Case Study 1: The Fresh Fish Company, which specialises in delivering fresh fish to London restaurants, has employees split between delivery drivers, those who work in the warehouse, and administrative staff based in their offices. The different employee groups have other working conditions. Drivers work independently; warehouse workers have monotonous and physically demanding jobs, while administrative hours are paid minimum wage. Recent uncertainty in the broader sector has led to similar organisations making their staff redundant. At the same time, the company has invested in larger vans, which means the company can fulfil larger orders than before. The Managing Director has approached you, an organisational psychologist, because the staff appear to be experiencing low job satisfaction and productivity. The company would like you to investigate why this may be.
Formulate at least one appropriate hypothesis based on the problem highlighted. Ensure your hypothesis is logical, testable, refutable, and directional. Who will your participants be, and what data will you need to test your hypotheses?
Hypothesis Formulation: Given the context in the case study, a plausible hypothesis could be: “Improving job conditions specific to each role will lead to an increase in job satisfaction and productivity among the different employee groups at The Fresh Fish Company”.
- This hypothesis is logical because it suggests that enhancing job conditions tailored to the unique requirements of each role (drivers, warehouse workers, administrative staff) can boost job satisfaction and productivity.
- It is testable as it can be evaluated by comparing job satisfaction and productivity levels before and after implementing role-specific job condition improvements.
- It is refutable since the data might indicate that improvements in job conditions do not impact job satisfaction and productivity or even decrease them.
- It is directional, predicting the expected direction of the relationship between the two variables: job condition improvements (independent variable) and job satisfaction and productivity (dependent variable).
Participants & Data Collection: The participants in this research would be the drivers, warehouse workers, and administrative staff of The Fresh Fish Company. To test the hypothesis, the following data will be needed:
- Job satisfaction and productivity data for a specified period before implementing role-specific job condition improvements.
- Job satisfaction and productivity data for a similar period after implementing these improvements.
- Data on the job condition changes implemented for each role (such as better driver equipment, ergonomic enhancements for warehouse workers, wage adjustments for administrative staff, etc.).
- Facts that might influence job satisfaction and productivity (such as age, tenure, job role, etc.) to control for these in the analysis.
This data can be collected through company records (for productivity data and demographic factors) and surveys or interviews with the employees (to gather information on their job satisfaction and changes to job conditions).
Case Study 2: Your team has been approached by Metis Communications, an organisation that operates customer service call centres on behalf of clients in the banking, travel, and utility industries. Metis Communications has approximately 500 call handlers that work across their call centre sites in the east of England. Like many call centres, the organisation has historically struggled with high turnover, poor job satisfaction and low employee engagement.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, call handlers could work from home, although many have returned to work on-site. This has been a controversial decision among staff, with some keen to continue working from home while others have welcomed the opportunity to return to call centres. While it is uncertain what the world of work will look like moving forward, there is increased recognition of the opportunity and need for more flexible working methods. The organisation sees these as the ability to work from home, part-time and job share opportunities, flexible hours, family-supportive policies, and more. Metis Communication believes that flexible working could encourage better work-life balance, leading to more satisfied and productive workers.
Metis Communication would like to put together some guidance and policies around flexible working but is unsure what this should cover. Senior management disagrees about flexible work and whether the organisation already offers it. Questions are also asked about why flexible working is needed and its advantages and disadvantages. Some frontline managers have also expressed concern that flexible work may come at the expense of team efficiency, making their roles more difficult. Equally, anecdotal feedback from staff suggests that managers varied in support and effectiveness when staff had to work remotely. Remote working, job sharing, and part-time hours also limit opportunities for training, support, and communication between colleagues. All this links in with broader questions on what factors might be needed to facilitate different forms of flexible work. While the union believes that more flexibility would allow for a more inclusive and supportive environment, they are concerned that the push to flexible working is a guise to increase precariousness among workers, reduce the overheads of estate costs and place business risks onto workers. It is also concerned that those working flexibly will work longer than their contracted hours or have to work more intensively.
Metis Communication is keen to use an evidence-based approach to inform their understanding of flexible working practices related to their call handlers. They do not have any specific research questions and invite you to propose hypotheses to test some potential assumptions and suggested relationships relevant to the problem area that could interest them.
Formulate at least one appropriate hypothesis based on the problem highlighted. Ensure your hypothesis is logical, testable, refutable, and directional. Who will your participants be, and what data will you need to test your hypotheses?
Hypothesis Formulation: Based on the problem highlighted in the case study, one possible hypothesis could be: “Implementing flexible working arrangements will lead to a decrease in employee turnover rate among the call handlers”.
- This hypothesis is logical because it reflects that flexible work arrangements can improve work-life balance, increasing job satisfaction and reducing the likelihood of employees leaving the company.
- It is testable because it can be evaluated by comparing the turnover rates before and after implementing flexible work arrangements.
- It is refutable as the data might show that flexible work arrangements do not impact the employee turnover rate or even increase it.
- It is directional, indicating the expected direction of the relationship between the two variables, i.e., flexible working arrangements (independent variable) and employee turnover rate (dependent variable).
Participants & Data Collection: The participants in this research would be the call handlers employed by Metis Communications. To test the hypothesis, the following data will be needed:
- Employee turnover rate data for a specified period before implementing flexible working arrangements.
- Employee turnover rate data for a similar period after implementing flexible working arrangements.
- Data on the types of flexible work arrangements implemented (such as remote work, flexible hours, part-time work, job sharing, etc.)
- Factors that might influence turnover rates (such as age, gender, tenure, job satisfaction, etc.) to control for these in the analysis.
This data can be collected through company records (for turnover rates and demographic factors) and surveys or interviews with the call handlers (to gather information on their work arrangements and satisfaction levels).
