Designing an Ethical, Professional, Effective Employee Survey Process - Coursework Example

Running Head: Designing an ethical, professional, effective employee survey process [Name] [Professor Name] [Course] [Date] Abstract Jollibee, a multinational fast-food chain with its head office in the Philippines, has run surveys of employees in the past with mixed success. However, senior managers are keen to try again. Following an investigation into the feasibility and value of employee survey in the context of Jollibee, this paper proposes a plan for use in running a survey of Jollibee employees internationally. The plan includes issues such as what the employee survey is expected to survey and challenges in the effective administration of the survey. Other issues included are the costs, risks and potential difficulties and how they would be managed, how expected benefits would be delivered and lastly, how the survey would be evaluated for being ethical and professional. Designing an ethical, professional, effective employee survey process Introduction An employee survey is a method of collecting information directly from the workers regarding their feelings, ideas, plans, financial background and social issues (Rogelberg et al, 2000). In the context of Jollibee, it can be defined as a technique for soliciting anonymous employee suggestions and opinions across the company’s global operations. The attitude of employees towards the company along with integration of their views and suggestions into the running of the organization are critical for the company’s competitive work environment (Saari & Judge, 2004). In the fast-food industry, Jollibee deals with different generation of workers with diverse needs and aspirations. However, the more the management knows about the attitudes and opinions of the workers, the easier it is to control their behaviors and align with the corporate objectives. Reason and research seems to have reached a consensus that frontline employees are in the best capacity to evaluate an organization’s problems, actions and possible solutions (Baruch & Holtom, 2008). This employee survey integrates all stages of assessing employee effectiveness to action planning. What employee survey can achieve Since Jollibee’s upper level management is particularly concerned about the general attitudes and opinions of the workforce. There is a need to make continuous assessment to measure the employee’s attitudes (Saari & Judge, 2004). An employee attitude survey, or organizational climate survey, can be effective in measuring the opinion and views of employees at the company and its various units. Employee surveys offer a direct and reliable tool for communication between the department and unit managers. They can also demonstrate to the workforce that the management is concerned about integrating their input into the decision-making process. Indeed, such opinions and attitudes can show that the employees are motivated and have high morale. These can be associated with their level of productivity. They can also enable Jollibee to establish upward communication trend from the subordinates, to the middle level management to the executive (Rogelberg et al, 2000). Designing Employee Surveys In designing an employee survey, careful planning must be considered, completed and set up. A single department or unit within Jollibee will have to be selected to serve as a pilot. A smaller unit will be most appropriate. The manager of the unit should be debriefed on the nature and the intent of the survey project. The Human Resource Management (HRM) should select a trusted Project Leader in situations where the People Management Department will not administer the survey. The results of the survey should remain confidential. It is crucial that the employees be given ample time to give the feedback since the same question may imply different things to various people. Methodology and the length of the feedback should as well be determined and indicated to allow for proper scheduling. The results of the survey, led by the Project Manager, should occur immediately. In all, the survey instrument should be brief and straightforward (Bartel et al, 2011). Content, Topics, Questions The contents or topics to be included in the survey are critical step in designing the employee attitude survey. Since a single survey can comprise hundreds of ideas, the topics or content should be carefully determined. Jollibee’s department or unit managers need to decide the content of the survey. This implies setting up the limits to enable one to choose and write the rights questions for the data collection survey instrument. The questions to be considered include closed-ended survey questions that consist of a stem, which presents a question, the situation, a brief case history, followed by various alternative choices. Other questions include multiple choice questions. In constructing the questions, some guidelines will have to be followed including fact that each question should be consequential to the participant. Additionally, the language used should be straightforward and straight to the point (Bartel et al, 2011). The questions should as well be concrete and objective. Asking personal questions should be treated with caution to avoid hurting the respondents emotionally. Most importantly, each question should only have one thought. For the question to be considered as effective, it should produce answers that are reliable and generate measures that are valid. The HRM should consider when and how frequent the survey should be conducted, and whether it should be a one-time longitudinal or cross-sectional. Within the context of Jollibee, reliability is used in the classic psychometric sense considering the level in which the answers provided by the respondents are accurate. Communicating the process to avoid likely challenges Given the multinational and multicultural nature of Jollibee, communication is an important concern to be considered when carrying out the employee surveys. Instances of poor participation often arise when the surveys are conducted without the purpose of the survey being adequately explained and what the data collected will be used for. To avoid common challenges such as poor participation or incidents where employees misconstrue the questions leading to poor quality survey responses, employees should inform the employees on why the survey is being conducted. In addition, the employees should be briefed on confidentiality of the survey results and who the information will be used. The employee should at the beginning have a general information section that outlines the purpose of the survey. It should define the terms that the employees need to know as well as inform them of how to respond and the anonymity. The unit or department manager will have to spend time to assure of anonymity, and in case fear still exists, then there could be a risk of reprisal (Kraut, 1996). This is a major challenge that can be associated with carrying out an employee attitude survey at Jollibee. Therefore, in case the risk or reprisal still exists, the option of not taking the survey should exist. Survey sample and design The four fundamental characteristics of questions and answers to be considered for a suitable measurement process include ensuring consistency of the questions. Second, the respondents should have access to the information to be used to answer the question. Third, the way in which the participants are required to answer the questions should provide a means of reporting what they have to suggest and lastly, the participants in the survey must be willing to respond to the questions. Concerning the survey language, terminologies and acronyms that the respondents may not be familiar with should be avoided. In addition, language that may sway or influence responses towards a certain opinion should be avoided. For demographic information, data such as years of employment at the company, work experience, job classification and functional area should be gathered. This will be helpful in evaluating the responses (Bartlet, Kotrlik, & Higgins, 2001). The mode of survey should be considered. In which case, the employee attitude survey can be electronic through email, online questionnaires, paper-based or face-to-face interviews or verbal interviews through telephone. For the purpose of Jollibee, email or online surveys are most appropriate given that the company has an international presence. Regarding participation, it is critical to determine whether the company requires the full participation of all employees, or whether the information can be gathered sufficiently using random sample. In addition, consideration should be on whether employees should complete a voluntary or a mandatory survey. For the purpose of Jollibee, a random sample and a voluntary survey should be used given its large size and international presence. On the issue of timing, important consideration should be taken on whether the employees will complete the survey at their own free time or during the work hours. Since this might affect the rate of participation, it is critical that the employees should be asked to participate at their most preferable time. In which case, the participation time should be flexible. This means that the time for conducting the survey at Jollibee should be relative to the organizational needs. In which case, the survey should not be conducted during the peak business hours. In addition, sufficient time should be allowed for all employees participating to respond (Kraut, 1996). Ethical considerations Since Jollibee is multinational and embraces various cultures, organizational culture plays a critical role in the organization’s decision-making. Employee attitude towards business ethics can vary significantly in reaching consensus on ethics across cultures. Under these circumstances, cultures must be assessed and greatly respected. It is therefore important to determine if the survey has been run ethically and professionally (Sujit, n.d.). Confidentiality of the respondents is one of the key issues faced in administration of employee surveys. The employees will need to rate the management, their peers as well as the corporate culture to reveal their attitudes. However, when this information is made available to others within the organization, it may make the employees to give incomplete and dishonest answers. In such circumstances where strict confidentiality is needed by the organization, then outside firms can be outsourced to conduct the survey. Strict confidentiality is required in situations where the company may need to survey the attitude of the employees towards the management. Using outside firms ensures that the managers and supervisors cannot access the responses. This emphasizes the need for fairness as the questions should not lead the respondents towards particular answers or suggest that more positive responses will make it easy to complete the questionnaire. To avoid bias, the company can rely on survey questionnaire templates or formulate questions by drawing questions from those already formulated by experts (Treviño, Butterfield & McCabe, 1998). Additionally, since an issue that the employee surveys attempts to discover is information on the ethical organizational culture, the survey questions can inquire how well the employees trust their leaders and whether they feel comfortable associating with the company. This will be effective in revealing how the employees view themselves within the corporate structure as well as if they are likely to encourage ethical practices at the workplace. The employee survey should effectively asses the worker motivation. Employees at Jollibee have ethical responsibilities to direct their best efforts towards ensuring that the organization attains its objectives. However, some challenges can prevent motivation. These include feeling of being undervalued, lack of accountability, lack of confidence in the company and mistrust of the management or the colleagues. The employee survey should therefore simply inquire from the employees whether they feel motivated to work diligently. This will inform the Jollibee management on how effective it handles its employee relations (Hayness & Bobrow, n.d.). Compiling survey results The response for forced choice and rated questions should be tabulated in order to calculate the response percentages. Since open-ended questions often offer general information, recurring themes should be searched. In addition, explicit responses that reflect important ideas should be highlighted. In situations where demographic questions are included, then the responses should be compiled based on these factors (Kraut, 1996). Presenting results and follow-through Presentation of the results to the Jollibee employees and stakeholders is a significant step in the survey plan. The company should have a definite method it should employ to present the results. For instances, questions to be considered include whether information on certain question results should be provided or whether the responses should be provided in aggregates. A method of presenting the results should as well be decided. For the purpose of Jollibee, a written report would be most appropriate (Hayness & Bobrow, n.d.). Indeed, after the survey is closed, the Project Leader should review the results for all items by individual work unit or department and a total score for each section provided. Feedback should be viewed as a critical step in the methodology of this employee survey plan. This is because “logic to the satisfaction or dissatisfaction scores” depends on the employee’s views. To come to employee’s attitudes, then suggestions for improvement given by the employees is the key to the success of the proposed plan. The feedback mechanism can therefore mean that the survey is successful or not. It is important that this section be held in private area. Further, it is advisable that only the team leader and the employees of the surveyed work group be present (Rogelberg, Spitzmueller, Little, 2006). This session should be used to validate the data because all employees may not have interpreted the questions in a similar manner. The team leader should thereafter clarify how the results are to be presented. A likely method would be through the use of PowerPoint presentation (as shown below). This is because simultaneous presentation and discussion has an advantage as it leads to fast identification of the problem areas. Dealing with the associated challenges would imply the following. First, the situation should be communicated or talked about. Here, the team leader should query for impressions or causes. Second, the project leader should inquire from the employees on possible suggestions on how to correct the situation. This part signifies the most important value of administering the employee survey at Jollibee. Third, the project leader should describe in detail the two aforementioned steps. Recommendations To increase the likelihood that action will be taken by the organization in response to the results of the employee survey, the following need to be included in the survey. First, the recommendations should be tied to the results of the survey. This will strengthen the link between the responses of the employees and the actions suggested. Second, the tools and procedures to be used in accomplishing the task should be suggested and lastly, the recommendation should be linked to the objective of the survey. Action planning Presentation of the results from surveying Jollibee employees does not signal the end of the survey process. Any identified opportunities, any organizational gaps or areas of concern that need change will have to be followed through. If plans are developed based on the information generated, then the employees should be provided with progress updates that link the projects to the survey results. This is critical to the success of subsequent surveys. This can make the employees to feel that their input is valued as well as strengthen their trusts and commitment to the company. In addition, more employees would be motivated to participate in future surveys. In addition to making recommendations to be presented in a narrative form to Jollibee management, a project plan with tentative timelines should be developed to enable the employee survey to take off. However, there is often the likelihood for a letdown after the results of the survey are attained. An action plan will however help uphold the motivation level necessary for responding to the results and in enabling instantaneous improvements of areas of concern. The longer the length of time between administering the survey and acting to implement the results, the less the confidence employees will have on how seriously their responses were valued. Since the action planning individual is expected to be a teamwork process, it is strongly recommended that individual task forces for each of the organizations identified opportunities for improvement be recruited. Task force can effectively help in designing and implementing action plans. The actions taken in response to the survey should be published to inform the employees that the organization has heard from them and considered their opinions in the decision-making process (Kraut, 1996). Conclusion The key points to consider in designing and implementing an employee survey for Jollibee include keeping the objective of the survey in mind at each phase. Additionally, extreme confidentiality should be maintained. In this case, the implication of the design and decisions to implement it should be considered. Further, most attention should be paid to the survey design and collection of responses from employees as the two represent the most important phases in designing the employee attitude survey. A level of data analysis should as well be considered before the results are presented. During the action planning, a task force should be recruited to make careful recommendations for improving the organization. A prompt action should be taken to demonstrate the company’s commitment to improvement. The actions taken by the organization in response to the survey should then be published. Through examining the advantages and the downsides at each phase of planning the design, a well-crafted, objective and purposeful organization diagnostic tool is delivered for Jollibee. References Bartel, A., Freeman, R., Ichniowski, C. & Kleiner, M. (2011). "Can a workplace have an attitude problem? Workplace effects on employee attitudes and organizational performance." Labour Economic, 18, pp.411-423 Bartlet, J., Kotrlik, J. & Higgins, C. (2001). "Organizational Research: Determining Appropriate Sample Size in Survey Research." Information Technology, Learning, and Performance Journal, 19(1), pp.43-50 Baruch, Y. & Holtom, B.(2008). "Survey response rate levels and trends in organizational research." Human Relations, 61(8), pp1139-1160 Hayness, K. & Bobrow, W. (n.d.) How To Design and Implement an Effective Employee Attitude Survey. Chapter 38. Web. Accessed 27 July 2013 Kraut, A. (1996). Organizational surveys: Tools for assessment and change. San Francisco: JosseyBass. Rogelberg, S., Luong A., Sederburg, M., & Cristol, D. (2000). "Employee Attitude Surveys: Examining the Attitudesof Noncompliant Employees." Journal of Applied Psychology, 85(2), pp.284-293 Rogelberg, S. Spitzmueller, C. Little, I. (2006). "Understanding Response Behavior to an Online Special Topics Organizational Satisfaction Survey." Personnel Psychology, 59, pp.903-923 Saari, L. & Judge, T. (2004). Employee Attitudes and Job Satisfaction. Armonk, NY: Global Workforce Research. Web. Accessed 28 July 2013 Sujit, K. (n.d.). Comparing Ethical Attitudes of Expatriates working in UAE. Institute of Management Technology, Dubai. Web. Accessed 29 July 2013 Treviño, L., Butterfield, K. & McCabe, D. (1998). "The Ethical Context in Organizations: Influences on Employee Attitudes and Behaviors." Business Ethics Quarterly, 8(3), pp.447 Read More