Data sources

The data collected for this case study research comes from several sources including interviews, observations and documentation. As concluded by Benbasat et a l (1987), almost all case study research uses interviews for data collection. H alf o f the studies use interviews incorporated with other methods, such as documentation and observations. The rest relied solely on interview.

For each case study company, interviews were carried out with top level management, shop floor workers and intermediate management levels, such as the foreman or works manager. Prior to the interview process it was always necessary for the author to contact the company to present himself and the research topic to the contact person within the company. Contact with companies was found to be a very difficult task. This is because the interviews involved the top-level manager. So the process of contacting a company normally started through a member o f staff o f the university, and required telephone calls and letters explaining the research interests. Normally some o f the key persons within the companies were identified during the initial contacts. Whenever possible it was arranged with the first contact person for him/her to introduce the research and the researcher to other key persons before the interviews.

These interviews were based on a carefully prepared set o f semi-structured questions. The benefit o f semi-structured questions is that it allows the researcher more freedom to explore beyond the answers in order to extend the clarification on any answers given. Semi-structured interviews “offers some flexibility, and allowing the views of

the interviewee to become known” (Easterby-Smith (1997)). Furthermore, “the semi- structured interview can expand on issues raised by the interviewees” (Fielding (1988)).

The semi-structured questions designed for the interviews are shown in Appendix 1. These questionnaires were developed in two stages. Firstly an initial questionnaire was carefully constructed to ensure that all the topics covered in the initial WCM model were included in order to gain all the required information and explanation on the companies’ current practice and their potential improvements. Secondly, the questions were modified slightly after the interviews had been carried out at the first case study company. This was necessary because the questions regarding performance measurement did not lead to sufficient information on this topic. Therefore these questions were modified so that adequate data was collected at the remaining companies. For the first case study company, the missing data was collected at a subsequent visit to the company and so that data set was complete also.

It is important to note that although pilot studies are recommended in the literature by many authors, including Janesick (1994), Bryman (2001), Burton (2000), in this case a pilot study was not carried out. As the data from the first case study was almost complete, it was felt that it would be worthwhile collecting the missing data and using this company as one o f the cases. Collecting such data at a later date did not lead to any problem with the quality o f data or the subsequent analysis in this case. If there had been more changes to the questionnaire after the first study, then the data from this company would not have been used but rather would have constituted a pilot study.

Data were recorded by both ‘note-taking’ and tape recorders during the interviews. In each case, the interviewee was asked whether or not they were happy for the meeting to be tape-recorded. Amazingly all the interviewees agreed to “tape-recorded” discussions. The advantage o f the tape-recording process is that it can provide a full description o f what has been said. After the interview, the recorded conversation was typed into the computer during the transcribing process. Nevertheless there were some problems during transcribing. Some arguments are not clear because there was too much noise from the machines on the shop floor. Hence as mentioned earlier, instead o f relying wholly on tape recorders, the researcher also relied on ‘note-taking’.

A second source o f data was observation. This was required to get a clear picture of how the factory operates. The researcher also used the factory visits to observe the shop floor environment, the kind o f products produced and the production procedures in the company. The period o f observation spanned between one to three hours. During observation, the researcher spent time walking around the plant with the manager and sometimes stood casually talking to the shop floor workers. The talking was tape-recorded. Nevertheless due to the noise o f factory work some o f the recordings cannot be heard. In this situation the researcher relied on “note-taking” data and memory at the time events occurred.

Finally the researcher gained access to documentary material such as, company newsletters, sales contracts, delivery documents, customer orders, scheduling and so on. Much o f this material was confidential and obtained from the top management level only.