Dissertation Presentation
- 1. Measuring Individual PerformanceUsing Real Time DataTimothy G. DorrUniversity of Phoenix
- 2. Problem StatementOrganizations have flattened their respective hierarchies in the past 20 years to accommodate an increasingly dynamic environment (citation). Both practitioners and vendors are acknowledging that traditional employee performance assessment tools are demonstrating an increasing lack of validity when used to measure knowledge workers within team environments (citation; DDI, n.d.). The result of this decreasing validity can be measured in employee discontent and sub-optimized organization performance (Filipek, 2008). Although extensive research has been conducted as to the value of communities of practice, little investigation has been conducted on communication patterns that bear on problem solving and decision making.
- 3. Purpose StatementA quantitative research study will be conducted to measure the correlation among like teams of knowledge workers that use e-mail communication to facilitate problem solving and decision making.Archival e-mail data will be accessed and examined to identify intra-team member relationships. Concurrently the e-mail content will be analyzed to identify performance themes. The independent variables such as task completion, cohesion, trust, and conflict resolution are contained in the e-mail messages and related attachments. The dependent variables include participant’s task completion value as determined by completeness and delivery time along with her or his acknowledged team contributions as measured by the timing, content, and general length of the threads initiated by the participant.
- 4. Research QuestionsHo1 – A relationship does not exist between the content of a participant’s e-mail and its attachments and her or his contribution to enterprise or team performance outcomes. Ho2 – Measures of a relationship between individual and team performance—cohesion, trust, and conflict resolution—demonstrate no statistically significant differences as it relates to team performance outcomes. Ha1 – Archived e-mail can be used to create a knowledge profile of a given team or individual and that changes in the profile as the given knowledge base is exposed to new information can be measured and compared .
- 5. Design AppropriatenessA quantitative study is used to describe a problem, orpredictan outcome. Central to its application is access to a proportion of a population that will result in statistically significant differences between the application or manipulation of independent variables (Creswell, 2002). Content analysis. Content analysis is a well established analytical tool that has been used in qualitative research efforts (Coopers & Schindler, 2003). Until recently the tool was applied to open-ended text responses using various manual techniques. The basic approach is to analyze the frequency of key words, phrases and occasionally phrase variations through agreed to codes. Correlation research. This method is used to establish dependent and independent variable relationships. This is the methodology that has been selected for this study.
- 6. Unit of AnalysisThe increase in team work and specifically the creation of teams that are not bounded temporally or geographically is supported by the development and use of e-mail in organizations (Gross, 2009; Neukrug, et al, 2010). This study proposes that both the mechanical details as well as the content be used to determine an individual’s performance as it relates to an organization’s or team’s goal set. Several content analytical tools have been developed to accomplish that (Oracle, n.d.; Xerox Litigation, n.d.).
- 7. Population under InvestigationThe emerging organization deals with greater uncertainty, globalized diverse workforces, non-linear interactions, and knowledge intensity (Karakas, 2009). The modern worker expects a greater openness to democratic approaches and a holistic view toward process and creativity (Young & Williamson, 2005) given that contemporary work is about collaboration, knowledge creation and application. In the contemporary organization’s environment, creating competitive advantage is a combination of linking available resources into a unique pattern that meets a market need. One component that is highly valued is the knowledge worker (Pyoria, 2005). Although several definitions of knowledge work and workers exist, a common theme emerges in terms of the unstructured nature of the work, cross-enterprise cooperation, prior formal training, and collaboration (Pyoria).
- 8. Sample CriteriaPerhaps one of the largest public e-mail database is the Enron E-mail corpus (Gross, 2009). The corpus was made public during the investigation of Enron’s financial dealings by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The database has been used extensively to demonstrate that network relationships can be measured, that a link analysis can be established and that content analysis tools may be applied (Gross).
- 9. Data CollectionEnron CorpusThe database has been used extensively to demonstrate that network relationships can be measured, that a link analysis can be established and that content analysis tools may be applied (Gross). Recently a content analysis was successfully completed using CESNET-L listsev in which 9,197 email submissions were analyzed from which 20 subordinate categories were described (Neukrug, et al, 2010).Several measures have been explored through previous e-mail content analysis such as volume of mail and ranking of participants in terms of contribution based on this physical evidence (Gross, 2009). Several of these approaches have been statistically validated.
- 10. Data Analysis 1Correlation Data Analysisn = X Teams, α = .05
- 11. Data Analysis 2Qualitative InquiryFace validation—limited form of objectivity testing (Weber,1990)Cohen’s Kappa—addresses the amount of rater agreement (Stemler, 2001)Word frequency to objectify text summariesContextual analysis– themes, statements, and artifacts
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- 13. Operationalizing Individual Knowledge for Optimal Organization PerformanceTimothy G. DorrSeptember 17th, 2010
- 14. Make great Xmas Gifts!!!!Timothy G. DorrT_dorr@msn.com203-858-1619