Chapter 3 - Methodology and Method of Inquiry
3.1 Research Design
Research design is one of the most crucial elements of the research. The design helps
the research to be conducted effectively and efficiently. This research is shown in the
series step, allowing the stakeholders to get more effective and insightful information
from the analysis. The fundamental research is conducted based on secondary data.
The study is based on finding the appropriate keywords from the topic and choosing
the accurate keyword from the subject. Then a relevant journal was identified from the
UCD's Library. From the UCD's Library, this research was conducted only from the
authentic databases of "ScienceDirect, ResearchGate", and various other accurate
databases have been searched to collect raw qualitative data (Kolus, et al., 2018).
Once the relevant information is collected from the authentic sources, this paper has
identified the pattern in the collected data and based on the way on the collected data.
Furthermore, the relevancy of the data is compared to the set objective of this research
paper, which will help this research to provide quality information to the stakeholders.
This research paper has provided a different theme. These themes are designed to
enable the stakeholders to understand the key elements responsible for improving
efficiency in the workplace and simultaneously improving employee work-life balance.
These themes are analysed and discussed later in this research paper (Constantinou
& Ainscow, 2020). Finally, various approaches have been implemented in the research,
which will be addressed in the subsequent part of this chapter.
3.2 Action Research
The action research methodology can be described as the multiphase stages. These
multiphase stages are based on finding gaps identifying the proper value
implementation to mitigate the existing gaps. The Implementing phase also consists
of sub-steps such as "planning, Acting and reflection". The foundation of action
research is based on the "clarity of context". One of the main reasons for its
effectiveness over the traditional research approach is its foundational aspect based
on providing a clear perspective to the stakeholders.
Additionally, this type of research methodology is also focused on implementing more
productive ways to conduct the research, for instance, this methodology focuses on
eliminating the researcher's bias by implementing awareness in the own perspective
and extensively following "in-depth interview, case study and in additionally, through
multiple observation the researchers' biases are completely removed from this
research (Nolan, et al., 2021). Furthermore, this research is conducted by applying the
utmost importance to understanding the relevancy of the obtained result and its overall
implication of the process. Another segment of this research is known as "participatory
action research", which mainly focused on the self-learning of the targeted audience.
The entire research is based on identifying and effective ways to improve employees'
work-life balance. For this particular reason, in-depth interviews of the participants and
the survey of the employees are applicable to form a critical understanding of the
effective ways to improve the employee's work-life balance.
3.3 Research Site
The research material has been collected from the mentioned databases, from the
existing work, existing researchers who have conducted the research in-depth
interview and the survey have been collected to form a critical argument which will
help the stakeholders to get a more robust idea on the effective ways to improve the
efficiency of the employee's work-life balance in the organisation. In addition, to
understand the problem more accurately the paper has classified workers level as
each worker or employee is working at a different level, they required different types
of work-life balance which will be productive for them and as well as the company.
This in-depth interview of the Sales Manager and Sales executive from Singapore HQ
office has been analysed. The research elements have been obtained from the
executive and manager levels selected respondents. More emphasis was given on the
cosmetic industry and the effective ways they are currently implementing the more
robust strategies to produce productive results. Furthermore, various company
policies have been studied and researched to understand the current scenario. Based
on the scenario, various improvement strategies have been implemented in the
workplace of the cosmetic industry. Finally, the current practice in improving the worklife balance of the sales employees has been studied to provide the current situation
in the industry and the improvement scope that increases the efficiency of improving
the employees' work-life balance.
3.4 Data Collection
This is one of the most crucial aspects of the research methodology, which determines
the quality of the research, but before obtaining the accurate data collection strategy.
It is essential to understand the nature of the data and based on the nature of the data.
The data collection strategies have been implemented to provide more efficient and
effective information to the stakeholder's (Vasconcelos, 2020). The entire research is
based on the collected data. Therefore, identifying the relevant resources is one of the
most crucial aspects of the research. Which is done based on reliability. One of the
most reliable sources has been identified such as "ResearchGate and ScienceDirect".
All these databases play an important part in collecting relevant information. The
research papers have compiled the research aligned with the research objective.
Additionally, this research has also used an inclusion and exclusion strategy to get
more accurate data. Furthermore, the current work-life balance approach in the
workplace has been studied to provide the present scenario of the practice. In addition,
the data from existing research papers have been collected to form more effective
insight on the productive ways to improve the work-life balance of the working
professionals of the cosmetic industry. Finally, the data is collected from the in-depth
interviews of the working professionals, which helps the readers understand the
current work-life balance gap. The details of the questionnaire have helped this
research to get more valuable insights from the raw data, which is crucial to form a
robust understanding on the effective ways to implement a more holistic approach in
the workplace. All the biases have been removed by obtaining the information
separately in the data collection.
3.5 Data Analysis and Reporting
The collected data will be analysed to form a better understanding. The data analysed
will be based on the deductive approach. The approach is based on deducing
technique. The reasoned approach has been implemented to form a critical
understanding of the topic, enabling the stakeholders to get more accurate information
from the collected data. The raw collected data was broken down into patterns, and
along with that, differences were identified (Fernandez-Mateo, 2018). This is done in
elements such as analysing concepts in "an abstract view, assigning categories" as
well as understanding the personal biases of those participants and the similarly cross
checking have been done while using the research of particular researchers there are
various more research have been studied to understand the biases and study the right
course of action have been implemented and all the known preferences have been
removed from the data analysis and provided quality information which will allow the
readers to understand the effective ways the employee can improve their work-life
balance in an organisation.
3.6 Ethics
There are numerous ethical principles and guidelines to consider while conducting
research. The ethical consideration allows the research to gain ethical validity, and
apart from that, the voluntary consent will be obtained from them before collecting data,
this will help this research to get the ethical validity and before publishing the research
the result of the existing research researchers will be shown and consent will be taken
(Segovia-Pérez, et al., 2019). Another aspect is anonymity, the confidentiality and
anonymity is maintained throughout the data collection which will help the researchers
to conduct the research manner which will also help the data collection process to be
safe and secure. Anonymity and confidentiality will help the data collection to be done
privately which will help this research paper to be conducted in more effective ways.
分页符
Chapter 4 - Findings and Discussions
Through the in-depth interviews, qualitative findings can be observed to
address the research question at hand, enabling seven themes to be developed in the
discussion of work-life balance in the Sales department.
4.1 Themes
All the themes of the research that have been found will be discussed in the following
section
1. Implementing Flexible working hours and Work from Home for the
employees.
2. Improving and monitoring the employee workload decreases employee
stress and burnout.
3. Acknowledging the employee creates a positive personalisation approach
in the workplace.
4. Improving the employer and employee relation in the family-friendly
workplace.
5. Changing the performance metrics in the workplace
4.2 Thematic analysis
4.2.1 Implementing the Flexible working hours and Work from Home for the
employees
The employees' in-depth interviews have shown that a significant portion of the
workforce wants to shift to a robust and flexible working schedule. A recent poll
has shown that over 80% of people are interested in flexible working schedules
(Wright, 2021). Many participants have said that "it is a very monotonous
schedule following the same job routine and being productive". One of the
effective ways to implement a work-life balance working schedule is
implementing "Work from home", "Flexible working hours", deduce the
paperwork. There is a trend of opting for remote work, and in interviews, many
people have said, "They value employers who empower them to manage their
own time". Employees are more inclined to work with employers who remove
the rigidity from the existing work culture and provide more robust and
productive working schedules. However, they still prefer the face-to-face
meeting frequency to discuss and make decisions for incoming business
strategies to avoid misunderstandings.
According to Randstad's human resource survey, 41 per cent of workers in
Singapore would instead work from home than receive a bigger bonus. (Cheah,
2022)
4.2.2 Monitoring the employee workload, decreasing the employee stress and
burnout situation
The workload is an integral part of the employment. However, too much
workload can result in burnout, employee performance becomes inefficient, and
they might feel incapacitated to fulfil the task, especially during the Covid 19
Pandemic. According to the survey, most workforces think they have too much
workload and are allocated too little time to perform all the tasks. This is
incorrect and does not provide an ideal outcome for the organisation
(Rottinghaus, 2021). The salesperson must work closely with the internal
department such as production, warehouse, and logistics departments to
ensure the product can be delivered to the customer before the promised date.
Often there is a trend from some employers to exploit their workers, which
reduces their overall duration in the workplace, and they start to look for better
opportunities value their time and effort. Therefore, the employers or the
company must inculcate an adaptive approach that tracks and ensures the
employee is working in a positive situation and help the organisation to work
optimally.
4.2.3 Acknowledging the employee creates a positive personalisation approach
in the workplace
People management is one of the most important aspects of running a business.
Understanding people management skills is an effective way to conduct the
relationship, which will help the company bring more revenue. Each employee
is a different individual, acknowledging that the need is essential to running an
organisation. However, everyone has different needs based on the
requirements. They must be given. For example: Considering leave days, some
employees want to have an extended vacation and based on the need, this
research is conducted efficiently (Schmitz-Rixen & Grundmann, 2019). Hence,
it is an important task that allows the employers to identify the employee and
based on the result, and it helps the company to earn profit. An efficient
workforce is an Asset, and understanding their needs is the most important
thing that will help the company grow in their market.
4.2.4 Improving the employer and employee relation in the family-friendly
workplace
Employers should have a healthy and supportive relationship with their
employees. A significant amount of time and workforce, these two entities are
spending time with each. Hence it is essential to have a good relationship with
each other. This will allow the employees to grow in their professional careers,
such as training and experience on their product. It will help them become better
professionals in their careers. It will indirectly benefit the company improve its
overall performance and generate more revenue. Interviews have shown the
employees want their immediate boss to be "supportive and competent"
(Hossian & Rahman, 2018). The employer's competency will help them get
respected in the workplace. This is one of the aspects that can further improve
the balance sheet, and the supportive aspect among the leaders is hard to grind
in the workplace. Supportive qualities help the employee gain trust among each
other.
4.2.5 Changing the performance metrics in the workplace
Time is a precious asset for everyone. In a traditional workplace or the cosmetic
workplace, generally, the employer track time to measure the performance.
Typically, an employee is obligated to spend one-third of the entire day in the
office. A completing task is measured in terms of hours spent for completion,
which is an efficient way to measure or track the employee's performance. Time
is a finite resource, for salesperson, performance metrics always focus on the
revenue, Earning Before Interest and Taxes (EBIT) and customer relationship.
An experienced employee might do the task in 5 hours, and for the beginner,
they might take a little bit longer than the allocated time. In both scenarios, a
significant amount of time is wasted, which is a very inefficient way to improve
the existing operational framework of the company (Penzenstadler, 2020).
Hence to mitigate these in-efficiencies. Businesses need to change their
performance measuring metrics which will allow them to become more
productive, and various companies have implemented new metrics to measure
performance. Example productivity. Those days are gone when the office
employees are expected to spend a significant portion of the day.
4.3 Discussion
4.3.1 Implementing Flexible working hours and Work from Home for the
employees.
The subject of working time can be isolated into two fundamental parts: (1)
hours of work furthermore (2) the association of working time, which is all the
more regularly known as working time game plans or plans for getting work
done. This part of the paper will zero in on significant patterns and
improvements regarding the two hours of work - the length or volume of working
hours - in both the conventional economy and the casual economy and working
time courses of action. It will likewise consider the impacts of the length or
volume of working hours on the two specialists and ventures (Morea, et al.,
2021). The future of work is remote work and the Gig Economy, and the
pandemic has increased the rate of conversion from traditional working setup
to remote and "Work from home" setup. Therefore, the business has to improve
their existing operational framework; they must be open to new ideas to
embrace the concept of remote working. If an employee has the ability to work
remotely from home, they save time on commute, meaning they may be
inclined to start work earlier and finish later. Nearly two-thirds (60 per cent) of
HR directors have seen an increase in work productivity, further demonstrating
the business benefits of flexible working hours. Conscious of the need to prove
they can work effectively from home, and justify the arrangement, many
employees work harder than ever to deliver results. The morale boost gained
from improving their work-life balance can result in increased employee
productivity and performance.
4.3.2 Improving and monitoring the employee workload decreases employee
stress and burnout.
Managing workload is one of the most crucial aspects that allow the company
to improve its efficiency. However, in small companies, the allocation of tasks
happens without monitoring the workload of the individual, which creates a
massive problem for the employee. Excessive workload leads to burnout
massive fatigue, and the employee cannot function properly and provide
inefficient results (Fortunati, et al., 2020). These aspects are creating massive
challenges for employees to work properly in the work setup. Due to this reason,
effective task management software and activities are required, which will
provide constant monitoring to the employers. Based on the proper monitoring,
the employers can measure whether the allocated task exceeds or not. Based
on these insights, further allocation will proceed in the process. Managers must
play a crucial role in communicating with the entire team and based on the
communication and understanding the team member's capability to allocate the
tasks equally.
4.3.3 Acknowledging the employee creates a positive personalisation approach
in the workplace.
Digitalisation currently expects organisations to track down ways of building
labour force capacity at a lot more prominent rate than any time in recent
memory, and what worked in the past will not later. Progressively, associations
respect learning and improvement as essential accomplices liable for building
basic computerised abilities in the labour force and further developing the
general worker experience.
Assumptions for preparing programs have moved from straightforward
substance proposals to new progressed and versatile growth opportunities,
custom-fitted to every individual worker. This requires personalisation, and it
will end up being a basic part of each endeavour's continuous learning and
improvement methodology. Gartner characterises personalisation as a cycle
that makes a significant, individualised communication between two gatherings
intended to improve the beneficiary's experience (Gholami, et al., 2021).
Personalisation will alter learning and improvement by giving rapid growth
opportunities to each representative, considering the difficulties they face in
their job, vocation yearnings, and inclinations. HR pioneers should consider the
accompanying three patterns before putting resources into new learning
advancements.
4.3.4 Improving the employers and employee relationships in the workplace
The indoor and outdoor activities upheld by the organisation, regularly known
as family-accommodating practices or adaptable working plans, are normally
remembered to empower representatives to shuffle the requests of homegrown
and different obligations more readily and maybe diminish work requests. In the
research, tracks down they do further develop prosperity. Its oddity is that these
are not the motivations behind why balance between serious and fun activities
upholds further development of prosperity. They do as such by expanding the
work independence of those that utilise them. Furthermore, upgrading their
discernment that their administration is steady (Cramer & Hunter, 2019). The
flexible approach helps the workplace to grow. It also helps employees have a
good corporation across other teams. Due to the flexibility, the relationship
within the workplace is jovial and fun which encourages everyone around the
workplace. Finally, these approaches also help employers to build a term
communication
4.3.5 Changing the performance metrics in the workplace
The current trend shows the worker needs to work for a full eight-hour day. This
indicates the employer uses time as a metric to track the performance and
overall time spent at the office, which is a very inefficient tool to provide an
accurate measurement. However, this is a very inefficient way to track the
performance, which leads to wastage of time and in the long term, it does not
provide a sustainable return (Bocken & Short, 2021). With this type of
management, employees tend to lose interest in their work and start counting
minutes before they can clock out for the day. One of the better ways to
implement performance metrics is to look for productivity. Rather than timebased tracking, employers should focus on tracking productivity and based on
productivity. They should give the flexibility to their employees to fulfil the task
at the will. For example, setting short- and long-term goals for the team and
focus on completing each project rather than micromanaging their daily
activities. With each goal, set up performance indicators that can be used to
track the progress of the project. This helps keep employees motivated
because they are constantly working toward the next goal and accomplishing
new things along the way. This will help the companies to build better
connections with their employees. This will help the companies to build better
connections with their employees. Additionally, this will help the organisation
get more sustainable benefits and achieve newer heights in the market. Focus
on goals, not hours worked.