Quiz-1 DISC-320 20 marks

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(You just need to read the introduction of this research article. While reading the text, you will see a
lot of researchers’ names being cited. Just ignore them. Moreover, if you need to refer to a specific
portion of the INTRODUCTION, just copy paste it in your answer in quotation marks (“ ”). Your
answers should be brief and concise.

Q-1 State briefly, in which category (pure research vs applied research) will you put this research and
why?

This is an applied research paper since the authors state it clearly that their aim is to solve HR
problems of IT industry. (pg 26 last 4 lines)

Moreover, as we know that applied research is designed to solve practical problems of the
modern world and is targeted towards a specific real life problem in an organization/
individuals/ discipline. Moreover, it could also deal with a problem regarding a specific
industry, geographical area (for example, a problem regarding an industrial area), or specific
types of organizations in an area (Multinationals of Pakistan, Banking sector of India etc) or
even a specific discipline: for example;

 In field of HEALTH, an applied research question could be; Is violence in the media
and in video games damaging children's mental health?

 In field of BUSINESS, an applied research question/topic could be; What are the ways
to market a product to millennials?

Q-2 Does the author take a perspective for this research by sticking to a particular theory, view,
definition, etc. If yes, then indicate by referring to the text.

Yes, for commitment, the author synthesizes the prevalent definitions and refers to a common
theme as a lens through which he aims to investigate the problem:

“From these few definitions, it is clear that the concept of organizational

commitment refers to unifying both the employee’s and the company’s goals and values (Hall,
Schneider & Nygren 1970)”. This creates a sense of belonging and attachment that the
employee needs to feel toward his/her organization.

Moreover, for performance, he sticks to the definition of “Viswesvaran and

Ones (2000) to make clear what definitions/ views he is using from the past research to
investigate these variables and their relationship with autonomy, empowerment, and Japanese
style management.
Q-3 The findings of this research are based on then sample collected from employees of IT industry. If
we are able to apply the findings of this research to other industries such as manufacturing, or
telecommunications, we are referring to the following characteristic of scientific research;

a) Objectivity b) Parsimony c) Generalizability d) Testability

Q-4 A good theoretical base and a sound method of data collection and analysis brings rigor in research.
Following this, comment on whether the researchers have tried to select a sample which gives them
accurate information for their study.

Here you just had to stick to the accuracy aspect of a rigorous sampling method and choice of
sample. As the authors state clearly that the problem of demotivation has its root cause in long
working hours,

“With this low productivity rate, Japan’s unique management style, which differs from that of
the US and Europe, has reduced labor mobility and contributed to a culture of long working
hours and low rates of paid leaves. This led to a lack of work–life balance and is now posing a
serious problem for the Japanese society”

The authors choose IT industry which, by the nature of its work, is supposed to make a good
example of an organization suffering from long hour’s problem (as they state it in the last
paragraph of introduction). Moreover, the authors are specifically interested in the HR
problems of IT industry. So choosing a sample form here is a good option as far as a
representative sample is concerned.

1- If you were the researcher of this study, would you prefer to collect data from any contractual
(part time) employees of the IT companies in your sample? YES / NO. Why?
There are two main reasons for NOT selecting the part-timers.
First, the long hour’s problem does not relate to them as they are paid on hourly basis and
serve for a specific time.

Second, enhancing commitment of the part-timers may be not be a big problem with
organizations as part timers are working on contractual assignments and will work as long as
they are paid well (there could be other reasons but the term part-time specifies a different type
of organizational engagement for part timers vs full time employees). Hence, a good sampling
strategy would be not to include them as they do not constitute a representative sample.

Q-5 -What type of contribution (relevance) this research seems to make in your opinion. Choose one
option and justify by referring to the text.

a) Nothing is known about this topic and researcher is adding new insights
b) The existing research shows contradictory results
c) An area/ problem in a particular industry which needs to improve
d) Much is known about the topic but the knowledge is scattered and not integrated
 Here, I see that many of the students were confused with option D. The answer lies in a
careful judgement of what the objective of the study was, which the authors clearly
stated,
“The aim of this research is to identify clear ways to increase both employee
performance and commitment and should contribute to solving human resources
problems in the IT industry” Hence, C was the right option.

Q-6 Assess this problem statement in terms of 5 W’s of a good problem statement (what, who, when,
where, why). Identify by referring to the text.

Almost all handled it well.

Q-7 If you were to add an appropriate research question in this problem statement, what would be
that?

There were two ways to handle this.

1- The title itself was very clear and straight

“The Impact of Job Autonomy, Psychological Empowerment, and Japanese-Style

Management on Work Performance and Organizational Commitment”

So, a logical research question could have been any of the following;

RQ- what is the impact of Job Autonomy, Psychological Empowerment, and Japanese-Style
Management on Work Performance and Organizational Commitment.

OR

RQ- Do Job Autonomy, Psychological Empowerment, and Japanese-Style Management have

an impact on Work Performance and Organizational Commitment.

2- If the title was not that clear the objective of the study is the most important
element to extract the research question from.
The authors stated in last 4 lines of the introduction, The aim of this research
is to identify clear ways to increase both employee performance and commitment and
should contribute to solving human resources problems in the IT industry “

so, the possible RQs could have been;

RQ- How the performance and commitment of employees in IT industry can be enhanced?

OR

RQ- What are the factors which enhance the performance and commitment of employees
in IT industry