dissertation employee turnover

STAFF TURNOVER IN NATIONAL DATABASE AND REGISTERATION

AUTHORITY, PAKISTAN

Masters of Business Administration

Dissertation

Atif Rahim Randhwa

ID: 07045111

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Table of Contents

Chaptor 1Introduction................................................................................................................3

Chaptor 2Review of Litrature.....................................................................................................3

Chaptor 3Research Methodolgy................................................................................................9

References................................................................................................................10

Appendix A...............................................................................................................11

Appendix B...............................................................................................................11

Appendix C...............................................................................................................11

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Chapter 1 : Introduction

1.1 Introduction

This is a dissertation for the completion of MBA studies at the London metropolitan

University. The researcher has been an employee of National Database and

Registration Authority (NADRA) of Pakistan before coming to UK for postgraduate

studies. It was observed that most the employees were considering quitting and

adopting other professions and the management was not paying any attention to this

issue. Probably they did not have the understanding of the issue or an absence of

any comprehensive research to investigate the issue could have been a hindrance

towards the solution of the problem.

There exists a perception that the organisations (especially government

organisations) in Pakistan are not inclined towards the improvement of their systems

through research. The aim of this research is to study the problem of staff turnover in

a public organisation in a developing country i.e. National Database and Registration

Authority (NADRA) of Pakistan. It is felt that most of the literature written for

management is based on the research conducted in the organisations in the western

part of the world. This research intends to address the abovementioned issue on the

basis of the literature available and the analysis of the data collected in the light of

this literature. The history and organisational background of NADRA is given below.

1.2 History of NADRA

The Ministry of Interior of Pakistan established the National Database Organization

(NDO) was in order to handle the data collected during the Population Census in

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1998 (www.nadra.gov.pk). The intention was the creation of a comprehensive

Citizens' Database for future planning, documentation of the economy for a cohesive

and unified approach in both registration and social field. The NDO was merged with

the Directorate General of Registration (DGR) on 10th March, 2000 to form NADRA,

which is a self-regulating corporate entity with basic independence.

1.3 Organisational Context

The idea behind the formation NADRA was the issuance of state-of-the-art National

Identity Cards (NICs) to all eligible citizens of Pakistan so as to replace the old paper

infested system of national registration with a new, improved, and modernized

system for the citizens of country as well as to undertake the collection of

demographic and geographic data.

The organisation employs more than seven thousand IT professionals,

(www.nadra.gov.pk) of its 11,100 employees. It has more than 326 static and 103

mobile offices staffed by 17 to 36 people, across eight regions through out the

country (Oracle Case Study, 2006). In addition, it owns the largest information and

communications technology resources in Pakistan as well as the most modern

communication systems owned by any single Pakistani organization. According to

Chairman NADRA, Mr Saleem Ahmed Moeen, 67% costs of the organisation are

attributed to the HRM.

1.4 Rationale for the Topic

Being an employee of NADRA, the researcher observed that despite all the claims

and modern infrastructure, the turnover of the professional staff was very high. Even

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those employees who have not quitted their job were considering alternatives.

NADRA is considered as one of few most organised and technology infested

organisations in Pakistan as explained above. It claims to be one of the largest job

providers to professionals (www.nadra.gov.pk). The company pledges that these

professionals have been put on a promising career path, leading to various

management positions. The problem of high turnover might be the biggest

impediment in the fulfilment of this promise therefore this research is an endeavour to

provide recommendations towards the short term as well as the long term solution of

the problem.

As the researcher would be returning to NADRA after the completion of the studies,

therefore, this topic is deemed appropriate for research as it may provide appropriate

answers to one of the major problems faced by the organisation.

1.5 Scope of the Research

NADRA has more than 11000 employees (www.nadra.gov.pk) from different

ethnicities and regions of the country and with the future expansion plan the number

is expected to grow. They are mostly from technical disciplines. In times of disasters

like the 2008 earthquake and most recent displacement of more than one million

displaced people due to military operation in the north of the country, NADRA has

played a vital role in identifying the families needing help. In future, the organisation

is faced with more such challenges and in such environment a more satisfied and

committed workforce is essential. The objective of this dissertation is, on the one

hand, to identify the reasons for a high turnover of NADRA’s employees as well as to

provide recommendations for remedial measures to be taken.

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1.6 Research Questions

This research intends to answer the following questions:-

(a) What is the prevalence of staff turnover in NADRA?

(b) What are the factors leading to professional staff turnover?

(c) How to retain professional staff in NADRA?

(d) What is the role of leadership in avoiding turnover?

(e) What are the steps/change in prevailing policies which can reduce the

turnover?

1.7 Structure of dissertation

This section covers the roadmap of this research. After the introductory Chapter 1, the

review of the literature explaining different concepts and approaches relevant to this

research is presented in Chapter 2. The methodology based on which this research is

undertaken is explained in Chapter 3, which would lead to the research findings in

Chapter 4. The research analyses based on these findings are presented in Chapter

5. Finally, Chapter 6 offers the conclusion, recommendations, limitations to this

research and the areas of further studies.

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Chapter 2 Literature Review

Introduction

This chapter presents a review of appropriate literature which serves as the

foundation for the development of this research. Different concepts and approaches

are discussed in order to gain an understanding of the dynamics of the issue of staff

turnover in the context of this research. The effort is find the links between different

organisational factors such as employee turnover, motivation, job satisfaction etc.

Employee Turnover

This term is often utilized in efforts to measure relationships of employees in an

organisation as they leave regardless of reason. Price (1977) defined turnover as

”The ration of the number of organisational member who have left during the period being considered divided by the average number of people in that organisation during the period (Price 1977, p. 15).”

According to woods (1996),

“Each time a position is vacated, either voluntarily or involuntarily, a new employee must be hired and trained. This replacement cycle is known as turnover (Woods, 1996. P. 345).”

Shaw et al. (1998) termed employee turnover as a much studied phenomenon but

according to Lee and Mitchell (1994) the specific account of the reasons for

employees to choose to quit their organisations. The employee turnover process

cannot be understood by any standard framework as argued by Morell et al. (2004) but

it can be interpreted by factors like commitment (Meyer, 2001); labour market

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variables (Kirschenbaum and Mano-Negrin, 1999); job satisfaction (Hom and Kinicki,

2001); equity (Aquino et al., 1997); psychological contract (Morrison and Robinson,

1997) etc.

Avoidable Turnover

The measure of the degree to which decisions to quit are perceived as “avoidable”

by employees leaving the organisation is one way of establishing the amount of

control organisations have over turnover (Campion, 1991; Morrell et al., 2001).

According to Miller et al. (1997) this view of the employees may be erroneous for a

number of reasons and Maertz and Campion, (2001) consider this avoidability as

more multifarious than a simple dichotomy between turnover that could be avoided

or not. What may have been seen as unfair by other employees could be perceived

as cost ineffective or having other negative implications from the organisational point

of view. Job characteristics, employee relations, and work environment (e.g.

organizational tasks and reward systems) are key reasons which influence turnover

behaviors of employees (Szilagyi, 1979). These factors can be divided into two

types:-

(a) Controllable factors: the factors in this category are work environment, job

satisfaction pay, nature of work, supervision, organizational commitment

(OC), distributive justice, and procedure justice. and leadership style (Khatri et

al. 2001)

(b) Uncontrollable Factors are organizational structure, external opportunities,

and shortage of labor force.

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Turnover intention

Intent to turnover represents the ultimate cognitive step in the decision making

process in which an employee actively considers quitting and searching for

alternative employment (Tett and Meyer, 1993). A worker’s intentions to leave an

organization include mere thoughts of quitting the organization (thinking of quitting),

and statements by the worker that he/she actually wants to leave the organization

(intent to leave). The actual behavior of the employee may be different from the

intention. However, behavioral intention to quit has been found to be a strong

predictor of personnel turnover across industries and theoretically is believed to be

an important antecedent to turnover (Gregory et al., 2007).

Job Satisfaction

Job satisfaction is an important variable, along with infrastructures and internal

relationships, which affects the quality of service rendered by the employees in an

organisation and it also helps in establishing its health as argued by Yousef (2000).

According to Locke (1976) job satisfaction is the pleasure an employee draw from

the job which effects one’s emotional state positively whereas, Robbins and Judge

(2007) termed it as the positive feeling about one’s job resulting from an evaluation

of its characteristics. Blum and Naylor, (1986) defined job satisfaction as “general

attitude of the workers constituted by their approach towards the wages, working

conditions, control, promotion related with the job, social relations in the work,

recognition of talent and some similar variables, personal characteristics, and group

relations apart from the work life” It represents an attitude rather than behaviour as

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suggested by Greenberg and Baron (2008). Spector (1997) pointed out that job

satisfaction and job performance are related to each other but Euske et al. (1980)

argued that it is not necessary that high job satisfaction leads to high performance.

Job Satisfaction and Staff Turnover

The correlation between job satisfaction and turnover is one of the most

comprehensively examined issues in the turnover literature. Many studies report a

steady and inverse relationship between job satisfaction and turnover, as dissatisfied

employees are more likely to leave an organization than satisfied ones (Cotton and

Tuttle, 1986; Arnold and Feldman, 1982). Mobley (1982) put forth that

“The fact that the relationship (between job satisfaction and turnover) is not stronger does not suggest that satisfaction should not be measured. It does suggest that measures of satisfaction must be combined with other measures to effectively predict and understand turnover (Mobley, 1982:45).

Koh and Goh (1995) argued that the use of overall satisfaction do not depict the

fundamental impact of different job features on turnover.

Factors Effecting Job Satisfaction

Maslow (1954) argued that the level of job satisfaction will depend on the level of

fulfilment of physiological, security, self-esteem and self-actualisation needs of the

individual. According to Herzberg et al., (1959) the job satisfaction and the motivation

of an employee are affected by two types of factors i.e. hygiene factors and

motivational factors. The former also termed as the extrinsic factors and the later as

the factors intrinsic to the job respectively. The intrinsic factors relate to the work

itself and represent sources of satisfaction at work, like physiology, safety,

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belongingness, achievement, autonomy, self-understanding and creativity, which

affect the personal development of an employee in a job, motivate an individual and

are a cause of job satisfaction for them. On the contrary, the extrinsic or protective

factors in a job which relate to the work environment like supervision, company

policy and administration, working conditions, interpersonal relations with peers,

superiors, and subordinates, status, job security, salary, and personal life frustrate

them. Plate and Stone(1974) suggested that the work or the job itself and the

success and acknowledgment at work lead to job satisfaction whereas the policies of

the management and the interpersonal relations with the supervisors and workmates

lead to dissatisfaction. Quarstein et al., 1992) believe that the interaction of

individuals, job and organisational variables results in job satisfaction (Hoy and

Miskel 1996).

Theories of Motivation

Before discussing any other aspect it is deemed appropriate to discuss different

theories of motivation. To answer the question that what motivates an individual there

are a number of theories explaining the nature of motivation according to Mullins

(2007) and the managers can make effective strategies if they have a better

understanding of these theories as suggested by Tietjen and Myers (1998). All of

these theories have been criticized for their short comings and questions may be

raised about the relevance of these theories as they date back many years according

to Ries and Pena (2001) but according to Flores and Utley (2000) the main principles

of these theories provide an invaluable understanding of the main principles on which

the motivation depends.

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Content Theories

These theories tries to explain what actually motivates an individual at work, therefore,

their emphasis is on the identification of the needs of the people and the strengths

they have and their objectives for the satisfaction of these needs as suggested by

Mullins (2007).

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory

According to Stum (2001) this theory is one of the earliest and the best known theory

of individual motivation. Maslow hypothesized human beings as “want beings” and

arranged the human needs in a hierarchy of importance. These needs are described

below:-

(a) Physiological Needs. The needs for survival e.g. food, water or shelter

etc

(b) Safety Needs - Creation of an environment to be protected from the

external dangers.

(c) Social Needs. Need to be liked and accepted by others

(d) Self Esteem Needs. Need to gain respect and approval

(e) Self-actualization Needs. To develop to ones fullest potential

According to Wahba and Bridwell (1976) there is an argument that this theory presents

limited support on the subject as it presents only five needs which are activated in a

specific order but Saunders (2003) termed Maslow theory as being “Water Tight”

despite the elapse of a considerable time since it was first presented.

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Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory

According to Jones and Lloyds (2005) Herzberg presented a complex interaction

between internal and external factors with an effort to determine the response of an

individual to different types of internal and external stimuli. Herzberg argued that the

motivation of an individual are affected by two types of factors i.e. hygiene factors and

motivational factors. The former also termed as the extrinsic factors and the latter as

the factors intrinsic to the job respectively. The intrinsic factors relate to the work itself

and represent sources of satisfaction at work, like physiology, safety, belongingness,

achievement, autonomy, self-understanding and creativity, which affect the personal

development and motivation of an individual at work. On the contrary, the extrinsic or

protective factors relate to the work environment like supervision, company policy and

administration, working conditions, interpersonal relations with peers, superiors, and

subordinates, status, job security, salary, and personal life. The absence or

inappropriateness of the extrinsic factors has an adverse effect on the motivation of an

individual as argued by Robbins and Judge (2007).

McClelland’s Theory of Needs

According to Osland et al (2001) the theory presented by Mclleland focused on the

needs of power, achievement and affiliation and identified the following four main

motives which are arousal, based and socially developed Mullins (2007).

(a) The achievement motive

(b) The power motive

(c) The affiliative motive

(d) The avoidance motive

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According to this theory the extent of achievement motivation varies between

individuals. This research was as effort to understand the characteristics of high

achievers and there is a rough correspondence between the Maslow’s needs of self

actualisation, esteem and social needs and the first three motives of McClelland’s

theory.

The Process Theories

Process theories explain how behaviour is initiated, directed, sustained, and stopped

and their relationship with the dynamic variables that make up motivation according to

Segal et al. (2005). In short, these theories have an emphasis on the cognitive

processes in determining an individual’s level of motivation.

Vroom’s Expectancy Theory

The Vroom’s expectancy theory examines motivation from the perspective of why

people choose a particular action or behaviour. It consists of three components as

suggested by Lee (2007). These components are Valance, Expectency and

Instrumentality. Valance is ‘‘affective orientations toward particular outcomes’’,

expectancy can be defined as a momentary belief followed by a particular outcome

and Instrumentality is the person’s perception of the probability that performance will

lead to a specific outcome. According to this theory when an individual opts for

alternative behaviours which may result in unsure outcomes, the preference of a

particular outcome as well as the probability of the achievement of that outcome

affects this choice as argued by Mullins (2007).

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Equity Theory of Motivation

Equity theory, which is usually associated with the work of Adams, focuses on

individual’s feelings of how fairly they have been treated in comparison with the

treatment received by others. People weigh their inputs (efforts) in comparison with the

outputs (rewards) and if there is equilibrium they are satisfied and motivated. The

unequal comparison of the ratios results in the sense of inequity in an individual thus

having a de-motivating effect. Individuals might compare themselves with their friends,

relatives, neighbours and co-workers and can also make a comparison between their

present employment and previous job. According to Simons and Roberson (2003)

equity is linked with the distributive justice which is one of the forms of organisational

justice. Employees perceive their organisation as just when they believe that the

outcome they are receiving is fair.

Goal Theory

This framework is based on the work by Locke. The basic premise of this theory is that

people’s goals or intentions play an important role in determining their behaviour or the

high performance is the result of goal setting as argued by Wiley (1997). In other

words people achieve emotional satisfaction and fulfil their desires by striving for

achievement of their goals. The task related motivation of the employees is

determined by their intentions (goal) because their thoughts and actions are directed

by their goals. Acceptance of the goal assignment and provisions for performance

feedbacks are two critical preconditions of positive goal performance relationship.

(Locke et al, 1986). The research conducted by Nicholson (1995) suggested that the

effectiveness of goal setting methods is primarily determined by task demands, self-

efficacy, goal commitment, and task orientation.

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Fairness in Performance Appraisal

Fairness in the performance appraisal system is the most important issue for an

organisation as argued by Bertz et al (1992) because the system is perceived as

neither fair nor accurate by most of the employees. Whereas, according to Latham

and Wexley (1981) most of the employees perceive this system to be inaccurate and

unfair and this is a major problem for the organisational leaders. One common

premise of the recent research is that mind-sets of the system's users toward the

process determine to a great level the eventual success of a performance appraisal

system according to Roberts (1995). Moreover, the active involvement of each level

of management makes the system more embedded in the organisation as a vital

function as underlined by Humphreys (2005). The fairness of the performance

appraisal system and its results are required to be scrutinized because an appraisal

system has to be viewed as fair and just by appraisees to be successful as argued

by Greenberg (1986a).

There is evidence in the research showing the linkage between effectiveness and

approaches of a performance appraisal and employee satisfaction and perceptions

of the process. Cardy and Dobbins (1994, p.54) argued that with “feelings of

unfairness in process and inequity in evaluations, any appraisal system will be

doomed to failure”. Employees disapprove appraisal systems which are subjective

and evaluate employees on standards not relating to their work quality and not

protecting their rights thus not reflecting their actual performance. Employees are

more likely to accept and use appraisal systems that they perceive to be fair as

underlined by and Stiggins and Bridgeford (1985). If the employees perceive a

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system to be biased, political or irrelevant it can be a big source of their

dissatisfaction as suggested by Skarlicki and Folger (1997).

Distributive Justice and Procedural Justice

Pinder and Latham (2005) argue that this perception of fairness was derived from

"equity" and as it entails the allotment or sharing of resources thus is known as

distributive justice. Cropanzano et al, (1997) indicated that the later research

concluded that if the process of distribution decision is perceived to be fair by the

people than they will accept a certain amount of unfairness in distribution and the

procedural justice describes the phenomena as argued by Greenberg (1993). The

referent cognition theory by Cropanzano and Folger (1989) endeavoured to

incorporate distributive and procedural types of justice by describing the part of

decision-making procedures in influencing the view of unfair treatment. They

suggested that the reaction of people will be positive to an unfair outcome if they

perceive the procedures used to determine the outcomes to be fair similarly their

reaction will be negative if they perceive the procedures as being unfair. Bews and

Uys (2002) argue that the positive equity may be the result of the perceptions of

unfairness as there can be a feeling of guilt when an employee perceives that

another had a greater claim to a particular allocation. The outcome may be

favourable this way but it may not assist the perception of fairness as it questions the

reliability of the process. Alternatively, when people perceive that they had a greater

claim to an outcome compared to a person receiving it, this perception of unfairness

may result in negative inequity.

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Organisational Commitment

Mowday et al (1979 defined Organisational as

“The strength of an individual’s identification with and involvement in an organisation” (Mowday et al., 1979).

The are three components of this concept:

(a) An aspiration to retain partisanship in the organisation

(b) A faith in and recognition of the values and goals of the organisation,

(c) An eagerness to endeavour on behalf of the organisation.

An individual identifies himself with the organisation if there is a feeling of

commitment to an organisation in that individual. The individual agrees with its

objectives and value systems as a result and is likely to remain in it, and, finally, is

prepared to work hard.

There are following different forms of commitment according to Allen and Meyer,

(1990):

(a) Affective commitment is the employee’s emotional attachment to the

organisation

(b) Continuance commitment is the perception of an employee of the

costs and risks associated with leaving the present organisation. The

personal sacrifice that leaving would entail and a shortage of alternatives

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available to the employee are the two aspects to continuance

commitment

(c) Normative commitment is the moral aspect, based on a employees

believed obligation and responsibility to the organisation.

Porter et al’s (1974) have also highlighted that organizational commitment is one of

the most important factors in explaining turnover.

Research Hypothesis

In view of the above arguments, the following is hypothesized:

H1 : Job satisfaction is negatively associated with turnover intention.

H2 : Organizational commitment is negatively associated with turnover intention.

H3 : Distributive justice is negatively associated with turnover intention.

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Chapter 3 : Research Methodology

Introduction

A research methodology on one hand presents the philosophical frame work within

which the research project develops and on the other hand describes and analyses

the methods used to gather and interpret data Lather (1992). This chapter will

discuss the methodology which will be followed for the completion of the dissertation.

After describing the strengths and weaknesses of each approach and method, the

approach selected for this research would be identified based on its appropriateness

to the intentions of the researcher. The data collection method as well as the

techniques to analyse it would also be discussed in this chapter. At the end the

ethical considerations and the role of the researcher would also be discussed in this

chapter.

Research Philosophy

The research philosophy is important to discuss while discussing the methodology as

the validity and reliability of a research depends on it. According to Bryman (2001)

the beliefs about what is regarded as acceptable knowledge in a discipline affect how

a research will be carried out and the findings interpreted. Many factors like choosing

an appropriate research methodology, the topic to be researched and the primary

questions, are to be considered Remenyi et al, 1998).

Epistemology vs Ontology

Epistemology is the study of knowledge and justified belief according to Code (2000)

and the reality which is studied investigated by the researcher is ontology as

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described by Healy and Perry (2000). These two stances give different perspectives

to the research and the methodologies of modern research. There are two paradigms

of philosophies indicted by Hussey and Hussey i.e. Positivism and Phenomenology

which are described below.

Phenomenology vs Positivism

According to Saunders et al (2003) working with an observable social reality is

positivism. It is a highly structured approach which is replicable therefore the results

are absolute like a law as argued by Remenyi et al (1998). It is for this reason that it

involves experimentation and comparison after establishing hypothesis to the answer

the questions about the problems.

On the other hand phenomenology is concerned with the understanding of the human

behaviour from the perspective of the participants of the research. the basic

assumption of this approach is that the reality is with an individual as explained by

Hussey and Hussey (1997). The main benefit of this methodology, as acknowledged

by Buttery and Buttery (1990) is that it classifies, that the onus for making decisions in

the organisations lies with people and to distinguish the difficult state they require

information in.

Inductive vs Deductive

According to Fisher et al (2004) when the conclusion is drawn from past experiences

or experimentation and effective reasoning from observed facts to broader principles.

It aims at developing the theory rather than testing it. The key points in regards to the

use of an inductive approach are that observation is required to identify the

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phenomena that one is researching with the aim of moving from observation through

to theory as identified by Saunders et al (2003). This is because as the researcher is

utilising a qualitative approach in that they are attempting to define the research

through specific events rather than generalising.

The deductive approach starts with an established theory or generalisation and tests

that theory in order to verify the application of theory to specific instances according to

Hyde (2000). The deductive theory represents the commonest view of the nature of

the relationship between theory and research according to Bryman and Bell (2003).

There is a requirement to explain the casual relationships between the variables as

argued by Saunders et al (2003). During the collection of quantitative data there

should be controls in place to ensure the validity of that data. Due to the highly

structured approach when using the deductive method the researcher requires

remaining independent of what is being researched.

Research Methods

Research may be categorised into two distinct type i.e. qualitative and quantitative

according to the different schools of thought according to Amaratunga et al (2002).

The numerical (quantifiable) data analysis is generally associated with Quantitative

methods. The non-numerical data on the other hand is collected by Qualitative

methods. Harkland et al (2003) argues that quantitative data can be interpreted

qualitatively as there are open ended questions asked in surveys for data collection.

According to Freathy and O’Connell, (1998) qualitative study such as interviews can

be reported as surveys. It is therefore the data analysis technique which decides that

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decides whether an employed research method should be deemed quantitative or

qualitative.

Quantitative methods

Eldabi. et al (2002) argued that quantitative research has typically logical and linear

structure and emphasizes on methodology, procedures and statistical measures of

validity. It relies on statistical measurement and analysis of data to determine

relationship between one set of data to another. The measurement of such data

provides with quantifiable conclusions. Quantitative research designs are

characterized by the assumption that human behaviour can be explained by what

may be termed as social facts which can be investigated by methodologies that

utilize the deductive logic of the natural sciences (Horna, 1994).

Questionnaire

Kervin (1999; cited in Saunders et al, 2002) explains significance of questionnaire in a

way that person records his/her own answers. The questionnaire is one of the most

widely used survey data collection technique. It is a technique in which people are

asked to answer a set of predetermined questions as suggested by Oppenheim

(2000). The questionnaire for this research is formulated as initiating from general to

specific approach to maintain objectivity in the research. Bell (1999; cited in Saunders,

2002) argues that it is far harder to produce good questionnaire than one might think.

The Questionnaire used for this research is attached as appendix 1. It measures the

responses on a 5 point Likert Scale ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree.

There are 29 questions in 5 parts as explained below:-

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(a) Demographic Data. There are 6 questions in this part and is meant to collect the demographic data of the respondents.

(b) Job Satisfaction. This part consists of further 3 sub parts i.e. Satisfaction with pay, satisfaction with nature of work and satisfaction with management. Each subpart has 3 questions. Each of the sub part was adopted from the studies of Weiss et al (1967) and Smith (1976) respectively.

(c) Organizational Commitment. This part comprises of 7 questions and was adopted from the studies of Porter et al (1979)

(d) Distributive Justice. This part consists of 4 questions and was adopted from the research by Magner et al (1994).

(e) Turnover Intention. The turnover intention was measured by using 3 questions adopted from the studies of Cummann et al (1979).

Qualitative Methods

Cassell (2006) explained that qualitative methods have a long history and tradition

within business & management research and have a well-established pedigree.

Qualitative methods have permeated all aspects of the management research field

ranging from the “softer” areas such as organizational analysis to more quantitative

areas. Saunders et al (2002) argue that the interactive nature of data collection and

analysis allows you to recognize important themes, patterns and relationships and as

a result researcher will be able to re-categorize existing data to see whether these

themes, patterns and relationships are present in the data where you have already

collected data.

Interview

Kvale (1996) defines qualitative research interview as “an interview, whose purpose

is to gather descriptions of the real life-world of the interviewee with respect to

interpretation of the meaning of described phenomena”. The aims of research

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interviews are to see the perspective of the interviewees, understand how and the

reason why the interviewees have their particular perspective. Semi-structured

interviews will comprise of list of themes and questions to be covered and may vary

from interview to interview. That means that researcher may omit some particular

questions and change flow of the conversation (Saunders et al. 2000).

Method for this Research

A mixed approach i.e. both qualitative and quantitative methods was used for the

conduct of this research with questionnaires and semi structured interviews. This

approach was chosen for the following reasons:

The quantitative method allowed the researcher to compare the subgroups and

present the analysis in a statistical form.

Qualitative research offered the researcher with insights and understandings of

participants as well as the issue on the basis of naturally occurring and non biased

data, which the quantitative method is unable to present.

In other words, both these methods complemented each other by confirming the

results. The semi structured interviews proved to be the most suitable research

method as it provided flexibility to Interview questions were focused on gathering data

based on the issues elaborated in the literature review. In addition, according to

Saunders et al. (2002), “the interviewer does have the opportunity to identify non-

verbal clues which are present in the inflection of the voice, facial expressions or the

clothes that the interviewee is wearing and these can be used to develop secondary

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questions”. The secondary data was obtained from the NADRA’s website; moreover,

the management was also requested for this purpose. In addition, various sources like

academic journals, textbooks, magazines, websites etc. were used for secondary data

collection.

The researcher approached the managing director and directors in different regional

offices of NADRA only a few individuals from the management agreed for an

interview as mentioned in the findings section of this research. The researcher

distributed questionnaires to employees due to time constraints. Questionnaires was

based on Likert scale providing clear understanding for respondents. The researcher

also intended to interview some of the ex-employee of NADRA also but due to time

constraints and the security situation of the country it could not have been

materialised.

Sampling

According to Holton and Burnett (1997) the determination of a sample size is an

essential factor apart from dealing with non response bias in a quantitative survey

design. Sample size has a major contribution towards the detection of significant

differences, relationships or interaction in a research as argued by Peers (1996). The

sample size found appropriate for this research was (10%) of a total of 11000 i.e.

100 employees of NADRA for the collection of quantitative data.

Role of Researcher

Being an ex-employee of an organization, it is possible that my personal views may

affect research process consciously or unconsciously due to my certain knowledge

26

about organization and its activities. Therefore it was of utmost importance that I

must not be viewed as influence to any response throughout the research process

for its transparency and validity. To ensure this issue, I had tried to address all

issues in congruence with literature and set to maintain professional distinction

among research outcomes and personal conception. In order to enact this

professional approach, I forwarded standard information to all interviewees for

maintaining its consistency and to be specific regarding issue while interviews for

keeping its objectivity foremost.

Validity

The ability of a scale or measuring instrument to measure what is intended to be

measured as suggested by Zikmund (1999). Cooper and Schindler (2006) have

identified three major forms of validity in literature. These forms are:-

(a) content validity(b) Criterion-related validity(c) Construct validity

The alphas for the different parts of the questionnaire used are satisfactory and the

sources are authentic thus emphasising its validity. The literature review is conducted

in the light of authentic sources on the subject.

27

Reliability

According to Kirk and Miller (1986) there are three types of reliability associated with

quantitative research

(a) The level to which a measurement, given repetitively stays unchanged(b) The permanence of a dimension after a while(c) The resemblance of measurements within the specified period

As the findings of this research represent the individual understanding, views,

perceptions and beliefs of the employees of NADRA as well as the researcher it is

likely that the findings of this research may not be exactly repeatable. This is in

conjunction with the argument of Crocker and Algina (1986) that the scores obtained

by the answers of respondents to a set of questions represents a some degree of their

behaviours therefore there is a possibility that there may be change in the scores due

to some attribute of the respondent when the test is repeated, thus causing

inaccuracies in measurement. However, this does allow greater flexibility in exploring

complex issues and will certainly make an addition to the existing knowledge on the

subject as suggested by Saunders et. al (2002) and any common themes emerging

will tend to add weight to those particular findings.

3.11 Ethical Considerations

The researcher has carefully considered ethical issues involved in this research work

and feel a great responsibility towards people who were requested for help, access and

co-operation. The different ethical issues involved in this research and the actions taken

are as under:-

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The Rationale for the research was described in detail to the management of NADRA

and it is also mentioned in Chapter 1 of this research. A written consent from the

management of the organisation was obtained to conduct this research. The consent

letter is attached as Appendix 5. The participants were made clear about the purpose

and application of this research and the same was communicated in the covering letter

of the questionnaire which is attached as Appendix 1. The participants were assured

that they can withdraw from this research without penalty and if they chose to respond

the mentioning of name is optional in the questionnaire. The questionnaires filled by the

employees are in the safe custody of the researcher and would not be communicated to

anyone. Any information provided which may bring harm to the participant in case it is

revealed is kept anonymous and confidential. Moreover the PC of the researcher is a

password protected. The management of NADRA were informed about the details of

the research and they will be debriefed about the findings as well. A sincere effort was

made to follow the Data Protection Act and the Economic and Social Research Council

(2005), “Research Ethics Framework have been followed. All possible measures were

taken in order to make this research more ethical. Any data which may harm the

organisation was not communicated to anyone.

29

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Employee Turnover survey in NADRAPart 1 : Employee Information

Note:- This information provided by you below will be kept strictly confidential and is collected for statistical purposes only (Please use capital letters wherever required)

Name (optional)

Gender

MaleFemale

What is your age?

18 - 2526 - 3535 - 4546 – 5555 +

What is the Highest Level of your education?

Secondary SchoolHigher Secondary SchoolUndergraduatePost Graduate

How long you have been working for the organization?

Less than 1 year1 to 3 years4 to 5 years5+ years

Your Area of Work

NSRC(Local office)Mobile OfficePHQ (Provincial Headquarter)RHQ (Regional Headquarter)HQ (Headquarter)

How long you are working on current post

Less than 1 year1 to 3 years4 to 5 years5+ years

Part II

Job Satisfaction

Satisfaction with Pay (Index of Organizational Reactions Questionnaire; Smith, 1976)

34

1. I am satisfied with the Pay considering what it costs to live in this area

Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree StronglyAgree Disagree

2. The way pay is handled around here does make it worthwhile for a person to work especially hard


3. For the job I do, I feel that the amount of money I make is satisfactory


Satisfaction with Nature of Work (Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire; Weiss et al., 1967)4. I get chances to try my own methods of doing the job


5. The nature of my work gives me the chance to do something that makes use of my abilities


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6. The nature of my work provides me the freedom to use my own judgment.


Satisfaction with Supervision (Index of Organizational Reactions Questionnaire; Smith,1976)7. I feeling I would be better off working under different supervision


8. The behavior of my supervisor encourages me to put in extra efforts


9. The behaviour of my supervisor have a favourable influence on my Job


Organizational Commitment ( Porter et al., 1974)

10. I talk up this organization to my friends as a great organization to work for,


11. I feel being very loyal to this organization

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12. I find that my values and the organization’s values are very similar


13. I am proud to tell others that I am part of this organization


14. this organization really inspires the very best in me in the way of job performance


15. I really care about the fate of this organization


16. I am extremely glad that I chose this organization to work for over others I was considering at the time I joined


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Distributive Justice (Magner et al., 1994)17. I received the evaluation that I deserved


18. The evaluation reflects the quality of my performance


19. an independent observer from outside the organization would have made a similar judgment about my performance,


20. I consider the evaluation to be fair


Turnover Intention (Cummann et al, 1979)21. I probably look for a new job in the next year


22. I often think about quitting

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23. I will likely actively look for a new job in the next year


Additional Comments:

Thank you

Appendix 2

39

Time Scale Chart : Outline Research Schedule

ACTIVITY

Month

Au

g

Sep

Oct

No

v

De

c

Request for conducting the research in EFU Life Ltd

Submission of research proposal

Literature review

Distribution of questionnaires

Interviews with managers

Observations and Calculations

Left over or repeated interviews

Data Analysis

Typing of draft dissertation

Discuss tentative findings with supervisor

Finalisation of draft dissertation

Review with supervisor

Finalise the dissertation

Final Submission

Appendix 3

Contact Person

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Mr Qaisar ZulifqarAssistant MangerNational Database Registration AuthorityFAISALABAD, Pakistan

41

dissertation employee turnover

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