Training and Development Roles and Research Proposal

This does not refer to classified information that private companies will not make public, but only to the data they will release. In other words, the two most important and reliable corporate resources are the company's official website and the company's statements and annual reports.

Articles on the internet will also be analyzed as they increase the amount of available information, allowing as such the reader to hear more statements and be able to form an independent and unbiased opinion.

6. Sampling

Considering that the management and employees within the ten selected organizations agree to participate to the study by answering the questions organized in the questionnaires, a sample of individuals will have to be organized. The sample will have to consider three primary specifications. First of all, it has to be large enough as to offer sufficient responses sitting at the basis of a clear conclusion formulation. Secondly, it has to be quite small as to ensure that the amounts of work to be conducted are not tedious. Thirdly, the sample has to consist of various individuals offering various and independent responses as to ensure that the writer has access to numerous and different opinions, which then allow him to form an unbiased opinion. In order for the processing of the questionnaires to be more efficient, the answers would be organized into multiple choice.

On the three considerations presented, it would be efficient for the sample to consist of 30 responses from each organization, totalling 300 questionnaires. 280 responses would come from employees and the remaining 20 responses would be given by the managers at the ten companies. In all, for each company, a total of 30 individuals would respond to the questionnaires, 28 being employees and 2 being managers - but this would only happen if all companies agree to participate to the study. Considering that this is quite difficult to achieve, the administration of questionnaires will remain a secondary method of analysis, the primary one being the analysis of available information.

7. Analysis of Data

The analysis of the data depends on the actual type of research method implemented. In either case however, the primary aim is that of finding answers to the posed questions, in order to reach the initially established objectives. Considering that the management and employees at the ten selected organizations agree to participate to the study, they would be asked to answer the following questions:

How long have you been an employee within the organization?

A a) 0-6 months; b) 6-12 months; c) 12-24 months; d) more than 24 months

How would you describe the culture and environment within your organization?

Ok, fairly pleasant; b) Extremely unpleasant; c) Extremely pleasant; d) I don't care

To how many training and development programs have you participated throughout your entire employment contract with the organization?

None; b) 1-3; c) 4-7; d) 8-12

To how many training and development programs have you participated during the past twelve months?

None; b) 1; c) 2; d) 3

How satisfied are you with the outcome of the T&D programs?

I do not feel I have grown professionally; b) they have helped only limitedly

They were extremely helpful; d) they were entirely useless

The questionnaire is simple as to ensure an easy processing of the responses, but also to attract the attention of the respondents and not consume much of their time. The responses would be organized into matrixes and processed with the aid of the SPSS computer assisted program.

Considering however that the possibility of conducting the study based on questionnaires is quite limited, other analysis methods would also be used. The qualitative and quantitative tools would be applied to the information retrieved from secondary sources and would help form an independent opinion.8. Structure of the Report

The actual research paper on the training and development roles and practices within the companies in the public and private sectors would be constructed on the following outline:

1. Abstract - revealing the importance of studying the matter at hand

2. Thesis statement and research objectives - including subobjectives and the questions to be answered

3. Training and development main concepts - including the theoretical aspects of the matter

4. Literary review - a concise presentation of the T&D problem as revealed by the specialized literature (books and articles in specialized journals and magazines)

5. Training and development roles and practices within the companies in the public and private sector

5.1 General information, including the T&D in developing countries

5.2 Roles and practices of T&D within the five companies selected from the public sector

5.3 Roles and practices of T&D within the five companies selected from the private sector

6. Data analysis

7. Differences and similarities - does the type of activity conducted (or any other feature) influence the training and development programs implemented by the management?

8. Conclusions and final remarks

9. List of references

9. Problems and Limitations

Just like with any other research assignment, there are some problems that might be encountered. The first of these potential limitations, as established previously, is the difficulty in convincing corporate employees and managers to participate to voluntary questionnaires. This is generally due to the managers' reticence in offering outsiders the possibility to get to know their internal affairs. Employees are reticent to answering as they fear the repercussions they might suffer in case the management finds out they have stated their complaints or dislikes to tertiary parties.

Then, a second problem derives once again from the organizations' desire to keep certain matters private. In this order of ideas, it will be rather difficult to get information outside the website or the annual report. The data that will be rather difficult to achieve could refer to the actual budgets allocated to training programs, the actual numbers of employees that participated to training programs or the results of the implemented T&D programs. But even if the data is collected from secondary resources, problems could arise here also, as the information could be scarce.

10. Tentative Bibliography

The information contained in the research paper will be gathered from various resources. An approximate list will be offered below, but this may well modify throughout the actual process of writing the paper. The company and institutional information will be retrieved from the annual reports and the official websites, where possible. However, these will only be presented once the ten companies have been selected.

The list of the probable resources to be used is as presented below:

Kurb, M., Prokopenko, J., 1989, Diagnosing Management Training and Development Needs: Concepts and Techniques, 3rd Edition, International Labor Office

Milheilm, D., 1999, Public or Private Sector Work: The Eternal Question, Public Management, Vol. 81

Rae, L., 2000, Effective Planning in Training and Development, Kogan Page Limited

Reyna, M., Sims, R.R., 1995, a Framework for Individual Management Development in the Public Sector, Public Personnel Management, Vol. 24

Savage, E., Samuel, E., Training and Development in Developing Countries, 1986, a Paper Presented to the American Vocational Association National Convention, Dallas, Texas

Sims, R.R., 1998, Reinventing Training and Development, Greenwood Publishing Group Inc.

Sims, R.R., Sims, S.J., 1991, Improving Training in the Public Sector, Public Personnel Management, Vol. 20

Taschereau, S., 1998, Evaluating the Impact of Training and Institutional Development Programs: A Collaborative Approach, World Bank Publications

2008, ACAS - the a to Z. Of Work, http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1390.....