SSS's Experiment: Choosing an Appropriate Research Design Soft Space Solutions (SSS) is a software company that develops customised software solutions. The expertise of its employees in developing various products and the quality that is imbibed into the products has gained clients for the company from across the world. However, due to the US financial crisis of 2008, the company lost some of its projects and thereby had to lay off some of its employees. The financial crisis brought in a mixed experience for the company-few pleasant and few unpleasant. The company observed that the productivity of the remaining staff had increased almost by 30%-40%. It also observed that the attrition rate of its employees had also come down from 25% to 4% during 2008-2009 However, with the economic situation now coming to normaley, the company bagged some new projects. It started its recruitment process again. With improvements taking place in the economic and job scenario, the company is now finding that the productivity of its staff is returning to normaley (and in some cases even lower than they were before the crisis) and the attrition rates are again on the rise.The company now intends to know the reasons for the decreasing productivity and increasing attrition rates. It wants to know the factors that would motivate its emoyees for better productivity and lower attrition rate. With such intentions the top management of the company, asked the HR department to conduct a research to find out the reasons and what would it take the company to motivate its employees. Shivaji Rao (Shivaji), the company's HR Manager, then scheduled a meeting including all the HR personnel, who look after the recruitment, training and development, payrolls, benefits, retirement, etc., to discuss the problem and find a solution. Each team gave varied ideas to increase the productivity and lower the attrition rates. But Jaideep Sharma (Jaideep) a senior executive from the Employee Training and Development team came up with the idea of conducting a questionnaire survey to find out the reasons for the company's problems and an experiment to be conducted to find out what motivates the employees in terms of productivity and attrition. When few others were sceptical about conducting an experiment as there will be disadvantages - like budget constraints or it cannot be generalised - from it, Jaideep explained that certain factors can only be known through experiments and not by just observation. He insisted that it will be the most flexible method and will have a greater amount of control on the groups which can be replicated under different conditions. Shivaji enquired about the process and the prerequisites of conducting an experiment Jaideep explained the need to identify the variables (performance and attrition) that need to be observed and the factors (benefits or treatments) that can influence these variables. The subjects or units or people are then subjected to treatments for a specific period of time and then the changes are measured for the effectiveness of the treatment on the variables. When the HR head asked for further explanation. Jaideep explained the experiment in detail. He explained that all the employees are from various backgrounds B.tech, M.tech, MBA. MCA. M.Sc, etc. - would be placed in five groups and all the groups except one would be subjected to a benefit keeping all the other external and internal factors constant and tested for 1 month. All the groups would contain equal number of employees and each group will have a combination of people from all backgrounds. While the number of employees from each background would be the same across the groups, it is not essential that equal number of employees from each background to be present in each group. The productivity would then be measured and compared across groups after 1 month. The acquired results will help the company to know which benefit offered was highly effective in retaining employees and increasing the productivity. Giving further clarity to the process of the experiment, Jaideep explained that Group I would remain normal and uninfluenced. However, each of the other four groups will be subjected to one treatment keeping all other conditions normal. Group II will be subjected to an increase in their pay scale and observed for their performance and attrition rate in the team. Group III will be subjected to an incentive scheme, Group IV will be given greater responsibilities whereas Group V will be informed that they are under scrutiny because of their low productivity (a condition of coercion). 1-Define experimentation, experimental research and experimental design. Describe the significance and purpose of conducting an experimental study. List out the characteristics of experimental research and the steps involved in conducting an experimental study. State the purpose of experimental control and the methods used for it.
SSS's Experiment: Choosing an Appropriate Research Design
Soft Space Solutions (SSS) is a software company that develops customised software solutions. The expertise of its employees in developing various products and the quality that is imbibed into the products has gained clients for the company from across the world. However, due to the US financial crisis of 2008, the company lost some of its projects and thereby had to lay off some of its employees. The financial crisis brought in a mixed experience for the company-few pleasant and few unpleasant. The company observed that the productivity of the remaining staff had increased almost by 30%-40%. It also observed that the attrition rate of its employees had also come down from 25% to 4% during 2008-2009
However, with the economic situation now coming to normaley, the company bagged some new projects. It started its recruitment process again. With improvements taking place in the economic and job scenario, the company is now finding that the productivity of its staff is returning to normaley (and in some cases even lower than they were before the crisis) and the attrition rates are again on the rise.The company now intends to know the reasons for the decreasing productivity and increasing attrition rates. It wants to know the factors that would motivate its emoyees for better productivity and lower attrition rate. With such intentions the top management of the company, asked the HR department to conduct a research to find out the reasons and what would it take the company to motivate its employees. Shivaji Rao (Shivaji), the company's HR Manager, then
Shivaji enquired about the process and the prerequisites of conducting an experiment Jaideep explained the need to identify the variables (performance and attrition) that need to be observed and the factors (benefits or treatments) that can influence these variables. The subjects or units or people are then subjected to treatments for a specific period of time and then the changes are measured for the effectiveness of the treatment on the variables.
When the HR head asked for further explanation. Jaideep explained the experiment in detail. He explained that all the employees are from various backgrounds B.tech, M.tech, MBA. MCA. M.Sc, etc. - would be placed in five groups and all the groups except one would be subjected to a benefit keeping all the other external and internal factors constant and tested for 1 month. All the groups would contain equal number of employees and each group will have a combination of people from all backgrounds. While the number of employees from each background would be the same across the groups, it is not essential that equal number of employees from each background to be present in each group. The productivity would then be measured and compared across groups after 1 month. The acquired results will help the company to know which benefit offered was highly effective in retaining employees and increasing the productivity.
Giving further clarity to the process of the experiment, Jaideep explained that Group I would remain normal and uninfluenced. However, each of the other four groups will be subjected to one treatment keeping all other conditions normal. Group II will be subjected to an increase in their pay scale and observed for their performance and attrition rate in the team. Group III will be subjected to an incentive scheme, Group IV will be given greater responsibilities whereas Group V will be informed that they are under scrutiny because of their low productivity (a condition of coercion).
1-Define experimentation, experimental research and experimental design. Describe the significance and purpose of conducting an experimental study. List out the characteristics of experimental research and the steps involved in conducting an experimental study. State the purpose of experimental control and the methods used for it.
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