in diverse contextual modes. Boyer & McDermott (1999) cited in Tarigan (2005) found that lack of alignment within the various scopes of the organization has significant effects on performance.
Indeed, Tarigan (2005) observes that “…strategy must not only be well-fitted to its competitive priorities but it also must be communicated and widely understood throughout the manufacturing organization” (p. 586).
His view is ingeniously shared by Christiansen & Higgs (2008), who argues that the appropriateness of an organization’s strategy must be evaluated under the lens of its fit or congruence with both the environmental and contextual contingencies facing the organization.
Boyer and McDermott (1999) cited in Tarigan (2005) posited that strategic consensus aimed at aligning critical organizational and business processes can only be achieved when diverse levels of employees within an organization reaches a well thought out agreement on what is most essential for the organization to succeed.
This implies that employees form a critical component in the alignment debate and should be involved at all levels to trigger sustained performance.
However, Kennedy (2004) argues that some management strategies found in many firms either ignore or half-heartedly embrace employee needs and broader HR initiatives, especially in training and development, compensation and benefits, performance and appraisal, staff planning, retention, and other challenges prevalent in today’s marketplace.
The proposed study, therefore, will seek to come up with alternatives and best practices that can be used by organizations in general and steel production companies in particular to bring employees onboard while formulating critical management strategies and priorities. Such information will inarguably consolidate management-employee alignment.
In his study on how ‘business strategy and HR strategy can impact performance’, Tarigan (2005) hypothesizes that the level of alignment of HR strategy and business strategy will obviously have a direct impact on organizational outcomes.
Companies, especially those operating in the manufacturing sector, are consistently faced with a myriad of challenges, including overcapacity, low profit margins and intense competition (Nickerson & Silverman, 2003).
Khatri et al (n.d.) notes that to effectively compete in the face of such and many other challenges, organizations need to be more attuned to their employee relationships and discover options of creating employee satisfaction, motivation and loyalty.
One of the ways that this can be achieved, according to Kennedy (2004), is by aligning management strategies and priorities to employee needs, expectations, demands and value prepositions.
However, Dubrovski (2009) counteracts that many managers, instead of striving to find a common ground that is essential to involve employees in critical decision making processes especially in issues concerning their own interests, continue to make management mistakes that cause further misalignment of organizational goals and objectives.
The proposed study will therefore also aim to extend on the current knowledge of how such management mistakes can be prevented to enhance management-employee alignment and boost performance.
According to Macaleer & Jones (2003), organization development professionals and theorists have for a long time “…maintained that improvement in business performance is directly tied to good human resource planning and closely linking this plan to strategic objectives” (p. 15).
Failure to align the two, as observed by Tumwesigye (2010), only leads to employee turnover, which unfortunately bears direct and indirect costs such as recruitment and selection costs, lost productivity, reduction in morale among remaining staff, costs associated with training and orienting new members of staff, and work overload, among others.
Rand (1999) add to the discussion by suggesting that most organizations fail to perform because management does not have an effective capacity to run and control the business, including aligning human resource strategies to the overall business strategy.
The above assertions adds propensity for the need to undertake the proposed study so as to come with viable ways which can be ingeniously used to align management practices to the needs and expectations of employees from a human resource perspective.
Justification for Selecting the Topic
This particular study, more than anything else, will seek to offer tenable alternatives that companies operating in the steel production industry can use to align management practices with the needs, demands and expectations of their employees. In addition, Tarigan (2005) observes that few studies have ever focussed on strategy alignment and reinforcement in a manufacturing setting.
In this perspective, the proposed study will go a long way to extend on the current knowledge, especially on how management mistakes can be prevented with an aim to not only enhance management-employee alignment, but to also boost productivity.
The current competitive business environment demands organizations to do everything within their reach so as to remain profitable while maintaining a competitive advantage (Thompson & Heron, 2005). Facilitating management-employee alignment is certainly one of the choices that organizations have in ensuring that they remain competitive. The reasons stated above informed the justification to select this particular topic.
List of References
Anisomova, T (2010). Corporate Brand: The Company-Customer Misalignment and its Performance Implications. Journal of Brand Management, Vol. 17, Issue 7, pp 488-503.
Christiansen, L.C., & Higgs, M (2008). How the Alignment of Business Strategy and HR Strategy can Impact Performance: A Practical Insight for Managers. Journal of General Management, Vol. 33, Issue 4, pp 13-33.
Dubrovski, D (2009). Management Mistakes as Causes of Corporate Crises: Managerial Implications for Countries for Countries in Transition. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, Vol. 20, Issue 1, pp. 39-59.
Hopkins, W.G (2000). Quantitative Research Design. Web.
Kennedy, E (2004). Bridging the Gap between Company and Employees. Women in Business, Vol. 56, Issue 3, pp. 10-15.
Khatri, N., Budwar, P., & Fern, C.T (n.d.). Employee Turnover: Bad Attitude or Poor Management? Web.
Lewis-Beck, M.S.., & Bryman, A (2004). The Sage Encyclopedia of Social Sciences Research Methods, Volume 3. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.
Macaleer, B., & Shannon, J (2003). Does HR Planning improve Business Performance? Industrial Management, Vol. 45, Issue 1, pp 15-29.
Nickerson, J.A., & Silverman, B.S (2003). Why Firms want to Organize Efficiently and what keeps them from doing so: Inappropriate Governance, Performance and Adaptation in a Deregulated Industry. Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 48, Issue 3, pp 433-465.
Patzer, G.L (1995). Using Secondary Data in Marketing Research: United Sates and Worldwide. Westport, CT: Quorum Books.
Rand, T (1999). Why Businesses Fail: An Organizational Perspective. Emergence, Vol. 1, Issue 4, pp 97- 114.
Schniederjans, M., & Cao, Q (2009). Alignment of Operations Strategy, Information Strategic Orientation, and Performance: An Empirical Study. International Journal of Production Research, Vol. 47, Issue 10, pp. 2535-2563.
Sekaran, U (2006). Research Methods for Business: A Skill Building Approach. Bombay: Wiley-India.
Tarigan, R (2005). An Evaluation of the Relationship between Alignment of Strategic Priorities and Manufacturing Performance. International Journal of Management, Vol. 22, Issue 4, pp 586-597.
Thompson, M., & Heron, P (2005). Management Capability and High Performance Work Organization. International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 16, Issue 6, pp 1029-1048.
Tumwesigye, G (2010). The relationship between Perceived Organizational Support and Turnover Intentions in a Developing Country: The Mediating Role of Organizational Commitment. African Journal of Business Management, Vol. 4, Issue 6, pp 942-952.
WorldSteel Association. (2008). Working in the Steel Industry. Web.