Introduction
The researches have determined that there has been a problem within this organization when it comes to the promotional issues. A section of the employees has complained that despite their long stay at this organization, they have been ignored by the top management when it comes to promotion. The senior employees of the organization feel cheated when they realize that the young employees who have been working with the firm for shorter periods are getting promotions ahead of them. According to Tomal (2010), when employees feel that they are looked down upon by the top management, they may be discouraged in their work, and this may have direct negative impacts on their output. However, the management of this organization claims that promotions are always given based on an individual’s level of knowledge, any special skills, and relevant experience.
This means that someone who is highly knowledgeable can easily get the promotion ahead of another person who has been working with the organization for a longer period. The argument of the management is genuine, given the stiff competition where firms are forced to make the right decisions in their first moves. The complaints of the employees are also realistic. To meet these contrasting interests of the management and the employees, it would be necessary to develop a way of training these employees so that they may have the relevant knowledge that can earn them the promotion. This internal action research seeks to assess the organizational practices at this firm with the view of determining what can be done to help with the development of senior employees that have the desire to be promoted.
Scope and Purpose
It has been confirmed that most of the senior employees at this organization are not comfortable with the trend where the promotion only goes to the highly skilled individuals, most of whom have stayed in the firm for relatively shorter periods then them. The management also insists that a promotion can only be given based on an individual’s level of knowledge, competence in specific areas of management, and the relevant experience. This has created problems at this firm, especially with the senior employees who currently lack the motivation needed to achieve success in their various areas of work. According to Craig (2009), it is important for an organization to ensure that there is a balance in its management employees between the newly hired and the existing workers. The newly hired employees will bring experience from other organizations, while the existing employees will help in maintaining the organizational culture. To help address the problem of limited knowledge among the current workforce, training may be necessary in order to help with the development of the senior employees that have the desire to be promoted.
Stakeholders
In order to achieve success in any project, it is important to identify the key stakeholders who are responsible for various activities in the process of implementing the project (Ozanne & Saatcioglu, 2008). In this project, it is important to mention the key stakeholders who are important in making it a success. B.H. is the current Customer Care Manager. She has been with this organization for about 25 years, and she has been playing an important role in directing the employees under her jurisdiction. T.B. is the Customer Care Supervisor who works directly under the Customer Care Manager. S.B. is the Customer Care Associate Representative II, while T.H. is the Senior Customer Care Associate Representative.
These stakeholders may need to take part directly in the training program that the senior employees desiring for the promotion will be subjected to in this project. It is necessary to note that given the advanced age of these senior employees, it may not be advisable to subject them to formal education. This project will involve on-job training that is specifically meant to make them competent enough to hold junior managerial positions. The stakeholders mentioned above are junior to the mid-level managers. They can directly engage these senior employees in the training process. Other important stakeholders in this project are the top managers who will be expected to approve the project, and the senior employees themselves who will need to undertake the training.
Appraisal and Involvement
In this action research project, the researcher chose to investigate what can be done to help with the development of the senior employees that have the desire to be promoted. The reason for choosing this topic for research was been motivated by the complaints from the senior employees of this organization that they rarely get promotions despite their loyalty and effort that has shaped the successful path of this organization. The topic was chosen upon the realization that the main reason why these senior employees rarely get promotions is because of their limited knowledge on management. Most of them had basic formal education, and have never considered advancing their careers. This makes it difficult to trust them with the managerial positions.
In choosing the participants, the researcher realized that the stakeholders mentioned above were in the best position to train the senior employees some basic managerial skills. Given that their promotion will be to the level of the junior managers and supervisors, the researcher considered it necessary to have the current junior managers and supervisors to train them on how to undertake the managerial tasks. They can train these senior employees by allowing them to participate in addressing various tasks in their offices. This would make them proficient enough when they are finally allowed to hold those offices. Basically, the project will involve in-house training. Stringer (2013, p. 73) defines in-house training as “An internal training process meant to teach the employees on particular skills, type of behavior or specifically how to do a particular job more effectively and efficiently.” As stated in this definition, the training process will involve teaching these senior employees the relevant skills within the organization that will make it possible for them to be promoted to the junior managerial positions.
Expectations
According to Stringer (2007), it is important to set the achievable expectations so that the responsible stakeholders can understand how the project will impact on their lives. As stated above, the stakeholders in this project are defined into three categories which involves the top managers, the junior managers who will be the trainers, and the senior employees who will be the trainees. In explaining the expectations, the project will need to provide the information needed. The top management will only be needed to issue a statement confirming their support for the project. The major expectation will be from the four junior managers mentioned above. These junior managers will need to give information, in form of training, to the senior employees as to what is expected of them when they get promoted to the supervisors in various departments.
They are expected to disseminate the managerial knowledge to these trainees for the entire period that the project will be running. The senior employees will be expected to avail themselves for the training, and be ready to learn new things that can make them be promoted to junior managers. When setting these expectations, care was taken to ensure that the ultimate objective of enlightening the senior employees on the managerial skills is achieved. Coghlan (2007) observes that it is necessary to ensure that the expectations are not only realistic, but also able to solve the existing problem. The results for the project can be available after two weeks because of the time that will be needed to collect the relevant data.
Plan to obtain data
In order to obtain the relevant action research data, the researcher will first seek for permission from the human resource manager. If this approval is obtained, it will take two days to develop a questionnaire that will be used to collect data. The action research data will be obtained from the senior employees, junior managers, and top managers of this organization. The data will be collected with the help of a questionnaire. Stringer (2013) says that data collected using questionnaires is always specific on addressing specific issues under investigation other than being too general. The process of collecting the action research data is expected to take ten working days because it will be limited to employees within the organization. As an action researcher, my skills have been strengthened in assessing the organizational practices because I have gained knowledge on which specific areas of organization need a regular review, and how the review should be conducted.
Laying the groundwork
I have started to lay the groundwork for using the results of the research to make a difference in this organization. I have actively engaged the senior employees of this organization on the importance to embrace the training project in order to get the promotion they so much desire. I have involved them in learning about the case studies of successful organizations that have been able to train their employees to make them have more knowledge on their respective fields. I know that some of these employees may reject the training program claiming that their experience is enough to earn them promotions. It is important to make them ready for the training program before it is finally unveiled. To the managers, I am writing a letter explaining the importance of the project to the success of the organization. I have being laying ground that would ensure that there is a universal acceptance of this program in this origination. The appendix shows the stakeholders who will be involved, and the negotiation necessary for this process to be successful.
Conclusion
The senior employees of this organization have been complaining that they rarely get promotional opportunities at this firm, something they consider unfair. However, the management has explained that the promotional opportunities only go to the individuals with the right skills and knowledge. This makes most of the senior employees ineligible for these positions. It is important to address the concern of both parties. This project seeks to assess the organizational practices at this firm with the view of determining what can be done to help with the development of the senior employees that have the desire to be promoted. This will make them eligible for promotion.
References
Coghlan, D. (2007). Insider Action Research Doctorates: Generating Actionable Knowledge. Higher Education, 54(2), 293-306.
Craig, D. V. (2009). Action research essentials. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Ozanne, J. & Saatcioglu, B. (2008). Participatory Action Research. Journal of Consumer Research, 35(3), 423-439.
Stringer, E. T. (2007). Action research (3rd ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications.
Stringer, E. T. (2013). Action research. Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications.
Tomal, D. R. (2010). Action research for educators. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield Education.
Appendix
Critical Mass Grid
Action Research Project: What can be done to help with the development of senior employees that have the desire to be promoted?