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1. Preliminary review and background study of brain drain, talent void and talent positioning in the Nigerian HEI. This involved analytical review of reports, policy documents, and relevant materials that could give an insight towards identifying critical issues in the Nigerian HEI in relation to employee turnover and talent void. The critical issues identified ranged from brain drain impact in the educational sector, lack of talent management strategy for talent positioning in the Nigerian HEIs, and lack of TM awareness among others.
2. Problem Statement: After the first stage of the research, sufficient facts
were unravelled which ushered a preliminary understanding of the present state of affairs in the Nigeria HEI. This helped to establish problem statement which is the nucleus of the research. Establishing the problem statement is the springboard for the research.
3. Research Question: After the problem statement, research question
formulation was the next step towards finding solution to the problem. In this research, answers to the two research questions were sought (please refer to chapter one). Proffering answers to the research questions will offer panacea to the identified problems within the bounds of constraints and assumptions of the study.
4. Problem Context Understanding: To understand the context of the
study, interview and questionnaire instruments were developed and used for data collection after pilot test/validation.
Instrument Design
The questionnaire design was modified from the works of MOR Associates (nd) and scaled with reference to the works of Emadzade et al (2012) and Mills & Smith (2011) involving a multiple-item questionnaires. The question structure was based on 5 point Likert scale model (1 to 5) with ‘strongly disagree,’’ ‘‘disagree,’’ ‘‘neutral,’’ ‘‘agree,’’ and ‘‘strongly agree’’ as the available choices for the respondents. Both works were interested in knowledge management capabilities in an organization and were therefore considered relevant to this study.
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Instrument Validation / Pilot test
The questionnaire and interview questions were pre-tested and validated through a mock data collection exercise using only three participants. That is to say that before the actual data collection, a mock data collection was carried out and administered on only three “mock participants”. The rationale for the exercise was to identify flaws in the instrument, and ensure that the questions are appropriate and clearly presented in the desired direction. It also helps to guarantee that the instruments were capable of measuring what they were designed to measure sufficiently without ambiguity.
The raw data from empirical study was analysed by application of Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) for a better understanding of the problem context. The output of this analysis yielded Rich Pictures, CATWOE model, Root Definition, and also quantitative result using simple descriptive statistics (please refer to chapter four).
5. Using Profile Theory for Talent Management: After understanding of
the problem context, the next task was to attempt the use of profile theory for talent management. This required understanding how talent attributes are currently defined and held by the institution at both the HR unit and the academic departments. This was to help in identifying how talent is managed for the purpose of effective talent positioning at the HR unit of the institution, and also at the various academic departments for course allocation and project supervision. Instruments used at this phase of the study were interview and documentary review. However, interview was used where there is no existing explicit document/artefact.
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Chapter Four
Contextual Understanding and Analysis of Empirical
Data
4.0 Introduction
In this chapter, following the excerpt from the research methodology diagram as depicted below, the researcher analyses the empirical data collected using simple descriptive statistics and Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) technique in order to make sense of the research problem in its context. This is also followed by a critical discussion of the results in relation to other relevant research.
4.1 Rationale for Methodology Selection
The researcher chose to use simple descriptive statistics because the intention is to try to reach conclusions that exist within the immediate data derived from the study context since the research design was a case study design. Simple descriptive statistics has the advantage of providing summaries about the sample and the measures by providing graphics analysis which forms the basis for quantitative analysis of data. However, inferential statistics would have been more appropriate if the intention of the researcher was to reach conclusions that extend beyond the immediate data alone to reach a more general condition or to make judgements of probability (Trochim, 2006). The study is centred on applicability of profile theory for talent positioning, this demands understanding of the problem within the study context. It was on this premise that the researcher chose questionnaire instrument and interview as strategies to understand the respondents’ perception of the study problem within the institution considering the descriptive nature of the study.
Soft System Methodology (SSM), is a “system thinking” approach to problem solving and analysis of complex situations that appear “messy” (Maqsood et al 2001). SSM has been widely acclaimed to be suited to complex management systems (Maqsood et al 2001) and is applicable to various domains including Human Resources Management (HRM), Information System Planning, Change Management, and in recent time has been extended to knowledge management and similar field of research. The SSM methodology has been applied successfully in similar studies for understanding the problem context clearly by the use of rich pictures, root definition and CATWOE models. A combination of
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the two approaches for contextual understanding of the problem situation is illustrated in figure 4.1 below.
As pointed out in chapter three, questionnaire instrument and interview were used to elicit the perception of the respondents regarding (i) the current talent management situation in the institution, (ii) the form of talent management practice available, and the required strategy to mitigate and manage employee turnover/talent void.