Management styles Essay

There are two main data resources, secondary and primary data. Secondary data is the one that already exists from previous investigations and it can be found in books, journals and films (Saunders at al, 2003). Primary data is the one that is recollected from the research and it can be obtained by using methods such as questionnaires, interviews, focus group, and other (Collis and Hussey, 2003). In order to achieve the aim and objectives of this research, both data collection methods will be used. The secondary data will be mostly used to define and examine the concepts of multicultural workforce and management styles. On the other hand, the primary data will be collected from the interviews done to managers and supervisors in order to obtain their experiences of working with people from different cultural background and whether it influences on management styles. In this case, it will be important and relevant for this research to review studies of cross-cultural differences such as Hofstede’s, Trompenaars’ and Hall and Hall’s, in order to compare their findings with the ones that come up from this investigation. Moreover, it will be fundamental to identify the main aspects of cultural differences that influences on management styles in order to have a better knowledge of this subject and understand why people’s behavior change from one culture to another. Consequently, secondary data on its own is insufficient for the investigation and exploration of this study; for this reason the use of primary data helps to add and enrich information to that existent background on cultural differences and management styles. Primary Data Taking into account the already proposed sample characteristics, interviews will be considered to be the most appropriate data collection technique due to the exploratory and analytical research nature of this investigation. It involves more interaction by questioning and discussion between the interviewee and the interviewer that is something it can not be obtained using, for example, questionnaires and observation (Blaxter et al. , 2001). The interviews will be conducted in order to explore and discover participants’ attitudes, opinions and experiences toward cultural differences and its influence on their management style. Interviews According to Collis and Hussey (2003), interviews â€Å"are a method of collecting data in which selected participants are asked questions in order to find out what they do, think or feel†. Saunders et al. (2003) propose the idea that this method is an efficient way of collecting reliable and valid information, because the data gathered comes directly from the source in study, which certainly helps to achieve the research question and objectives of this project. Therefore, choosing interviews will be based on its suitability in finding what is happening and seeking new sights when exploring management styles and cultural differences. Moreover, Saunders et al (2003) stress that a more complete gathering of valuable information can be obtained by interacting more people inside an organizations, which in this case are members of ABC Superstore in the U. S. Interviews are classified based on the degree of flexibility as well as formality and structure that the researcher would like to apply. Therefore, there are three types of interviews, structured, semi-structured and unstructured interviews (Kumar, 1999; Saunders et al. , 2000; Ghauri and Gronhaug, 2002). In the structured interview â€Å"the investigator asks a pre-determined set of questions, using the same wording and order of questions as specified in the interview schedule† (Kumar, 1999, p. 109); in semi-structured interview, the questions are also prepared beforehand, but in contrast, they offer more flexibility in facilitating the interviewee to modify the questions to investigate new ideas that might come up during the interview; and the unstructured interviews are based on a general topic of interest, but the questions are spontaneously posed to the respondent (Kumar, 1999; Guillham, 2000; Saunders et al. , 2000; Ghauri and Gronhaug, 2002). It has been suggested that for phenomenological approaches and exploratory researches, a semi-structure interview is the most suitable type since the interviewer can explore in-depth a specific area that might be of interest (Jankowicz, 1999). The interviews carried out for this research will be semi-structured and will be held face-to-face with individual participants. One of the reasons of choosing this type of interview is because they are more conductible and easier to control in order to establish and maintain empathy with respondents, so make the respondents be more comfortable and express their opinions more freely. It also gives the interviewer the opportunity to discover and understand the respondents’ points of view and beliefs about a specific situation (Zikmund, 2000). Saunders et al. (2000) mention that semi-structured are qualitative research interviews and are classified as non-standardized, where questions might vary from one interview to another since it depends on the course that the conversation takes, hence it would required of additional questions. In addition, Healey and Rawlinson (1994 cited Saunders et al. , 2000) point out that more than one type can be used within an interview, where one section may ask factual closed questions, such as personal details, and the next sections could explore more qualitative issues. In this case, a combination of styles will be adopted within the interviews that will be held. The first section will be consisted of a set of factual questions in order to find out the interviewee’s work position and background. The following sections will be based on qualitative responses where relevant topics will be taken under consideration accordingly to the literature review that will be developed in Chapter II as well as aim and objectives of the research. For instance, in the second section, cultural aspects within a multicultural workforce will be explored, while in the third section, examination of managerial skills will be enquired; and finally exploration of training programs will end the interview (Appendix B). Furthermore, the semi-structured interviews will allow a free-flowing discussion, which in turn will produce a better understanding of the way of thinking, opinions, and behavior of manager and supervisors in relation to their experiences towards differences in culture and its influence on their management styles. Data Quality Issues There are a number of data quality issues to be aware and consider when conducting an interview, otherwise it would put at risk the findings of the investigation. In this case information supplied to the interviewee, confidentiality, listening skills and recording of interviews is going to be considered for this section (Kvale, 1996; Saunders et al. , 2000). Information Supplied to the Interviewee An important issue to promote credibility to the investigation is the supply of relevant information to the participants prior the interviews. In this way, the interviewee will consider the information under study and will be prepared to discuss their experiences and opinions, which will help to develop the research credibility. This will be reached through a letter that will be sent to the participants, which can be seen in Appendix A. It will also mention the duration of the interviews, in order to let them organized their time and provide an approximately 30 minutes to the interview with no interruptions. Confidentiality According to Kvale (1996, p. 114) â€Å"confidentiality in research implies that private data identifying the subjects will not be reported†. The author also highlights that the change of names to protect the privacy of the participants is of an important issue, since encourages people to reveal experiences, feelings and facts which enrich the information given by the interviewee, facilitating the development of the research (Kvale, 1996; Guillham, 2000). Hence, it will be explained to the interviewee the purpose of the research and the use that it is going to have in order to gain their trust and confidence (Appendix A).