Marketing research performance and strategy

Purpose - To investigate whether strategic orientation affects the evaluation of specific market research projects in for-profit firms.
Design/methodology/approach - A small-scale follow-up survey was conducted, building on qualitative and quantitative research among a sample of the top-1,000 marketing managers in Australia. The study used an existing market research evaluation tool, the USER scale and items generated from the qualitative research, to investigate the firm's most recent market research project.
Findings - Four market research performance factors were identified - market research as a knowledge enhancing (KE) function, the internal political use of market research, the misuse of market research and the generation of market understanding. The Miles and Snow strategy types were related to these factors, with Prospector types more likely to use market research rationally and less likely to use it for internal political purposes. Tactical projects were more likely to be misused than were those with a strategic orientation. Prospectors were far less likely and analysers far more likely to misuse tactical research projects. Prospectors were more often satisfied with the performance of their most recent market research. The Porter typology was less successful in predicting market research performance.
Research limitations/implications - The study was based on a small sample of market research projects in Australian for-profit firms. Future studies need to study these phenomena more intensively using ethnographic methods and more extensively using larger multi-country samples.
Practical implications - Market research suppliers should learn the nature of their client's strategic intent to improve their effectiveness. Defender firms should carefully monitor the use of market research, especially that of a tactical nature, which may be wasted or misused.
Originality/value - Contributes to an understanding of how strategic orientation relates to the ways market research information is used within the firm.

Performance appraisals in Australian Universities- where are we now?

This paper examines performance appraisals in Australian universities. It identifies the political imperatives which drove the changes in higher education and saw the inculcation of managerial practices, one of which was performance appraisals, into academia. The paper then briefly examines the history of performance appraisals in Australian universities and identifies questions for further research.

‘Inspired and assisted’, or ‘berated and destroyed’? Research leadership, management and performativity in troubled times

Research leadership in Australian universities takes place against a backdrop of policy reforms concerned with measurement and comparison of institutional research performance. In particular, the Excellence in Research in Australian initiative undertaken by the Australian Research Council sets out to evaluate research quality in Australian universities, using a combination of expert review process, and assessment of performance against ‘quality indicators’. Benchmarking exercises of this sort continue to shape institutional policy and practice, with inevitable effects on the ways in which research leadership, mentoring and practice are played out within university faculties and departments. In an exploratory study that interviewed 32 Australian academics in universities in four Australian states, we asked participants, occupying formal or informal research leadership roles, to comment on their perceptions of research leadership as envisioned and enacted in their particular workplaces. We found a pervasive concern amongst participants that coalesced around binaries characterized in metaphoric terms of ‘carrots and whips’. Research leadership was seen by many as managerial in nature, and as such, largely tethered to instrumentalist notions of productivity and performativity, while research cultures were seen as languishing under the demoralizing weight of reward and punishment systems. Here, we consider what is at stake for the future of the academic workforce under such conditions, arguing that new models of visionary research leadership are urgently needed in the ‘troubled times’ of techno-bureaucratic university reforms.

Developing customer-focused public sector rewards schemes : evidence from the Botswana government's performance based reward system (PBRS)

Purpose – Governmental agencies are interested in improving the quality of their service delivery. One tool that has been used to manage their performance is performance based reward schemes (PBRS). The aim of this paper is to examine the degree to which a sample of these plans, used within the Botswana public sector, is customer-focused. Being more customer-focused should deliver improved public sector service quality.

Design/methodology/approach – This study carried out an evaluation of a sample of Botswana PBRS plans, using multidimensional content analysis undertaken by four expert “evaluators”, to identify the degree to which the PBRS were customer-focused.

Findings – Classifying PBRS plans as being customer-focused was difficult, as the plans had few objectives related to customer experiences or outcomes. Those that did had poorly defined performance objectives, their targets were not specific, or there was limited explicit role responsibility. Thus, PBRS plans seemed not to focus on improving customer outcomes.

Research limitations/implications – The PBRS evaluated do not appear to be customer-focused and, thus, would have limited ability to improve customer experiences (i.e. public sector quality). Further research is needed in other countries to see whether these results are generalisable, and whether service levels vary with more customer-focused PBRS plans.

Practical implications – The results suggest improvements that could be adopted by organisations seeking to make their PBRS schemes customer-focused.

Originality/value – Extensive research suggests that PBRS plans can be used to improve service quality. Most of the studies have focused on the employees' perspectives and have not looked at the degree of customer orientation within the plans.

Performance evaluation of e-government services using balance scorecard : an empirical study in Jordan

Purpose - the purpose of this paper is to emphasise on a balance between quantitative and qualitative measures, and examine the use of Balanced Scorecard to evaluate and estimate the performance of information and communication technologies (ICT) in delivering valuable e-government services through the internet. Design/methodology/approach - This study tests the hypotheses of e-government effectiveness using Balanced Scorecard technique by incorporating qualitative measures within a quantitative research methodology with data collected by means of a survey questionnaire. The survey sample of 383 stakeholders includes common customers, employees of e-government, and employees from the IT sector. The survey data were analysed to test the hypothesis in measuring e-government effectiveness from Balanced Scorecard's four dimensions: customer perspective, financial perspective, internal business process perspective, and innovation and learning perspective. Findings - The results show that the Balanced Scorecard factors fit very well with monitoring and measuring the performance of e-government in Jordan, and also in evaluating their success in IT project investments. Originality/value - This study attempts to address this gap in the literature and would benefit future studies in applying Balanced Scorecard for performance evaluation of various IT projects that are gaining huge investments from governments and organisations .

Employee engagement, human resource management practices and competitive advantage

Abstract
Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to argue in support of a model that shows how four key HRM practices focused on engagement influence organizational climate, job demands and job resources, the psychological experiences of safety, meaningfulness and availability at work, employee engagement, and individual, group and organizational performance and competitive advantage.
Design/methodology/approach - This conceptual review focuses on the research evidence showing interrelationships between organizational context factors, job factors, individual employee psychological and motivational factors, employee outcomes, organizational outcomes and competitive advantage. The proposed model integrates frameworks that have previously run independently in the HR and engagement literatures.
Findings - The authors conclude that HRM practitioners need to move beyond the routine administration of annual engagement surveys and need to embed engagement in HRM policies and practices such personnel selection, socialization, performance management, and training and development.
Practical implications - The authors offer organizations clear guidelines for how HR practices (i.e. selection, socialization, performance management, training) can be used to facilitate and improve employee engagement and result in positive outcomes that will help organizations achieve a competitive advantage.
Originality/value - The authors provide useful new insights for researchers and management professionals wishing to embed engagement within the fabric of HRM policies and practices and employee behaviour, and organizational outcomes.

Power and passion:remoulded teamwork in a plastics factory

Purpose: – The purpose of this paper is to document the progress made in a specified period and the experience of managers and staff in sustaining the high performance team approach in a plastics factory.

Design/methodology/approach: – Single-case analysis was conducted on data collected through semi-structured interviews and site observations made with two managers and one team of six in a multinational plastics manufacturer (Visy) headquartered in Australia.

Findings: – Based on the authors' experiences and literature review a successful high performance team requires clear targets and efficiency standards, communication, rules of behaviour, continual input of facts and feedback, and last but not least – recognition of successes.

Research limitations/implications: – The findings are based on observations and interviews conducted in one part of a multinational organization in Australia. No follow-up interviews could be undertaken to track the progress.

Originality/value: – No other similar study had been undertaken in this organisation documenting the experiences of a quality improvement team and its interactions with managers. The findings have practical implications for industrial and other kinds of organisations engaged in implementing quality improvements through enhanced teamwork.

Factors affecting the engagement of experienced teachers in schools

With the changing age profile of teachers in Australian schools, considerable numbers of experienced teachers need to feature as educational leaders, before their workplace knowledge and expertise will be lost to schools with retirement. Stereotypes of veteran teachers depict individuals, wearied by decades of work experiences, entering professional decline when educational systems need these experienced practitioners to remain connected, communicative and motivated in their work. This thesis explores the careers and contemporary professional lives of experienced practitioners — predominantly classroom teachers — currently working in a school with a long standing commitment to student-centred education. The research identified the factors that influenced their career pathways and affected their engagement with their work. Critical incidents in the teachers’ careers and professional lives are discussed in relation to the theories of motivation and the nature of Professional Learning Communities. The study showed that necessary factors for engagement were: mutual alignment with a well-articulated and practised ethos; supportive leadership; experiencing professional influence; opportunities for learning; and variety in work. Disillusion resulted if school actions were contrary to the espoused ethos. Severely negative experiences of performance management were survived by withdrawing, and enduring management tenures but these remain very poignant memories. The teachers had few career regrets yet reflection revealed the arbitrary nature of their career progression. The research identified a need to recognise the global and societal factors influencing the nature of teachers’ work. It is argued that schools and systems need to have a greater alignment between these external forces and their internal goals whilst recapturing the moral purpose of education. Furthermore, it is asserted that educational systems need to provide better human resource management for the teaching workforce through emphasising life-balance and well-being. Additionally, professional appraisal and staff management would benefit from strong recognition and deployment of the workplace knowledge and expertise of experienced teachers. A serendipitous outcome of the research was the benefit participants gained from reflecting on their careers which proved extremely affirming, and contributed to enhanced professional identities and changed career plans.

The impact of increasing course enrolment on student evaluation of teaching in engineering education

Student evaluation of teaching (SET) is important, commonplace and may be used in staff performance management. The SET literature suggests that class size is a negative systematic influence on SET ratings. In this paper we investigate time-series SET data from a large first-year engineering class where a decline in SET ratings was observed over time as course enrolment increased. We observe a negative halo effect of increasing class size on mean SET ratings and conclude that increasing course enrolment leads to a significant reduction in all mean SET ratings, even when the course learning design remains essentially unchanged. We also find an additional differential effect of increasing course enrolment on mean SET ratings. We observe that the marginal reduction in mean SET ratings for each additional student in the course enrolment is greater for those aspects of the student learning experience that are likely to be most directly impacted by increasing class size. We provide implications for practice from these findings.

The systematic influences on student evaluation of teaching in engineering education

BACKGROUND Student evaluation of teaching (SET) has a long history, has grown in prevalence and importance over a period of decades, and is now common-place in many universities internationally. SET data are collected for a range of purposes, including: as diagnostic feedback to improve the quality of teaching and learning; as an input to staff performance management processes and personnel decisions such as promotion for staff; to provide information to prospective students in their selection of courses and programs; and as a source of data for research on teaching. Rovai et al. (2006) report that while SET research provides mixed results, there is evidence that, for course-related factors, smaller classes are rated more favourably than large classes, upper-year-level classes are rated more favourably than lower-year classes, and that there are rating differences between discipline areas. While additional course-related factors are also noted, other reviews of the literature on SET also identify these three factors as commonly reported systematic influences on SET ratings. The School of Engineering at Deakin University in Australia offers undergraduate and postgraduate engineering programs, and these programs are delivered in both on-campus and off-campus modes.PURPOSEThe paper presents a quantitative investigation of SET data for the School of Engineering at Deakin University to identify whether the commonly reported systematic influences on SET ratings of class size and year level are also observed here. The influence of online mode of offer is also explored.DESIGN/METHOD Deakin University’s Student Evaluation of Teaching and Units (SETU) questionnaire is administered to students enrolled in every unit of study every time that unit is offered, unless it is specially exempted. Following data collation, summary results are reported via a public website. The publicly available SETU data for all School of Engineering units of study were collected for a two year period. The collected data were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) analysis to identify any significant systematic influences on mean student SETU ratings.RESULTS SETU data from 100 separate units of study over the two year period were collected, representing 3375 sets of SETU ratings, and covering unit enrolment sizes from 12 to 462 students. Although this was a modest sized investigation, significantly higher mean ratings for some SETU items were observed for units with small enrolments, for postgraduate level units compared to undergraduate level units, and for units offered in conventional mode compared to online mode of offer. The presence of the commonly observed systematic influences on SET ratings was confirmed.CONCLUSIONS While the use of SET data may have originally been primarily for formative purposes to improve teaching and learning, they are also increasingly used for summative judgements of teaching quality and teaching staff performance that have implications for personnel decision making. There may be an acceptance of the need for SET, however there remains no universal consensus as to what constitutes quality in university teaching and learning, and the increasing use of SET for high-stakes decision making puts pressure on institutions to ensure that their SET practices are sound, equitable and defensible.

A text analytics evaluation of a first-year engineering project-based unit

In the undergraduate engineering program at Griffith University in Australia, the unit 1006ENG Design and Professional Skills aims to provide an introduction to engineering design and professional practice through a project-based learning (PBL) approach to problem solving. It provides students with an experience of PBL in the first-year of their programme. The unit comprises an underpinning lecture series, design work including group project activities, an individual computer-aided drawing exercise/s and an oral presentation. Griffith University employs a ‘Student Experience of Course’ (SEC) online survey as part of its student evaluation of teaching, quality improvement and staff performance management processes. As well as numerical response scale items, it includes the following two questions inviting open-ended text responses from students: i) What did you find particularly good about this course? and ii) How could this course be improved? The collection of textual data in in student surveys is commonplace, due to the rich descriptions of respondent experiences they can provide at relatively low cost. However, historically these data have been underutilised because they are time consuming to analyse manually, and there has been a lack of automated tools to exploit such data efficiently. Text analytics approaches offer analysis methods that result in visual representations of comment data that highlight key individual themes in these data and the relationships between those themes. We present a text analytics-based evaluation of the SEC open-ended comments received in the first two years of offer of the PBL unit 1006ENG. We discuss the results obtained in detail. The method developed and documented here is a practical and useful approach to analysing/visualising open-ended comment data that could be applied by others with similar comment data sets.

A measure of 'high commitment organisation' performance values in sport management professionals and sport organisations

Many organizations have realized the growing importance of adopting a 'High Commitment Organization' (HCO) approach with a focus on shared values to assist them in meeting their competitive challenges. A survey questionnaire based on the McDonald and Gandz (1992) list of values, employing confirmatory and principal components analyses was used to create scales to (a) explore the importance the sport management professional placed on those values, (b) explore the individual's perception of the importance placed on those values by their employing organization, (c) to compare these hierarchies with the values of the HCO, and (d) to measure the extent of value congruence. Three clear sets of values emerged: Development / Adhocracy (D/A) Values, Humanistic / Clan (H/C) Values and Conformity / Hierarchy (C/H) Values. Findings indicate significant differences between sport management professionals' values and those of their organizations. Employees placed higher importance on (D/A) and (H/C) Values than their organizations, while Sport organizations placed higher importance on (C/H) Values than their employees. There is stronger support by individuals than organizations for the values underpinning the HCO approach. These levels of individual - organizational value incongruence have implications for individual job satisfaction, motivation and organizational effectiveness.

Relationship management, the web and organisation performance in Australasia

Relationship management practices, both traditional and employing the Web, were investigated and hypotheses tested concerning the influence of such practices on organisational performance. The reported study, conducted with a sample of Australasian organisations, finds that traditional and online relationship management constructs are discrete, and finds no significant direct influence of the use of relationship management on organisational performance, regardless of whether traditional means of relationship management are employed or the Web is used. It is also reported that environmental turbulence does not moderate this relationship.