Research Proposal - Dilitha

Individual Assignment: Research Proposal
By D.S.G.Vithanage
MBA/10/2713
Course: MBA 514 - Research Methods in Management
Instructor: Prof. A.T Fonseka
Term: V Sep- Nov 2010
POSTGRADUATE INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT
University of Sri Jayewardenepura

1. Introduction
1.1 Background
Information Technology has become the latest trend in Sri Lankan job market. It is rapidly growing
and an attractive area among the young generation. Also it has the potential to become the leading
method to earn foreign currency to the country.
By this proposal, it is targeting to identify a major problem of the industry. The Productivity.
1.2 The problem statement
Factors affecting the productivity of IT firms in Sri Lanka.
Although IT is a fast growing area in the country, throughout several years, it can be identified that
the productivity of the industry is not at a sufficient level. So, it is a management problem worth
identifying and can gain a lot for organizations by resolving those.
1.3 Behaviour of the problem
The problem is not quite visible to the outside. But it is a serious issue in the industry. Since the IT
industry depends on the intellectuality, human resource is the most important asset. Their behavior
affect directly towards the quality of software products they develop. If their productivity lowers,
the quality of products will degrade automatically.
Another interesting fact regarding productivity is, when organization is getting bigger, the
productivity tends to go low. This is because the communication process tends to take more time.
Other than that, unproductive behaviours cause the rise of costs for various factors such as
infrastructure. Management of Sri Lankan IT firms nowadays has identified unproductivity as a major
threat to organization profit making and lots of firms a monitoring closely on employee productivity
these days. It is a problem which can be solved easily using good practices at the early stage rather
than trying to correct it later.
The following study shows how employee productivity on IT firms in United Kingdom lowers when
the organization size increases.
Note :
Profit Per Employee is used as an indicator of employee productivity.
Source : http://www.cybaea.net/Blogs/Journal/Employee-productivity-revisited.html
1.4 Purpose of the study
To benefit Sri Lankan IT firms by identifying what goes wrong to lower employee productivity and
suggesting ways to overcome those to widen the market share.
1.5 Objectives of the study
- Identify factors affecting labor productivity in Sri Lankan IT firms

- Observe why and how those has become major threats to organizations
- Identify impact levels of those
- Study best practices to overcome those problems and improve productivity
- Pay attention to pitfalls while improving productivity
1.6 Significance of the research
Although many researches has been done globally related to employee productivity in IT firms, to
the best knowledge of the researcher, there has not been a research done on this matter in Sri
Lanka. Hence, it is worthwhile to conduct a research on this management problem which will
benefit not only the management of Sri Lankan IT firms but also each and every employee. However
it will be useful for non-IT people to refer and gain knowledge on factors impacting productivity on
an industry which is mostly brain-driven.
1.7 Scope of the study
The research spans across almost all executive posts of an IT firm. Starting from the upper
management, the researcher goes to the lower level as Associate Engineer. In the middle it covers
employee types such as Business Analysts, Software Engineers, Systems Engineers, etc.
In order to get a holistic picture of productivity issues of organizations it is required to study all
above categories.
1.8 Limitations of the study
Since data is going to be gathered via interviews and questionnaires, acceptance of the trust is the
major limitation. It is assumed that interviewees will express facts honestly. Also, due to the
stressful nature of the industry, it will be challenging to find people to interview while they are in a
relaxed mindset, so to get accurate information.
Because of the quantitative method, there are no specific hypothesis at the start of the research.
Those will be developed when the study proceeds.
2. Literature Review
Several factors are currently identified as factors affect employee productivity in general.
2.1 Work Ethic
Work Ethic is a prominent factor in any industry. It varies significantly between organizations. As an
example, one organization might have a relaxed work ethic while another one is having a very strict
one. So, employee productivity will be definitely affected by that.
Also, the work ethic is different in Asian countries compared to Western countries. Sometimes
people are reluctant to express their ideas in countries like Sri Lanka. Like that, there are inherent
factors which go hand in hand with the work productivity.
So that, it is necessary to identify several types of work ethics in the industry and how employees
react according to those in their daily routine.
2.2 Work Culture
Similar to the work ethic, this is always bonded into the daily routine of work. It is identified that
when in a democratic culture, employees feel the freedom and it allows the innovation and hence
the improvement of productivity.
Most of the times employees are unable and unwilling to change the organizational culture and it
might affect negatively to the work quality.
2.3 Role of work
This goes alongside with the employee satisfaction. If the employee is not satisfied by the current
work role he will be demotivated and ultimately the productive work will be low. Worker
compensation is another factor. If employees are not rewarded sufficiently, it will be another factor
to demoralize them.
Specially in the IT industry, the stress factor is one which is also related to the Role of Work. If an
employee is doing the same thing over a long time, he might feel it tedious and the enthusiasm will
lack. Also, based on the role, working long hours might be required, but it will do little good for the
productivity.
2.4 Distractions
As mentioned earlier, IT is an industry which is brain based. So, distractions are obviously impact
negatively on the productivity. Distractions can be both physical and mental. Technical and human
related disturbances and strict deadlines can be disturbances might occur in the workplace. Other
than that, family related and personal distractions are non-work related distractions.
2.5 Organizational Politics
It is a universally accepted factor. Employees might sometimes treated differently in the work place
based on the power factor. Victims of organizational politics will be demotivated in the work.
3. Conceptual Framework and Methodology
The literature survey has identified five variables affecting the employee productivity. But, in the
research, one variable is used as the moderate variable, that is “Organization Politics”.
So that, the Conceptual Framework builds around those variables.

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Individual Assignment: Research Proposal

Course: MBA 514 - Research Methods in Management

Instructor: Prof. A.T Fonseka

Term: V Sep- Nov 2010

POSTGRADUATE INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT

University of Sri Jayewardenepura

1.2 The problem statement

Factors affecting the productivity of IT firms in Sri Lanka.

1.3 Behaviour of the problem

Profit Per Employee is used as an indicator of employee productivity.

1.5 Objectives of the study

- Identify factors affecting labor productivity in Sri Lankan IT firms

1.6 Significance of the research

1.7 Scope of the study

2.1 Work Ethic

2.2 Work Culture

2.5 Organizational Politics

So that, the Conceptual Framework builds around those variables.

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