Walden University ScholarWorks Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies Collection 2020 Using Employee-Development as a Solution to Employee Turnover Jason Ellis Walden University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.edu/dissertations Part of the Business Commons This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies Collection at ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact ScholarWorks@waldenu. Walden University College of Management and Technology This is to certify that the doctoral study by Jason Ellis has been found to be complete and satisfactory in all respects, and that any and all revisions required by the review committee have been made.
Review Committee Dr. Edgar Jordan, Committee Chairperson, Doctor of Business Administration Faculty Dr. Janet Booker, Committee Member, Doctor of Business Administration Faculty Dr. Patsy Kasen, University Reviewer, Doctor of Business Administration Faculty Chief Academic Officer and Provost Sue Subocz, Ph.
Walden University 2020 Abstract Using Employee-Development as a Solution to Employee Turnover by Jason Ellis MBA, Western Governors University, 2011 BA, University of Connecticut, 2009 Doctoral Study Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Business Administration Walden University June 2020 Abstract The failure to retain key employees is an expense that can lead to decreased productivity, profits, and efficiency. The improvement of employee-development practices is integral for business leaders who are focused on reducing an employee’s likelihood of leaving the company. Grounded in job-embeddedness theory, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore the employee-development strategies leaders use to improve employee retention and reduce cost resulting from turnover. The participants included 6 managers from 2 companies in Connecticut who had experience with employee-development policies to improve retention.
The data collection process included semistructured interviews and public documents collected from individual participants. Data were analyzed using Yin’s 5-step data analysis method, and 3 themes emerged: effective retention activities, productive employee-development approaches, and positive impression of employee-development approaches. A key recommendation for business leaders is to update the companies employee-development policy by evaluating the productivity of the current approaches and identifying gaps that could be addressed by additional development opportunities. The implications for positive social change include the potential to improve employee morale and decrease levels of stress through the implementation of development policies to improve retention.
Improving the development level of employees may result in promotions or performance bonuses, which can benefit local economies through increased saving, spending, and investment in the community. Using Employee-Development as a Solution to Employee Turnover by Jason Ellis MBA, Western Governors University, 2011 BA, University of Connecticut, 2009 Doctoral Study Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Business Administration Walden University June 2020 Dedication I dedicate this study to two women who have been integral toward my pursuit and completion of this doctoral journey. To my aunt, Dr. Kim Carmichael, even going back to the days when you would pick me up from kindergarten and take me to get McDonalds, you always knew how to keep my spirit uplifted.
No matter the challenge, you always helped me to believe that the best is yet to come. To my mother, Jaqueline Perry, you believed in me even when I doubted myself, and all I’ve ever wanted was to make you proud. I’ve heard about the joy in your eyes when you shared some of my accomplishments with your friends or relatives, and I’ve always wished for this to be another story you could share. Although both of you are no longer with us, I want to thank you for all the love and support that you have given me throughout this journey.
Acknowledgments I would like to acknowledge the three chairpersons who have helped and provided me with feedback through my doctoral journey. John House, thank you for helping me at the beginning stages to create a study that fit my personal and professional interest. Patricia Fusch, you helped me fine-tune my proposal and motivated me to push toward obtaining IRB approval. Ed Jordan, you helped me navigate around a huge roadblock within my study and challenged me to make changes that improved my work.
Also, a special thank you to my second committee member, Dr. Janet Booker, and university researcher reviewer, Dr. Patsy Kasen, for their help throughout this program. Table of Contents List of Tables.
iv Section 1: Foundation of the Study .1 Background of the Problem .2 Nature of the Study .6 Assumptions, Limitations, and Delimitations. 9 Significance of the Study .9 Contribution to Business Practice. 9 Implications for Social Change. 10 A Review of the Professional and Academic Literature .10 Job-Embeddedness Theory .36 Section 2: The Project .37 Role of the Researcher .39 Research Method and Design.
42 Population and Sampling .47 Data Collection Instruments .48 Data Collection Technique .51 Data Organization Technique .54 Reliability and Validity. 57 Transition and Summary .59 Section 3: Application to Professional Practice and Implications for Change .60 Presentation of the Findings.61 ii Theme 1: Effective Retention Activities. 62 Theme 2: Productive Employee-Development Approaches. 64 Theme 3: Positive Impression of Employee-Development Approaches.
67 Connecting the Findings to the Conceptual Framework. 68 Applications to Professional Practice .70 Implications for Social Change .71 Recommendations for Action .72 Recommendations for Further Research .74 Summary and Study Conclusions .76 Appendix A: Interview Protocol .110 Appendix B: Introductory Letter .113 iii List of Tables Table 1. Employee-Development Approaches. 65 iv 1 Section 1: Foundation of the Study The retention of employees is important for the productivity of organizations of all types and sizes.
Employee turnover has both direct and indirect costs for organizations (Wang, Wang, Xu, & Ji, 2014). Fibuch and Ahmed (2015) estimated that a health care organization could save more than $1.3 million annually by reducing turnover by 1%. In an increasingly competitive marketplace, retaining top employees has become essential for organizational leaders to maintain a competitive edge for their companies’ products and services. Employment for most workers may seem insecure, but for those with specialized skills or talents, the opposite is true (Goldberg, 2014).
In addition to conferring competitive advantage benefits, improved retention has a positive effect on employee performance (Lawson & Shepherd, 2019). The use of employee-development practices at companies in Connecticut in relation to retention was the focus of this study. I sought to determine how employee- development plans may have a positive effect on employee retention. In this section, I present the background of the problem, problem statement, purpose statement, nature of the study, research question, conceptual framework, operational definitions, significance of the study, and literature review.
Background of the Problem Employees constitute one of the drivers of success for any business. By developing employees to assume future leadership roles, business leaders can ensure that the cultural substance, ideologies, values, and norms of the organization persist through leadership changes through knowledge transfer (Valentine, 2012). The leaders of 2 companies attempt to attract or develop high-caliber workers, and retaining these employees requires investment from the company (Dey, 2009). Turnover is costly to organizations, based on the investment that companies must make to hire, train, and develop employees (Arshadi & Shahbazi, 2013; Bajwa, Yousaf, & Rizwan, 2014).
Improvement of retention rates is within a company’s best interest (Fidalgo & Gouveia Borges, 2012). Focusing on and improving employee-development programs could allow businesses to reduce costs while better enabling them to retain top talent. Problem Statement Organizational leaders find that high costs are related to the hiring process; therefore, companies have instituted employee-development practices to reduce costs related to external recruitment and to improve morale (Mohd Noor & Dola, 2012). Employees who participate in employee-development initiatives are 18.8% less likely to leave the company within the first 5 years of their employment (Manchester, 2012).
The general business problem is that retaining top talent has become challenging for company leaders (Mirji & Mane, 2012), potentially resulting in loss of productivity and revenue. The specific business problem is that some company leaders lack the strategic tools to implement employee-development programs to improve employee retention. Purpose Statement The purpose of this qualitative exploratory multiple case study was to explore what employee-development strategies leaders use to improve employee retention and reduce costs due to turnover. Six managers of corporate employees in Connecticut 3 participated in one initial interview and follow-up interviews to share their employee- development strategies to improve employee retention.
Managers provided related documents that supported the information provided during their interviews. The data from this study may impact businesses by providing company leaders with the rationale to create and/or improve their employee-development operations. The information from this study may also provide examples of the successes and failures of employee- development efforts within other organizations. Application of the findings may have implications for positive social change through an increase in employee morale and productivity and a decrease in turnover that promotes business growth.
Nature of the Study In order to explore the strategic tools that managers use to implement employee- development programs to improve employee retention, a qualitative method with an exploratory multiple case study design was appropriate. Qualitative research is used to explore and understand how individuals have experienced a phenomenon (Bernard, 2013; Uluyol & Akçi, 2014). The aim of qualitative research is mainly to explore a phenomenon (Morse, Lowery, & Steury, 2014). Performing data analysis on qualitative data involves dismantling, segmenting, and reassembling data to form meaningful findings to draw inferences (Rahman & Areni, 2016).
Researchers performing qualitative content analysis concentrate on portraying reality by discovering meanings from textual data (Silverman, 2014). I did not make use of large-scale numerical data collection methods because of the smaller scale of the population and sample; thus, quantitative or mixed-method approaches were not appropriate for this study. The purpose of a 4 qualitative study is not to test a hypothesis or understand a problem through an interpretive and statistical perspective (Yin, 2018). Both the quantitative and mixed methods were insufficient and not appropriate for this study.
Baxter and Jack (2008) described the evidence derived from multiple case studies as robust and reliable. In describing the analytical benefits, Yin (2018) found that multiple case studies are more compelling than single case studies. Yin (2018) noted that the multiple case study method allows investigators to retain the holistic and meaningful characteristics of real-life events, such as individual life cycles, small group behavior, organizational and managerial processes, neighborhood change, school performance, international relations, and the maturation of industries. Other qualitative designs, such as narrative, phenomenology, and ethnography, were not appropriate for this study because my focus was not on a specific individual or occurrence and did not revolve around a specific cultural group.
The investigation of real-life events and perceptions of more than a single case justified the selection of the qualitative multiple case study design. According to Yin (2018), the case study design is divided into three categories: exploratory, explanatory, and descriptive. Yin noted that the differences between the categories are not always clear; the categories may overlap. In an exploratory case study, the researcher is investigating either what has occurred or what is occurring within the target population (Yin, 2018).
The researcher presenting an explanatory case study discusses a phenomenon and describes what it means (Yin, 2018). A descriptive case study is a description of what has happened as a result of a certain phenomenon and may take the form of a narration (Yin, 2018). The exploratory case study method was 5 appropriate for this study because I explored the tools and strategies that were used to improve retention at companies in Connecticut. The other case study categories, descriptive and explanatory, were not appropriate for this study because the focus of my research was not describing the results of turnover or presenting an explanation of the meaning of employee-development or retention.