Data Collection: Ballard Integrated Managed Services, Inc. QNT/351

Data Collection: Ballard Integrated Managed Services, Inc. Overview Ballard Integrated Managed Services, Inc. (BIMS) is a company that provides housekeeping and foodservices to large corporations and businesses. BIMS employs a total of 452 employees, including full-time and part-time workers as well as upper management employees. The average turnover rate for BIMS is typically 55 to 60%. During the past four months the turnover rate has increased to over 64%. Despite the efforts to get to the root of the issue causing the high turnover rate, management at BIMS has been unsuccessful. The morale is low at BIMS, and there has been an increase in the use of sick leave. The performance of workers has become inadequate, which has caused a number of complaints from clients. Data Collection Instrument A survey instrument was created in an attempt to allow the workers to express their views about their individual experiences at BIMS. The survey begins by asking questions about the employee’s feelings toward his or her position and the relationship he or she has with his or her boss. The survey also includes demographic questions that identifies the division they are assigned to and how long they have been employed. As the consulting group one can expect to find that the increase in turnover to be directly related to communication issues between staff and workers, long hours, and low pay. The instrument used for data collection was a survey. A survey is a data collection tool used to gather information on attitudes, opinions, and satisfaction levels of individuals. Types of Data The data included in the BIMS Employee Survey provided by Ballard Integrated Managed Services, Inc., has both quantitative and quantitative data. The data was collected by giving employees written surveys to acquire the necessary information. The survey is set up to where the first 10 questions can be answered in the quantitative form. The instructions inform employees to answer the questions by circling the number closest to their view. The structure is set up where employees can circle numbers one through five to show their positivity or negativity toward each particular question (with one very negative and five very positive). There are four additional questions presented (A-D) of the qualitative form (with the exception of question B). The questions address work division, years of service, gender, and employee level. Once employees answer question A-D they are converted to quantitative form for coding and entry. Levels of Measurement In both its initial employee survey and the exit interview data collection process, BIMS used nominal, ordinal, and interval levels of measurement. At the nominal level BIMS counted and classified the number of observations for the measurements. There is no particular order to the labels assigned to these qualitative variables (Lind, Marchal & Wathen, 2011). BIMS used ordinal levels of measurement initially to classify the remaining data by sets of labels that have been assigned relative values. Ordinal measurement illustrates an ordered relationship between the numbers of variables. It should be noted that the amount of difference between the measurements is not necessarily the same along the scale (Lind, Marchal & Wathen, 2011). The interval level of measurement for both surveys was used to calculate employees’ length of service with the company. The interval level of measurement classifies, orders, and specifies that the distances between each interval on the-scale are equivalent along the-scale from a low number to a high number of months of service. BIMS converted each employee’s years and months of service into just total months (University of Phoenix, 2011, Week Two Supplement). Data Coding BIMS staff used numeric codes to describe the nominal, ordinal, and interval data. The data is organized and assessed to evaluate the procedures that were implemented. Appendix A describes the manner in which BIMS staff coded the employee survey data numerically. Descriptive statistics were used to present a profile of the data, including averages, mean, median, and mode, to describe the middle of group scores or ratings. With the use of ordinal measurements, BIMS staff can use mode, the most common value, or median, the middle ranking, to determine the central tendency. The research obtained through the employee survey used descriptive statistics to reveal the findings (Lind, Marchal & Wathen, 2011). Data Scrub To present the BIMS leadership with precise results; it is necessary that a data scrub be performed to eliminate of input errors in the sample data. A known error within the data are for those who failed to provide a response to a survey question—an internal decision was made to enter a zero for any question left blank. There are several of these specific errors present in the sample data—5 zeros are present in the demographic questions and 17 zeros are present question one through 10. Additionally, there is another known error within the data, the result of a keystroke error, which resulted in invalid value of ‘6’ present in questions one through 10. The appropriate survey response for questions one through 10 should reflect a value of 1,2,3,4,5 with ‘1’ representing ‘Very Negative’ and ‘5’ representing ‘Very Positive’—there are six occurrences of this error (University of Phoenix, 2011, BIMS, Inc. Part I). Final Analysis The BIMS survey was presented on a voluntary basis to all 449 employees in an effort to capture a consensus of employee perception on work conditions, shifts, training, compensation, fair treatment, company communications, and job security. In addition, there were a small amount of demographics incorporated for filtering. The intention of the survey team was to present their leadership with a reliable statistical analysis that exposes the key components within the raw data that would resolve their concerns over employee morale. The descriptive and frequency techniques used during the statistical computation will be further manipulated to identify correlation within the data set at a later date. Overall, the survey method was not as effective and yielded below average result with just 78 responses out of the 449 employee population—17.3% overall response rate (University of Phoenix, 2011, BIMS, Inc. Part I). References Lind, D. A., Marchal, W. G., & Wathen, S. A. (2011). Basic statistics for business and economics (7th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. University of Phoenix. (2011). Week Two supplement: Ballard Integrated Managed Services, Inc. Part 1. Retrieved from University of Phoenix, QNT/351 – Quantitative Analysis for Business course website. University of Phoenix. (2011). Week Two supplement: Ballard Integrated Managed Services, Inc. Part 2. Retrieved from University of Phoenix, QNT/351 – Quantitative Analysis for Business course website. Appendix A: BIMS Employee Survey Data Coding Employee Survey (University of Phoenix, 2011, Week Two Supplement): * Questions 1 – 3, 5 – 10: Rate measurements on a scale from 1 to 5 in which 1 represents a very negative response and 5 represents a very positive response. * Question 4: How many times have you called in sick in the last month? Missing data: 0, Number of Days: 1 through 5. * Question A: In which division do you work? Food: 1, Housekeeping: 2, Maintenance: 3. * Question B: How long have you worked for BIMS? Employees’ years and months of service were converted to total months ranging from two months to 328 months. * Question C: What is your gender? Missing data: 0, Female: 1, Male: 2. * Question D: Are you a manager or supervisor? Missing data: 0, Yes: 1, No: 2. * Typographical errors are evident in the data where the number 6 was typed instead of the intended value of 5. Exit Interview (University of Phoenix, 2011, Week Two Supplement): * Questions 1 – 10: Rate measurements on a scale from 1 to 5 in which 1 represents the employee strongly disagrees with the statement and 5 represents the employee strongly agrees with the statement. * Question 11: What is the primary reason that led you to decide to quit? I do not like the work: 1, I do not like my supervisor: 2, I am not satisfied with the pay: 3, I am not satisfied with my shift: 4, and Other: 5. * Question A: In which division do you work? Food: 1, Housekeeping: 2, Maintenance: 3. * Question B: How long have you worked for BIMS? Employees’ years and months of service were converted to total months ranging from two months to 328 months. * Question C: What is your gender? Female: 1, Male: 2.